CMOS system for capturing an image and a method thereof
A system for capturing an image includes a CMOS imaging system, an image focusing device, and an image control processing system coupled to the CMOS imaging system. The CMOS imaging system has at least one CMOS imager with at least one series of pixels. The image focusing device directs the image on to at least a portion of the at least one series of pixels. The CMOS imager may have two or more series of pixels at least adjacent each other where each of the series of pixels is offset from another one of the series of the pixels by a reciprocal of the total number of series of pixels in the CMOS imager.
1. A system for scanning an image, the system comprising:
a CMOS imaging system including at least one CMOS imager having two series of pixels adjacent one another and wherein one of the series of pixels is offset from the other of the series of pixels;
an image focusing device for directing the image onto at least a portion of said series of pixels; and
an image control system coupled to the CMOS imaging system,
wherein the image control system includes means for controlling integration and readout of the pixels respectively within said series of pixels;
wherein a plurality of groups of the pixels within each said series of pixels share a common sense node of a plurality of sense nodes, and each said pixel includes a respective charge storage site, so as to permit the pixels at the same sense node to have different integration times.
2. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said image control system comprises shutter controller means for controlling integration times of the pixels for the respective pixels in at least one of said series of pixels.
3. The system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said image control system comprises resolution adjustment means for selectively skipping read out of one or more of the pixels in at least one of said series of pixels so as to permit reduction of resolution and increase of frame rate.
4. The system as set forth in claim 2 wherein said at least one CMOS imager includes three pairs of series of pixels, and respective color filters for said pair of series of pixels to capture different respective bands of color.
5. The system as set forth in claim 4 wherein said image system comprises a binning system that combines respective pixel signals from each of said pairs of series of pixels.
6. The system as set forth in claim 5 wherein said image control processing system includes means controlling integration times of the respective series of pixels to achieve color balance.
7. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said image control processing system includes means controlling integration times of the respective pixels within each said series of pixel.
8. The system as set forth in claim 4 wherein said image control processing system further comprises shutter controller means for each said pair of series of pixels, with each said shutter controller means with each of the shutter controller means controlling integration times for all the pixels of the respective pair of series of pixels.
9. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said image control processing system includes auto black binning means for selecting a darkest pixel among a group of pixels within a series of pixels.
10. The system as set forth in claim 1 wherein said image control processing system includes auto white binning means far selecting a whitest pixel among a group of pixels within said series of pixels.