Electrical sensing apparatus and method utilizing an array of transducer elements
AssigneeSymagery Microsystems Inc.
InventorsScott-Thomas John, Paul Hua, George Chamberlain
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Many electrical sensing devices include an array of transducer elements for converting external stimuli to electrical indications. Novel technologies to realize improvements in low power consumption, low noise, and analog output path which occupies minimal die area while maintaining certain data rates are disclosed. A two stage pipeline architecture of the invention in the analog output path maintains fast pixel rates with minimal ADC (analog digital converter) arrangement. A novel power supply and the use of differential amplifiers in connection with a black signal level as a reference voltage are also described.
Claims32
An electrical sensor apparatus comprising:
- an array of transducer elements arranged in a (s×t) matrix where s is the number of rows and t is the number of columns, each transducer element adapted to produce an electrical indication in response to external stimuli incident thereon;
- a plurality t of first stage amplifiers, each first stage amplifier connected to a column of transducer elements;
- a plurality u of data bus lines, each of the data bus lines requiring a substantially similar predetermined duration of time d to settle during a transfer of an electrical indication to the data bus line, wherein:
- t>(n*u),
- where n is a positive integer and every u-th first stage amplifier is connected to the same data bus line, and wherein minimum u is determined by the formula:
- u=d/T,
- wherein d is the settling time of a single data bus line and where T is a clock period;
- a plurality u of second stage amplifiers for generating outputs indicative of the external stimuli;
- each second stage amplifier being connected to a data bus line;
- and
- the plurality t of first stage amplifiers being adapted to drive the data bus lines cyclically so that each data bus line is driven at least once, with an interval between two successive bus drives being at least the predetermined duration of time d.
An electrical sensor apparatus comprising:
- an array of transducer elements arranged in a plurality t of groups where each transducer element is adapted to produce an electrical indication in response to external stimuli incident thereon;
- a plurality t of first stage amplifiers connected to the plurality of groups of transducer elements for receiving the electrical indications from each of the transducer elements;
- a number u of second stage amplifiers for generating outputs indicative of the external stimuli;
- a number u of data bus lines coupled to the number u of second stage amplifiers for transferring the electrical indications from the first stage amplifiers to the second stage amplifiers;
- wherein the data bus lines exhibit a substantially similar time d for an electrical indication to settle, and the minimum number u of data bus lines is determined by the settling time d in accordance with the formula:
- u≧d/T,
- where T is a clock period for passing one of the electrical indications from one of the first stage amplifiers to one of the data bus lines.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.