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US 10,382,702 B2Granted
Image sensor apparatus and method for obtaining multiple exposures with zero interframe time
AssigneeDuelight LLC
InventorsWilliam Rivard, Adam Feder, Brian Kindle
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for obtaining multiple exposures with zero interframe time. In use, a first an analog signal associated with an image is received from at least one pixel of an image sensor. Next, a first amplified analog signal associated with the image is generated by amplifying the analog signal utilizing a first gain. Further, a second amplified analog signal associated with the image is generated by amplifying the analog signal utilizing a second gain. Finally, the first amplified analog signal and the second amplified analog signal are transmitted.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- circuitry for:
- receiving an analog signal associated with an image of an image sensor, wherein the analog signal includes:
- i) at least one analog pixel value of a pixel array of the image sensor;
- ii) a line of analog pixel values associated with a line of pixels of the pixel array;
- or
- iii) a frame of analog pixel values associated with a frame of pixels of the pixel array;
- generating a first amplified analog signal associated with the image by amplifying the analog signal utilizing a first gain, wherein the first gain is applied to the analog pixel values associated with (i), (ii), or (iii);
- generating a second amplified analog signal associated with the image by amplifying the analog signal utilizing a second gain, wherein the second gain is applied to the analog pixel values associated with (i), (ii), or (iii);
- transmitting the first amplified analog signal and the second amplified analog signal to an analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- converting the first amplified analog signal to a first digital signal utilizing the analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- converting the second amplified analog signal to a second digital signal utilizing the analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- and
- combining the first digital signal and the second digital signal to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image.
10 more elements
A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
- code for receiving an analog signal associated with an image of an image sensor, wherein the analog signal includes:
- i) at least one analog pixel value of a pixel array of the image sensor;
- ii) a line of analog pixel values associated with a line of pixels of the pixel array;
- or
- iii) a frame of analog pixel values associated with a frame of pixels of the pixel array;
- code for generating a first amplified analog signal associated with the image by amplifying the analog signal utilizing a first gain, wherein the first gain is applied to the analog pixel values associated with (i), (ii), or (iii);
- code for generating a second amplified analog signal associated with the image by amplifying the analog signal utilizing a second gain, wherein the second gain is applied to the analog pixel values associated with (i), (ii), or (iii);
- code for transmitting the first amplified analog signal and the second amplified analog signal to an analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- code for converting the first amplified analog signal to a first digital signal utilizing the analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- code for converting the second amplified analog signal to a second digital signal utilizing the analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- and
- code for combining the first digital signal and the second digital signal to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image.
9 more elements
A method, comprising:
- receiving an analog signal associated with an image of an image sensor, wherein the analog signal includes:
- i) at least one analog pixel value of a pixel array of the image sensor;
- ii) a line of analog pixel values associated with a line of pixels of the pixel array;
- or
- iii) a frame of analog pixel values associated with a frame of pixels of the pixel array;
- amplifying the analog signal utilizing a first gain resulting in a first amplified analog signal associated with the image, wherein the first gain is applied to the analog pixel values associated with (i), (ii), or (iii);
- amplifying the analog signal utilizing a second gain resulting in a second amplified analog signal associated with the image, wherein the second gain is applied to the analog pixel values associated with (i), (ii), or (iii);
- transmitting the first amplified analog signal and the second amplified analog signal to an analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- converting the first amplified analog signal to a first digital signal utilizing the analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- converting the second amplified analog signal to a second digital signal utilizing the analog-to-digital converter circuit;
- and
- combining the first digital signal and the second digital signal to create a high dynamic range (HDR) image.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.