Photosensing throughout energy range and in subranges
First Claim
1. A method of sensing photon energies in an application'"'"'s energy range, the method comprising:
- for a path along which photon emanation can vary, photosensing with an IC that includes a photosensor array;
the act of photosensing comprising, in each of two or more segments of the path;
with a respective first set of one or more cells of the array, photosensing quantity of incident photons substantially throughout the application'"'"'s energy range;
with a respective second set of one or more cells in the array, photosensing quantity of incident photons within a respective subrange of the application'"'"'s energy range;
the respective subranges of at least two of the segments being different from each other.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An integrated circuit (IC) includes a photosensor array, some cells of which are reference cells that photosense throughout an application'"'"'s energy range, while other cells of which are subrange cells that photosense within respective subranges. For example, the subrange cells can receive photons in their respective subranges from a transmission structure that has laterally varying properties, such as due to varying optical thickness. The reference cells may be uncoated or may also receive photons through a transmission structure such as a gray filter. Subrange cells and reference cells may be paired in adjacent lines across the array, such as rows. Where photon emanation can vary along a path, quantities of incident photons photosensed by subrange cells along the path can be adjusted based on quantities photosensed by their paired reference cells, such as with normalization.
134 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of sensing photon energies in an application'"'"'s energy range, the method comprising:
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for a path along which photon emanation can vary, photosensing with an IC that includes a photosensor array;
the act of photosensing comprising, in each of two or more segments of the path;with a respective first set of one or more cells of the array, photosensing quantity of incident photons substantially throughout the application'"'"'s energy range;
with a respective second set of one or more cells in the array, photosensing quantity of incident photons within a respective subrange of the application'"'"'s energy range;the respective subranges of at least two of the segments being different from each other. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system that senses photon energies in an application'"'"'s energy range, the system comprising:
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an IC that includes a photosensor array, the array being positioned along a path along which photon emanation can vary;
the array including, along each of two or more segments of the path;a respective first set of one or more cells that photosense quantity of incident photons substantially throughout the application'"'"'s energy range; and a respective second set of one or more cells that photosense quantity of incident photons within a respective subrange of the application'"'"'s energy range;
the respective subranges of at least two of the segments being different from each other; andadjusting circuitry that responds to cells in the array and that, for at least one of the segments, uses the quantities photosensed by the segment'"'"'s respective first and second sets of cells to produce signals indicating quantity of incident photons in the segment'"'"'s respective subrange adjusted based on quantity of incident photons throughout the application'"'"'s energy range. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A photon energy sensor that senses photon energies in an application'"'"'s energy range, the sensor comprising:
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an IC that includes a photosensor array, the array including at least first and second lines of cells, the first and second lines including one or more first-second pairs of cells that are near each other, with a first line cell in each first-second pair being in the first line and a second line cell in each first-second pair being in the second line; and over the second line of cells, a second line transmission structure that provides incident photons to cells in the second line; for at least one of the first-second pairs of cells, the pair'"'"'s second line cell receiving from the second line transmission structure incident photons within a respective subrange of the application'"'"'s energy range and the pair'"'"'s first line cell receiving incident photons substantially throughout the application'"'"'s energy range. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification