Systems and methods for generating a digital image

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12445736-B2
Application number	US-202418932436-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 30, 2024
Priority date	May 1, 2015
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product for generating a digital image is disclosed. In use, a first image and a second image are received from a first image sensor, where the first image sensor detects wavelengths of a visible spectrum. A third image and a fourth image are received from a second image sensor, where the second image sensor detects wavelengths of a non-visible spectrum. Using an image processing subsystem, a resulting image is generated by combining one of the first image or the second image, with one of the third image or the fourth image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
an image sensor including a plurality of cells including: a first cell having a first photodiode generating a first analog signal, and a second cell having a second photodiode generating a second analog signal, for being utilized to generate at least a portion of one or more line analog signals that correspond to a line of cells of the image sensor;
a line in communication with the plurality of cells, the line communicating the one or more line analog signals;
a first analog-to-digital channel in communication with the line, the first analog-to-digital channel capable of receiving at least one of the one or more line analog signals for conversion thereof to a first line digital signal;
a second analog-to-digital channel in communication with the line, the second analog-to-digital channel capable of receiving at least one of the one or more line analog signals for conversion thereof to a second line digital signal; and
circuitry in communication with the first analog-to-digital channel and the second analog-to-digital channel, the circuitry capable of receiving at least one of the first line digital signal or the second line digital signal, for image generation;
wherein the apparatus is configured such that a first gain and a second gain are capable of being applied before the image generation;
wherein the apparatus is configured such that different adjacent cells of the image sensor correspond with a same color of light, and are subject to:
for a first image, a first sampling for which one or more analog signals generated by each of the different adjacent cells corresponding with the same color of light is sampled and combined before being utilized to generate at least a portion of at least one first line analog signal that corresponds to a line associated with the different adjacent cells of the image sensor, and
for a second image, a second sampling for which one or more analog signals generated by at least a subset of the different adjacent cells corresponding with the same color of light is sampled without being combined with any analog signal generated by any other of the different adjacent cells corresponding with the same color of light before being utilized to generate at least a portion of at least one second line analog signal that corresponds to the line associated with the different adjacent cells of the image sensor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is configured such that: the first and second cells correspond with a first row and the line includes a first column line; the plurality of cells further include a third cell having a third photodiode generating a third analog signal, and a fourth cell having a fourth photodiode generating a fourth analog signal, where the third cell and the fourth cell of the image sensor correspond with the same color of light, and the third and fourth cells are part of a second row and are in communication with the first column line; the plurality of cells further include a fifth cell having a fifth photodiode generating a fifth analog signal, and a sixth cell having a sixth photodiode generating a sixth analog signal, where the fifth cell and the sixth cell of the image sensor correspond with the same color of light, and the fifth and sixth cells are part of the first row and are in communication with a second column line; the plurality of cells further include a seventh cell having a seventh photodiode generating a seventh analog signal, and an eighth cell having an eighth photodiode generating a eighth analog signal, where the seventh cell and the eighth cell of the image sensor correspond with the same color of light, and the seventh and eighth cells are part of the second row and are in communication with the second column line;
for a third image, a third sampling is performed for which: the first analog signal and the second analog signal generated by the first and second cells are combined to form a first row/first column combined signal, and the third analog signal and the fourth analog signal generated by the third and fourth cells are combined to form a second row/first column combined signal, such that: during a first time period: a first gain is applied to the first row/first column combined signal to generate and communicate to the first column line a first-gain amplified first row/first column signal, and the first gain is applied to the second row/first column combined signal to generate and communicate to the first column line a first-gain amplified second row/first column signal that is combined with the first-gain amplified first row/first column signal, to generate a first-gain amplified combined first column signal; during a second time period, after the first time period: a second gain is applied to the first row/first column combined signal to generate and communicate to the first column line a second-gain amplified first row/first column signal, and the second gain is applied to the second row/first column combined signal to generate and communicate to the first column line a second-gain amplified second row/first column signal that is combined with the second-gain amplified first row/first column signal, to generate a second-gain amplified combined first column signal; the fifth analog signal and the sixth analog signal generated by the fifth and sixth cells are combined to form a first row/second column combined signal, and the seventh analog signal and the eighth analog signal generated by the seventh and eighth cells are combined to form a second row/second column combined signal, such that: during the first time period: the first gain is applied to the first row/second column combined signal to generate and communicate to the second column line a first-gain amplified first row/second column signal, and the first gain is applied to the second row/second column combined signal to generate and communicate to the second column line a first-gain amplified second row/second column signal that is combined with the first-gain amplified first row/second column signal, to generate a first-gain amplified combined second column signal that is combined with the first-gain amplified combined first column signal, before analog-to-digital conversion; during the second time period: the second gain is applied to the first row/second column combined signal to generate and communicate to the second column line a second-gain amplified first row/second column signal, and the second gain is applied to the second row/second column combined signal to generate and communicate to the second column line a second-gain amplified second row/second column signal that is combined with the second-gain amplified first row/second column signal, to generate a second-gain amplified combined second column signal that is combined with the second-gain amplified combined first column signal, before analog-to-digital conversion.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the apparatus is configured such that different combinations of one or more of at least four gains including a first gain, the second gain, a third gain, and a fourth gain, are applied for the first image, the second image, and the third image.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the apparatus is configured such that the different combinations include: a first combination including: the first gain and the second gain applied in serial before corresponding column line read outs to at least one of the first analog-to-digital channel or the second analog-to-digital channel, and a second combination including: the first gain applied without the second gain being applied before a corresponding column line read out to at least one of the first analog-to-digital channel or the second analog-to-digital channel, and a third gain and a fourth gain applied in parallel after the corresponding column li

Assignees

• Duelight Llc

Inventors

• Rivard William
• Feder Adam
• Kindle Brian

Classifications

• H04N23/6811

  based on the image signal · CPC title

• H04N23/76

  by influencing the image signals · CPC title

• H04N23/72

  Combination of two or more compensation controls · CPC title

• G06T2207/20221

  Image fusion; Image merging · CPC title

• G06T5/50

  using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction · CPC title