Back to results
US 9,438,841 B2Granted
Solid-state imaging apparatus and imaging system
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsKazuo Yamazaki, Tetsuya Itano, Hiroki Hiyama
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A solid-state imaging apparatus includes a pixel section in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix, a column signal line configured to output a pixel signal from the pixel section, a column amplifier circuit configured to invert and amplify the pixel signal, a bypass circuit configured to bypass the column amplifier circuit, an AD converter, and a control unit configured to change an operation mode of the AD converter in accordance with the operation of the bypass circuit.
Claims5
A solid-state imaging apparatus comprising:
- a pixel section in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix;
- a column signal line configured to output a pixel signal from the pixel section;
- a column amplifier circuit configured to output an amplified signal by inverting and amplifying the pixel signal;
- a bypass circuit configured to bypass the column amplifier circuit;
- a successive approximation analogue to digital (AD) converter;
- a correlated double sampling (CDS) processing unit configured to calculate a difference between a reset level of the pixel signal and an imaging signal;
- and
- a control unit configured to change an operation mode of the successive approximation AD converter,
- wherein the control unit is configured to:
- in a first operation mode, to control the successive approximation AD converter to AD-convert the pixel signal from the column signal line via the bypass circuit,
- in a second operation mode, to control the successive approximation AD converter to AD-convert the amplified signal, and
- to change differential processing of the CDS processing unit between the first operation mode and the second operation mode.
9 more elements
An imaging system comprising:
- a solid-state imaging apparatus;
- an optical system configured to form an image on the solid-state imaging apparatus;
- and
- a signal processing circuit configured to process an output signal from the solid-state imaging apparatus,
- the solid-state imaging apparatus comprising:
- a pixel section in which a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix;
- a column signal line configured to output a pixel signal from the pixel section;
- a column amplifier circuit configured to output an amplified signal by inverting and amplifying the pixel signal;
- a bypass circuit configured to bypass the column amplifier circuit;
- a successive approximation analogue to digital (AD) converter;
- a correlated double sampling (CDS) processing unit configured to calculate a difference between a reset level of the pixel signal and an imaging signal;
- and
- a control unit configured to change an operation mode of the successive approximation AD converter and the CDS processing unit,
- wherein the control unit is configured to:
- in a first operation mode, to control the successive approximation AD converter to AD-convert the pixel signal output from the column signal line via the bypass circuit,
- in a second operation mode, to control the successive approximation AD converter to AD-convert the amplified signal, and
- to change differential processing of the CDS processing unit between the first operation mode and the second operation mode.
14 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.