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:
Mar. 22, 2016
Filed:
Oct. 24, 2014
Omnivision Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Xianmin Yi, Menlo Park, CA (US);
OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An image sensor includes a plurality of photodiodes arranged into an array of rows and columns. The photodiodes are grouped into pixel units, where each pixel unit includes at least four photodiodes and shared pixel unit circuitry coupled to each of the four photodiodes. In one aspect the shared pixel unit circuitry may include a shared source follower transistor. In another aspect the shared pixel unit circuitry includes a shared reset transistor. Two of the photodiodes of the pixel unit are in a first column of the array and another two of the photodiodes are in a second column of the array. One of the photodiodes in the second column is in a row that is between rows of the two photodiodes in the first column.