Patent ID: 7002628

Claim:
An active pixel sensor device, comprising: an array of pixels, arranged in logical units, wherein each pixel comprises a photosensor element, an in-pixel buffer element, and an in-pixel selector element; a plurality of analog-to-digital converters, formed on the same substrate as said pixel sensor array, and each associated with N logical units of the pixel sensor array, each of said N logical units having including a plurality of pixels, each of said plurality of analog-to-digital converters comprising: a plurality of storage elements; and an analog-to-digital (ADC) portion, said ADC portion for receiving an analog signal from one of said pixel sensors of an associated logical unit when a selector element associated with said one pixel is enabled, and for converting said analog signal to a converted digital value, said ADC portion storing said converted value into one of said plurality of storage elements; and a readout controller for controlling readout of information from the photosensor elements by controlling each of said analog-to-digital converters to: convert first information from a first line of the array and store said first information in one of said plurality of storage elements; after said convert and store of said first information, convert second information from a second line of the array and store said second information in another one of said plurality of storage elements; and read out said first and second information from said plurality of storage elements in a desired order; wherein N is at least two.