Patent ID: 7688366

Claim:
An apparatus for reducing or eliminating noise in an image sensor device formed in an integrated circuit (IC), the apparatus comprising: an analog sampling circuit electrically connected to an output of a pixel, the analog sampling circuit obtaining an average reset sampling value and an average video sampling value, wherein: the analog sampling circuit obtains the average reset sampling value by sampling a reset sampling level on the pixel output during a first set of overlapping periods of time during a reset sampling phase to obtain a plurality of respective reset sampling values and averaging the plurality of reset sampling values to produce the average reset sampling value, the analog sampling circuit obtains the average video sampling value by sampling a video sampling level on the pixel output during a second set of overlapping periods of time during a video sampling phase to obtain a plurality of respective video sampling values and averaging the plurality of video sampling values to produce the average video sampling value, and the analog sampling circuit comprises: a reset sampling circuit, the reset sampling circuit having at least first and second reset sampling capacitors that sample the reset sampling level on the pixel output during a reset sampling timing interval, the reset sampling circuit having a reset sampling switching configuration, the reset sampling switching configuration electrically connecting the first and second reset sampling capacitors to the pixel output during the reset sampling timing interval, the reset sampling switching configuration electrically disconnecting the first and second reset sampling capacitors from the pixel output at respectively different instants in time, wherein connecting the reset sampling capacitors to the pixel output causes electrical charges corresponding to the respective reset sampling values to be stored on the respective reset sampling capacitors; and a video sampling circuit, the video sampling circuit having at least first and second video sampling capacitors that sample the video sampling level on the pixel output during a video sampling timing interval, the video sampling circuit having a video sampling switching configuration, the video sampling switching configuration electrically connecting the first and second video sampling capacitors to the pixel output during the video sampling timing interval, the video sampling switching configuration electrically disconnecting the first and second video sampling capacitors from the pixel output at respectively different instants in time, wherein connecting the video sampling capacitors to the pixel output causes an electrical charge corresponding to the respective video sampling values to be stored on the respective video sampling capacitors.