Single-chip color camera using a frame-transfer CCD

The feasibility of a color-encoding scheme based upon a symmetric shift pattern with a frame-transfer CCD has been demonstrated. The color mosaic filters were fabricated by etching uniform filter blanks, and single-chip color imagers were produced by applying these filters to commercially available b/w CCD's. Two different demultiplexing schemes were evaluated experimentally, and a prototype camera with excellent low-light-level performance was demonstrated; for surveillance and consumer applications, usable pictures with good color separation were obtained at light levels below 3 lx.