Dual mode image sensor and method of using same

A dual mode image sensor having controls for exposure, gain, clock, frame rate, subsampling and binning, comprising:

• a set of imaging optics;
• a sensing array on a chip, the sensor array having rows and columns of discrete sensor elements, the sensor array configured to receive light through the imaging optics;
• a scene sensing mode;
• an image capture mode;
• the scene sensing mode and the image capture mode using the set of imaging optics;
• analog-to-digital converters on the chip to convert analog values into digital data;
• a processor on the chip to process the digital data, the processor having dual context registers, one register for the scene sensing mode, and the second register for the image capture mode;
• the scene sensing mode being configured to output results of object sensing, motion detection, focus evaluation and illumination measurement to the analog-to-digital converters;
• the image capture mode configured to output captured images to the analog-to-digital converters;
• the analog-to-digital converters being configured to send the digital data to the processor;
• and
• the processor being configured to switch from scene sensing mode to image capture mode based upon the digital data from the analog-to-digital converters about the output results in the scene sensing mode.