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US 12,696,010 B2Granted
Image sensing circuit and comparator thereof
AssigneeNovatek Microelectronics Corp.
InventorsPai-Hsiang Hsu, Yueh-Ru Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A comparator includes an input stage, a gain stage, an output stage and a clamp circuit. The input stage receives an input signal and a ramp signal and generates a first output signal. The gain stage, coupled to the input stage, receives the first output signal and generates a second output signal. The output stage, coupled to the gain stage, receives the second output signal and generates a third output signal. The clamp circuit, coupled to the gain stage and the output stage.
Claims27
A comparator, comprising:
- an input stage to receive an input signal and a ramp signal and generate a first output signal;
- a gain stage, coupled to the input stage, to receive the first output signal and generate a second output signal;
- an output stage, coupled to the gain stage, to receive the second output signal and generate a third output signal;
- and
- a clamp circuit, coupled to the gain stage and the output stage, to clamp the second output signal to have an upper limit lower than a power supply voltage of the comparator, so that the second output signal is prevented from being higher than the upper limit.
2 more elements
An image sensing circuit, having a plurality of input channels, the image sensing circuit comprising:
- a ramp generator to generate a ramp signal;
- and
- a plurality of comparators, each comprising:
- an input stage, coupled to the ramp generator and one of the plurality of input channels, to receive an input signal from the coupled input channel and receive the ramp signal from the ramp generator, and generate a first output signal;
- a gain stage, coupled to the input stage, to receive the first output signal and generate a second output signal;
- an output stage, coupled to the gain stage, to receive the second output signal and generate a third output signal;
- and
- a clamp circuit, coupled to the gain stage and the output stage, to clamp the second output signal to have an upper limit lower than a power supply voltage of the comparator, so that the second output signal is prevented from being higher than the upper limit.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.