Patent ID: 7280135

Claim:
An image sensor, comprising: a pixel array including a pixel group which has N×M number of unit pixels and detects an image signal and a pixel column, allocated along a row direction of the pixel group, for detecting an average frequency of a corresponding pixel row to thereby detect a flicker noise; an analog-to-digital converting means for converting an analog signal provided from the pixel array to a digital signal; a flicker noise detecting means for performing the following equation and having a coefficient m of the following FFT equation, which is a predetermined flicker noise frequency corresponding to the pixel column in one-to-one, thereby detecting a frequency component corresponding to the flicker noise from the digital signal, C m = ∑ k = 0 L - 1 ⁢ Y k ⁢ ⅇ - j ⁢ ⁢ 2 ⁢ π · k · m 2 L - 1 ( m = flicker ⁢ ⁢ noise ⁢ ⁢ frequency ) wherein Cm represents a value of the pixel column including a Fourier-transformed frequency component; k is the number of sampling times; L is a bit number of the digital signal of the analog-to-digital converting means; and Yk is a scalar value of the Fourier-transformed pixel column; and an integration time control means for removing the flicker noise by adjusting the integration time of the pixel array to a value corresponding to integer times of an inverse number of the frequency component since there exists the predetermined flicker noise frequency provided from the flicker noise detecting means.