Patent ID: 6759641
Filing Date: 2004-07-06
Classification: H01L,H04N

Abstract:
A photodetector array comprising a plurality of addressable active pixels, each pixel comprising:at least two photodiodes arranged such that their outputs are switchably connected to a common pixel node; a switching circuit which allows switching of at least one of said photodiodes between a first circuit and a second circuit; wherein said first circuit directly combines the outputs of said at least two photodiodes in parallel, and said second circuit directly combines the output of said at least one of said photodiodes in parallel with the output of a photodiode of a neighboring pixel in the array, whereby said array is switchable between a high resolution and a low resolution pixel configuration, each pixel having an intrinsic capacitance which stores said combined photodiode outputs prior to their being read out, and an addressing circuit which enables the combined photodiode outputs stored on said pixel's intrinsic capacitance to be read out in response to an address input.