Mulitple gated pixel per readout
A system for providing an improved image of daytime and nighttime scene for a viewer within a vehicle is provided herein. The system includes: a pixel array sensor having a fully masked gate-off capability at a single pixel level, wherein the pixel array sensor is provided with an inherent anti-blooming capability at the single pixel level; wherein each pixel is gated by a corresponding transfer gate transistor having high transfer gate efficiency. The system further includes a gating unit configured to control the transfer gate transistors with pulsed or continuous wave modulated active and passive light sources, to yield a synchronized sensing signal from the sensor, wherein a single pulse is sufficient to cover the entire field of view of the sensor and the entire depth of field of the illuminated scene; and a processing unit configured to receive the synchronized sensing signal and process it.
1. A method of providing an improved image of daytime and nighttime scene, the method comprising:
configuring a pixel array sensor to have a masked gate-off capability at a single pixel level,
providing the pixel array sensor with an inherent anti-blooming capability at the single pixel level, wherein each pixel is gated by a corresponding transfer gate transistor having a high transfer gate efficiency,
configuring a gating unit to control the transfer gate transistors of the pixel array sensor so as to accumulate a sequence of multiple exposures per single readout of the pixel based on specified exposure parameters, and
configuring the pixel sensor array to operate in at least one mode other than gating.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pixel array sensor is attached to a moving platform.
3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the gating unit to operate with a synchronized pulsed light source.
4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the gating unit to operate with an unsynchronized light source.
5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the gating unit to simultaneously gate at least two pixel clusters with different gating parameters by independently controlling the transfer gate transistors of the pixels at the at least two pixel clusters.
6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the different gating parameters comprise synchronization parameters in regard with one or more light source, to match a different scenery volume for the different pixel clusters.
7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the different gating parameters are selected, so that an independent accumulation of the signal is carried out each of the different pixel clusters.
8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the inherent anti-blooming capability at the single pixel level to exhibit a ratio of at least 60 dB between a saturated pixel at the pixel array and a second adjacent pixel.
9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising achieving low noise in the pixel by resetting its potential voltage during the period without a light source pulse or light source modulation to reduce parasitic noise in the photodiode.
10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising achieving the high transfer gate efficiency by setting a high potential voltage between the pixel and the floating diffusion of the transfer gate to enable an intense electrical field in which electrical charge carriers have higher probability to be extracted to the floating diffusion.
11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising achieving the high transfer gate efficiency by setting physical dimensions of the transfer gate, such that the transfer gate at the photodiode side is substantially larger than a transfer gate at the floating diffusion side.
12. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising achieving the high transfer gate efficiency by setting the transfer gate at the photodiode side to be substantially without holes.
13. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the pixel to detect light within a range covering from 400 nm to 1100 nm.
14. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the pixel to detect light within a range covering from 700 nm to 2 μm.
15. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the pixel array sensor configured to operate in conjunction with color filters.
16. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the active light source pulses or active light source modulation are within a range covering from 700 nm to 2.2 μm.
17. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the pixel array sensor to be sufficiently sensitive to detect reflections arriving from a distance of between approximately 20 m and 200 m, wherein the reflection are attenuated prior to reaching the pixel array sensor at least two orders of magnitude.
18. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising introducing at least a single spectral filter or at least a single a polarization filter on the pixel array sensor to carry out at least one of: reducing ambient light accumulation, providing visible spectrum information, and providing NIR spectrum information coupled to a light source.
19. A method of providing an improved image of daytime and nighttime scene, the method comprising:
configuring a pixel array sensor to have a masked gate-off capability at a single pixel level, wherein each pixel is gated by a corresponding transfer gate transistor having a high transfer gate efficiency,
configuring a gating unit to control the transfer gate transistors of the pixel array sensor so as to accumulate a sequence of multiple exposures per single readout of the pixel based on specified exposure parameters, and
configuring the pixel sensor array to operate in at least one mode other than gating.
20. A method of providing an improved image of daytime and nighttime scene, the method comprising:
configuring a pixel array sensor to have a masked gate-off capability at a single pixel level, wherein each pixel is gated by a corresponding transfer gate transistor having a high transfer gate efficiency,
configuring a gating unit to control the transfer gate transistors of the pixel array sensor so as to accumulate a sequence of multiple exposures per single readout of the pixel based on specified exposure parameters,
configuring the pixel by resetting at least one of its transfer gate transistor's potential voltage within a partial duration of the sequence of multiple exposures, and
configuring the pixel sensor array to operate in at least one mode other than gating.