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. 24, 2015
Filed:
Mar. 02, 2014
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, JP;
Hiroyasu Kunimi, Kanagawa, JP;
Kazuhide Sugiura, Kanagawa, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An imaging sensor comprises a pixel array having an active imaging portion and a shielded portion. The active imaging portion provides an image signal corresponding to light incident on the pixel array. The shielded portion is shielded from the light incident on the pixel array and therefore provides a dark current signal. The imaging sensor includes a black-level adjustment circuit which adjusts the imaging signal to compensate for variations in the imaging signal black-level values. The black-level adjustment circuit includes an average value calculator to calculate an average signal value for each of a plurality of shielded regions in the shielded portion of the pixel array. A region selector is configured to select average signal values that are within a predetermined range. A black-level adjustment value calculator uses the selected values to calculate an adjustment value for the black-level of the image signal.