Image Sensor Binning with Split Readout for PAF Pixel Columns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image binning methods in electronic devices face a trade-off between frame rate and image quality, with analog binning offering high frame rates but degrading image quality due to phase auto focus (PAF) pixels, while digital binning mitigates this but at the cost of slower frame rates.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device with a pixel array and logic circuit that performs first binning on color and specific pixels in a row direction, followed by second binning on the first binned image, allowing for differential readout timings of columns containing specific pixels to enhance frame rate while maintaining image resolution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If analog binning is used, then frame rate is improved, but image quality deteriorates due to PAF pixels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the pixel array into color pixels and PAF pixels, applying different binning operations to each segment. Color pixels undergo digital binning to maintain image quality, while PAF pixels are handled separately to enable high frame rate operation without degrading overall image quality.
Solution Approach 2:
Different binning methods are applied to different regions/pixel types within the array. Specifically, color pixels receive digital binning treatment while PAF pixels are processed differently, allowing each region to contribute optimally to either image quality or frame rate depending on its function.
2Manufacturing precision
If digital binning is used, then image quality is improved, but frame rate deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the binning process into two segments: first binning that processes color pixels digitally to maintain quality, and second binning that handles PAF pixels separately. This segmentation allows digital binning benefits for color pixels while enabling high frame rates through efficient PAF pixel processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operational parameters of the binning process by implementing a two-stage approach with different binning modes. The first binning operates in digital mode for color pixels, while the second binning is optimized for PAF pixels, effectively changing the system parameters to achieve both high quality and high frame rate.
3Device complexity
If uniform readout timing is used for all columns, then device complexity is reduced, but productivity deteriorates due to inability to optimize for PAF pixels
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic readout timing control where different columns are read out at different timings based on their content (color pixels vs. PAF pixels). This dynamic approach allows optimization of the readout process for specific pixel types while maintaining manageable device complexity through systematic control.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device includes a pixel array that outputs a raw image including color pixels and specific pixels, a logic circuit that outputs a first binned image by performing first binning on pixels in a row direction for each unit kernel of the raw image, and a processor that outputs a second binned image by performing second binning on the first binned image. When a unit kernel includes at least one of the specific pixels, a column to which the at least one specific pixel belongs is read out at a readout timing different from a readout timing of a column to which none of the specific pixels belong and undergoes the first binning. The second binning combines a third binned image of the column to which none of the specific pixels belong with a fourth binned image of the column to which the at least one specific pixel belongs.