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US 7,002,628 B1Granted
Analog to digital converter with internal data storage
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorRoger Panicacci
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An analog-to-digital converter in an active pixel sensor array includes on board memory elements for storing results. The stored results can be read out in a different order than the order in which they were converted.
Claims7
An active pixel sensor device, comprising:
- an array of pixels, arranged in logical units, wherein each pixel comprises a photosensor element, an in-pixel buffer element, and an in-pixel selector element;
- a plurality of analog-to-digital converters, formed on the same substrate as said pixel sensor array, and each associated with N logical units of the pixel sensor array, each of said N logical units having including a plurality of pixels, each of said plurality of analog-to-digital converters comprising:
- a plurality of storage elements;
- and
- an analog-to-digital (ADC) portion, said ADC portion for receiving an analog signal from one of said pixel sensors of an associated logical unit when a selector element associated with said one pixel is enabled, and for converting said analog signal to a converted digital value, said ADC portion storing said converted value into one of said plurality of storage elements;
- and
- a readout controller for controlling readout of information from the photosensor elements by controlling each of said analog-to-digital converters to:
- convert first information from a first line of the array and store said first information in one of said plurality of storage elements;
- after said convert and store of said first information, convert second information from a second line of the array and store said second information in another one of said plurality of storage elements;
- and
- read out said first and second information from said plurality of storage elements in a desired order;
- wherein N is at least two.
9 more elements
A method of operating a pixel sensor array, comprising:
- obtaining a pixel sensor array of photosensitive elements, each having a photosensitive element in a pixel, a buffer in said pixel associated with said photosensitive element, and a selector transistor in said pixel which is enabled to allow a signal from said pixel to pass, and disabled to block the signal from passing;
- connecting a plurality of said outputs of said selector transistors to one another, to form a plurality of logical units, each logical unit formed by a plurality of said output transistors which are connected to one another;
- receiving, in each of a plurality of A/D converter units each comprising a plurality of first storage unit, a plurality of second storage units, and an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) portion, a respective plurality of signals from a respective plurality of first logical units, and A/D converting said respective plurality of signals into a respective plurality of converted digital values and storing said respective plurality of converted digital values information in a respective one of said plurality of first storage units;
- receiving, in said plurality of A/D converter units, a respective of signals from a respective plurality of second logical units, adjacent to said first logical units, and A/D converting said respective plurality of signals into a respective plurality of converted digital values and storing said respective plurality of converted digital values in a respective one of said plurality of second storage units;
- and
- reading out said information from said A/D conversion unit in a different order than an order in which the information was converted.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.