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Samsung patents image sensor design to cut down on digital noise

This filing describes an image sensor that splits its pixel grid into two separate groups. Each group uses its own timing signal to convert light data into digital numbers, ensuring the two halves are processed at slightly different moments.

Why it mattersThis technique could help smartphone cameras produce cleaner images by managing data conversion more efficiently across the sensor.

In the filing’s own words

An image sensor includes a pixel array connected to a plurality of column lines, a first ramp signal generator generating a first ramp signal, a second ramp signal generator generating a second ramp signal, and an analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) circuit operating in a first mode. The ADC circuit includes a first comparator group comparing the first ramp signal with a first pixel signal received from a first column line group, among the plurality of column lines, and a second comparator group comparing the second ramp signal with a second pixel signal received from a second column line group, among the plurality of column lines. The comparing of the first ramp signal occurs at a comparison time point different from a comparison time point during which the comparing of the second ramp signal occurs.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An image sensor comprising: first color pixels arranged in a first matrix form in first through Nth rows and first through Nth columns; second color pixels arranged in a second matrix form in the first through Nth rows and (N+1)th through 2Nth columns; a first ramp signal generator generating a first ramp signal and a second ramp signal; a second ramp signal generator generating a third ramp signal and a fourth ramp signal; a first analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) circuit configured to compare the first ramp signal with a reset signal of a first-first color pixel disposed on the first row and the first column and compare the first ramp signal with a reset signal of a second-first color pixel disposed on the first row and the (N+1)th column; and a second ADC circuit configured to compare the third ramp signal with a reset signal of a first-second color pixel disposed on the first row and the Nth column and compare the third ramp signal with a reset signal of a second-second color pixel disposed on the first row and the 2Nth column, wherein the second color pixels are directly adjacent to the first color pixels in a first direction in plan view, and wherein N is an integer equal to or greater than 2.

Facts

Company
Samsung (SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.)
Official title
IMAGE SENSOR FOR REDUCING NOISE
Publication number
US20260281575A1
Application number
19681845
Filed
May 19, 2026
Published
Sep 17, 2026
Inventors
4
Claims
20

Classified under

H04N 25/60 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/616 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/772 Electricity & electronicsH04N 25/78 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.