Patents by Inventor Shoushun CHEN

Shoushun CHEN 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).

  • Publication number: 20240107189
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a pixel collection circuit and an image sensor. Where the image sensor includes: a pixel collection circuit array containing a plurality of pixel collection circuits; a global control unit, coupled with the pixel collection circuit array through a global reset signal line and suitable for resetting the pixel collection circuit array when the image sensor is powered on; a global time signal generation unit, coupled with the pixel collection circuit array through a global time signal line and suitable for generating a global time signal that represents time information; and a reading unit, coupled with the pixel collection circuit array through a row selection line, a row event reset signal line, a column flag bit signal line and a column time signal line and suitable for reading event information of an event sequence generated by the pixel collection circuit array.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2023
    Publication date: March 28, 2024
    Inventors: Menghan Guo, Shoushun Chen
  • Patent number: 11924562
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an image sensor, which includes: a pixel collection circuit array including a plurality of pixel collection circuits, each pixel collection circuit being configured to monitor a change in a light intensity in a field of view and enter a triggered state when the change in the light intensity meets a predetermined condition; a global control unit configured to reset the pixel collection circuit array when the image sensor is powered on, and control the pixel collection circuit array in a stable initial state to operate; a photo current detection unit configured to determine whether there is the change in the light intensity, and control an operating state of at least one pixel collection circuit in accordance with the detected change in the light intensity; and a reading unit configured to respond to the pixel collection circuit in the triggered state and output corresponding address information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2024
    Assignee: OMNIVISION SENSOR SOLUTION (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo
  • Publication number: 20240048859
    Abstract: Disclosed are an image sensor and an image processing system. The image sensor at least includes: a pixel collection circuit array, an activity detection unit, a low-power control unit, and a reading unit. The pixel collection circuit array is composed of a plurality of pixel collection circuits, and the pixel collection circuits monitor a light intensity change in a field of view and enter a trigger state when the light intensity change satisfies a certain conditions. The activity detection unit monitors a current value on a global activity detection signal line, and sets a low-activity enable signal to be valid when the current value is smaller than an activity threshold. The low-power control unit sets a global low-power enable signal to be valid when the low-activity enable signal is valid. The reading unit is reset when the global low-power enable signal is valid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2023
    Publication date: February 8, 2024
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo
  • Publication number: 20240040278
    Abstract: Low power event driven pixels with passive, differential difference detection circuitry (and reset control circuits for the same) are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an event driven pixel comprises a photosensor, a photocurrent-to-voltage converter, and a difference circuit. The difference circuit includes (a) a first circuit branch configured to sample a reference light level based on a voltage output by the photocurrent-to-voltage converter, and to output a first analog light level onto a first column line that is based on the reference light level; and (b) a second circuit branch configured to sample a light level based on the voltage, and to output a second analog light level onto a second column line that is based on the light level. A difference between the second analog light level and the first analog light level indicates whether the event driven pixel has detected an event in an external scene.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Inventors: Andreas Suess, Shoushun Chen
  • Publication number: 20240040283
    Abstract: Low power event driven pixels and reset control circuits for the same are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an event driven pixel comprises a photosensor; a photocurrent-to-voltage converter coupled to the photosensor; and a difference circuit coupled to the photocurrent-to-voltage converter. The difference circuit includes a source follower transistor and is configured to generate a signal at a gate of the source follower transistor that is based on a voltage output from the photocurrent-to-voltage converter. The difference circuit is further configured to output a difference signal in response to assertion of a row select signal. The event driven pixel can further include a reset control circuit coupled to the difference circuit and configured to initialize the difference circuit, and to reset the difference circuit when the difference signal output from the event driven pixel indicates a change in the voltage greater than a threshold amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Publication date: February 1, 2024
    Inventors: Andreas Suess, Shoushun Chen
  • Patent number: 11729534
    Abstract: Low power event driven pixels with passive difference detection circuit (and reset control circuits for the same) are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, an event driven pixel comprises a photosensor; a photocurrent-to-voltage converter, and a difference circuit. The difference circuit includes a source follower transistor and a switched-capacitor filter having an input coupled to the photocurrent-to-voltage converter and an output coupled to a gate of the source follower transistor. The switched-capacitor filter includes a first capacitor coupled between the input and the output of the switched-capacitor filter, a second capacitor having a first plate coupled to the output of the switched-capacitor filter, and a reset transistor coupled between a reference voltage and the output of the switched-capacitor filter. The difference circuit is configured generate a difference signal that is indicative of whether the event driven pixel has detected an event in an external scene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Andreas Suess, Shoushun Chen
  • Patent number: 11627260
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an anti-flashlight circuit assembly and an image sensor. The anti-flashlight circuit assembly includes a plurality of flashlight detection units. Each flashlight detection unit includes: a first photoelectric detection module configured to monitor an optical signal in real time and output a corresponding electric signal; a first triggering generation module configured to generate a first triggering generation signal when the electric signal exceeds a predetermined threshold, and output the first triggering generation signal to a first interface logic module; and the first interface logic module configured to output a triggering state signal upon the receipt of the first triggering generation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: OMNIVISION SENSOR SOLUTION (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo
  • Publication number: 20230047774
    Abstract: An event sensing system includes a pixel array including a plurality of event driven pixel circuits configured to be illuminated by incident light. The event driven pixel circuits are configured to generate an event current in response to a detection of an event in the incident light. Output signals of a row of the pixel array are configured to be read out from the row of the pixel array to a line buffer in response to the detection of the event in the incident light. A random number generator is configured to randomly generate a filtering mask. A mask circuit is the output signals of the row of the pixel array from the line buffer and the filtering mask from the random number generator to filter the output signals of the row of the pixel array in response to the filtering mask.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo, Andreas Suess
  • Publication number: 20230039144
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an image sensor, which includes: a pixel collection circuit array including a plurality of pixel collection circuits, each pixel collection circuit being configured to monitor a change in a light intensity in a field of view and enter a triggered state when the change in the light intensity meets a predetermined condition; a global control unit configured to reset the pixel collection circuit array when the image sensor is powered on, and control the pixel collection circuit array in a stable initial state to operate; a photo current detection unit configured to determine whether there is the change in the light intensity, and control an operating state of at least one pixel collection circuit in accordance with the detected change in the light intensity; and a reading unit configured to respond to the pixel collection circuit in the triggered state and output corresponding address information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 19, 2022
    Publication date: February 9, 2023
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo
  • Patent number: 11563909
    Abstract: An event sensing system includes a pixel array including a plurality of event driven pixel circuits configured to be illuminated by incident light. The event driven pixel circuits are configured to generate an event current in response to a detection of an event in the incident light. Output signals of a row of the pixel array are configured to be read out from the row of the pixel array to a line buffer in response to the detection of the event in the incident light. A random number generator is configured to randomly generate a filtering mask. A mask circuit is the output signals of the row of the pixel array from the line buffer and the filtering mask from the random number generator to filter the output signals of the row of the pixel array in response to the filtering mask.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2023
    Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo, Andreas Suess
  • Patent number: 11532089
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an optical flow calculation method for a computing device, including: acquiring an event data flow with a predetermined duration from a DVS, the event data flow including a coordinate position and a timestamp of a triggered event; generating a timestamp matrix in accordance with the coordinate position and the timestamp of the triggered event; scanning elements in the timestamp matrix in a predetermined scanning direction, so as to determine at least one intermediate point in each element in accordance with a value and a gradient of the element in the predetermined scanning direction; and calculating a distance between adjacent intermediate points and a gradient direction, and generating an optical flow matrix in accordance with a calculation result. The present disclosure further provides the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2022
    Assignee: OMNIVISION SENSOR SOLUTION (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Wenchang Xiong, Shoushun Chen
  • Patent number: 11516419
    Abstract: An event driven pixel includes a photodiode configured to photogenerate charge in response to incident light received from an external scene. A photocurrent to voltage converter is coupled to the photodiode to convert photocurrent generated by the photodiode to a voltage. A filter amplifier is coupled to the photocurrent to voltage converter to generate a filtered and amplified signal in response to the voltage received from the photocurrent to voltage converter. A threshold comparison stage is coupled to the filter amplifier to compare the filtered and amplified signal received from the filter amplifier with thresholds to asynchronously detect events in the external scene in response to the incident light. A digital time stamp generator is coupled to asynchronously generate a digital time stamp in response to the events asynchronously detected in the external scene by the threshold comparison stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: OmniVision Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Tiejun Dai, Shoushun Chen, Zhe Gao
  • Patent number: 11509853
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an image sensor and an image collection system. The image sensor includes: a pixel collection circuitry array including a plurality of pixel collection circuitries, each pixel collection circuitry being configured to monitor a change in a light intensity in a field of view and enter a triggered state when the change in the light intensity meets a predetermined condition; a boundary triggered pixel determination array configured to determine a boundary triggered pixel collection circuitry in the pixel collection circuitries in the triggered state; and a reading unit configured to respond to the boundary triggered pixel collection circuitry and output address information about the boundary triggered pixel collection circuitry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: OMNIVISION SENSOR SOLUTION (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo
  • Patent number: 11508069
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a method for processing an event data flow and a computing device. The method includes: reading a plurality of pieces of event data with a first duration sequentially from the event data flow; with respect to each piece of event data with the first duration, analyzing the event data to acquire time-difference information about each event within the first duration; and generating an image frame presenting a change in movement within the first duration in accordance with the time-difference information about each event within the first duration.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2022
    Assignee: CELEPIXEL TECHNOLOGY CO. LTD
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Shizheng Wang
  • Patent number: 11481908
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a data processing method and a computing device. The data processing method is adapted to process an event data flow from a DVS to acquire image frames representing changes in a scene within different time periods. The event data flow includes coordinates of each pixel whose brightness has changed. The data processing method includes: segmenting the event data flow into a plurality of data slices at a predetermined time interval; and selecting a first quantity of data slices sequentially and performing weighted calculation on the first quantity of data slices to generate the image frames representing the changes in the scene within different time periods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: OMNIVISION SENSOR SOLUTION (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Shizheng Wang
  • Publication number: 20220256109
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a pixel collection circuit and an image sensor. The image collection circuit includes: a movement detection module configured to detect a change in a light intensity in a field of view, and generate a pixel triggering signal when the change in the light intensity exceeds a predetermined threshold so as to indicate the pixel collection circuit to be in a triggered state; and a time signal generation module coupled to the movement detection module and configured to generate a time signal upon the receipt of the pixel triggering signal, the time signal being used to represent time information about a time point at which the pixel collection circuit is triggered. The movement detection module and the time signal generation module are coupled to a reading unit, so that the reading unit scans the pixel collection circuit to output the time information about the pixel collection circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Publication date: August 11, 2022
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo
  • Publication number: 20220239858
    Abstract: An event driven pixel includes a photodiode configured to photogenerate charge in response to incident light received from an external scene. A photocurrent to voltage converter is coupled to the photodiode to convert photocurrent generated by the photodiode to a voltage. A filter amplifier is coupled to the photocurrent to voltage converter to generate a filtered and amplified signal in response to the voltage received from the photocurrent to voltage converter. A threshold comparison stage is coupled to the filter amplifier to compare the filtered and amplified signal received from the filter amplifier with thresholds to asynchronously detect events in the external scene in response to the incident light. A digital time stamp generator is coupled to asynchronously generate a digital time stamp in response to the events asynchronously detected in the external scene by the threshold comparison stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 22, 2021
    Publication date: July 28, 2022
    Inventors: Tiejun Dai, Shoushun Chen, Zhe Gao
  • Publication number: 20220182570
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an image sensor and an image collection system. The image sensor includes: a pixel collection circuitry array including a plurality of pixel collection circuitries, each pixel collection circuitry being configured to monitor a change in a light intensity in a field of view and enter a triggered state when the change in the light intensity meets a predetermined condition; a boundary triggered pixel determination array configured to determine a boundary triggered pixel collection circuitry in the pixel collection circuitries in the triggered state; and a reading unit configured to respond to the boundary triggered pixel collection circuitry and output address information about the boundary triggered pixel collection circuitry.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2022
    Publication date: June 9, 2022
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo
  • Patent number: 11336852
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a pixel collection circuit and an image sensor. The pixel collection circuit includes: a photoelectric detection module configured to monitor an optical signal in real time and output a corresponding electric signal; a triggering generation module configured to generate a triggering generation signal when a change frequency of the electric signal exceeds a predetermined frequency threshold and an amplitude of the electric signal meets a predetermined condition, and output the triggering generation signal to the interface logic module; and the interface logic module configured to output a triggering state signal upon the receipt of the triggering generation signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2022
    Assignee: OMNIVISION SENSOR SOLUTION (SHANGHAI) CO., LTD
    Inventors: Menghan Guo, Shoushun Chen
  • Publication number: 20220030155
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides an anti-flashlight circuit assembly and an image sensor. The anti-flashlight circuit assembly includes a plurality of flashlight detection units. Each flashlight detection unit includes: a first photoelectric detection module configured to monitor an optical signal in real time and output a corresponding electric signal; a first triggering generation module configured to generate a first triggering generation signal when the electric signal exceeds a predetermined threshold, and output the first triggering generation signal to a first interface logic module; and the first interface logic module configured to output a triggering state signal upon the receipt of the first triggering generation signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Inventors: Shoushun Chen, Menghan Guo