Patent · US Active

Digital column gain mismatch correction for 4T CMOS imaging systems-on-chip

US8094215B2 · kind B2 · utility

6Cited by
6References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateOct 2, 2008
Grant dateJan 10, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 6, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04N25/78
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that facilitate mitigating column gain mismatch in a CMOS imaging System-on-Chip (iSoC) sensor. Tunable voltages that mimic presence of photo-charge can be provided to test pixels in one or more rows of a pixel array. Moreover, column-specific digital gain corrections can be calibrated based upon input data received from the test pixels. During calibration, actual data can be compared to a target expected to be obtained via an analog readout architecture. The calibrated, column-specific digital gain corrections can be utilized to correct for column gain mismatch to yield output data. Further, correction values corresponding to the column-specific digital gain corrections can be retained in and retrieved from memory. The correction values, for example, can be a function of a scaling parameter that is tuned to match an available memory dynamic to a range of uncorrected gain mismatch.

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