Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing flexible photodetector binning are provided. A photodetector having multiple pixels, such as a charged coupled device (CCD), a focal plane array (FPA), an active pixel sensor (APS), or other suitable detector, is provided. A desired bin area is produced in the array by setting at least one of the pixels of the array to a low input impedance level and remaining pixels to a high input impedance level, so that charges generated at the high input impedance pixels diffuse through the detector array to adjacent, low input impedance pixels. The charge is collected at the low input impedance pixels, and corresponds to light detected in the bin area. The impedances of the pixels can be varied to provide bins of desired shapes and/or geometries. The bin areas can extend partially over one or more pixels.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing enhanced resolution in photodetector arrays is provided. A suitable photodetector array, such as a charged coupled device (CCD), a focal plane array (FPA), an active pixel sensor (APS), a CMOS imager, or other detector, is provided. In a first pass, pixels of the array are set to low input impedance values, and measurements of each pixel value are taken. In a second pass, selected pixels are set to high input impedance levels and remaining pixels set to low input impedance level, and measurements are taken at the low input impedance pixels. In a third pass, input impedance levels are reversed (i.e., low input impedance level pixels are set to high input impedance levels, and vice versa), and measurements are taken at the low input impedance pixels.