公开(公告)号：US20250088767A1

公开(公告)日：2025-03-13

申请号：US18243516

申请日：2023-09-07

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Francesco Cannillo ,  Tibi Galambos

IPC: H04N25/766 ,  H04N25/60 ,  H04N25/709 ,  H04N25/77 ,  H04N25/78

Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure relate to a method of measuring ambient light using an image sensor. The method includes integrating a charge in each pixel in a set of pixels and reading out a respective voltage corresponding to a respective charge integrated by each pixel in the set of pixels. After reading out the respective voltage corresponding to the respective charge integrated by each pixel in the set of pixels, and before resetting each pixel in the set of pixels, the method includes electrically coupling a set of sense nodes of the set of pixels to redistribute charge among the sense nodes of the set of sense nodes of the set of pixels. The method further includes reading out a voltage corresponding to a redistributed charge from a pixel in the set of pixels and resetting each pixel in the set of pixels after reading out the voltage corresponding to the redistributed charge from the pixel in the set of pixels.

公开(公告)号：US20250088755A1

公开(公告)日：2025-03-13

申请号：US18464683

申请日：2023-09-11

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Francesco Cannillo

IPC: H04N23/745 ,  G06T7/00 ,  H04N23/71 ,  H04N25/531 ,  H04N25/532

Abstract: This disclosure describes adaptive synchronization techniques for mitigating the impact of light flickering on images captured with active pixel sensor (APS) image sensors. In particular, these techniques apply to applications wherein the precise time at which an image is captured is not a critical parameter, such as machine vision (MV) applications. The techniques consist of repeating image captures until an image quality criterion is met, before transmitting the image to another system or processor for post-processing. The time between successive image captures may depend on the complexity of the on-sensor auto-exposure algorithm. The image quality criterion could change dynamically, e.g., based on parameters set by a host processing unit of the image capture system. One exemplary image quality criterion could be to determine that an average illuminance value for a region of interest (ROI) with a given image is within a threshold amount of a target average ROI illuminance value.

公开(公告)号：US12088925B1

公开(公告)日：2024-09-10

申请号：US17931883

申请日：2022-09-13

Applicant: Apple Inc.

Inventor： Francesco Cannillo ,  Emanuele Mandelli

IPC: H04N23/745 ,  H04N25/443 ,  H04N25/53 ,  H04N25/75 ,  H04N25/77

CPC classification number: H04N23/745 ,  H04N25/443 ,  H04N25/53 ,  H04N25/75 ,  H04N25/77

Abstract: An image capture device may include an image sensor having a plurality of light-sensitive pixel sensors to capture light from a scene for generating images and a flicker detection circuit to detect flicker in the light captured by the image sensor. The flicker detection circuit may include one or more event-based readout circuits and at least one event-based processing circuit. The event-based readout circuits may detect a series of events associated with the flicker in the light captured by the image sensor. The event-based processing circuit may determine a frequency of the flicker in the captured light based on the series of events detected by the event-based readout circuits. In some embodiments, the frequency may be used to adjust the exposure time of the image sensor, e.g., to identify intervals for exposure when the captured light is bright.