Patent ID: 7436441

Claim:
A method for down-scaling a digital image in a digital camera, the method comprising: forming an image of a real scene on an image sensor comprising a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, with a stationary matrix pattern of color filters being adjacent the image sensor and having a geometrical arrangement; addressing and reading the pixels in the matrix to obtain analog quantities on luminance values of the pixels, the addressing and reading comprising selecting a group of pixels in the matrix having a same color from the stationary matrix pattern of color filters having the geometrical arrangement, storing the analog quantities of the selected group of pixels having the same color, and producing a weighted average of the stored analog quantities for each group of pixels having the same color to obtain an analog quantity corresponding to an average pixel luminance value; converting the analog quantities on the average pixel luminance values of the selected group of pixels having the same color to digital values; and processing the digital values to obtain a data file representing the image of the real scene.