Patent ID: 7893977

Claim:
An imaging apparatus, comprising: a first subset of photosensors, and a second subset of photosensors; a plurality of pixel amplifiers, with exactly one pixel amplifier being independently associated with each photosensor in the first and second subsets of photosensors; a shift register comprising a plurality of stages, at least one stage of the plurality of stages associated with each photosensor in the first subset of photosensors and the second subset of photosensors; a first reference line, associated with the first subset of photosensors, configured to read a reference signal associated with each pixel amplifier associated with the first subset of photosensors; a first signal line, associated with the first subset of photosensors, configured to read a signal associated with each pixel amplifier associated with the first subset of photosensors, wherein said first signal line is separate from said first reference line; a second reference line, associated with the second subset of photosensors, configured to read a reference signal associated with each pixel amplifier associated with the second subset of photosensors; and a second signal line, associated with the second subset of photosensors, configured to read a signal associated with each pixel amplifier associated with the second subset of photosensors, wherein said second signal line is separate from said second reference line; wherein a first stage of the shift register is operatively connected to a first photosensor and a second photosensor, said first photosensor in said first plurality of photosensors, and said second photosensor in said first plurality of photosensors, for simultaneously sampling a first image signal from said first photosensor and a first reference signal from said second photosensor.