Method and apparatus for saturation detection and electronic shutter in a solid state image sensor

An imaging system comprising:

• an image sensor having a plurality of photocells, each photocell to provide a sensor signal, as a measure of the intensity of incident light, at a first contact, wherein the plurality of photocells are one or more sets of photocells, each set being associated with a respective monitor node, a second contact of each photocell in a set being coupled to the set's respective monitor node;
• and
• control circuitry coupled to the photocells to control a time interval during which the intensity of the incident light is measured, wherein the control circuitry is to stop integration in one or more of the sets in response to detecting a predetermined value on the set's respective monitor node.

An imaging system comprising:

• an image sensor having a plurality of photocells each to provide a sensor signal at a first contact and a monitor signal at a second contact, the plurality of photocells being one or more sets, the second contact of each set being coupled to a respective monitor node;
• and
• control circuitry coupled to the photocells, in response to detecting a predetermined value of the monitor signal, stop integration in one or more of the sets, wherein the predetermined value represents saturation of a photocell.