Method and system for generating a ramping signal

A sensor device, comprising a pixel grid and a ramp signal generator coupled together, wherein:

• the ramp signal generator comprises a current generating circuit block;
• the current generating circuit block comprises a ramp segment;
• the ramp segment comprises:
• a plurality of storage circuits each including an input and an output, the output of a previous storage circuit coupled to the input of a next storage circuit, the storage circuits each being configured to generate a first signal;
• and
• a plurality of first circuits each coupled to the output of a corresponding storage circuit of the plurality of storage circuits, the first circuits each being configured to receive the first signal from the corresponding storage circuit, generate a second signal based at least on the received first signal, and generate a ramp current signal based on the generated second signals;
• the ramp signal generator is configured to convert the ramp current signal to a ramping voltage signal;
• and
• the pixel grid is configured to obtain the ramping voltage signal as a reference signal;
• wherein:
• the current generating circuit block further comprises an offset segment;
• and
• the offset segment comprises a plurality of second circuits each coupled to an offset enable signal and a bias signal to generate an offset current signal, and
• the ramp signal generator is configured to combine the generated ramp current signal from the each first circuit and the generated offset current signal from the each second circuit to obtain the ramping voltage signal.

A system for generating a ramping signal, comprising:

• one or more ramp segments each comprising a plurality of circuits configured to generate a ramp current signal;
• and
• one or more offset segments each comprising another plurality of circuits configured to generate an offset current signal, wherein the ramping signal is based on a combination of the ramp current signal and the offset current signal;
• wherein the each ramp segment comprises:
• a plurality of storage circuits each including an input and an output, the output of a previous storage circuit coupled to the input of a next storage circuit, the storage circuits each being configured to generate a first signal;
• and
• a plurality of first circuits each coupled to the output of a corresponding storage circuit of the plurality of storage circuits, the first circuits each being configured to receive the first signal from the corresponding storage circuit, generate a second signal based at least on the received first signal, and generate a ramp current signal based on the generated second signals;
• the each offset segment comprises:
• a plurality of second circuits each coupled to an offset enable signal and a bias signal to generate an offset current signal, wherein the ramping signal is based at least on the generated ramp current signal from the each first circuit and the generated offset current signal from the each second circuit;
• and
• the system further comprises a load block coupled to the current generating circuit block and configured to convert the ramp current signal to a first component of the ramping signal and to convert the offset current signal to a second component of the ramping signal, the ramping signal being a voltage signal.