Patent ID: 7589766

Claim:
A method of gain control in an imaging system having a shutter, a digital gain circuit, and a CDS/VGA circuit, including: determining a total gain for an imaging system; receiving, by an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit having a gain splitter circuit, the determined total gain; splitting, by the gain splitter circuit, the determined total gain into distributed gain values which at least include a shutter gain, an analog (VGA) gain, and a digital gain; and determining the level of the shutter gain to be applied in the operation of the imaging system; determining the level of the analog (VGA) gain to be applied in the operation of the imaging system; determining the level of the digital gain to be applied in the operation of the imaging system; hierarchically adjusting the shutter gain, the analog (VGA) gain, and the digital gain; and wherein the shutter gain has maximum and minimum shutter gain values; and wherein the analog (VGA) gain and the digital gain remain at a constant level as the shutter gain is varied.