Light imager using digital adaptive integration time with hybrid pixel

A light imager to measure light energy comprising:

• a controller to divide an integration period into time intervals identified by corresponding ones of digital scaling codes;
• a pixel to:
• convert the light energy to a signal;
• integrate the signal across the time intervals into an integrated voltage;
• while integrating, repeatedly compare the integrated voltage against a threshold at each time interval until, at a particular time interval, a result of a compare indicates that the integrated voltage exceeds the threshold;
• and
• when the integrated voltage exceeds the threshold:
• stop integrating the light energy at a final voltage;
• and
• store a particular digital scaling code for the particular time interval;
• a digitizer to digitize the final voltage into a digital value;
• and
• an image processor to compute a light measurement based on the digital value and the particular digital scaling code.

A light imager to measure light energy comprising:

• an array of pixels;
• a controller to divide an integration period into time intervals identified by corresponding ones of digital scaling codes;
• wherein each pixel is configured to:
• convert the light energy to a signal;
• integrate the signal across the time intervals into an integrated voltage;
• while integrating, repeatedly compare the integrated voltage against a threshold at each time interval until, at a particular time interval, a result of a compare indicates that the integrated voltage exceeds the threshold;
• and
• when the integrated voltage exceeds the threshold:
• stop integrating the light energy at a final voltage;
• and
• store a particular digital scaling code for the particular time interval;
• a digitizer to digitize final voltages from the pixels into digital values;
• and
• an image processor to compute light measurements for the pixels based on the digital values and particular digital scaling codes from the pixels.