Patents by Inventor Howard M. Rhodes

Howard M. Rhodes has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • High dynamic range sensor with blooming drain
    Patent number: 7825966
    Abstract: An image sensor has at least two photodiodes in each unit pixel. A high dynamic range is achieved by selecting different exposure times for the photodiodes. Additionally, blooming is reduced. The readout timing cycle is chosen so that the short exposure time photodiodes act as drains for excess charge overflowing from the long exposure time photodiodes. To improve draining of excess charge, the arrangement of photodiodes may be further selected so that long exposure time photodiodes are neighbored along vertical and horizontal directions by short exposure time photodiodes. A micro-lens array may also be provided in which light is preferentially coupled to the long exposure time photodiodes to improve sensitivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2010
    Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Sohei Manabe, Ashish Shah, Sasidhar Saladi, William Qian, Hidetoshi Nozaki, Nagaraja Satyadev, Hsin-Chih (Dyson) Tai, Howard M. Rhodes
  • HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE SENSOR WITH BLOOMING DRAIN
    Publication number: 20090002528
    Abstract: An image sensor has at least two photodiodes in each unit pixel. A high dynamic range is achieved by selecting different exposure times for the photodiodes. Additionally, blooming is reduced. The readout timing cycle is chosen so that the short exposure time photodiodes act as drains for excess charge overflowing from the long exposure time photodiodes. To improve draining of excess charge, the arrangement of photodiodes may be further selected so that long exposure time photodiodes are neighbored along vertical and horizontal directions by short exposure time photodiodes. A micro-lens array may also be provided in which light is preferentially coupled to the long exposure time photodiodes to improve sensitivity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 15, 2007
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Inventors: Sohei Manabe, Ashish Shah, Sasidhar Saladi, William Qian, Hidetoshi Nozaki, Nagaraja Satyadev, Hsin-Chih Dyson Tai, Howard M. Rhodes