Development of a CMOS imager LSI with focal-plane motion detectors

A new CMOS imager having a motion detection function has been developed. Th is: CMOS imager can detect the motion of the image projected on a sensor ar ray,. scan automatically only a partial area including a place where the mo tion is detected as the focus. As a result, reducing the amount of data tra nsfer and improving the frame rate have become possible. The detection of a moving body can be performed by motion detector circuits, which operate re gardless of the frame rate. The motion detectors are sparsely placed in the sensor array to maintain the high pixel density. Other circuit techniques include the unity-gain pixel amps, and a multistage readout circuit. A 5.8- x 8.7-mm chip including 192 x 192 pixels and 7 x 7 motion detectors has be en developed using a 0.35-mum CMOS three-layer metal process. technology. E xperimental results have successfully confirmed the functions of the chip. (C) 2001 Scripta Technica.