Granted Patent B2

US 7,948,534 · App. 12/255,716 · Granted May 24, 2011

Abstract

Claims (37)

1. A charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor, comprising:

a plurality of photosensitive elements arranged in rows and columns;

a plurality of vertical CCDs each having vertical shift elements associated with respective ones of the photosensitive elements of a corresponding one of the columns, wherein the vertical CCDs each include a signal channel that transfers charge packets within the respective vertical CCD;

a horizontal CCD comprising horizontal shift elements;

a transition region arranged between the plurality of vertical CCDs and the horizontal CCD, the transition region comprising first, second and third rows of transition region shift elements with each row of transition region shift elements including gates, wherein the signal channels in the vertical CCDs are separated into first and second parallel signal channels and a plurality of shift elements in the first row of transition region shift elements receive and store charge packets from two adjacent columns of vertical CCDs in respective ones of the first and second parallel signal channels and wherein a plurality of shift elements in the second row of transition region shift elements receive charge packets from the first row of transition region shift elements and are each configured to store two different charge packets in respective ones of the first and second parallel signal channels;

a first common control line controlling a portion of the gates in the first row of transition region shift elements and a portion of the gates in the third row of transition region shift elements;

a second common control line controlling a remaining portion of the gates in the first row of transition region shift elements and a remaining portion of the gates in the third row of transition region shift elements; and

a third control line controlling the gates in the second row of transition region shift elements, wherein signals applied to the first, second, and third control lines controllably direct selected ones of the parallel signal channels to the horizontal shift elements of the horizontal CCD in accordance with a designated readout sequence.

2. The image sensor of claim 1 wherein a plurality of shift elements in the third row of transition region shift elements receive charge packets from the second row of transition region shift elements and direct the charge packets from the second row of transition region shift elements into corresponding ones of the horizontal shift elements of the horizontal CCD.

3. The image sensor of claim 1 wherein the vertical CCDs comprise two-phase vertical CCDs and each vertical shift element comprises a first phase vertical shift element and a second phase vertical shift element.

4. The image sensor of claim 3 wherein the shift elements in the second row of transition region shift elements comprise elongated transition region shift elements wherein a given one of the elongated transition region shift elements has approximately the same charge holding capacity as a pair of the first and second phase vertical shift elements of the vertical CCD.

5. The image sensor of claim 4 wherein the first phase vertical shift elements and the elongated transition region shift elements are each controlled by the third control line.

6. The image sensor of claim 1 wherein the separation of the signal channels provided by the vertical CCDs into first and second parallel signal channels in the transition region permits vertical binning of same-color charge packets generated by respective ones of the photosensitive elements.

7. The image sensor of claim 1 wherein the photosensitive elements are configured in accordance with a Bayer color filter array pattern.

8. The image sensor of claim 7 wherein the first and second parallel signal channels of the transition region corresponding to a first one of the vertical CCDs are configured to provide vertical binning of charge packets for pairs of green pixels of a first one of the columns and vertical binning of charge packets for pairs of blue pixels of that same column.

9. The image sensor of claim 8 wherein the first and second parallel signal channels of the transition region corresponding to a second one of the vertical CCDs are configured to provide vertical binning of charge packets for pairs of green pixels of a second one of the columns and vertical binning of charge packets for pairs of red pixels of that same column.

10. The image sensor of claim 1 wherein the photosensitive elements are configured in accordance with a sparse color filter array pattern.

11. A method of reading out a charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor, the image sensor comprising a plurality of photosensitive elements arranged in rows and columns, a plurality of vertical CCDs each having vertical shift elements associated with respective ones of the photosensitive elements of a corresponding one of the columns, and a horizontal CCD comprising horizontal shift elements, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a transition region arranged between the plurality of vertical CCDs and the horizontal CCD, wherein the transition region comprises first, second and third rows of transition region shift elements and at least a subset of the transition region shift elements in the second row are each configured to store two different charge packets generated by respective photosensitive elements in a single one of the columns;

separating each of a plurality of signal channels provided by respective ones of the vertical CCDs into first and second parallel signal channels in the transition region;

controllably directing charge packets from two adjacent columns of vertical CCDs in respective ones of the first and second parallel signal channels to a plurality of shift elements in the first row of transition region shift elements;

controllably directing charge packets from respective ones of the first and second parallel signal channels in the plurality of shift elements in the first row of transition region shift elements to a plurality of shift elements in the second row of transition region shift elements; and

controllably directing selected ones of the first and second parallel signal channels through the third row of transition region shift elements to the horizontal shift elements of the horizontal CCD in accordance with a designated readout sequence.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the separating and controllably directing steps provide vertical binning of same-color charge packets generated by respective ones of the photosensitive elements.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the photosensitive elements are configured in accordance with a Bayer color filter array pattern, wherein the first and second parallel signal channels of the transition region corresponding to a first one of the vertical CCDs are configured to provide vertical binning of charge packets for pairs of green pixels of a first one of the columns and vertical binning of charge packets for pairs of blue pixels of that same column, and wherein the first and second parallel signal channels of the transition region corresponding to a second one of the vertical CCDs are configured to provide vertical binning of charge packets for pairs of green pixels of a second one of the columns and vertical binning of charge packets for pairs of red pixels of that same column.

14. A digital imaging device comprising:

a charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor; and

one or more processing elements configured to process outputs of the image sensor to generate a digital image;

wherein said image sensor comprises:

a plurality of photosensitive elements arranged in rows and columns;

a plurality of vertical CCDs each having vertical shift elements associated with respective ones of the photosensitive elements of a corresponding one of the columns, wherein the vertical CCDs each include a signal channel that transfers charge packets within the respective vertical CCD;

a horizontal CCD comprising horizontal shift elements;

a transition region arranged between the plurality of vertical CCDs and the horizontal CCD, the transition region comprising first, second and third rows of transition region shift elements with each row of transition region shift elements including gates, wherein the signal channels in the vertical CCDs are separated into first and second parallel signal channels and a plurality of shift elements in the first row of transition region shift elements receive and store charge packets from two adjacent columns of vertical CCDs in respective ones of the first and second parallel signal channels and wherein a plurality of shift elements in the second row of transition region shift elements receive charge packets from the first row of transition region shift elements and are each configured to store two different charge packets in respective ones of the first and second parallel signal channels;

a first common control line controlling a portion of the gates in the first row of transition region shift elements and a portion of the gates in the third row of transition region shift elements;

a second common control line controlling a remaining portion of the gates in the first row of transition region shift elements and a remaining portion of the gates in the third row of transition region shift elements; and

a third control line controlling the gates in the second row of transition region shift elements, wherein signals applied to the first, second, and third control lines controllably direct selected ones of the parallel signal channels to the horizontal shift elements of the horizontal CCD in accordance with a designated readout sequence.

15. The digital imaging device of claim 14 wherein said digital imaging device comprises a digital camera.

Assignments (10)