Methods and apparatus for robotics vision system-on-chip and applications thereof

An in-pixel analog image processing device comprising:

• an array of analog in-pixel processing elements, each in-pixel processing element including:
• a photodetector;
• photodetector control circuitry;
• analog computing circuitry including:
• a plurality of register banks having write operations to each register within a register bank enabled by a flag register;
• and
• an analog bus configured to selectively perform math and logic operations in response to instruction bit values;
• a set of analog connection registers, each connection register connected to the analog bus and interconnected between a unique pair of neighboring in-pixel processing elements to transfer analog information between the pair of neighboring in-pixel processing elements;
• and
• a plurality of digital memory components operably interconnected to the analog bus through an analog-to-digital converter and a digital-to-analog converter;
• and
• a compute system operably connected to each in-pixel processing element and configured to:
• present instruction bit values used to convert a photodetector current into an analog sub-frame data;
• and
• present instruction bit values used to provide register transfer, math and logic operations to manipulate the analog sub-frame data.

An artificial intelligence system for image processing comprising:

• an integrated circuit system on a chip including:
• a photodetector array having a field of view on an exposed top surface;
• an array of analog in-pixel processing elements configured to perform all neighbor-in-time computing from a plurality of sub-frames and corresponding neighbor-in-space computing from neighboring in-pixel processing elements to generate processed imaged information;
• an interposer interconnect layer that provides electrical connection between a bottom surface of the photodetector array and the array of analog in-pixel processing elements that include thru-silicon vias to operably connect the array of in-pixel processing elements to the photodetector array;
• and
• a digital hardware circuit configured to perform all sensor-specific computing for the processed image information from the array of analog in-pixel processing elements.