Wide dynamic range image sensor
AssigneeCommissariat A L'energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives
InventorArnaud Peizerat
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image sensor including pixels, each pixel including a photodetector and a circuit for reading out the quantity of charges collected by the photodetector at the end of a phase of charge collection by the photodetector. The image sensor further includes, for at least one of the pixels, a detection circuit capable, at least at two different times during the phase, of detecting whether the quantity of charges collected at the time by the photodetector of the pixel exceeds a threshold and, in the case where the quantity of charges collected at the time exceeds the threshold, of storing a first signal representative of the time and of resetting the photodetector.
Claims11
An image sensor comprising pixels, each pixel comprising a photodetector and a circuit for reading out the quantity of charges collected by the photodetector at the end of a phase of charge collection by the photodetector, the image sensor further comprising, for at least one of the pixels, a detection circuit capable, at least at each of two different times during said phase, of detecting whether the quantity of charges collected at said time by the photodetector of said pixel exceeds a threshold and, in the case where said quantity of charges collected at said time exceeds the threshold, of storing a first signal representative of said time and of resetting the photodetector, wherein, for each pixel, the readout circuit comprises at least one first transistor coupling the photodetector to a first node and wherein each pixel further comprises a second transistor coupling the photodetector to a second node, said second node of at least one of the pixels being coupled to the detection circuit.
A method of image acquisition by an image sensor comprising pixels, each pixel comprising a photodetector and a circuit for reading out the quantity of charges collected by the photodetector at the end of a phase of charge collection by the photodetector, the method comprising the following steps, carried out for at least one of the pixels:
- a) detecting, at least at each of two different times during said phase, whether the quantity of charges collected at said time by the photodetector of said pixel exceeds a threshold;
- and
- b) in the case where the quantity of charges collected at said time by the photodetector exceeds the threshold, storing a first signal representative of said time and resetting the photodetector, wherein, for each pixel, the readout circuit comprises at least one first transistor coupling the photodetector to a first node, wherein each pixel further comprises a second transistor coupling the photodetector to a second node, said second node of at least one of the pixels being coupled to the detection circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.