Patent ID: 7336312

Claim:
A charge-coupled imager comprising an imaging section, a read-out section, and means for reducing the number of charge packets for every row to be read, the imager being switchable between two read-out modes, wherein: the imaging section comprises image elements arranged in a two-dimensional pattern of m horizontal rows and n vertical columns wherein n and m are natural numbers; the read-out section comprises a horizontal CCD channel disposed beside the two-dimensional pattern and vertical CCD channels interlineated within the pattern of image elements; the imager is operable so that every image element of a row is individually readable in a first read-out mode using the horizontal CCD channel comprising at least n charge storage locations; the imager is further operable in a second read-out mode so that a lower horizontal sampling frequency is read from the read-out section than in the first read-out mode using the horizontal CCD channel operated to comprise only n−q charge storage locations wherein q is a natural number smaller than n; the n−q charge locations within the horizontal CCD channel are substantially uniformly distributed over the width of the imaging section; and a number of electrodes per charge storage location is lower in the first read-out mode in which a complete row is read than in the second read-out mode in which only a reduced number of charge packets of every row are read.