Monolithic light-to-digital signal converter
First Claim
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1. A monolithic light-to-digital signal converter, comprising:
- a semiconductor die;
an array of photodiodes, said array including at least first, second, and third sections, said first section producing a first current signal in response to incident light, said second section producing a second current signal in response to incident light, said third section producing a third current signal in response to incident light;
a current-to-digital signal converter circuit formed in a face of said semiconductor die adjacent said light responsive circuit for receiving said current signals and producing a digital signal; and
a control circuit for receiving said digital signal and producing an output signal, said control circuit responsive to first programming signals for producing first control signals, said current-to-digital converter circuit responsive to said first control signals for selectively either converting said first current signal into said digital signal, or combining said first and second current signals into a first composite signal and converting said first composite into said digital signal, or combining said first, second, and third current signals into a second composite signal and converting said second composite signal into said digital signal, said control circuit receiving said digital signal and scaling said digital signal in response to second programming signals by a selected one of a plurality of values to produce said output signal.
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Abstract
A monolithic light-to-digital signal converter (1.10) includes a photodiode array (1.24) having a plurality of sections with each section producing a current signal in response to incident light, a current-to-digital signal converter circuit (1.28) for converting selected ones of the current signals to a digital signal, and a control circuit (1.26) for scaling the digital signal in response to user supplied programming signals. The control circuit (1.26) also responds to user supplied programming signals to supply control signals to current-to-digital signal converter circuit (1.28). Current-to-digital signal converter circuit (1.28) is responsive to the control signals for combining selected ones of the current signals into a composite current signal and converting the composite current signal to a digital signal.
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Citations
4 Claims
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1. A monolithic light-to-digital signal converter, comprising:
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a semiconductor die; an array of photodiodes, said array including at least first, second, and third sections, said first section producing a first current signal in response to incident light, said second section producing a second current signal in response to incident light, said third section producing a third current signal in response to incident light; a current-to-digital signal converter circuit formed in a face of said semiconductor die adjacent said light responsive circuit for receiving said current signals and producing a digital signal; and a control circuit for receiving said digital signal and producing an output signal, said control circuit responsive to first programming signals for producing first control signals, said current-to-digital converter circuit responsive to said first control signals for selectively either converting said first current signal into said digital signal, or combining said first and second current signals into a first composite signal and converting said first composite into said digital signal, or combining said first, second, and third current signals into a second composite signal and converting said second composite signal into said digital signal, said control circuit receiving said digital signal and scaling said digital signal in response to second programming signals by a selected one of a plurality of values to produce said output signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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Specification
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Current AssigneeTexas Instruments, Inc.
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Original AssigneeTexas Instruments, Inc.
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InventorsHassan, Mehedi, Dierschke, Eugene G., Aswell, Cecil J., Berlien, John H. Jr.
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Primary Examiner(s)Hoff, Marc S.
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Application NumberUS08/625,611Time in Patent Office991 DaysField of Search341/137, 341/155, 250/214 R, 250/214 DC, 250/214 SWUS Class Current341/137CPC Class CodesG01J 1/46 using a capacitorH03M 1/129 Means for adapting the inpu...H03M 1/60 with intermediate conversio...
