US 9,179,110 B2 · Imaging systems with modified clear image pixels

Abstract

An image sensor may have an array of image sensor pixels arranged in unit pixel cells each having at least one modified clear image pixel. Each modified clear image pixel may include a modified clear color filter element formed from a transparent material such as an oxide material that is modified with a colored pigment or colored dye such as yellow pigment. Each unit pixel cell may include one or more color pixels of other colors such as red pixels, blue pixels, and green pixels. Image signals such as yellow image signals from the modified clear pixels may be processed along with other color image signals such as red image signals and blue image signals to generate standard red, green, and blue image data. Image processing operations may include chroma demosaicing or point filtering of the image signals from the modified clear image pixels.

Claims17

Dependent claims

An image sensor, comprising:

a plurality of red image sensor pixels each having a red color filter element;
a plurality of blue image sensor pixels each having a blue color filter element;
and
a plurality of modified clear image pixels each having a modified clear color filter element that includes a mixture of transparent material and color pigment material, wherein the plurality of red image sensor pixels, the plurality of blue image sensor pixels, and the plurality of modified clear image pixels are arranged in a pattern of repeating two-pixel by two-pixel unit cells across an image sensor pixel array, and wherein each of the two-pixel by two-pixel unit cells comprises a corresponding pair of the modified clear image pixels.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Imaging systems with modified clear image pixels

Life of this patent

Imaging systems with modified clear image pixels

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17