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:
Sep. 18, 2012
Filed:
Dec. 31, 2009
Jeffrey S. Gerstenberger, Rochester, NY (US);
Ravi Mruthyunjaya, Penfield, NY (US);
David W. Bishop, Hilton, NY (US);
Jeffrey S. Gerstenberger, Rochester, NY (US);
Ravi Mruthyunjaya, Penfield, NY (US);
David W. Bishop, Hilton, NY (US);
OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An image sensor includes multiple photoactive pixels and multiple dark reference pixels arranged in rows and columns to form a pixel array. A dark signal is read out of one or more dark reference pixels in each column and used to determine a column offset for one or more columns in the pixel array. An offset window is used for each column in the pixel array to define an acceptable maximum dark signal and an acceptable minimum dark signal for each column. The dark signals from each column are analyzed to determine if there are any dark signals outside the offset window. If any of the dark signals are outside the offset window, the dark signal or signals can be compensated for or discarded.