Solid-state imaging device including a driving control circuit for correcting a non-linear region of a ramp signal
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsNobuo Nakamura, Yasutaka Kimura, Tomohiko Sato
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A solid-state imaging device includes a reference pixel configured to output a reference pixel signal, a ramp generator configured to output a ramp signal having a slope that changes from a first slope to a second slope at a change point, a comparator configured to compare the ramp signal with a pixel signal generated from a pixel, a counter configured to receive a comparison result from the comparator and generate a counter value as a digital pixel value of the pixel signal, and a driving control circuit configured to correct, based on the reference pixel signal, a non-linear region that occurs as the slope of the ramp signal is changed.
Claims20
A solid-state imaging device comprising:
- a reference pixel configured to output a reference pixel signal;
- a ramp generator configured to output a ramp signal having a slope that changes from a first slope to a second slope at a change point;
- a comparator configured to compare the ramp signal with a pixel signal generated from a pixel;
- a counter configured to receive a comparison result from the comparator and generate a counter value as a digital pixel value of the pixel signal;
- and
- a driving control circuit configured to correct, based on the reference pixel signal, a non-linear region that occurs as the slope of the ramp signal is changed.
A solid-state imaging device comprising:
- a pixel array comprising a plurality of pixels arranged in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows;
- a reference pixel array comprising a plurality of reference pixels arranged in the plurality of columns and a plurality of rows;
- a ramp generator configured to output a ramp signal having a slope that changes from a first slope to a second slope at a first change point;
- a driving control circuit configured to correct a non-linear region of the ramp signal after the first change point;
- and
- a memory configured to store data used to correct the non-linear region.
A solid-state imaging device comprising:
- a pixel array comprising a plurality of pixels arranged in a plurality of columns and a plurality of rows;
- a reference pixel array comprising a plurality of reference pixels arranged in the plurality of columns and a plurality of rows;
- a ramp generator configured to output a ramp signal having a slope that changes at a change point;
- and
- a driving control circuit configured to correct a non-linear region of the ramp signal after the change point, based on outputs from the plurality of reference pixels,
- wherein a light-blocking layer is provided on the plurality of reference pixels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.