Redundancy in active pixel sensors

An active pixel sensor, comprising:

• a plurality of sensor pixels disposed in a row;
• a plurality of sensor pixels in a column;
• and
• steering circuitry coupled to each of the sensor pixels;
• wherein each of the sensor pixels comprises:
• a first pixel circuit;
• and
• a second pixel circuit;
• and
• for each of the sensor pixels, the steering circuitry comprises:
• a first switch and a second switch connected in series to route an input signal to the first pixel circuit;
• and
• a third switch and a fourth switch connected in parallel to route the input signal to the second pixel circuit;
• further comprising:
• a row defect memory to store information indicating whether a row in which the first pixel circuit is disposed is defective;
• and
• a row multiplexer coupled to the row defect memory, the row multiplexer to set control signals for the row to a predetermined voltage responsive to the information stored in the row defect memory indicating that the row is defective.

An active pixel sensor, comprising:

• a plurality of sensor pixels disposed in a row;
• a plurality of sensor pixels in a column;
• and
• steering circuitry coupled to each of the sensor pixels;
• wherein each of the sensor pixels comprises:
• a first pixel circuit;
• and
• a second pixel circuit;
• and
• for each of the sensor pixels, the steering circuitry comprises:
• a first switch and a second switch connected in series to route an input signal to the first pixel circuit;
• and
• a third switch and a fourth switch connected in parallel to route the input signal to the second pixel circuit;
• wherein for four adjoining sensor pixels, circuitry of the second pixel circuit of a given one of the four adjoining sensor pixels is disposed nearer the circuitry of the second pixel circuit of each of the other four adjoining sensor pixels than to the circuitry of the first pixel circuit of the each of the other four adjoining sensor pixels.

An active pixel sensor, comprising:

• a plurality of sensor pixels disposed in a row;
• a plurality of sensor pixels in a column;
• and
• steering circuitry coupled to each of the sensor pixels;
• wherein each of the sensor pixels comprises:
• a first pixel circuit;
• and
• a second pixel circuit;
• and
• for each of the sensor pixels, the steering circuitry comprises:
• a first switch and a second switch connected in series to route an input signal to the first pixel circuit;
• and
• a third switch and a fourth switch connected in parallel to route the input signal to the second pixel circuit;
• wherein vertical interconnect accesses in conductors for row control signals and conductors for column control signals are not connected by jumper metal.

An active pixel sensor, comprising:

• an array of sensor pixels arranged as a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns, each of the sensor pixels comprising:
• a first pixel circuit;
• and
• a second pixel circuit;
• a row defect memory to store information indicating whether a row in which a given one of the first pixel circuits is disposed is defective;
• a column defect memory to store information indicating whether a column in which a given one of the first pixel circuits is disposed is defective;
• and
• for each of the columns, a first column multiplexer coupled to the row defect memory, the column defect memory, and a column of the sensor pixels, wherein the first column multiplexer is configured to select the second pixel circuit responsive to the information stored in the row defect memory indicating that a row in which the first pixel circuit is disposed is defective, or the information stored in the column defect memory indicating that the column in which the first pixel circuit is disposed is defective.

An active pixel sensor, comprising:

• a plurality of sensor pixels disposed in a row;
• a plurality of sensor pixels disposed in a column;
• and
• steering circuitry coupled to each of the sensor pixels;
• a row defect memory;
• a column defect memory;
• a row multiplexer coupled to the row defect memory and the row of sensor pixels;
• a first column multiplexer coupled to the row defect memory, the column defect memory, and the column of sensor pixels;
• and
• a second column multiplexer coupled to the column of sensor pixels;
• wherein each of the sensor pixels comprises:
• a first pixel circuit;
• and
• a second pixel circuit;
• and
• for each of the sensor pixels the steering circuitry comprises:
• a first switch and a second switch connected in series to couple the first pixel circuit to an input terminal;
• and
• a third switch and a fourth switch connected in parallel to couple the second pixel circuit to the input terminal.