Patent ID: 7777804
Filing Date: 2010-08-17
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A method of achieving a high dynamic range in an image sensor having photo-sensitive pixels arranged in a row and column format with each pixel further assigned a color filter array filter (CFA) filter according to a CFA pattern, comprising: for each individual column of pixels, selecting a common exposure time for all of the pixels within the individual column as a column exposure time; selecting the column exposure times to vary along a horizontal dimension according to a periodic sequence selected such that within each individual row of pixels there is a corresponding periodic sequence of pixel exposure times for pixels of each individual color filter type; reading out rows in a line-by-line sequence; buffering a selected number of lines in a line memory; for each line, combining data from sets of adjacent pixels of the same color filter type having at least two different exposure times to generate combined line data having a reduced horizontal resolution and an extended dynamic range; and performing de-mosaicing on the combined line data.