Patents by Inventor Patrick Lichtsteiner

Patrick Lichtsteiner 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).

  • Photoarray for detecting time-dependent image data
    Patent number: 7728269
    Abstract: A photoarray includes a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array of cells, each having a photosensor generating a sensor signal dependent on a light intensity at the cell, a first capacitor charged by a time-derivative of a current, at least one threshold detector detecting if a voltage over the first capacitor exceeds a threshold value and generating an output signal if it does, and a discharge device for discharging the first capacitor after occurrence of the output signal. Such a cell generates an event only when the incoming light intensity changes, which reduces the amount of data to be processed from the photoarray.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2010
    Assignee: Universitaet Zuerich
    Inventors: Patrick Lichtsteiner, Tobi Delbruck
  • Photoarray for Detecting Time-Dependent Image Data
    Publication number: 20080135731
    Abstract: A photoarray includes a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array of cells, each having a photosensor generating a sensor signal dependent on a light intensity at the cell, a first capacitor charged by a time-derivative of a current, at least one threshold detector detecting if a voltage over the first capacitor exceeds a threshold value and generating an output signal if it does, and a discharge device for discharging the first capacitor after occurrence of the output signal. Such a cell generates an event only when the incoming light intensity changes, which reduces the amount of data to be processed from the photoarray.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2007
    Publication date: June 12, 2008
    Applicant: UNIVERSITAT ZURICH
    Inventors: Patrick Lichtsteiner, Tobi Delbruck
  • Photosensitive device with low power consumption
    Patent number: 7075130
    Abstract: A photosensitive device with a photodiode and an amplifier is disclosed. The diode is in series with a feedback transistor which forces the voltage derived from the photocurrent to be a logarithmic function of the light intensity. A current mirror is provided which controls the bias current to the amplifier to be proportional to the photocurrent. This arrangement ensures that the amplifier, just as the voltage derived from the photocurrent, becomes faster with increasing light intensity and therefore prevents an unnecessarily high power consumption at low light intensities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2006
    Assignees: Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Universitat Zurich
    Inventors: Tobias Delbrück, Shih-Chii Liu, Samual Zahnd, Patrick Lichtsteiner
  • Photosensitive device with low power consumption
    Publication number: 20040065876
    Abstract: A photosensitive device with a photodiode and an amplifier is disclosed. The diode is in series with a feedback transistor which forces the voltage derived from the photocurrent to be a logarithmic function of the light intensity. A current mirror is provided which controls the bias current to the amplifier to be proportional to the photocurrent. This arrangement ensures that the amplifier, just as the voltage derived from the photocurrent, becomes faster with increasing light intensity and therefore prevents an unnecessarily high power consumption at low light intensities.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 19, 2002
    Publication date: April 8, 2004
    Inventors: Tobias Delbruck, Shih-Chii Liu, Samual Zahnd, Patrick Lichtsteiner