Optical black calibration
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- (a) reading first data from an image sensor in a preview mode, wherein the image sensor includes a plurality of rows of sensor elements, wherein the image sensor has a horizontally extending edge, a vertically extending edge, a valid area of sensor elements and a horizontally-extending shielded area of sensor elements, wherein the horizontally-extending shielded area extends horizontally between the valid area and the horizontally extending edge;
(b) reading second data from the horizontally-extending shielded area in a capture mode;
(c) using the second data read in (b) to determine an optical black value (OB value);
(d) reading third data from the valid area in the capture mode, wherein the OB value is determined in (c) before a substantial amount of third data is read from the valid area in (d); and
(e) using the OB value determined in (c) to modify the third data read in (d) to obtain optical black adjusted data (OBAD), wherein the OB value is not changed until after third data has been read in (d) from substantially all the sensor elements of the valid area.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Preview mode low-resolution readouts occur, and then a shutter button on a camera is pressed, which causes an image sensor cleanout operation to occur. Following the cleanout, a high-resolution readout occurs. As rows of sensor values are read, the first rows are rows corresponding to a pre-defined horizontally-extending shielded area. There are no valid area sensor elements to either side of the horizontally-extending area. Data values read from the horizontally-extending area are used to determine optical black (OB) values that are then used to adjust the valid area values read out of the image sensor in that same frame. The same OB values are used throughout the adjusting of the valid area values of the entire frame. No values from the preview readouts are used in the OB value determination, so there is a clean break between the preview mode OB level and the high-resolution capture OB level.
28 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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(a) reading first data from an image sensor in a preview mode, wherein the image sensor includes a plurality of rows of sensor elements, wherein the image sensor has a horizontally extending edge, a vertically extending edge, a valid area of sensor elements and a horizontally-extending shielded area of sensor elements, wherein the horizontally-extending shielded area extends horizontally between the valid area and the horizontally extending edge; (b) reading second data from the horizontally-extending shielded area in a capture mode; (c) using the second data read in (b) to determine an optical black value (OB value); (d) reading third data from the valid area in the capture mode, wherein the OB value is determined in (c) before a substantial amount of third data is read from the valid area in (d); and (e) using the OB value determined in (c) to modify the third data read in (d) to obtain optical black adjusted data (OBAD), wherein the OB value is not changed until after third data has been read in (d) from substantially all the sensor elements of the valid area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An integrated circuit, comprising:
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means for determining an optical black value (OB value) using first data read from a horizontally-extending shielded area of an image sensor, wherein the image sensor includes a plurality of horizontally-extending rows of sensor elements, wherein data can be read from the image sensor horizontally-extending row of sensor elements by horizontally-extending row of sensor elements, wherein the horizontally-extending shielded area extends between a horizontal edge of the image sensor and a valid area of the image sensor, wherein the first data is data from a first frame of image data, wherein no data from a frame of image data other than the first frame is used in the determining of the OB value, and wherein the OB value is determined before a substantial amount of first frame data from the valid area of the image sensor is read from the image sensor; and a register that stores the OB value throughout substantially the entire time that first frame data is read out from the valid area of the image sensor. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An analog front end (AFE) integrated circuit, comprising:
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a first set of registers, the contents of which are usable by circuitry within the AFE to identify data read from a horizontally-extending shielded area of an image sensor; a second set of registers, the contents of which are usable by the circuitry within the AFE to identify data read from a vertically-extending shielded area of the image sensor; and a third set of registers, the contents of which are usable by the circuitry within the AFE to identify data read from a valid area of the image sensor, wherein the image sensor has a horizontally-extending edge and a vertically-extending edge, wherein the horizontally-extending shielded area extends between the valid area and the horizontally-extending edge, and wherein the vertically-extending shielded area extends between the valid area and the vertically extending edge. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method, comprising:
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(a) powering up an image sensor; (b) reading first sensor data out of the image sensor, wherein the first sensor data is from a horizontally-extending shielded area of the image sensor, wherein the image sensor has a horizontally-extending edge; (c) using the first sensor data to determine an optical black value (OB value); (d) reading second sensor data out of the image sensor, wherein the second sensor data is from a valid area of the image sensor, wherein the horizontally-extending shielded area is at least partially between the valid area and the horizontally-extending edge; and (e) using the OB value to modify the second sensor data to obtain optical black adjusted data (OBAD), wherein both the first sensor data and the second sensor data are from a single frame of image data, and wherein the single frame of image data is the first frame of image data read out of the image sensor after the powering up of (a). - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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Specification