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US 7,405,763 B2Granted
Mobile devices having an image sensor for charging a battery
AssigneeOmniVision Technologies, Inc.
InventorRaymond Wu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Mobile devices and methods of operating mobile devices are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a mobile device includes a rechargeable battery, a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery, and an image sensor operably coupled to the battery charger to selectively charge the battery. As such, the image sensor is configured to capture images and provide current to charge the battery. The image sensor can be a CMOS image sensor or a CCD image sensor. The mobile device may further include a housing, with the battery, battery charger, and image sensor contained within the housing.
Claims15
A mobile device, comprising:
- a battery;
- a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery;
- a signal processor;
- and
- a single-chip color complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor electrically coupled by a switch to the signal processor in an image capture mode and to the battery charger in a battery charging mode, the CMOS image sensor having an array of pixels organized into columns and rows with each column having a separate column readout circuit and individual pixels associated with an individual column being electrically coupled to a respective column readout circuit;
- and
- a timing/control circuit in the image capture mode directing pixels to be read out sequentially on a row-by-row basis to the signal processor with each row having only one pixel per column that is read out at a single time while in the battery charging mode the timing/control circuit directs multiple pixels in each individual column to simultaneously and continuously provide continuous current to the battery charger;
- the switch being coupled to an actuatable switch that a user actuates to capture an image, the mobile device operating in the image capture mode whenever the user actuates the actuatable switch and with the mobile device switching to the battery charging mode when images are not being captured to support continuous charging of the battery whenever an image is not being captured.
5 more elements
A mobile device, comprising:
- a rechargeable battery;
- a battery charger electrically coupled to the battery;
- and
- an a single-chip color complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor for capturing images, the CMOS image sensor having a plurality of pixels an array of pixels organized into columns and rows with each column having a separate column readout circuit and individual pixels associated with an individual column being electrically coupled to a respective column readout circuit and a timing/control circuit operably coupled to the pixels, wherein the timing/control circuit controls the pixels to selectively provide constant current from the pixels to the battery charger to charge the battery;
- a timing/control circuit in an image capture mode directing pixels to be read out sequentially on a row-by-row basis with each row having only one pixel per column that is read out at a single time while in a battery charging mode the timing/control circuit directs multiple pixels in each individual column to simultaneously and continuously provide continuous current to the battery charger.
2 more elements
A single-chip color complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor, comprising:
- an array of pixels organized into columns and rows with each column having a separate column readout circuit and individual pixels associated with an individual column being electrically coupled to a respective column readout circuit;
- the CMOS image sensor in an image capture mode directing pixels to be read out sequentially on a row-by-row basis via the column readout circuits with each row having only one pixel per column that is read out at a single time;
- the CMOS image sensor in a battery charging mode directing multiple pixels in each individual column to simultaneously and continuously provide continuous current for charging a battery;
- the CMOS image sensor configured to switch between the image capture mode and the battery charging mode to support continuously charging the battery whenever images are not being captured.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.