Low-power surveillance sensor
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorRoland Wood
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and a method of operating imaging sensors in a lower power manner. In one illustrative embodiment, an image sensor system includes a sensor controller coupled to a sensor array. The sensor controller may have a higher power state that is active when reading the sensor array and a lower power state that is active between read operations. The sensor controller may read the sensor array at a reduced frame rate until movement or activity is detected in the scene, and then the sensor controller may read the sensor array at an increased frame rate for higher frame resolution. In some cases, less than all of the pixels in the sensor array may be read at some times to reduce power consumption, and more or all of the pixels may be read at other times to provide higher resolution.
Claims46
A system comprising:
- a sensor array having a number of pixels;
- and
- a sensor controller coupled to the sensor array, the sensor controller adapted to read at least some of the sensor array pixels and provide an output, at least a portion of the sensor controller having a higher power state that is active when reading the at least part of the sensor array and a lower power state.
A system comprising:
- a sensor array having a number of pixels;
- and
- a sensor controller coupled to the sensor array, the sensor controller adapted to read at least some of the sensor array pixels and provide an output, wherein more of the pixels are read when an event is detected.
A method for operating a sensor array having a number of sensor array pixels and a sensor controller, wherein the sensor controller is adapted to read at least some of the sensor array pixels and provide an output, the method comprising:
- placing the sensor controller in a higher power state;
- reading at least some of the sensor array pixels;
- and
- placing the sensor controller in a lower power state.
A method for operating a sensor array having a number of sensor array pixels and a sensor controller, wherein the sensor controller is adapted to read at least some of the sensor array pixels and provide an output, the method comprising:
- reading at least some of the sensor array pixels;
- and
- increasing the number of sensor array pixels read, wherein the number of sensor array pixels read increases when an event occurs.
A method for operating a sensor array having a number of sensor array pixels and a sensor controller, wherein the sensor controller is adapted to read at least some of the sensor array pixels and provide an output, the method comprising:
- placing the sensor controller in a higher power state;
- reading at least some of the sensor array pixels;
- placing the sensor controller in a lower power state;
- and
- increasing the number of sensor array pixels read,
- wherein the number of sensor array pixels read increases and the sensor controller is in a higher power state when an event occurs.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.