Programmable data readout for an optical sensor

• US 8,610,790 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2011
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: AltaSens, Inc. (JVC Kenwood Corporation)
• Inventors: Blanquart, Laurent, Wallner, John D., Mao, Qianjiang
• Primary Examiner(s): SELBY, GEVELL V
• Application Number:
  US13/217,797
• Publication Number:
  US 20130050547A1
• Time in Patent Office: 845 Days
• Field of Search: 348/222.1, 348/294, 348/333.01
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/42 by switching between different modes of operation using different resolutions or aspect ratios, e.g. switching between interlaced and non-interlaced mode
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/441 by reading contiguous pixels from selected rows or columns of the array, e.g. interlaced scanning
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/46 by combining or binning pixels

Abstract

Programmable data readout for optical image sensors is disclosed herein. By way of example, vertical skipping and vertical mixing functionality is provided that is responsive to commands, enabling dynamic selectivity and processing of optical sensor data. A data output control system can be incorporated with or coupled to data readout circuitry of an optical sensor. The output control system comprises a vertical skipping engine that can dynamically select a subset of data for output in response to one or more skipping commands, and a vertical mixing engine that can act upon subsets of data in accordance with processing functions called by respective mixing commands. The disclosure provides simplification of selective data readout and processing for image sensors, potentially reducing design, testing, and maintenance overhead, as well as cost and number of integrated circuit components.

Claims

1. A system for reading data from an optical sensor array, comprising:

a command interface for receiving commands configured for dynamic output or processing of the data;

a processing engine for accessing and distributing the commands; and

a set of data engines configured to execute the commands and to control the dynamic output of a subset of the data or to perform logic operations on the data in response to the commands, and comprising a vertical skipping engine configured to select, in response to the processing engine receiving a skipping command, a subset of rows of the optical sensor array from which to compile the subset of data,

the skipping command comprises a direction instruction associated with a forward value and a reverse value.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an input interface connected to a readout path of the optical sensor array for receiving the data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the command interface is a serial to parallel command interface (SPI) for receiving and serializing the commands;

and the system further comprises a set of registers for storing respective instruction values of the commands, the instruction values are output to the processing engine.

4. The system of claim 1, the skipping command comprises an activation instruction associated with an active value and an inactive value.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the vertical skipping engine is configured to execute the skipping command in response to the skipping command containing the active value.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the vertical skipping engine is configured to ignore the skipping command in response to the skipping command containing the inactive value.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the vertical skipping engine is configured to return to and process a previous skipping command in response to the skipping command containing the inactive value.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the vertical skipping engine is configured to process the skipping command and proceed to a subsequent skipping command in response to the skipping command containing the active value.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the vertical skipping engine is configured to skip forward a specified number of rows in response to the skipping command containing the forward value.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the vertical skipping engine is configured to skip backward a number of rows in response to the skipping command containing the reverse value.

11. The system of claim 1, the skipping command indicates a number of rows to skip in conjunction with selecting a row of the subset of rows.

12. The system of claim 1, the set of data engines comprises a vertical mixing engine configured to act upon the subset of the data in response to the processing engine receiving a mixing command.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the mixing command incorporates a set of code primitives configured to call a set of line mixing functions to act upon the subset of the data.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of line mixing functions includes at least one of:

a data write operation, a data erase operation, a data addition operation, a data averaging operation, a data overlap operation, a data pass-through operation, or a data clipping operation, or a combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the mixing command comprises a goto target value that identifies a line of data for a mixing function to act upon.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the mixing command comprises a command value that identifies one of the set of code primitives for calling one of the set of line mixing functions for acting upon an identified line of the subset of the data.

17. The system of claim 1, further comprising an output interface for outputting data from the set of data engines to a display engine for display processing.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the vertical skipping engine is further configured to select, in response to the processing engine receiving a second skipping command, a second subset of rows of the optical sensor from which to compile a second subset of data, wherein the second subset of data is different from the subset of data.

19. The system of claim 18, the set of data engines further comprises a vertical mixing engine configured to, in response to the processing engine receiving a mixing command, select at least a portion of the subset of data and at least a second portion of the second subset of data in conjunction with outputting data from the set of data engines.

20. The system of claim 19, the vertical mixing engine is further configured to, in response to the processing engine receiving a second mixing command, select at least a third portion of the subset of data or at least a fourth portion of the second subset of data, in conjunction with outputting data from the set of data engines.

21. A method for processing data, comprising:

receiving a command configured for dynamic control of data output from an optical sensor array;

processing the command and extracting a skipping or mixing instruction from the command;

identifying an active state of the command;

executing the skipping or mixing instruction in conjunction with extracting at least a subset of the data from the optical sensor array; and

returning to a prior skipping instruction in response to the active state being inactive.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising selecting a subset of rows of the optical sensor array for data output in accordance with the skipping instruction.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising processing a subset of rows of the data in accordance with a mixing function referenced by the mixing instruction.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising executing the skipping or mixing instruction to compile the subset of the data.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising outputting the subset of the data for graphical processing and display.

26. The method of claim 21, further comprising identifying a number of rows for skipping, and identifying a direction for the skipping in response to the active state being active.

27. The method of claim 21, further comprising receiving a second command, extracting a second skipping instruction from the second command, and executing the second skipping instruction in conjunction with extracting at least a second subset of the data from the optical sensor array, the second subset of the data being different from the subset of the data and having more or fewer bits than the subset of the data.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising employing the mixing instruction to selectively mix at least a portion of the subset of the data with at least a second portion of the second subset of the data in conjunction with outputting selectively mixed data from the optical sensor array.

29. A method of providing dynamic data processing for an optical sensor array, comprising:

providing a data interface for dynamic and configurable output of data from the optical sensor array;

providing at least one of;

a skipping engine configured to output selected rows of data in accordance with a skipping command;

or

a mixing engine configured to process data output from the optical sensor array in accordance with a mixing command;

providing an interface for receiving and storing the skipping command or the mixing command;

providing a state machine for ordered receipt, storage and execution of skipping or mixing commands by the skipping engine or mixing engine; and

providing a data interface to the optical sensor array for dynamic and configurable output of data in accordance with execution of the skipping command or the mixing command.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that when executed by an electronic device cause the electronic device to:

receive a command configured for dynamic control of data output from an optical sensor array;

process the command and extract a dynamic skipping or mixing instruction;

execute the dynamic skipping or mixing instruction in conjunction with extracting at least a subset of the data from the optical sensor array;

identify the command as being in an active state or inactive state; and

return to a prior skipping instruction in response to the command being in the inactive state.