Method of operating ripple counter, image sensor having ripple counter, method of operating image sensor, and analog-to-digital converter of image sensor

A method of operating an image sensor including a plurality of up/down ripple counters, the method comprising:

• providing a first control signal and a second control signal;
• performing one of a stop operation and a count operation in response to an operation control signal, the operation control signal being based at least in part on the first control signal;
• and
• performing the count operation as one of an up-count operation and a down-count operation based on the second control signal,
• obtaining count values from the plurality of up/down ripple counters,
• sequentially shifting the count values using a plurality of the memory chains, and
• outputting the corresponding count values in series using the plurality of the memory chains.

A method of operating an image sensor including a plurality of up/down ripple counters, the method comprising:

• providing a first control signal and a second control signal to the plurality of up/down ripple counters;
• providing each of the plurality of up/down ripple counters with a corresponding operation control signal, the operation control signal being based at least in part on the first control signal;
• causing each of the plurality of up/down ripple counters to perform one of a stop operation and a count operation in response to the corresponding operation control signal;
• and
• controlling the count operation to be one of an up-count operation and a down-count operation in response to the provided second control signal, the controlling including,
• obtaining count values from the plurality of up/down ripple counters,
• sequentially shifting the count values, and
• outputting the corresponding count values in series.