ccd
3 ResultsDictionary
CCD
(1) (Consumer Computing Device) A low-cost consumer-oriented product that contains a computer, such as a PDA, Internet appliance or specialized mobile device. (2) (Charge-Coupled Device) An...
Dictionary
Definition: CCD
(1) (Consumer Computing Device) A low-cost consumer-oriented product that contains a computer, such as a PDA, Internet appliance or specialized mobile device.
(2) (Charge-Coupled Device) An electronic memory that records the intensity of light as a variable charge. Widely used in still cameras, camcorders and scanners to capture images, CCDs are analog devices. Their charges equate to shades of light for monochrome images or shades of red, green and blue when used with color filters. Devices may use three CCDs, one for each of the red, green and blue colors.
Why Coupled
The "coupled" in the name is because the CCD comprises an array of imaging pixels and a matching array of storage pixels that are coupled together. After the imaging array is exposed to light, its charges are quickly transferred to the storage array. While the imaging CCDs are being exposed to the next picture, the storage CCDs from the last picture are being read out a row at a time to the analog-to-digital converters (A/D converters) that transform the charges into binary data to be processed. Contrast with CMOS image sensor. See Bayer pattern, X3, Super CCD, blooming and digital camera.
Charge-Coupling Methods
The storage CCDs are either a separate array (frame transfer) or individual photosites (interline transfer) coupled to each imaging photosite. The charges can be transferred faster with the interline method because each storage component is closer to its imaging counterpart.
CCDs Record Light
In a camera, CCDs take the place of film. They are exposed to light, recording the intensities, or shades, of light as variable charges. In the digital camera above, the variable, analog charges in the CCD are converted to binary data by analog-to-digital converter chips.
CCDs Are Very Sensitive
This CCD from Jet Propulsion Labs is used in astronomy. Sensing the output of telescopes, it detects ultraviolet light from distant planets. (Image courtesy of JPL's Microdevices Laboratory; Robert M. Brown, photographer)
THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY
All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
© 1981-2010 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved.
Sponsored White Papers, Webcasts & Resources
-
Disk Performance Analyzer for Networks
What's slowing your network down? Find out fast with powerful, free software that gives you a network-wide at-a-glance view of fragmentation accumulation. Discover bottlenecks before they cost you...
-
Digital camera sensor inventors win the Nobel Prize in physics
Forty years after they first sketched out the idea for a digital image sensor, two former Bell Labs research scientists have been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2009 "for the invention...
-
Nikon D5000 dSLR debuts with 360-degree flip-twist LCD, video
Nikon has made official its D5000 consumer digital SLR camera that leaked early last week in a public ad shoot. The camera is most notable for its flip-down, 360-degree-twist articulating LCD...
-
Canon rumor: CCD is dead, long live CMOS
The sensor king is dead! Long live the king! A rumor has been posted on, yes, CanonRumors that Canon will be ditching the CCD imaging sensor it uses in pro-level digital camcorders for the CMOS...
Additional Results
-
CCR or CCD, at least there is now a health record standard
Doctors will be able to deliver a standard output no matter what Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system they choose.
-
Digital camera sensor inventors win the Nobel Prize in physics
Forty years after they first sketched out the idea for a digital image sensor, two former Bell Labs research scientists have been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2009 "for the invention...
-
Nikon D5000 dSLR debuts with 360-degree flip-twist LCD, video
Nikon has made official its D5000 consumer digital SLR camera that leaked early last week in a public ad shoot. The camera is most notable for its flip-down, 360-degree-twist articulating LCD...
-
Canon rumor: CCD is dead, long live CMOS
The sensor king is dead! Long live the king! A rumor has been posted on, yes, CanonRumors that Canon will be ditching the CCD imaging sensor it uses in pro-level digital camcorders for the CMOS...
-
Panasonic's sub-$800 3CCD 1080p camcorder
Update 8:15AM - Note that 1080p is only in 24p mode. Panasonic will release two new true (1920x1080) 1080p 24p 3CCD camcorders in March 2008 for a list price of $800 and $1100. That means both...
-
Unboxed: JVC's 3CCD HiDef Hard Drive video cam with SDHC support
Recently, I wrote about how the high capacity versions of Secure Digital cards (officially "SDHC") were going to revolutionize the digital imaging market, particularly video. Although there are...
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Vendor Showcase
