The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 03, 2012
Filed:
Apr. 15, 2009
Assaf Lahav, Binyamina, IL;
Amos Fenigstein, Haifa, IL;
Assaf Lahav, Binyamina, IL;
Amos Fenigstein, Haifa, IL;
Tower Semiconductor Ltd., Migdal Haemek, IL;
Abstract
A CMOS image sensor in which each pixel includes a conventional pinned diode (photodiode), a Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) detection (e.g., a simplified time-to-saturation (TTS)) circuit, a correlated double sampling (CDS) circuit, and a single output chain that is shared by both the CDS and WDR circuits. The pinned diode is used in the conversion of photons into charge in each pixel. In one embodiment, light received by the photodiode is processed using a TTS operation during the CDS integration phase, and the resulting TTS output signal is used to determine whether the photodiode is saturated. When the photodiode is saturated, the TTS output signal is processed to determine the amount of light received by the photodiode. When the photodiode is not saturated, the amount of light received by the photodiode is determined using signals generated by the readout phase of the CDS operation.