Low-power image sensor system with single-photon avalanche diode photodetectors
AssigneeEcole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
InventorsIvan Michel Antolovic, Claudio Bruschini, Edoardo Charbon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention relates to an image sensor comprising a photodetector array including neighboring photodetector elements, each photodetector element comprising: —a photodetector cell having a photodiode and a reset unit; —a cell control unit coupled with the photodetector cell and configured to reset the photodiode by means of the reset unit; wherein the cell control unit is configured to asynchronously effect resetting of the photodiode after a given dead time after detection of a photon.
Claims20
An image sensor comprising a photodetector array including neighboring photodetector elements, each photodetector element comprising:
- a photodetector cell with a photodiode and a reset unit;
- a cell control unit coupled with the photodetector cell and configured to reset the photodiode by means of the reset unit;
- wherein the cell control unit is configured to asynchronously effect resetting of the photodiode after a given dead time after detection of a photon,
- wherein a post-processing unit is configured to retrieve counter values of all photodetector elements,
- wherein the post-processing unit is configured to linearize counter values of all photodetector elements independently or globally.
A method for operating an image sensor comprising a photodetector array including neighboring photodetector elements, wherein each photodetector element has a photodiode and a reset unit, wherein the photodiode is asynchronously reset after a given dead time after detection of a photon;
- wherein a post-processing unit retrieves counter values of all photodetector elements and linearizes counter values of all photodetector elements independently or globally.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.