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US 2018/0006659 A1Published application
Photoelectric conversion apparatus and image capturing system
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsSeiji Hashimoto, Daisuke Yoshida, Makoto Ise
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Abstract
In a first sensitivity level, an AD converter performs AD conversion selectively using, in accordance with the level of the analog signal, any one of a first reference signal and a second reference signal that have mutually different slopes, and in a second sensitivity level that is different from the first sensitivity level, the AD converter performs AD conversion only using a third reference signal.
Claims7
A photoelectric conversion apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of pixels;
- a plurality of analog signal output units each configured to output an analog signal in accordance with a signal which is produced by and is output from a corresponding one of the plurality of pixels;
- and
- a plurality of analog-to-digital (AD) converters provided to correspond to the plurality of analog signal output units and configured to perform AD conversion by comparing a ramp signal with the analog signal output from the analog signal output units, wherein
- the photoelectric conversion apparatus has a first operation mode where the imaging sensitivity level is a first sensitivity level and a second mode where the imaging sensitivity level is a second sensitivity level different from the first sensitivity level,
- in the first operation mode, each of the plurality of AD converters uses a third ramp signal having a third slope to perform the AD conversion for the analog signal having a third signal level lower than a second threshold value, and uses a fourth ramp signal having a fourth slope different from the third slope to perform the AD conversion for the analog signal having a fourth signal level higher than the second threshold value
- in the second operation mode, each of the plurality of AD converters uses a third ramp signal having a third slope to perform the AD conversion for the analog signal having a third signal level lower than a second threshold value, and uses a fourth ramp signal having a fourth slope different from the third slope to perform the AD conversion for the analog signal having a fourth signal level higher than the second threshold value, and
- the fourth slope of the fourth ramp signal is a different slope from those of the first ramp signal and the second ramp signal.
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