Patent attributes
A system and method of increasing the sensitivity of an optical detector formed from a two-dimensional array of sensor elements, each of said sensor elements having a dynamic range. A gradient-detection algorithm is applied to an image received from the optical detector in order to identify a shape and position of a first subset of pixels in the image. The first subset of pixels corresponds to an object represented in the image. A determination is made whether one or more of the sensor elements corresponding in shape and position to the first subset of pixels have been exposed outside of their dynamic range. If one or more sensor elements have been overexposed, at least one of the gain or offset associated with the one or more of the sensor elements is adjusted, such that the one or more sensor elements are exposed within their dynamic range. The adjustment of the gain or offset of the one or more sensor elements is performed independently of any gain or offset adjustment applied to other sensor elements in the optical detector.