US Patent 7362365 Digital image capture having an ultra-high dynamic range

An image capture method in a digital image sensor implements a continuous sampling technique with a massively parallel thermometer-code analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) technique to generate pixel data having an intrinsic to an ultra-high dynamic range. In one embodiment, the method includes, after an initial exposure period, sampling pixel intensity values at the pixel elements of an image sensor at multiple exposure times within a snapshot of a scene; providing an analog reference voltage corresponding to a decrementing digital count value; and comparing the pixel intensity values to the analog reference voltage at each of the multiple exposure times. If the pixel intensity value of a first pixel element is less than the analog reference voltage at a first exposure time, an output signal having a first value is generated and the digital count value is recorded as pixel data associated with the first pixel element.