Patent Document ID: 5497195
Application ID: 08325959
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for producing images using a monochrome charge-coupled device, the monochrome charge-coupled device comprising a plurality of photosensitive semiconductor storage cells being controlled by gate electrodes, the photosensitive semiconductor storage cells being configured in an array comprising vertical columns and horizontal rows, the method comprising the steps of: exposing the monochrome charge-coupled device to a portion of an image, thereby generating charge packets in the array of photosensitive semiconductor storage cells; moving said charge packets stored in a first set of horizontal rows of photosensitive semiconductor storage cells into a second set of horizontal rows of photosensitive semiconductor storage cells, said charge packets remaining in the array of photosensitive semiconductor storage cells for subsequent exposures; where the total number of portions of the image to which the charge-coupled device is exposed exceeds two, repeating said exposing and moving steps for each exposure in excess of two, charge packets from each successive exposure being combined in the array of photosensitive semiconductor storage cells in a predetermined manner with charge packets from previous exposures; and exposing the monochrome charge-coupled device to a final portion of the image, thereby generating final charge packets in the array of photosensitive semiconductor storage cells, selected ones of the final charge packets comprising charge from more than one horizontal row and from more than one exposure stored in a single horizontal row.