Method for improving SNR in low illumination conditions in a CMOS video sensor system using a self-resetting digital pixel
First Claim
1. A method for improving signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without reducing dynamic range in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) video sensor system under low illumination, wherein said system employing self-reset digital pixel sensor (DPS) architecture and wherein each DPS pixels capable of resetting itself whenever a corresponding diode reaches saturation during integration time, said method comprising steps of:
- eliminating global frame reset for said pixels thereby extending integration time beyond frame readout time;
generating a frame image using one or more previously stored frames.
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Abstract
A method for improving SNR without reducing dynamic range in a CMOS video sensor system under low illumination is described, wherein the CMOS video sensor system employing self-reset DPS architecture includes pixel level A/D conversion and wherein each DPS pixels is capable of resetting itself whenever a corresponding diode reaches saturation during integration time, the method comprising the steps of eliminating global frame reset for the self-reset DPS pixels, capturing and storing a plurality of frames, extending integration time beyond frame readout time, and generating frame images using one or more previously stored frames.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method for improving signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without reducing dynamic range in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) video sensor system under low illumination, wherein said system employing self-reset digital pixel sensor (DPS) architecture and wherein each DPS pixels capable of resetting itself whenever a corresponding diode reaches saturation during integration time, said method comprising steps of:
- eliminating global frame reset for said pixels thereby extending integration time beyond frame readout time;
generating a frame image using one or more previously stored frames. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
- eliminating global frame reset for said pixels thereby extending integration time beyond frame readout time;
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5. A method for improving signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without reducing dynamic range in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) video sensor system under low illumination, wherein said system employing self-reset digital pixel sensor (DPS) architecture and wherein each OPS pixels capable of resetting itself whenever a corresponding diode reaches saturation during integration time, said method comprising steps of:
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eliminating global frame reset for said DPS pixels;
capturing and storing a plurality of frames;
extending integration time beyond frame readout time; and
generating frame images using one or more previously stored frames. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method for improving signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without reducing dynamic range in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) video sensor system under low illumination, wherein said CMOS video sensor system employing self-reset digital pixel sensor (DPS) architecture including pixel level analog-to-digital conversion and wherein each DPS pixels is capable of resetting itself whenever a corresponding diode reaches saturation during integration time, said method comprising steps of:
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a) eliminating global frame reset;
b) capturing and storing a first frame;
c) determining photocurrent for said DPS pixels;
d) capturing and storing a next frame;
e) extending integration time beyond frame readout time;
f) analyzing captured frames to determine whether to terminate said extending step, wherein said extending step is terminated if motion blur is detected; and
g) generating frame image using number of self-resets occurred during said integration time and one or more previously stored frames. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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Specification