Analog Devices Applies for Image Sensor Patents

Analog Devices applies for an image sensor design patent US20130015323. Nothing outstanding, except the applicant name. The rumor is that Analog Devices has been contemplating to enter image sensor market for a long time.

US20130015323: Image Sensor with a Charge-Based Readout Circuit
Sayuk, Mark T. (Reading, MA, US)
Decker, Steven J. (Sandown, NH, US)
Filed: 06/13/2012

The proposal is to use passive caps per column to sample reset and signal data, then multitude of such caps can be connected to a single op-amp for read:

Another image sensor related patent from Analog Devices was published in Sept. 2012:

US20120236187: Apparatus and Method for Image Decimation for Image Sensors
Guthrie, Edward (Boston, MA, US)
Sase, Masatoshi (US)
Decker, Steven (Sandown, NH, US)
Nakamura, Katsu (Andover, MA, US)
Filed: 03/16/2011

This application talks about a multitude of column-level sampling caps arrangement for the binning in readout analog domain.