Circuit and method for an active image sensor
AssigneeElan Microelectronics Corporation
InventorChun-Kai LIU
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An array of active pixel sensors and an array of sampling circuits of an active image sensor are divided into sub-arrays in operation so that a sampling time and a readout time in a frame overlap to each other to shorten the total readout time of a frame. In an embodiment, a first sub-array of sampling circuits samples a first sub-array of active pixel sensors during a readout circuit reads out sampled signals from a second sub-array of sampling circuits, or the second sub-array of sampling circuits samples a second sub-array of active pixel sensors during the readout circuit reads out sampled signals from the first sub-array of sampling circuits.
Claims5
A circuit for an active image sensor, comprising:
- an array of active pixel sensors, including two sub-arrays;
- an array of sampling circuits, including two sub-arrays connected to the two sub-arrays of active pixel sensors respectively, controlled to sample the two sub-arrays of active pixel sensors to generate a two sampled signals respectively;
- and
- a readout circuit connected to the two sub-arrays of sampling circuits, controlled to read out the two sampled signals;
- wherein the second one of the two sub-arrays of sampling circuits samples the second one of the two sub-arrays of active pixel sensors during the readout circuit reads out the first one of the two sampled signals, or the first one of the two sub-arrays of sampling circuits samples the first one of the two sub-arrays of active pixel sensors during the readout circuit reads out the second one of the two sampled signals.
A method for an active image sensor having an array of active pixel sensors including two sub-arrays, comprising steps of:
- A.) sampling the first one of the two sub-arrays to generate a first sampled signal;
- and
- B.) sampling the second one of the two sub-arrays to generate a second sampled signal;
- wherein the second one of the two sub-arrays is sampled during reading out the first sampled signal, or the first one of the two sub-arrays is sampled during reading out the second sampled signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.