Live panning system and method for reading out a cropping window of pixels from an image sensor

A live panning system for providing a live representation of a portion of a working area, the live panning system comprising:

• an image sensor configured to acquire an image of the entire working area, the image sensor comprising:
• an array of pixels each providing pixel data of the image, the image sensor being configured to read out the pixel data of a number of output pixels from the array of pixels at a sensor frame rate to generate a sensor video stream, the output pixels corresponding to a cropping window within the image;
• and
• a windowing module configured to move, in real-time, the cropping window within the image,
• wherein the image sensor outputs the cropping window in any one of a plurality of output modes comprising:
• a full pixel mode wherein the image sensor outputs the pixel data of all the output pixels in the cropping window;
• and
• a reduced-pixel mode wherein the image sensor outputs a reduced version of the pixel data of the output pixels in the cropping window,
• wherein the image sensor outputs a selected one of said plurality of output modes based on:
• the number of the output pixels in the cropping window;
• the sensor frame rate of the image sensor;
• and
• a maximum output pixel rate of the image sensor;
• and
• a processing unit monitoring viewing instructions from a user selecting a region of interest within the image corresponding to the portion of the working area, the processing unit dynamically communicating the viewing instructions to the windowing module such that the cropping window always encompasses the region of interest.