Color contact image sensor

A color contact image sensor comprising:

• a linear dot cell array composed of dot cells each having red, green, and blue color sensing elements arranged in two rows, forming a triangle for sensing red, green, and blue color components of color information printed on a point of a document, and thin film transistor switch elements respectively connected to said sensing elements, one for each of said sensing elements, for selectively switching said sensing elements and outputting outputs of said red, green, and blue color sensing elements, each of said switch elements having gate, drain, and source electrode, and wherein said dot cell array is divided into m group of n dot cell;
• a plurality of gate lines connected to said gate electrodes of said thin film transistor switch elements that are connected to said sensing element of the same color in said group, respectively;
• a plurality of drain lines connected to said drain electrodes of said thin film transistor switch elements, each of said drain lines consisting of three of said red, green, and blue sensing elements and being commonly used in each of said groups;
• a driving means for driving said thin film transistor switching elements sequentially, said gate lines being connected to said driving means;
• and
• read-out means for reading a signal from said drain electrodes, said drain lines being connected to said read-out means.