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US 7,453,054 B2Granted
Method and apparatus for calibrating parallel readout paths in imagers
AssigneeAptina Imaging Corporation
InventorsChiajen M. Lee, Kwang-Bo Cho
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An imaging device with readout chain circuitry that uses multiple analog-to-digital converters and amplifiers, which are similarly calibrated using a stitching technique, to readout each color of a column and mitigate the possibility of a boundary effect.
Claims32
A method of reading out a pixel array comprising the steps of:
- utilizing at least one readout path connected to said pixel array, each readout path having at least two readout channels, wherein each readout channel comprises an analog-to-digital converter;
- and
- calibrating the at least one readout path by:
- reading a first pixel signal through at least two readout channels of one of said at least one readout path;
- and
- calibrating said readout channels, by a calibration circuit, based on the results of said first pixel signal being processed by said each of said at least two readout channels.
3 more elements
A pixel readout circuit for an imager comprising:
- at least one readout path for reading out respective signals from pixel cells of a pixel array of said imager, each readout path having a plurality of parallel readout channels, each readout channel comprising:
- an amplifier for amplifying a signal from a pixel array;
- and
- an analog-to-digital converter for digitizing an output from said amplifier;
- a circuit for reading out a signal of a first pixel cell to each of said amplifiers of said parallel readout channels;
- and
- a calibration circuit for calibrating said parallel readout channels based on respective outputs of said amplifiers of said parallel readout channels produced by amplifying said signal of said first pixel cell.
4 more elements
An imager comprising:
- an array of pixels;
- at least one readout path for reading out signals from a pixel array, each readout path having a plurality of parallel readout channels, each readout channel comprising:
- an amplifier for amplifying signals from a pixel array;
- and
- an analog-to-digital converter for digitizing an output from said amplifier;
- a calibration circuit for calibrating said parallel readout channels by comparing outputs of said amplifiers receiving the same pixel signal.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.