US 2002/0154233 A1Published application

Imaging device ,and its drive control method

OwnerShinichi Yoshimura, Kazuhiko Uedainventors

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Abstract

An imaging system includes a photoreceptor section for generating an electric signal responsive to luminosity of an object, an amplifier section for amplifying a received optical signal, a plurality of memory sections for storing amplified electric signals as current signals, a load section for converting current outputs of said memory sections to voltages, an arithmetic section for operating an output signal from said load section, an output section for externally outputting a result of the operation, and a drive control section for controlling driving of the respective sections. A reference signal level stored in one of the memory section is compared with luminosity of an object that is stored in the other memory section while progressing integration thereof with time, and the luminosity of the object is AD-converted based on the period of time required for the luminosity signal to exceed the reference signal.

Claims18

Dependent claims

An imaging system including a photoreceptor section for generating an electric signal responsive to luminosity of an object, an amplifier section for amplifying an output signal of said photoreceptor section, a plurality of memory sections for storing the electric signal amplified by said amplifier section in form of a current signal, a load section for converting current outputs from said memory sections into voltages, an arithmetic section for operating an output signal from said load section, an output section for externally outputting a result of the operation by said arithmetic section, and a drive control section for controlling driving of said sections, characterized in:

said drive control section having a drive control mode for controlling one of said memory sections to store a current signal corresponding to a reference signal level, controlling the other of said memory sections to store a current signal corresponding to luminosity of an object while progressing integration thereof with time, and controlling said arithmetic section to compare luminosity of the object with the reference signal level on the basis of current signals read out from said memory sections;
and
said arithmetic section outputting an identifying signal at the moment when the signal indicative of luminosity of the object exceeds the reference signal level.

A drive control method of an imaging system including a photoreceptor section for generating an electric signal responsive to luminosity of an object, an amplifier section for amplifying an output signal of said photoreceptor section, a plurality of memory sections for storing the electric signal amplified by said amplifier section in form of a current signal, a load section for converting current outputs from said memory sections into voltages, an arithmetic section for operating an output signal from said load section, and an output section for externally outputting a result of the operation by said arithmetic section, which method realizes a drive control mode comprising:

(a) a step of storing a current signal corresponding to a reference signal level in one of said memory sections;
(b) a step of storing a current signal corresponding to luminosity of an object in the other of said memory sections while progressing integration thereof with time;
(c) a step of comparing a reference signal level and luminosity of the object in said arithmetic section, based on said current signals read out from said memory sections;
and
(d) a step of outputting an identifying signal from said arithmetic section at the moment when the signal indicative of luminosity of the object exceeds the reference signal level,
then measuring a period of time required for the luminosity of the object measured by said identifying signal output in said step (d) to exceed said reference signal level, and converts the luminosity of the object an analog value to a digital value on the basis of a result of the measurement.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/030,543Filed 14 May 2002
Priority: JP 2000-1346868 May 2000
Published: 24 Oct 2002
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H04N 25/772
Pixel circuitry, e.g. memories, A/D converters, pixel amplifiers, shared circuits or shared components: comprising A/D, V/T, V/F, I/T or I/F…
H04N 25/00
Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [ssis]
H04N 25/573
Involving a non-linear response: the logarithmic type
H04N 25/771
Pixel circuitry, e.g. memories, A/D converters, pixel amplifiers, shared circuits or shared components: comprising storage means other than…