Image sensor for capturing and filtering image data

• US 7,257,278 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2003
• Issued: 08/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Goris, Andrew C., Owens, James W., Nay, Kevin W., Miller, Casey, Burks, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Alavi; Amir
• Application Number:
  US10/374,276
• Publication Number:
  US 20040165080A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,630 Days
• Field of Search: 382/254, 382/260, 382/276, 382/277, 382/299, 382/312, 382/313, 348/207.99, 348/220.1, 348/222.1, 348/223.1, 348/234, 348/243, 348/302, 348/312, 348/229.1, 345/156, 345/179, 396/282, 235/380, 399/47
• US Class Current: 382/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/46 by combining or binning pixels
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation

Abstract

An integrated image sensor for acquiring and processing electrical signals representative of an object comprising a photosite array configured to convert light into the electrical signals, an A/D converter configured to convert the electrical signals into digital data, and logic integral with the image sensor configured to scale the digital data by a non-integer-scaling factor. A method for acquiring and processing image data with an integrated image sensor comprising the steps of capturing, via the image sensor, the image data representative of an image, scaling, via the image sensor, the image data by a non-integer value, and outputting from the integrated image sensor scaled image data.

Claims

1. An image sensor for acquiring and processing image data, the sensor comprising:

an integrated circuit (IC) chip;

a photosite array configured to convert light into electrical signals;

a converter configured to convert the electrical signals into digital data; and

scaling logic configured to apply spatial image resolution scaling to the digital image data, wherein the photosite array and the logic reside on the IC chip, and wherein the spatial image resolution scaling is defined by a scaling factor that is function of a selected image resolution, a selected zoom factor, and a total number of pixels in the photosite array.

2. The sensor of claim 1, wherein the logic is further configured to transmit scaled digital image data.

3. The sensor of claim 2, further comprising binning logic configured to receive the digital image data, the binning logic further configured to modify the resolution of the digital image data and transmit modified digital image data representative of the electrical signals, the binning logic residing on the IC chip.

4. The sensor of claim 3, wherein the scaling logic is further configured to scale the modified digital data and transmit spatially scaled data to a processor.

5. A method for acquiring and processing image data, the method comprising the steps:

capturing, via an integrated circuit, data representative of an image;

scaling, via the integrated circuit, the image data, wherein the scaling is performed as a function of a selected image resolution, a selected zoom factor, and a total number of pixels in a photosite array on the integrated circuit; and

transmitting, from the integrated circuit, spatially scaled image data.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of binning the image data to modify the resolution of the data representative of the image.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, further comprising the step of receiving an input representative of a desired resolution from a user.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, further comprising the step of scaling the image data with a non-integer value based upon the desired resolution received in the receiving step.

9. A system for processing image data, the system comprising:

a processor; and

an image sensor configured to collect the image data indicative of an object, the image sensor further configured to spatial image resolution scale the image data by a scaling factor and output scaled image data to the processor, wherein the image sensor is an integrated circuit, and the scaling factor is a function of a selected image resolution, a selected zoom factor, and a total number of pixels in a photosite array on the image sensor.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising a memory device configured to receive and store the scaled image data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the image sensor comprises a photosite array configured to convert light reflected from the object into electrical signals and output the electrical signals as at least one analog signal.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the image sensor is further configured to digitize the at least one analog signal and output digital data representative of the object.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the image sensor is further configured to bin the digital data.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising a user-input device, the user-input device configured to receive a desired resolution from a user.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the image sensor is further configured to receive a signal indicative of the desired resolution.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the image sensor is further configured to calculate the scaling factor based upon the desired resolution.

17. An integrated image sensor, the sensor comprising:

means for collecting image data representative of an object; and

logic configured to scale the image data, wherein the means for collecting and the logic are formed on a single semiconductor, and wherein the logic is configured to scale the image as a function of a selected image resolution, a selected zoom factor, and a total number of pixels in a photosite array on the means for collecting image data.

18. A sensor of claim 17, further comprising a means for receiving a resolution value indicative of a desired resolution indicated by a user.

19. A sensor of claim 18, wherein the logic is further configured to scale the image data by an integer or non-integer value based upon the resolution value received.

20. A sensor of claim 19, further comprising a means for transmitting scaled image data to a processor.