Active pixel sensor array with multiresolution readout

• US 5,949,483 A
• Filed: 01/22/1997
• Issued: 09/07/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: California Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: California Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Fossum, Eric R., Pain, Bedabrata, Kemeny, Sabrina E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Garber, Wendy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Vu, Ngoc-Yen, VU, NGOC YEN T
• Application Number:
  US08/785,930
• Time in Patent Office: 958 Days
• Field of Search: 348/294, 348/295, 348/302, 348/303, 348/304, 348/307, 348/308, 348/309, 348/310, 348/311, 348/315, 348/316
• US Class Current: 348/303
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 19/282 with charge storage in a depletion layer, i.e. charge coupled devices [CCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 19/285 Peripheral circuits, e.g. for writing into the first stage; for reading-out of the last stage
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14621 Colour filter arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14627 Microlenses
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14645 Colour imagers
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14843 Interline transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/1485 Frame transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14856 Time-delay and integration
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 27/14887 Blooming suppression
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/02162 for filtering or shielding light, e.g. multicolour filters for photodetectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 31/0232 Optical elements or arrangements associated with the device H01L31/0236 takes precedence; for photovoltaic cells H01L31/054; for photovoltaic modules H02S40/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/10 for generating image signals from different wavelengths
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/134 based on three different wavelength filter elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/531 by controlling rolling shutters in CMOS SSIS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/616 involving a correlated sampling function, e.g. correlated double sampling [CDS] or triple sampling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/63 applied to dark current
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/65 applied to reset noise, e.g. KTC noise related to CMOS structures by techniques other than CDS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/70 SSIS architectures; Circuits associated therewith
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 25/77 Pixel circuitry, e.g. memories, A/D converters, pixel amplifiers, shared circuits or shared components

Abstract

An imaging device formed as a monolithic complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit in an industry standard complementary metal oxide semiconductor process, the integrated circuit including a focal plane array of pixel cells, each one of the cells including a photogate overlying the substrate for accumulating photo-generated charge in an underlying portion of the substrate and a charge coupled device section formed on the substrate adjacent the photogate having a sensing node and at least one charge coupled device stage for transferring charge from the underlying portion of the substrate to the sensing node. There is also a readout circuit, part of which can be disposed at the bottom of each column of cells and be common to all the cells in the column. The imaging device can also include an electronic shutter formed on the substrate adjacent the photogate, and/or a storage section to allow for simultaneous integration. In addition, the imaging device can include a multiresolution imaging circuit to provide images of varying resolution. The multiresolution circuit could also be employed in an array where the photosensitive portion of each pixel cell is a photodiode. This latter embodiment could further be modified to facilitate low light imaging.

Claims

1. A multiresolution imaging device comprising:

a focal plane array of CMOS active pixel cells monolithically formed on a semiconductor substrate, wherein each of the cells includes a photosensing element operable to generate electrical charge in response to an image scene, a charge coupled device section adjacent to said photosensing element having a sensing node and a charge coupling stage for transferring said charge from said photosensing element to said sensing node, a readout circuit connected to said sensing node and configured to have at least one output transistor for producing an image signal output indicative of said image scene; and

a multiresolution circuit formed on said substrate, connectable to each one of said cells for processing the image signal output from each one of a group of cells forming a contiguous block within the array and operable to vary a number of cells in said contiguous block to produce different output resolutions.

2. The image device of claim 1, wherein the multiresolution circuit comprises:

a block average element operable to combine and average the image signals output from the cells forming said block to produce a block average; and

a block average output element outputting a signal representative of the block average.

3. The image device of claim 1, wherein the multiresolution circuit includes an element operating to process the image signals associated with more than one block within the array.

4. The image device of claim 1, wherein the focal plane array of cells is organized by rows and columns of said cells, and wherein the multiresolution circuit is capable of being simultaneously connected to at least two cells within a row of the array.

5. The image device of claim 1, wherein said photosensing element in each of said cells includes a photodiode operating in either a current mode or a voltage mode.

6. The image device of claim 1, wherein the focal plane array of cells further comprises:

a reset element connected to each sensing node and configured to periodically reset a potential of said sensing node to a predetermined potential to produce a reset signal from the sensing node.

7. The image device of claim 6, wherein the multiresolution circuit further comprises:

a reset average element connected to combine and average the reset signals from the cells forming said block to produce a block reset average.

8. The image device of claim 1, wherein the image signal output by the cells of the focal plane array is a succession of discrete image readouts, each readout representing the image scene captured by said focal plane array at a different time, further comprising an element connected and configured to combine and average image signals output from the cells of a block to produce a block average for each image readout and wherein the multiresolution circuit further comprises:

a temporal average element connected and configured to combine and average the block averages produced in a prescribed number of consecutive image readouts to produce a temporal block average; and

an output element connected and configured to output a signal representative of the temporal block average.

9. A multiresolution imaging device comprising:

a focal plane array of CMOS active pixel cells monolithically formed on a semiconductor substrate and arranged relative to one another in rows and columns, wherein each of the cells includes a photosensing element operable to generate electrical charge in response to an image scene, a charge coupled device section adjacent to said photosensing element having a sensing node and a charge coupling stage for transferring said charge from said photosensing element to said sensing node, a readout circuit connected to said sensing node and configured to have at least one output transistor for producing an image signal output indicative of said image scene;

a multiresolution circuit formed on said substrate, connectable to each cell for processing the image signal output from each one of a group of cells forming a contiguous block within the array and operable to vary a number of cells in said continuous block to produce different output resolutions, wherein the multiresolution circuit is capable of being simultaneously connected to at least two cells in a row of the array and comprises;

a column averaging element, operating to combine and average the image signal outputs from a predetermined number of consecutive cells within the row of the array, wherein said predetermined number of consecutive cells constitutes a row of a block of cells and said combining and averaging produces an average for the row of the block; and

a row averaging element comprising,

a storage element operable to receive and store averages for consecutive rows of the block of cells from the column averaging element, and

a processing element operable to combine and average said stored averages, thereby producing a block average.

10. The image device of claim 9, wherein the image signal output by the cells of the focal plane array comprises a succession of discrete image readouts, each readout representing the image scene captured by said focal plane array at a different time and the multiresolution circuit further comprises:

a temporal averaging element comprising,

a storage unit configured and connected to receive and store block averages from the row averaging element after each consecutive image readout, and

a temporal block average unit configured and connected to combine and average said stored block averages for a prescribed number of image readouts, thereby producing a temporal block average.

11. An image device, comprising:

a focal plane array of pixel cells wherein each cell responds to an input image and has a sensing node which outputs an image signal;

a multiresolution circuit connectable to each one of said cells for processing the image signal output from each one of a group of cells forming a contiguous block within the array;

a block average element configured to combine and average signals from said block to produce a block average;

a reset element connected to each sensing node and configured to periodically reset a potential of said sensing node to a predetermined potential to produce a reset signal from said sensing node;

a reset average element configured to combine and average the reset signals from the cells forming said block to produce a block reset average;

a comparing element configured and connected to differentially compare the block average and the block reset average to produce a differential block average; and

an output element connected to output a signal representative of the differential block average.

12. An imaging device comprising:

a focal plane array of CMOS active pixel cells monolithically formed on a semiconductor substrate, wherein each one of the cells includes a photosensing element operable to generate electrical charge in response to an image scene, a charge coupled device section adjacent to said photosensing element having a sensing node and a charge coupling stage for transferring said charge from said photosensing element to said sensing node, a readout circuit connected to said sensing node and configured to have at least one output transistor for producing an image signal output indicative of said image scene; and

a multiresolution circuit interconnecting adjacent photosensing elements so as to form a contiguous block within the array and produce a combined output image signal, said combined output image signal representing an average of the image signals output by each of the photosensing elements in the block.

13. The imaging device of claim 12, wherein the multiresolution circuit is capable of simultaneously forming more than one block within the array, each block being any prescribed shape and size.

14. The imaging device of claim 13, wherein said photosensing element in each of said cells includes a photodiode.

15. A low light imaging device comprising:

a monolithic semiconductor integrated circuit substrate;

a focal plane array of CMOS active pixel cells formed on said substrate, each one of said pixel cells comprising,

a photodiode formed within the substrate,

a floating diffusion disposed and configured to receive electrical charge from said photodiode,

a readout circuit connected to the floating diffusion, and

a transfer gate overlying the substrate between said floating diffusion and the photodiode; and

interconnecting circuit operating to interconnect adjacent photodiodes so as to form a contiguous block within the array.

16. The imaging device of claim 15, wherein the interconnecting circuit is capable of simultaneously forming more than one block within the array, each block being any prescribed shape and size.

17. The imaging device as in claim 15, wherein a single floating diffusion in one of the cells in said contiguous block is pulsed to read out accumulated charge in said contiguous block, thus reducing an effective output capacitance.

18. A method of performing multiresolution imaging comprising:

providing a focal plane array of CMOS active pixel cells formed on a monolithic substrate, each cell including a photosensing element, a charge coupled device section adjacent to said photosensing element having a sensing node and a charge coupling stage for transferring electrical charge from said photosensing element to said sensing node, a readout circuit connected to said sensing node and configured to have at least one output transistor;

using said array to capture an image scene;

connecting a group of cells to form a contiguous block within the array;

combining and averaging image signals output from the cells forming said block to produce a block average; and

,

outputting a signal representative of the block average.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising forming plural blocks and a block average for each of said blocks.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the focal plane array of cells is organized by rows and columns of said cells, and wherein the step of connecting a group of cells to form a contiguous block within the array comprises the steps of:

simultaneously connecting at least two cells within a row of the array;

combining and averaging the image signal outputs from a predetermined number of consecutive cells within a row of the array, wherein said predetermined number of consecutive cells constitutes a row of a block of cells and said combining and averaging produces an average for the row of the block;

receiving and storing averages for consecutive rows of the block of cells; and

combining and averaging said stored averages, thereby producing said block average.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

periodically resetting a potential of said sensing node to a predetermined potential to produce a reset signal from the sensing node;

combining and averaging the reset signals from the cells forming said block to produce a block reset average;

differentially comparing the block average and the block reset average to produce a differential block average; and

, outputting a signal representative of the differential block average.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the image signal output by the cells of the focal plane array is a succession of discrete image readouts, each readout representing the scene viewed by the image device at a different time, and further comprising:

combining and averaging the block averages produced in a prescribed number of consecutive image readouts to produce a temporal block average; and

outputting a signal representative of the temporal block average.