Abstract:
A method of compensating for nonuniformities in an image sensor includes: providing an image sensing device  20 ; measuring test pixel signals from the image sensing device  20  during a test mode; determining which test pixel signals are greater than a fixed threshold level S T ; and calculating nonuniformity coefficients for the pixels having test pixel signals greater than the fixed threshold level S T .

Description:
This application claims priority under 35 USC §119 (e) (1) of provisional application No. 60/043,883, filed Apr. 10, 1997. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention generally relates to image sensing devices, and more particularly relates to correction circuits for image sensors. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Dark current nonuniformities are present in CCD and CMOS active pixel sensors. The dark current nonuniformities result from material impurities which are not uniformly distributed in the substrate. Some prior art solutions to the nonuniformities include substituting neighboring pixels and smoothing the amplitude by analog signal processing methods. Analog signal processing results in art effects and incorrect pixel correction. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Generally, and in one form of the invention, the method of compensating for nonuniformities in an image sensor includes: providing an image sensing device; measuring test pixel signals from the image sensing device during a test mode; determining which test pixel signals are greater than a fixed threshold level; and calculating nonuniformity coefficients for the pixels having test pixel signals greater than the fixed threshold level. The processing for correcting pixel nonuniformities is in the digital domain. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings: 
     FIG. 1 is an output signal from an image sensor; 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram describing the calibrating mode for digital nonuniformity correction of an image sensor; 
     FIG. 3 is a block diagram describing the read out mode for digital nonuniformity correction of an image sensor; 
    
    
     Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The typical output of an image sensor can be modified as shown in FIG.  1 . The output shown in FIG. 1 includes dummy pixel signal  10 , dark pixel signal  12 , and image pixel signal  14 . The output shown in FIG. 1 is easily achieved by starting to clock the CCD serial register prior to the parallel transfer. This will shift several dummy (empty) pixels to the output. After the dummy pixels are read out, the serial register can be stopped, signal transferred into it from the memory or the image sensing area and then restarted again. The dummy pixel signal level is used to eliminate the signal processing system problems such as DC offset and DC temperature and power supply drifts. The dummy pixel signal level is subtracted from the rest of the signal to leave only the absolute dark signal and image area signal. The dark signal is obtained from the dark reference pixels which are formed by covering a part of the image area pixels by a light shield. 
     Since the dark reference signal is also sensitive to temperature and the integration time, it can be used as a normalization factor for the pixel nonuniformity compensation. The nonuniformity signal is additive in its nature, which means that it adds to the photo signal linearly and, therefore, can be subtracted. The nonuniformity amplitude is typically proportional to integration time and also to temperature. The correction circuit needs to incorporate these variables to make the correction independent of both the temperature and integration time. It is advantageous to form an average from several dark reference pixels to minimize the random temporal noise present in each pixel. 
     To correct the nonuniformities, a fixed threshold is determined and only the nonuniformities which exceed that threshold are corrected. Once the nonuniformity is detected, the amplitude of the nonuniformity is divided by the average dark reference signal and the resulting nonuniformity coefficient is stored in memory together with the corresponding pixel address. This process is performed during the device testing where the integration time is adjusted so that only a small number (moderate number) of nonuniformities are detected, to minimize the memory size. 
     A block diagram describing the calibrating mode (test mode) during the device testing is shown in FIG.  2 . The device of FIG. 2 includes image sensing device  20  which includes image sensing area  22 , memory area  24 , and serial register  26 ; differential amplifier  28 ; image sensing device driver  30 ; serial register driver  32 ; analog to digital A/D converter  34  ; digital to analog D/A converter  36 ; dummy pixel averager  38 ; dark pixel averager  40 ; digital subtracter  42 ; digital comparator  44 ; digital divider  46 ; memory  48 ; pixel and line counter  50 ; line clock φ LC ; pixel clock φ PC ; reset and dummy pixel select signal S DUM ; reset and dark pixel select signal S DAR ; and fixed threshold number S T . The image sensing device can be a charge coupled device (CCD) sensor or a CMOS image sensor. 
     Referring to the block diagram of FIG. 2, the dummy pixel data is transferred from serial register  26  through positive input of amplifier  28  and converted to digital by A/D converter  34 . The dummy pixel data is then averaged by averager  38  and converted to an analog signal by D/A converter  36 . The average of the dummy pixel data is then input into the negative input of amplifier  28  where it is subtracted from the dark pixel data and the image pixel data. Then a row of image pixel data and dark pixel data is transferred into serial register  26 . The image and dark pixel data is transferred from serial register  26  to amplifier  28 , where the average dummy pixel data is subtracted. The data is then converted to digital by A/D converter  34 . The dark pixel data is transferred to averager  40  and the average of the dark pixel data is provided to an input of subtracter  42  to be subtracted from the image pixel data. The output of subtracter  42  is the image pixel data minus the average dummy pixel data and minus the average dark pixel data. The image pixel data from the subtracter  42  is then compared to the fixed threshold level by comparator  44 . The image pixel data from the subtracter is also divided by the average dark pixel data by divider  46 . For each pixel that has a signal greater than the fixed threshold level, the nonuniformity coefficient from divider  46  is stored in memory  48  along with the pixel address from pixel and line counter  50 . The above process is repeated for all of the rows of pixels from the image area  22 . 
     During the device operation (readout mode) the signal from the dark reference area is extracted and used to multiply the nonuniformity coefficient which is retrieved from the memory for the corrected pixel depending on the pixel address. The result is then subtracted from the image pixel signal. The memory is typically nonvolatile such as EPROM, EEPROM, or other internal fuse based PROM devices. If a dynamic memory is used, the sensor needs to be calibrated prior to each use. 
     A block diagram describing the device during readout mode is shown in FIG.  3 . The device of FIG. 3 includes image sensing device  20  which includes image sensing area  22 , memory area  24 , and serial register  26 ; differential amplifier  28 ; image sensing device driver  30 ; serial register driver  32 ; analog to digital A/D converter  34 ; digital to analog D/A converter  36 ; dummy pixel averager  38 ; dark pixel averager  40 ; digital subtracters  42  and  60 ; digital multiplier  62 ; memory  48 ; pixel and line counter  50 ; line clock φ LC ; pixel clock φ PC ; reset and dummy pixel select signal S DUM ; reset and dark pixel select signal S DAR ; and output signal S OUT . 
     Referring to the block diagram of FIG. 3, during readout mode, the device operates similar to the calibrating mode except that the coefficients stored in memory  48  are multiplied by the average dark pixel data by multiplier  62  and subtracted from the corresponding image pixel data by subtracter  60 . The output of subtracter  60  is then the corrected image pixel data S OUT . 
     One advantage of this invention is that the amount of correction for a pixel is based on the dark current measurement from that pixel. Another advantage is that the correction is accomplished entirely in the digital domain without analog signal processing art effects. 
     While this invention has been described with reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description. It is therefore intended that the appended claims encompass any such modifications or embodiments.