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:
Nov. 12, 2013
Filed:
Nov. 11, 2010
Michael Cieslinski, Ottobrunn, DE;
Uwe Wessely, München, DE;
Achim Oehler, Müchen, DE;
Abstract
The invention relates to an image sensor, in particular to a CMOS image sensor, for digital cameras, having a plurality of pixels arranged in rows and columns, wherein the respective pixel comprises: a light sensitive detector element to generate electrical charge from incident light during an exposure procedure, a readout node, a transfer gate to which a transfer control pulse can be applied to allow a charge transfer from the detector element to the readout node, and a reset device to reset a charge present in the readout node to a reference value. The image sensor furthermore has a control device for the control of the transfer gate and of the of the reset device of the respective pixel. The control device is designed so that the respective pixel is read out in a plurality of readout steps during the ongoing charge generation in a single exposure procedure, and indeed such that a respective transfer control pulse is applied to the transfer gate for each of the plurality of readout steps and a respective readout result is then produced; wherein the reset device is activated between the transfer control pulses of the respective exposure procedure; and wherein only the last transfer control pulse enables a complete charge transfer of the respective charge present in the detector element to the readout node.