Patent ID: 7948534
Filing Date: 2011-05-24
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor, comprising: a plurality of photosensitive elements arranged in rows and columns; a plurality of vertical CCDs each having vertical shift elements associated with respective ones of the photosensitive elements of a corresponding one of the columns, wherein the vertical CCDs each include a signal channel that transfers charge packets within the respective vertical CCD; a horizontal CCD comprising horizontal shift elements; a transition region arranged between the plurality of vertical CCDs and the horizontal CCD, the transition region comprising first, second and third rows of transition region shift elements with each row of transition region shift elements including gates, wherein the signal channels in the vertical CCDs are separated into first and second parallel signal channels and a plurality of shift elements in the first row of transition region shift elements receive and store charge packets from two adjacent columns of vertical CCDs in respective ones of the first and second parallel signal channels and wherein a plurality of shift elements in the second row of transition region shift elements receive charge packets from the first row of transition region shift elements and are each configured to store two different charge packets in respective ones of the first and second parallel signal channels; a first common control line controlling a portion of the gates in the first row of transition region shift elements and a portion of the gates in the third row of transition region shift elements; a second common control line controlling a remaining portion of the gates in the first row of transition region shift elements and a remaining portion of the gates in the third row of transition region shift elements; and a third control line controlling the gates in the second row of transition region shift elements, wherein signals applied to the first, second, and third control lines controllably direct selected ones of the parallel signal channels to the horizontal shift elements of the horizontal CCD in accordance with a designated readout sequence.