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Wide dynamic range using monochromatic sensor

  • US 9,621,817 B2
  • Filed: 11/28/2016
  • Issued: 04/11/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A system for digital imaging in a light deficient environment comprising:

  • an emitter for providing illumination in electromagnetic pulses;

    an image sensor that is sensitive to the electromagnetic pulses and creates image data therefrom;

    wherein said image sensor comprises a plurality of subsets of differing pixels;

    wherein each of the pixels comprises a transfer gate transistor;

    wherein each transfer gate transistor in one subset of pixels are electrically connected together by a TX signal;

    wherein the TX signal provides global operation of transfer gate transistor (TX) per subset of pixels;

    a memory comprising instruction for controlling the emitter so as to pulse for a plurality of exposures that correspond to the subsets of differing pixels;

    wherein said memory further comprises instructions that coordinate the pulses to be emitted during a predefined portion of the image sensor frame period during which pulse sensitive pixels are not read; and

    wherein a processor combines the plurality of exposures to expand dynamic range.

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