Multi-mode CMOS image sensor and control method thereof

• US 11,057,562 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2016
• Issued: 07/06/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Capital Normal University (Beijing Education Commission), Chinamap Hi-Tech (Beijing) Information Technology Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Capital Normal University (Beijing Education Commission), Chinamap Hi-Tech (Beijing) Information Technology Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Meng, Guanjia, Gong, Huili, Li, Xiaojuan, Zhong, Ruofei, Guo, Jiao, Yang, Cankun
• Primary Examiner(s): Selby, Gevell V
• Application Number:
  US15/771,384
• Publication Number:
  US 20190058831A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,666 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/002 for television cameras
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/41 Extracting pixel data from a plurality of image sensors simultaneously picking up an image, e.g. for increasing the field of view by combining the outputs of a plurality of sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/533 by using differing integration times for different sensor regions

Abstract

The present invention discloses a multimode CMOS image sensor and a control method thereof. The sensor comprises an independent control area group, a peripheral control circuit, a section mode setting module and a section mode configuration module. The method comprises dividing an independent control area group of the sensor into sections; setting a mode for each of the sections obtained; configuring a control mode of the peripheral control circuit for a corresponding section according to the mode set. By means of the present invention, when imaging in a push-broom mode, a regular sequence of images with fixed pixel difference can be produced at high frequency, and by performing pixel unmixing or integrating on the images obtained, the resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of the images can be effectively increased; because it is possible for some image unit area(s) of the sensor not to be selected as a scanning area, such design can bypass image units with quality issues when imaging by the hardware, which increases the reliability of the device; the characteristic of multiple times of imaging for the same target within very short time by multiple channels of the device can be utilized to realize moving target detection of optical camera imaging.

Claims

1. A multimode CMOS image sensor, characterized in comprising:

an independent control area group, in which each independent control area has an image sensitive unit row and an independent control circuit;

a peripheral control circuit, for performing row-selection driving on the image sensitive unit rows and providing working time-sequence to the image sensitive unit rows;

a section mode setting module, for performing section dividing on the independent control areas and performing mode setting on the divided sections;

a section mode configuration module connected to the section mode setting module, the peripheral control circuit and the independent control circuits, for configuring a control mode of the peripheral control circuit and the independent control circuit for a corresponding section according to a mode set by the section mode setting module,

when the section mode configuration module configures a section to work in a push-broom mode, a row-selection control circuit is instructed to sequentially select image sensitive unit rows in the section for connection, configure all the image sensitive unit rows in the section to have the same scanning frequency, and choose an output circuit of one independent control area in the section to be the output circuit for the entire section.

2. The multimode CMOS image sensor of claim 1, characterized in that, the mode is any one of a push-broom mode, a push-frame mode and a disabled mode.

3. The multimode CMOS image sensor of claim 1, characterized in further comprising a damaged image unit detection module connected to signal output ports of the independent control areas, and a damaged image unit report module connected to the damaged image unit detection module, wherein,

the damaged image unit detection module is for detecting whether an image sensitive unit array contains a damaged image sensitive unit and detecting a location of the damaged image sensitive unit in the image sensitive unit array according to data outputted from the sensor;

the damaged image unit report module is for reporting that the image sensitive unit array contains a damaged image sensitive unit and reporting the location of the damaged image sensitive unit to an operator.

4. The multimode CMOS image sensor of claim 1, characterized in that, when the section mode configuration module configures a section to work in a push-frame mode, a row-selection control circuit is instructed to simultaneously select all image sensitive unit rows in the section for connection, configure all the image sensitive unit rows in the section to have the same sampling time and frequency, and choose an output circuit of one independent control area in the section to be the output circuit for the entire section.

5. The multimode CMOS image sensor of claim 1, characterized in that, when the section mode configuration module configures a section to work in a disabled mode, all image sensitive unit rows in the section of independent control area are no longer selected for connection by a row-selection control circuit.

6. The multimode CMOS image sensor of claim 1, characterized in that, the independent control area group is divided into a first section, a second section and a third section along a column direction, wherein, the first and third sections work in a push-broom mode, and the second section works in a push-frame mode.

7. A control method for the multimode CMOS image sensor of any one of the aforementioned claims, characterized in comprising the steps of:

dividing an independent control area group of the sensor into sections;

setting a mode for each of the sections obtained;

configuring a control mode of the peripheral control circuit for a corresponding section according to the mode set.

8. The control method of claim 7, characterized in that, the mode is any one of a push-broom mode, a push-frame mode and a disabled mode.

9. The control method of claim 8, characterized in that, before any section is set to be in the disabled mode, the method comprises the steps of:

detecting whether the respective sections contain a damaged image sensitive unit according to image signal outputted from the respective sections, and determining the location of the damaged image sensitive unit if the damaged image sensitive unit exists;

when a damaged image sensitive unit is detected, reporting the existence of a damaged image sensitive unit and the location thereof.