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AssigneeE2V Semiconductors
InventorsGregoire Chenebaux, Thierry Ligozat
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The invention relates to matrix image sensors. It applies most particularly to intraoral dental radiology sensors. The invention provides a sensor architecture comprising a column decoder controlling select conductors of a column, and a row decoder controlling select conductors of a row. The pixels of a column are connected to a signal conductor that extends along the column and goes toward an analog multiplexer extending within the pixel matrix between two rows of pixels of the matrix. The multiplexer is controlled via the column select conductors coming from the decoder and it transmits the signal from a signal conductor of a selected column to an output conductor extending parallel to the rows. A signal sampling circuit common to all the columns is connected at the end of the output conductor of the multiplexer. An increase in matrix area is achieved by in practice losing only a single image row.
An image sensor comprising a pixel matrix organized in rows and columns, a column decoder controlling column select conductors extending along the columns, a row decoder controlling row select conductors extending along the rows, and a respective signal conductor along each column, the pixels of a given column having their outputs connected to this signal conductor, said image sensor further comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.