US 11,754,718 B2
Time of flight imaging using long and short-exposure storage nodes
Minseok Oh, San Jose, CA (US)
Assigned to Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed by Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed on Jul. 30, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/943,978.
Prior Publication US 2022/0035038 A1, Feb. 3, 2022
Int. Cl. H04N 5/369 (2011.01); H01L 27/146 (2006.01); G01S 17/894 (2020.01); G01S 17/36 (2006.01); H04N 25/59 (2023.01); H04N 25/75 (2023.01)
CPC G01S 17/894 (2020.01) [G01S 17/36 (2013.01); H04N 25/59 (2023.01); H04N 25/75 (2023.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A time-of-flight camera, comprising:
a global shutter image sensor comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel of the plurality of pixels comprising one or more taps, each tap comprising
a photogate,
a short-exposure storage node configured to receive charge during a short-exposure interval of an integration period,
a long-exposure storage node configured to receive charge during a long-exposure interval of the integration period,
a short-exposure switch gate in series with the photogate, the short-exposure switch gate configured to direct charge generated during the short-exposure interval to the short-exposure storage node,
a long-exposure switch gate in series with the photogate and in parallel with the short-exposure switch gate, the long-exposure switch gate configured to direct charge generated during the long-exposure period to the long-exposure storage node, and
a readout mechanism comprising one or more floating diffusion (FD) capacitors.