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AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsRavi K. Kummaraguntla, Zhiliang Julian Chen, John G. Harris
Estimating the term…
A photodiode sensor (25) has a photodiode (30) with an associated capacitance (34), which may be a parasitic capacitance of the photodiode (30). A switch (36) is provided for charging the capacitance (34) to a predetermined reset voltage (Vreset), such that when light impinges upon the photodiode (30), the voltage on the capacitance (34) discharges in a time proportional to an intensity of the light. A circuit (42) is also provided for measuring the time for the capacitance (34) to discharge to a predetermined threshold value (33), which may be a function of time. The voltage on the output (38) of the comparator (28) may be sampled, with the sampling period also being variable as a function of time. The image may be reconstructed from time data indicating the relative times that discharge voltage of the pixels in an array cross the reference voltage (33).
A photodiode sensor, comprising:
A photodiode sensor array, comprising:
A photodiode sensor array, comprising:
A method for operating a photodiode sensor array, comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.