Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Image sensor with interleaved hold for single-readout depth measurement
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Application No.: US16176817Application Date: 2018-10-31
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Publication No.: US11506763B2Publication Date: 2022-11-22
- Inventor: Markus Dielacher , Martin Flatscher , Robert Lobnik , Hartwig Unterassinger
- Applicant: Infineon Technologies AG
- Applicant Address: DE Neubiberg
- Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
- Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
- Current Assignee Address: DE Neubiberg
- Agency: Murphy, Bilak & Homiller, PLLC
- Main IPC: G01S7/4865
- IPC: G01S7/4865 ; G01S7/4863 ; G01S17/10

Abstract:
Time-of-flight (TOF) systems and techniques whereby a first exposure obtains pixel measurements for a first subset of pixels of a pixel array, using a first reference signal. For a second exposure, the first subset of the pixels, e.g., every second line of the pixel array, are set to a “hold” state, so that values obtained from the first measurement are maintained. A second exposure using a second reference signal is performed for a second subset of the pixels. The first and second reference signals may have different phase shifts relative to a signal modulating an optical signal being measured. The result is an array of pixels in which the first and second subsets hold results of the first and second exposures, respectively. These pixel values can then be read out all at once, with certain calculations being performed directly as pixel values are read from the pixel array.
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