CMOS programmable imager implementing pre-processing operations

The CMOS Imager presented integrates a 2D photoreceptor array with a nine i nput analog processor on the same focal plane. The analog processor is full y programmable, performing multiply-accumulate operations. A VLSI implement ation of spatial convolution operations performed on images is presented. A modified photoreceptor is presented that is based on current mode for sign al transmission, thus decreasing the effect of noise on the transmitted sig nal and increasing the sensitivity per decade. A novel decoding scheme was used to decode the required set of photoreceptors to be presented to the an alog processor. Thus only one processor unit is needed whose inputs depend on the time state. A prototype system was fabricated that incorporates 15x1 5 pixels in a 2x2 mm(2) using a 2 mu m double metal, single poly process.