Electronic device including a camera
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsHyeoncheol Jo, Inah Moon, Dongsoo Kim, Jaehyoung Park, Shuichi Shimokawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic device may include an image sensor, a processor, and a memory. The image sensor may include at least one photo diode, a transfer gate connecting the at least one photo diode to a first node (FD1 node), a first capacitor connected to the first node and having first capacitance, a dynamic range gate (DRG) connected between the first node and a second node (FD2 node), a second capacitor connected to the second node and having second capacitance, and a micro controller unit. Other various embodiments identified through the specification are possible.
Claims15
An electronic device, comprising:
- an image sensor;
- a processor;
- and
- a memory,
- wherein the image sensor includes:
- at least one photo diode;
- a transfer gate (TG) connecting the at least one photo diode to a first node;
- a first capacitor connected to the first node and having first capacitance;
- a dynamic range gate (DRG) connected between the first node and a second node;
- a second capacitor connected to the second node and having second capacitance;
- an analog-digital converter (ADC);
- and
- a micro controller unit configured to:
- obtain first analog data at the first node, by deactivating the DRG,
- convert the first analog data into first digital data by applying a first gain in the ADC,
- obtain second analog data at the first node and the second node, by activating the DRG, and
- convert the second analog data into second digital data by applying a second gain smaller than the first gain in the ADC, and
- wherein the processor is configured to:
- generate dark part data having a value equal to or less than a first reference value, based on the first digital data,
- generate bright part data having a value greater than or equal to a second reference value that is greater than the first reference value, based on the second digital data, and
- generate a high dynamic range (HDR) image based on the generated dark part data and the generated bright part data.
An electronic device, comprising:
- a camera module;
- a processor;
- and
- a memory,
- wherein the camera module includes:
- a lens;
- an image sensor;
- and
- an image signal processor,
- wherein the image sensor includes:
- at least one photo diode;
- a transfer gate (TG) connecting the at least one photo diode to a first node;
- a first capacitor connected to the first node and having first capacitance;
- a dynamic range gate (DRG) connected between the first node and a second node;
- a second capacitor connected to the second node and having second capacitance;
- and
- an analog-digital converter (ADC), and
- wherein the image signal processor is configured to:
- obtain first analog data at the first node, by deactivating the DRG,
- convert the first analog data into first digital data by applying a first gain in the ADC,
- obtain second analog data at the first node and the second node, by activating the DRG,
- convert the second analog data into second digital data by applying a second gain smaller than the first gain in the ADC,
- generate dark part data having a value equal to or less than a first reference value, based on the first digital data,
- generate bright part data having a value greater than or equal to a second reference value that is greater than the first reference value, based on the second digital data, and
- generate a high dynamic range (HDR) image based on the generated dark part data and the generated bright part data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.