Solid-state imaging element, imaging device, and control method of solid-state imaging element
AssigneeSony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation
InventorsKengo Umeda, Yukiyasu Tatsuzawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Suppression of circuit scale increases in a solid-state imaging element that performs AD conversion is disclosed. In one example, a solid-state imaging element includes a pixel, an analog-to-digital converter, and a logic circuit. In the solid-state imaging element, a pixel sequentially generates a plurality of analog signals having different exposure times. The analog-to-digital converter sequentially converts each of the plurality of analog signals into a digital signal. The logic circuit also controls the resolution of the analog-to-digital converter according to the exposure time.
Claims23
A solid-state imaging element comprising:
- a pixel that sequentially generates a plurality of analog signals having different exposure times;
- an analog-to-digital converter that sequentially converts each of the plurality of analog signals into a digital signal;
- and
- a logic circuit that controls resolution of the analog-to-digital converter according to an exposure time.
A solid-state imaging element comprising:
- a pixel that sequentially generates a plurality of analog signals having different exposure times;
- an analog-to-digital converter that sequentially converts each of the plurality of analog signals into a digital signal in synchronization with a predetermined clock signal;
- and
- a logic circuit that controls a frequency of the clock signal according to an exposure time.
A solid-state imaging element comprising:
- a plurality of pixels;
- an analog-to-digital converter that sequentially converts a first analog signal generated by a pixel in a region of interest among the plurality of pixels and a second analog signal generated by a pixel in a region not corresponding to the region of interest among the plurality of pixels into digital signals;
- and
- a logic circuit that controls resolution at a time of converting the first analog signal to a higher value than that at a time of converting the second analog signal.
An imaging device comprising:
- a pixel that sequentially generates a plurality of analog signals having different exposure times;
- an analog-to-digital converter that sequentially converts each of the plurality of analog signals into a digital signal;
- a logic circuit that controls resolution of the analog-to-digital converter according to an exposure time;
- and
- an image processing section that processes image data in which the digital signals are arranged.
A control method of a solid-state imaging element, the control method comprising:
- a generation procedure in which a pixel sequentially generates a plurality of analog signals having different exposure times;
- an analog-to-digital conversion procedure in which an analog-to-digital converter sequentially converts each of the plurality of analog signals into a digital signal;
- and
- a control procedure in which a logic circuit controls resolution of the analog-to-digital converter according to an exposure time.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.