Image sensor
US-2024380999-A1 · Nov 14, 2024 · US
Endoscope system using CMOS image sensor having pixels without internal sample/hold circuit
US9258501B2 · US · B2
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Publication number | US-9258501-B2 |
| Application number | US-201313835238-A |
| Country | US |
| Kind code | B2 |
| Filing date | Mar 15, 2013 |
| Priority date | Sep 3, 2009 |
| Publication date | Feb 9, 2016 |
| Grant date | Feb 9, 2016 |
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Abstract
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An endoscope system includes a host device and an endoscope including a very small area CMOS image sensor having only four pads (power, ground, digital in, analog out), and including an array of 4T pixels and associated control circuitry for performing correlated double sampling (CDS) to generate analog reset level and analog signal level values associated with light detected by photodiodes in each pixel. Instead of processing the analog values on-chip, the analog reset values and analog signal values are transmitted in separate sets one row at a time along with interleaved synchronization signals by way of a single analog contact pad to the host device of the endoscopic system, which uses the synchronization signals to reconstruct the sensor's internal clock in order to process the analog values. The endoscope housing thus requires only four wires and is made very small.
First claim
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The invention claimed is: 1. An endoscopic system comprising: a host device; and an endoscope including: an elongated cable comprising a plurality of wires having a fixed end attached to the host device and a tip; and a CMOS image sensor mounted on the cable adjacent to the tip and electrically connected to the host device by said plurality of wires, wherein the CMOS image sensor comprises: a semiconductor chip including a metal output pad electrically connected to an analo…
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- What does patent US9258501B2 cover?
- An endoscope system includes a host device and an endoscope including a very small area CMOS image sensor having only four pads (power, ground, digital in, analog out), and including an array of 4T pixels and associated control circuitry for performing correlated double sampling (CDS) to generate analog reset level and analog signal level values associated with light detected by photodiodes in …
- Who is the assignee on this patent?
- Tower Semiconductor Ltd
- What technology area does this patent fall under?
- Primary CPC classification H04N25/76. Mapped technology areas include Electricity.
- When was this patent published?
- Publication date Tue Feb 09 2016 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) (B2). Legal status and post-grant events are not shown on this page.
- What related patents are in patentsdb?
- We list 8 related publications on this page (citations in our corpus or others sharing the same primary CPC).