Apparatus having an image sensor that is variable in spatial resolution and bit resolution and associated method
First Claim
1. An apparatus producing image signals adaptive to a predefined application, said apparatus comprising:
- an image sensor configurable to produce said image signals having a spatial resolution and an N-bit resolution in accordance with said predefined application, said image sensor having a sensor spatial resolution, said spatial resolution being upper limited by said sensor spatial resolution and N being equal to or greater than 1, wherein said image sensor includes a plurality of sensor circuits configured in a two-dimensional array, each of said sensor circuits including;
a sensor pixel producing one of said sensor signals when being exposed to said incident light; and
a first circuit causing said one of said sensor signals adjusted in accordance with one or more of parameters arranged in a two-dimensional array, wherein the size of said two-dimensional array for said parameters is substantially smaller than the size of said image sensor and each of said parameters is selectively configurable to be different from each other in accordance with said predefined application;
an optical system, in front of said image sensor, collecting and focusing incident light reflected from an object onto said image sensor; and
an output circuit, coupled to said image sensor, receiving said image signals and outputting said image signals thereof after said image signals are processed therein with respect to said predefined application.
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Abstract
The invention relates to a CMOS image sensor that can be embedded in portable imaging systems. This high spatial resolution and low bit resolution CMOS area image sensor not only enables portable imaging systems such as cellular fax phone, portable copy machines, barcode reader, but also it can be fabricated in standard digital CMOS processes, particularly at 0.35 micron and below. This invention also discloses several portable imaging systems using such a CMOS image sensor. This invention further discloses a CMOS image sensor that has variable spatial resolution and bit resolution. Starting as a high spatial resolution low-bit resolution image sensor, the high bit-resolution is achieved by combining information from a group of nearest-neighbor pixels into a single super-pixel via spatial oversampling. This variable CMOS image sensor can be used in a multiple function imaging device for both document and video imaging, or photography.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. An apparatus producing image signals adaptive to a predefined application, said apparatus comprising:
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an image sensor configurable to produce said image signals having a spatial resolution and an N-bit resolution in accordance with said predefined application, said image sensor having a sensor spatial resolution, said spatial resolution being upper limited by said sensor spatial resolution and N being equal to or greater than 1, wherein said image sensor includes a plurality of sensor circuits configured in a two-dimensional array, each of said sensor circuits including;
a sensor pixel producing one of said sensor signals when being exposed to said incident light; and
a first circuit causing said one of said sensor signals adjusted in accordance with one or more of parameters arranged in a two-dimensional array, wherein the size of said two-dimensional array for said parameters is substantially smaller than the size of said image sensor and each of said parameters is selectively configurable to be different from each other in accordance with said predefined application;
an optical system, in front of said image sensor, collecting and focusing incident light reflected from an object onto said image sensor; and
an output circuit, coupled to said image sensor, receiving said image signals and outputting said image signals thereof after said image signals are processed therein with respect to said predefined application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for producing image signals adaptive to a predefined application, the method comprising:
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producing the image signals, from an image sensor, having a spatial resolution and an N-bit resolution in accordance with a predefined application, the image sensor having a sensor spatial resolution, the spatial resolution being upper limited by the sensor spatial resolution and N being equal to or greater than 1, wherein the image sensor includes a plurality of sensor circuits configured in a two-dimensional array, each of the sensor circuits including;
a sensor pixel producing one of the sensor signals when being exposed to the incident light; and
a first circuit causing the one of the sensor signals adjusted in accordance with one or more of parameters arranged in a two-dimensional array, wherein the size of the two-dimensional array for the parameters is substantially smaller than the size of the image sensor and each of the parameters is selectively configurable to be different from each other in accordance with the predefined application;
receiving the image signals in an output circuit coupled to the image sensor, and outputting the image signals after the image signals are processed in the output circuit with respect to the predefined application. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification