Readout circuit and method for sparse readout of active and neighboring pixels in a multi-pixel sensor array

摘要

A readout circuit ( 29 ) for reading active pixels in a sensor ( 10 ) having at least one sensor segment ( 11 ) each containing addressable pixels ( 12 ) includes a respective sample and hold unit ( 28 ) for sampling and holding an analog value associated with a corresponding pixel, and an analog multiplexer ( 35 ) in each segment having an addressable channel coupled to each sample and hold unit for carrying the corresponding held value of the respective pixel. A lookup table ( 38 ) stores addresses of predefined neighboring pixels associated with the respective pixel. An encoder ( 36 ) is responsive to one or more trigger signals for generating an address in the lookup table, and a controller ( 37 ) feeds the address to the lookup table and successively feeds the addresses of the predefined neighboring pixels output by the lookup table to the analog multiplexer.