Photodiode array with expanded dynamic range
US6300613A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 20, 1999 |
| Grant date | Oct 9, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 20, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N25/57
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A charge balance type of photodiode array uses parallel A/D conversion in each channel of the photodiode array. The charge caused by the photocurrent of a photodiode in each channel is removed in predetermined charge packets provided by a dumping circuit and the binary encoded number of delivered charge packets corresponds to the actual photocurrent. Charge balance photodiode arrays have a wide variety of applications. It is therefore useful to adapt photodiode arrays to the specific requirements of an individual application. The intention therefore provides a photodiode array having at least one switching circuit to vary signal processing parameters such as a gain factor g or an attenuation factor k. This improvement facilitates a multifunctional photodiode array for a plurality of different applications.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.