Patent ID: 7791657

Claim:
An imaging device, comprising: an array of pixels having rows and columns, each of said pixels connected to produce an output signal in response to a stimulus, each of said pixels connected to reset in response to a reset signal; a vertical scanner connected to perform functions on selected rows of pixels within said array, said vertical scanner having a row read pointer and an evaluation read pointer; a column buffer, said column buffer connected to compare a sample of each of said pixel output signals to a programmable saturation threshold voltage and to trigger a conditional reset signal upon the satisfaction of a condition based on the comparison of said sample and said saturation threshold voltage; a memory register connected to said column buffer to store and transmit information related to the comparison of said pixel output signals and said saturation threshold voltage; and a horizontal scanner interfaced with said column buffer, said horizontal scanner comprising a column read pointer; wherein each of said pixels further comprises: a logic AND gate having said conditional reset signal and a reset enable signal from said evaluation read pointer as the inputs; and a logic OR gate having a row reset signal from said row read pointer and the output of said AND gate as inputs; wherein the output of said OR gate drives a switch that resets said pixel when said switch is closed.