Systems and methods for implementing time delay integration imaging techniques in conjunction with distinct imaging regions on a monolithic charge-coupled device image sensor

1. A camera system comprising:

an optical system;

a CCD image sensor, itself comprising a plurality of pixels that define at least two distinct imaging regions, where a first distinct imaging region is configured to image a scene in a first spectral band having a first height and in a single channel, and at least a second distinct imaging region is configured to image a scene in a second spectral band having a second height and in multiple channels where the pixels within each distinct imaging region are configured to image a scene differently than at least one other distinct imaging region and wherein each of the plurality of pixels between rows are oppositely biased such that a fraction of the area of each of the plurality of pixels is configured to reflect the image scene;

a CCD image signal processor; and

a microprocessor;

an amplifier operable to amplify accumulated intensity information read out from the CCD image sensor; and

an analog to digital converter operable to receive amplified accumulated intensity information, and output a digital representation of the accumulated intensity information,

wherein the optical system is configured to focus incident electromagnetic waves onto the CCD image sensor; and

wherein the camera system is operable in a time-delay integration mode whereby time delay-integration imaging techniques are imposed with respect to each distinct imaging region such that the camera system reads out accumulated intensity information by repeatedly:

accumulating intensity information in pixels within each row of pixels within a distinct imaging region;

shifting accumulated intensity information to a subsequent row of pixels within the distinct imaging region, where a last row of pixels does not have a next row of pixels and instead shifts accumulated intensity information into an array of accumulators; and

reading out accumulated intensity information from the array of accumulators.

2. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein the second distinct imaging region employs a filter pattern including color filters selected from the group consisting of at least one red color filter, at least one green color filter, at least one blue color filter, and at least one yellow color filter.

3. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein the second distinct imaging region includes a repeated pattern of filters.

4. The camera system of claim 3 , wherein the repeated pattern of filters repeats a pattern of filters applied to pixels in a region of at least 2 pixels×at least 2 pixels.

5. The camera system of claim 3 , wherein the repeated pattern of filters repeats a pattern of filters applied to pixels in a region of 2 pixels 33 2 pixels.

6. The camera system of claim 5 , wherein the pattern of filters applied to pixels in a region of 2 pixels×2 pixels applies the same filter to at least two of the pixels and a different filter to at least one of the pixels.

7. The camera system of claim 6 , wherein the pattern of filters is a Bayer pattern.

8. The camera system of claim 6 , wherein the pattern of filters comprises filters that select different wavelengths from a group consisting of red light, blue light, and green light.

9. The camera system of claim 3 , wherein the repeated pattern of filters is a repeated pattern of transmissivity filters.

10. The camera system of claim 9 , wherein the transmissivity filters are dichroic filters.

11. The camera system of claim 10 , further comprising a primary filter located between the optical system and the CCD image sensor.

12. The camera system of claim 11 , wherein the primary filter is a butcher block filter layer comprising a plurality of regions possessing different filtering characteristics.

13. The camera system of claim 9 , wherein the repeated pattern of transmissivity filters includes filters having different transmissivity to enable high dynamic range imaging.

14. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein the first distinct imaging region is configured to image with a fill factor that is smaller than the fill factor of the pixels in the second distinct imaging region.

15. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the distinct imaging regions defines a third distinct imaging region configured to image near-infrared electromagnetic radiation.

16. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein the first distinct imaging region has a different exposure time than that of the second distinct imaging region.

17. The camera system of claim 16 , wherein the exposure time of the second distinct imaging region is longer than that of the exposure time of the first distinct imaging region.

18. The camera system of claim 1 , further comprising at more than two distinct imaging regions and wherein each of the distinct imaging regions employs a filter pattern selected from consisting of RGB-NIR, IR, Blues, and HDR+super sampling.

19. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein the first height is larger than the second height.

20. The camera system of claim 1 , wherein the first height is smaller than the second height.