Multiple Capture Single Image Architecture with a CMOS Sensor

We describe a programmable digital camera sensor with pixel-level analog-to-digital conversion (ADC). The sensor, which was designed and implemented by our group, is programmable in the sense that the spatial and temporal pooling of the sensors in the array can be changed from frame-to-frame. This sensor programmability offers the opportunity to re-think the overall design of the digital capture system. In this paper we describe our experiments with a new system architecture, which we call multiple capture, single image (MCSI). The experiments illustrate how this architecture may be applied for demanding applications, such as image archiving, where a high-quality record of a scene is desirable.