WO1999034592A1 - Wide dynamic range optical sensor - Google Patents
Wide dynamic range optical sensor Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1999034592A1 WO1999034592A1 PCT/US1998/027821 US9827821W WO9934592A1 WO 1999034592 A1 WO1999034592 A1 WO 1999034592A1 US 9827821 W US9827821 W US 9827821W WO 9934592 A1 WO9934592 A1 WO 9934592A1
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- Prior art keywords
- pixel
- signal
- group
- pixel cell
- optical sensor
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Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N23/00—Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
- H04N23/60—Control of cameras or camera modules
- H04N23/68—Control of cameras or camera modules for stable pick-up of the scene, e.g. compensating for camera body vibrations
- H04N23/681—Motion detection
- H04N23/6812—Motion detection based on additional sensors, e.g. acceleration sensors
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
- H04N25/50—Control of the SSIS exposure
- H04N25/57—Control of the dynamic range
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
- H04N25/50—Control of the SSIS exposure
- H04N25/57—Control of the dynamic range
- H04N25/58—Control of the dynamic range involving two or more exposures
- H04N25/587—Control of the dynamic range involving two or more exposures acquired sequentially, e.g. using the combination of odd and even image fields
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N25/00—Circuitry of solid-state image sensors [SSIS]; Control thereof
- H04N25/70—SSIS architectures; Circuits associated therewith
- H04N25/76—Addressed sensors, e.g. MOS or CMOS sensors
- H04N25/77—Pixel circuitry, e.g. memories, A/D converters, pixel amplifiers, shared circuits or shared components
Definitions
- the present invention relates in general to optical sensors and in particular to CMOS photogate active pixel sensor array optical sensors with wide dynamic range.
- Optical sensors find a variety of uses, including satellite attitude sensors, video cameras and security systems. Many of these applications, such as a vehicle viewing system, are required to operate over an extensive range of conditions. For example, a wide intra-scene brightness range allows for viewing dimly lit night scenes even in the presence of glare from headlamps. A wide inter-scene brightness range allows for viewing scenes illuminated by bright sunlight as well as moonlight. Still further, frame rates must allow for displayed scenes to appear real-time.
- CCDs Charge-coupled devices
- a CCD optical sensor operates as an analog shift register, passing charge developed in proportion to light incident on a pixel across adjacent pixels until the charge reaches an end pixel where it is processed.
- cost, read-out rate limitations, requirements for high and multiple voltage levels, and support electronics integration incompatibilities have prohibited large-scale adaptation of CCDs into certain applications such as vehicle viewing systems.
- active pixel sensors APSs
- APS devices utilize at least one active element within each pixel to accomplish amplification, pixel selection, charge storage or a similar benefit.
- APS devices have many of the benefits of CCDs including high sensitivity, high signal fidelity and large array formats.
- One form of APS utilizes a photodiode p-n junction and a source-follower buffer in each pixel.
- photodiode devices typically suffer from high kTC, 1/f and fixed pattern noise, thereby limiting dynamic range.
- alternative APS design uses a metal-on- silicon (MOS) photogate to accumulate charge proportional to light incident during an integration period.
- the charge can be shifted to a sensing region for readout.
- the sensing region can also be reset, allowing a reference output indicative of noise levels.
- the reference can be subtracted from the integrated light value to implement correlated double sampling.
- MOS metal-on- silicon
- a photogate device presents several benefits.
- a first benefit is that photogates have a very low noise level compared to other devices such as photodiodes .
- a second benefit is that the photogate APS is compatible with standard CMOS manufacturing methods. This allows an APS array together with control and processing circuitry to be built on the same integrated circuit chip.
- integration time used by each pixel cell in the optical sensor.
- integration time has meant a corresponding increase in frame time. Since frame time determines the rate at which the output image is updated, increasing frame time may result in output images that no longer appear real-time.
- Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for viewing details in scenes that may be obscured due to dim lighting or masked by bright light sources.
- Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for viewing scenes with wide inter-scene brightness levels.
- a further object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for viewing scenes with wide intra-scene brightness levels.
- a still further object is to describe a collection of possibly coexisting architectures for increased dynamic range optical sensors.
- a method for increasing the effective integration time without a corresponding increase in the frame time.
- each pixel cell holds the charge value corresponding to light accumulated during a previous frame period while integration of incident light is carried out in the current frame period. At the end of the current frame period, both values are read out and summed, and the current value is stored.
- This double integration method produces in each frame period an output value representative of the incident light over two frame periods, effectively doubling the dynamic range .
- each pixel cell In another embodiment, light incident over a long period is held in each pixel cell .
- the cell then integrates incident light over a short period. Both values are read out and compared. If the long integration value is at or near saturation, the short integration value is used.
- This dual integration method increases the dynamic range of the pixel cell by a factor roughly equivalent to the ratio of the long integration time to the short integration time.
- integration time is increased by reading a subset of pixel cells each frame period while cells not read during the current frame period continue to integrate.
- the values for cells not read in a given frame period can be interpo- lated. This interlacing method provides a tradeoff between integration time and spacial resolution.
- individual or groups of pixel cells can be reset at any time, shortening their integration period. This increases dynamic range by allowing a pixel cell sensing a generally dim scene to have a longer integration time than a pixel cell sensing a smaller, brightly lit region.
- double inte- gration, dual integration, interlacing and individual pixel reset are all available and may be selectively used together or separately to provide increased dynamic range over wide inter-scene and intra-scene brightness conditions .
- a system is also provided in accordance with the present invention for a wide dynamic range optical sensor.
- the system includes an array of active pixel sensor cells, one or more decoders for selecting groups of cells, output circuits that accepts output from pixel cells and may perform dynamic range increase operations, noise reduction operations and analog-to-digital conversion, and control circuitry.
- FIGURE 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary optical sensor according to the present invention.
- FIGURE 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of a CMOS photogate active pixel sensor
- FIGURE 3 is a schematic diagram of an optical sensor architecture implementing double integration time according to the present invention.
- FIGURE 4 is a schematic diagram of an optical sensor architecture implementing dual integration times according to the present inven ion;
- FIGURE 5a is a block diagram of an optical sensor architecture implementing row-wise interlacing according to the present invention.
- FIGURE 5b is a block diagram of an optical sensor architecture implementing group-wise interlacing according to the present invention.
- FIGURE 6 is a schematic diagram of an optical sensor architecture implementing individual pixel reset according to the present invention.
- the optical sensor combines an array of pixel sensors with control and output circuitry.
- a plurality of optical pixel sensors preferably APS cells, are arranged in rows and columns.
- a typical pixel sensor cell is indicated by 20.
- Each row of pixel sensors is selected for output by row decoder 22.
- Output circuits may condition and combine pixel sensor signals as will be described below with reference to Figures 3 and 4.
- Output circuits may also contain analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) for digitizing output circuit results.
- ADCs for optical sensors are well known as in, for example, “Low-Light -Level Image Sensor with On-Chip Signal Processing, " Proceeding of SPIE, Vol. 1952, pp. 23-33 (1993) by Mendis, Pain, Nixon and Fossum, and which is hereby incorporated by reference .
- Output circuits 24 may deliver digitized values to buffer 28 so as to affect a serial or parallel stream of output data.
- An alternative to placing an .ADC in each output circuit 24 is to use a single ADC in buffer 28.
- Timing controller 26 which sends signals to pixel sensors 20, row decoder 22 and output circuits 24. Timing controller 26 may also receive external control signals 30 indicating, for example, integration times, reset times and types of image sensor architectures in use as are described with regards to Figures 3 through 6.
- CMOS Photogate APS CMOS Photogate APS
- a pixel sensor cell is shown generally by 20.
- Photogate electrode 40 overlays silicon substrate 42.
- Photogate signal PG is held at a positive voltage to form potential well 44 in substrate 42.
- Light incident on photogate 40 generates charge, which is accumulated in well 44 during an integration period.
- Transfer gate electrode 46 is initially held at a less positive voltage than photogate signal PG, so as to form potential barrier 48 adjacent to well 44.
- Floating diffusion 50 is connected to the gate of source follower FET 52, whose drain is connected to drain voltage VDD.
- Reset electrode 54 is initially held by reset signal RST at a voltage corresponding to transfer gate voltage TX to form transfer barrier 56 thereunder.
- Supply voltage VDD connected to drain diffusion 58 creates a constant potential well 60 beneath diffusion 58.
- Row select FET 62 presents a voltage at node OUT, referenced as 68, proportional to charge stored under floating diffusion 50 when signal ROW is asserted.
- a constant voltage is applied by signal VLN at the gate of load FET 64.
- Load FET 64 may be implemented in each APS cell or one transistor may be used for a column of APS cells.
- Transistors 52, 62 and 64 form a switched buffer circuit .
- the region beneath floating diffusion 50 is reset by temporarily bringing reset electrode 54 to a voltage near VDD so as to create reset potential level 66.
- Asserting signal ROW causes a reference voltage to appear at OUT 68. This reference voltage can be subtracted from an integrated light readings to limit the effect of kTC and threshold-voltage non-uniformity induced fixed pattern noise, a technique known as correlated double sampling.
- floating diffusion 50 acts as a charge storage device, and can hold the charge from a previous integration while photogate 40 integrates new charge.
- floating diffusion 50 is replaced by a floating gate shown schemati- cally in Figure 2 by a simplified dashed line floating gate electrode 72.
- the basic operation of floating gate electrode 72 is similar to floating diffusion 50.
- Double integration sums the charge integrated over two frame periods .
- an effective integration time of approximately twice the frame rate is achieved while still maintaining a near real-time output.
- FIG. 3 a schematic diagram for the output circuit for a double integration image sensor is shown.
- Photogate APS pixel sensors 20 in a given column have output nodes 68 tied together to form column bus 80.
- the operation of an APS pixel sensor cell is described with regards to Figure 2 above.
- the switched output buffer of Figure 2 has been replaced by row switch 82 for clarity. Since only one row is selected at any given time, at most one pixel sensor in the column has an output that does not appear as high impedance.
- Column bus 80 is also connected to double integration output circuit 84.
- column bus 80 is connected to the inputs of sample-and-hold signal 1 (SHS1) switch 86, sample-and-hole reset (SHR) switch 88, and sample-and-hold signal 2 (SHS2) switch 90.
- SHS1 sample-and-hold signal 1
- SHR sample-and-hole reset
- SHS2 sample-and-hold signal 2
- Each of capacitors 92, 94 and 96 are connected to a switched buffer circuit shown as 98, 100 and 102 respectively.
- Each switched buffer passes the voltage on the capacitor connected to its input when signal CS is asserted.
- the design of switched buffers is well known in the art .
- each row is selected once per frame period by asserting corresponding signal ROW.
- node output 68 is at a voltage level corresponding to the charge integrated by pixel sensor 20 during the previous frame period.
- Signal SHS1 is asserted, charging capacitor 92 to the first integration voltage level.
- Floating diffusion 50 in pixel sensor 20 is reset, and the reset voltage level is placed on node 68.
- Capacitor 94 is charged to the reset voltage by asserting signal SHR.
- the charge accumulated by photogate 40 during the current frame period is then transferred to floating diffusion 50 with the corresponding second integration voltage appearing at node 68.
- Signal SHS2 is then asserted, charging capacitor 96 to the second integration voltage.
- the first integration voltage and the second integration voltage are read by summing circuit 104 producing integrating signal 106 equal to the charge integrated in pixel sensor 20 over two frame periods.
- the reset voltage is fed into doubling circuit 108 producing reference signal 110 approximating the kTC noise produced by two samplings of pixel sensor 20.
- the differ- ence between integrating signal 106 and reference signal 110 is obtained in differencing circuit 112.
- the output of differencing circuit 112, analog intensity signal 114 is a voltage representative of the light incident on pixel sensor 20 over the previous two frame periods less an estimate of noise over the same time.
- Analog signal 114 is read by ADC 116 to produce digital intensity signal 118.
- Output circuit 84 produces, in each frame period and for each pixel sensor 20 in the corresponding column, a value representing the light incident on pixel sensor 20 over two frame periods, effectively doubling the dynamic range of pixel sensor 20.
- An optical sensor sensing a scene with a wide dynamic range may sacrifice saturation of pixel sensors viewing brightly lit regions in order to achieve sufficient detail in dimly lit regions.
- Such problems occur in, for example, vehicle rear viewing systems where a well lit street may wash out details from an adjacent sidewalk. This problem is minimized by integrating each pixel cell over two periods of different lengths, and using the short integration value if the long integration value is saturated. Dual integration may also reduce the number of bits required in analog-to-digital conversion.
- Pixel sensors 20 in a given column have output nodes 68 tied together to form column bus 80.
- the operation of an APS pixel sensor cell is described with regards to Figure 2 above . Since only one row is selected at any given time, at most one pixel sensor in the column has an output that does not appear as high impedance .
- Column bus 80 is also connected to dual integration output circuit 120.
- column bus 80 is connected to sample-and-hold signal long (SHSL) switch 122, sample-and-hold signal short (SHSS) switch 124, and sample-and-hold reset (SHR) switch 126.
- SHSL sample-and-hold signal long
- SHSS sample-and-hold signal short
- SHR sample-and-hold reset
- photogate 40 During each frame period, photogate 40 accumulates charge for a long period then transfers the charge to floating diffusion 50 where it is stored. Photogate 40 then integrates for a short period. In one embodiment, the long and short periods are such that their sum is not greater than the frame period.
- ROW is asserted at switch buffer 82 and the voltage at node output 68 becomes a value corre- sponding to the charge integrated by pixel sensor 20 during the long integration period.
- Signal SHSL is asserted, charging capacitor 128 to the long integration voltage level.
- Floating diffusion 50 in pixel sensor 20 is reset, and the reset voltage level is placed on node 68.
- Capacitor 132 is charged to the reset voltage by asserting signal SHR.
- the charge accumulated by photogate 40 during the short integration period is then transferred to floating diffusion 50 with the corresponding short integration voltage appearing at node 68.
- Signal SHSS is then asserted, charging capacitor 130 to the short integration voltage.
- Signal CS is then asserted.
- the long inte- gration voltage, on capacitor 128, is read by threshold detector 140.
- Threshold detector output 142 is asserted when the long integration voltage is at or near a level indicating saturation of pixel sensor 20 during the long integration period.
- Threshold detector output 142 controls select switch 144 which routes to its output either the long integration voltage signal or the short integration voltage signal. In this way, if pixel sensor 20 is saturated during a long integration period, the value over a shorter period is used.
- the reset voltage, representative of kTC noise, is subtracted from the selected long or short integration signal in difference circuit 146, producing analog signal 148.
- Analog signal 148 is converted to a digital signal by ADC 150.
- Threshold bit 142 may be included with the digital signal to produce output 152.
- An alternative embodiment for implementing dual integration times uses 2m output circuits.
- the m pixel sensors in each row are read then reset, once per frame period, into m outputs.
- Each row is also read at some time prior to the next frame period into a second set of m outputs to implement the short integration time.
- Control is simplified by reading the row completing the long integration time and the row completing the short integration time simultaneously into two sets of output circuits.
- This embodiment is " further described in "Readout Schemes to Increase Dynamic Ranges of Image Sensors," NASA Tech Briefs, pp. 32-33 (January 1997) by Yadid-Pecht and Fossum, which is hereby incorporated by reference .
- Another technique for extending the effective integration time beyond the frame time is through interlacing.
- a subset of pixel cells are read and reset each frame period, the remaining cells continue to integrate light-induced charge.
- Image values corresponding to pixel cells not read during a particular frame may be interpolated.
- An m by n array of pixel sensors 20 are arranged into successive rows R 1# R 2 , R 3 , ... , R n where n is the number of rows.
- Row decoder 22 is used to select the row of pixel sensors providing signals to m output circuits 24. Row decoder 22 sequentially selects all rows in the first set within one frame period followed by all rows in the second set within the next frame period, thereby implementing the sequence R 1# R 3 , ... , R n -i, R 2 , R 4 , ... , R sunt over two frame periods. This allows each pixel sensor to integrate incident light for two frame periods, effectively doubling the integration time per frame period.
- Pixel sensors 20 are further arranged into groups G 1( G 2 , G 3 , ... , G n where n is the number of groups and the product of m and n is the total number of pixel sensors .
- each group is an alternate pixel in two adjacent rows so as to form a checkerboard-like pattern within the two rows.
- Group decoder 160 is used to simultaneously select all pixel sensors in a group. For example, select line 162 activates each of the shaded pixels sensors in Figure 5b. Pixel sensors 20 are connected to output circuits 24 such that, regardless of which group is selected, at most one activated pixel cell is connected to each output circuit. Groups may be placed into one or more sets . The groups in each set may be alternately selected during one frame period, then the groups in a different set during the next frame period, and so on until all groups are selected. The process is then repeated.
- the sequence for asserting the groups would then be G l t G 5 , • • • / G n _3, G 2 , G 6 , ... , G n . 2 1 G 3 , G 7 , ... , G n ⁇ i ⁇ G 4 , ⁇ 8 • • • # G n over a span of four frame periods. This results in an integration period of approximately four times the frame period, resulting in four times the dynamic range if appropriate output electronics are used.
- each set can be read out in one frame period.
- image pixel values not updated from pixel sensors in a given frame can be interpolated from previous values, from other pixel values, or both.
- even-numbered groups may be placed in one set and odd-numbered groups in another set.
- Image pixel values not updated from pixel sensors may be obtained by averaging adjacent neighbor pixel values .
- Optical sensors in some applications view scenes with small regions of intense brightness compared to the remainder of the scene. This may occur, for example, from headlamps sensed by vehicle vision sys- tems . Once these regions are detected, the integration time for the corresponding pixel cells may be reduced by resetting the accumulated charge.
- FIG. 6 an individual pixel reset architecture for extending dynamic range of an optical sensor is shown. Individual or groups of pixel sensors can be reset during integration time, thereby providing a shorter integration period. Areas of the image which are dimly lit receive longer integration periods than areas which are brightly lit. A method of controlling the reset period for a pixel sensor is described in "Image Sensors With Individual Pixel Reset,” pg. 34 of NASA Tech Brief NPO-1973 of November 1996 by Pecht, Pain and Fossum and hereby incorporated by reference.
- FIG. 6 shows an APS pixel cell, described with reference to Figure 2 above, with the addition of reset FET 170.
- floating diffusion 50 is set to a reference level when reset electrode 54 is asserted as described with respect to Figure 2.
- Reset FET 170 has its source connected to reset electrode 54, gate connected to row reset signal (RRST) 172, and drain connected to column reset signal (CRST) 174. When both RRST and CRST are asserted, floating diffusion 50 is reset.
- all pixel sensor cell in each row are connected to a common RRST line and all pixel sensor cells in one column are connected to a common CRST line.
- a row reset decoder 176 selectively asserts a row based on signals from timing controller 26.
- a column reset decoder 178 selectively asserts a row based on signals from timing controller 26.
Abstract
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Priority Applications (5)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
AU19495/99A AU1949599A (en) | 1997-12-31 | 1998-12-30 | Wide dynamic range optical sensor |
CA002315145A CA2315145A1 (en) | 1997-12-31 | 1998-12-30 | Wide dynamic range optical sensor |
DE69816126T DE69816126T2 (en) | 1997-12-31 | 1998-12-30 | OPTICAL SENSOR WITH A WIDE DYNAMIC RANGE |
JP2000527085A JP2002500476A (en) | 1997-12-31 | 1998-12-30 | Optical sensor with wide dynamic range |
EP98964332A EP1044561B1 (en) | 1997-12-31 | 1998-12-30 | Wide dynamic range optical sensor |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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US09/002,400 | 1997-12-31 | ||
US09/002,400 US6008486A (en) | 1997-12-31 | 1997-12-31 | Wide dynamic range optical sensor |
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WO1999034592A1 true WO1999034592A1 (en) | 1999-07-08 |
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PCT/US1998/027821 WO1999034592A1 (en) | 1997-12-31 | 1998-12-30 | Wide dynamic range optical sensor |
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US (1) | US6008486A (en) |
EP (1) | EP1044561B1 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2002500476A (en) |
AU (1) | AU1949599A (en) |
CA (1) | CA2315145A1 (en) |
DE (1) | DE69816126T2 (en) |
WO (1) | WO1999034592A1 (en) |
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Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
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DE69816126T2 (en) | 2004-04-15 |
JP2002500476A (en) | 2002-01-08 |
EP1044561B1 (en) | 2003-07-02 |
DE69816126D1 (en) | 2003-08-07 |
AU1949599A (en) | 1999-07-19 |
US6008486A (en) | 1999-12-28 |
EP1044561A1 (en) | 2000-10-18 |
CA2315145A1 (en) | 1999-07-08 |
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