Patent · US Expired

Photosensor assembly with shared structures

US6894812B1 · kind B1 · utility

8Cited by
27References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 31, 2000
Grant dateMay 17, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 2, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N1/193
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A photosensor assembly has at least one line array of photosensors with a first sensor size, and at least one line array of photosensors with a second sensor size, with the two sizes being different. In an example embodiment, for every band of wavelengths being sensed, there are two line arrays of sensors, with one line array having relatively small sensor areas and the other line array having relatively large sensor areas. The line arrays with relatively small sensor areas are used for high native input sampling rates, and the line arrays with relatively large sensor areas are used for high color accuracy and speed. To minimize cost and circuit area, each line array of sensors having large sensor areas shares a charge shift register with a line array of sensors having small sensor areas. If overflow drains are present, some pairs of sensor line arrays may also share overflow drains.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.