Patent ID: 7564015

Claim:
An apparatus for processing light energy, comprising: a sensor element included within an array of sensor elements and operable to receive a portion of the plurality of photons reflected by an object; a sensor drive coupled to the sensor element and correlating directly thereto, the sensor drive and the sensor element cooperating in order to generate sensor data that is based on the portion of the plurality of photons received by the sensor element; a support electronics element coupled to the sensor drive and correlating directly thereto, the support electronics being operable to process the sensor data in order to generate processed sensor data, including correcting non-uniformity characteristics in the sensor data; and a display element coupled to the support electronics and correlating directly thereto, the display element being operable to receive the processed sensor data from the support electronics element, the display element being further operable to display a segment of the processed sensor data that directly corresponds to the portion of the plurality of photons; wherein the sensor element includes one or more pixels, and wherein each of the pixels have a one-to-one direct coupling path to one or more output segments included in the display element, further wherein said sensor element includes a plurality of sensor element units, and wherein said support electronics includes a plurality of digital logic units, each of said digital logic units processing portions of the sensor data received from a single one of said sensor element units.