Patent ID: 7038716

Claim:
A mobile device comprising: an image sensor producing digital signals representing a target when the image sensor is activated, the image sensor including an array of pixel elements, each of the pixel elements including a photodetector and an analog-to-digital conversion circuit, the photodetector producing an analog signal, the analog signal being converted to one of the digital signals; a data memory to receive and store the digital signals, wherein memory cells in the data memory can be accessed randomly through a readout mechanism so that the digital signals can be selectively read out of the data memory; a switching mechanism, the switching mechanism controlling the readout mechanism so that the digital signals is read out of the data memory in one of a plurality of predefined ways, a first one of the plurality of predefined ways comprising reading out only one or a few of the bit planes representing the digital signals so that a resultant image is a density reduced image and a second one of the plurality of predefined ways comprising reading the digital signals out in a decimation fashion so that a resultant image is a spatially reduced image; and a data transmission circuit coupled to the data memory and receiving the digital signals therefrom, the digital signals being converted to data that are transmitted over a network.