A ground driven delay line correlator circuit for removing noise from an image signal produced by a solid state imaging device such as a CCD sensor. The delay line is made up of a shielded inductor having a certain impedance and delay period.

A pixel artifact/blemish filter for use in a CCD video camera which produces a video signal composed of a series of pulses, each representing a pixel, for developing a video image. The filter includes a delay line for receiving the video signal produced by the camera, and for delaying the video signal pulses by a time of approximately one pulse width duration. The filter also includes first and second signal transfer elements for receiving respectively each video signal pulse directly from the camera and each most recently delayed video signal, and for passing either the directly received pulse or the delayed pulse, depending upon the relative magnitude of the two pulses. Since pixel artifact pulses are typically more positive than non-artifacts pulses, the signal transfer elements generally pass the more negative video signal pulses so that the pixel artifact pulses are suppressed when they arrive at the transfer elements.

An image processing apparatus which eliminates noise which occurs due to the influence of output from a parallel bus drive circuit added to an output final stage circuit of signal processor or the like. A delay circuit 110 which delays a video signal is inserted into a VTR signal processor such that a data transition point of particular bit in a bit array indicating horizontal-directional start and end positions of video signal data, added during a horizontal retrace period of a digital recording format video signal, does not overlap with a period for sampling a feedthrough period and a photoelectric conversion signal period in a correlated double sampling circuit.

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to providing methods and apparatus for detecting light energy in real-time while minimizing the effects of background charge accrual on the charge-coupled device. Exemplary embodiments provide relatively fast electronic shuttering and exposure control to minimize accrual of unwanted background illumination. Further, exemplary embodiments can be operated at relatively high speeds without increasing the complexity of electronics used to drive the charge-coupled device or process information produced by the charge-coupled device.

Outputs from an array of input signals are amplified by an amplification section, sampled and multiplexed onto an analog bus. Amplifiers in the amplification section are segregated into groups. When the amplifiers are in a first mode, as indicated by a binning signal, the amplifiers within each group are electrically isolated from another and function independently from one another to provide a high resolution output signal. When in a second mode, amplifiers within a group operate as a single unified amplifier that averages the inputs for that group to provide a single output. Thus, in this second mode of operation, readout speed may be improved while increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of each input signal relative to the first mode of operation.