Capacitive coupled bipolar active pixel imager having overflow protection and electronic shutter

A method of operating an imaging array composed of a plurality of capacitively coupled bipolar active pixels arranged into rows and columns, comprising:

• selecting a row of the array for reading out integrated charge of the pixels in the row;
• resetting a sense amplifier connected to each column of the array;
• applying a shutter pulse during the sense amplifier reset to a row of the array other than the selected row, the shutter pulse resetting each pixel in the row of the array to which it is applied;
• enabling the sense amplifiers connected to each column of the array;
• applying a readout pulse to the selected row of the array;
• and
• sensing the charge readout of each pixel in the selected row.

A method of operating an imaging array composed of a plurality of capacitively coupled bipolar active pixels arranged into rows and columns, comprising:

• focusing an image on the imaging array;
• selecting a row of the array for reading out integrated charge of the pixels in the row;
• resetting a sense amplifier connected to each column of the array;
• applying an overflow pulse during the sense amplifier reset to each row of the array;
• enabling the sense amplifiers connected to each column of the array;
• applying a readout pulse to the selected row of the array;
• sensing the charge readout of each pixel in the selected row;
• and
• repeating the above steps until each row of the imaging array is readout.

An imaging array, comprising:

• a plurality of photosensors arranged in an array of horizontal rows and vertical columns, wherein each photosensor is a bipolar, capacitively coupled phototransistor;
• a plurality of sense amplifiers, with one sense amplifier being electrically connected to each column of the array;
• a first selector which applies a row readout pulse to a selected row of the array during a sensing phase of the sense amplifiers;
• and
• a second selector which applies an overflow pulse to each row of the array during a reset phase of the sense amplifiers.

An imaging array, comprising:

• a plurality of photosensors arranged in an array of horizontal rows and vertical columns, wherein each photosensor is a bipolar, capacitively coupled phototransistor;
• a plurality of sense amplifiers, with one sense amplifier being electrically connected to each row of the array;
• a first selector which applies a column readout pulse to a selected column of the array during a sensing phase of the sense amplifiers;
• and
• a second selector which applies an overflow pulse to each column of the array during a reset phase of the sense amplifiers.