Eastman Kodak Company on Thursday announced a "groundbreaking advancement" in image sensor technology that would "help to make dark, blurry digital photos a thing of the past."

"Kodak's new sensor technology provides a 2x to 4x increase in sensitivity to light (from one to two photographic stops) compared to current sensor designs," the Rockester, N.Y.-based photographic materials and equipment manufacturer said in a press release.

Current design of almost all color image sensors is based on the "Bayer Pattern," an arrangement of red, green, and blue pixels that was first developed by Kodak scientist Bryce Bayer in 1976. In this design, half of the pixels on the sensor are used to collect green light, with the remaining pixels split evenly between sensitivity to red and blue light. After exposure, software reconstructs a full color signal for each pixel in the final image.

Kodak's new technology adds panchromatic, or "clear" pixels, to the red, green, and blue elements that form the image sensor array, the company said.

Since these pixels are sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light, they collect a significantly higher proportion of the light striking the sensor.

By matching these pixel arrangements with advanced software algorithms optimized for these new patterns, users can realize an increase in photographic speed, directly improving performance when taking pictures under low light.

"This represents a new generation of image sensor technology and addresses one of the great challenges facing our industry -- how to capture crisp, clear digital images in a poorly lit environment," said Chris McNiffe, general manager of Kodak's Image Sensor Solutions group.

Kodak is beginning to work with a number of leading companies to implement this new technology in system-wide solutions and to streamline the design-in process, the company said.

Kodak is developing CMOS sensors using this technology for consumer markets such as digital still cameras and camera phones. The first Kodak sensor to use this technology is expected to be available for sampling in the first quarter of next year, Kodak said.