Integrated image sensor processor with on-chip centroiding

An integrated sensor processor architecture to compute the center point of a light spot is described. The architecture uses CMOS based light sensors and includes circuits that weight and sum sensed values along rows and columns. The one-dimensional column and row outputs can then be processed on chip to compute the center of the light spot. Alternately, their analog values can be converted to digital format and processed by a conventional processor or DSP. Several algorithms, all of which can be executed on the architecture, are detailed. These methods span a wide range of techniques, from the simplest approximate center locator to the most sophisticated centroiding technique, The architecture can be very compact and needs little power to operate. A VLSI chip based on this architecture could be used towards object recognition and positioning based on visual patterns or cues