Memory-enhanced image sensor

1. An electronic device comprising:

a substrate;

a volatile memory on said substrate;

an antifuse non-volatile memory on said substrate;

an image sensing pixel array on said substrate; and

a co-processor configured to

write contents of said antifuse non-volatile memory to said volatile memory, the contents including operational parameters of the electronic device, and

re-write the contents back into a different region of said volatile memory.

2. The image sensor IC of claim 1 , further comprising a volatile memory and mapper for mapping contents of said antifuse non-volatile memory to said volatile memory.

3. The image sensor IC of claim 2 , wherein said volatile memory comprises an I 2 C data bus.

4. The image sensor IC of claim 1 , further comprising a switcher for selectively powering said antifuse non-volatile memory.

5. The image sensor IC of claim 4 , wherein said switcher is arranged to power said antifuse non-volatile memory upon power-up and to switch off said antifuse non-volatile memory when its contents have been copied to said volatile memory.

6. The image sensor IC of claim 1 , wherein said antifuse non-volatile memory is encoded with data for part-tracking.

7. The image sensor IC of claim 6 , wherein the data for part-tracking comprises at least one of:

sensor ID, date of manufacture, sales region ID, tester ID, test result, wafer ID, and die ID.

8. The image sensor IC of claim 1 , wherein said antifuse non-volatile memory is encoded with data for defect correction of image data.

9. The image sensor IC of claim 8 , wherein the data for defect correction comprises locations of defective pixels.

10. The image sensor IC of claim 8 , wherein the data for defect correction comprises couplet locations.

11. The image sensor IC of claim 1 , wherein said antifuse non-volatile memory is encoded with data for color filter array reconstruction.

12. The image sensor IC of claim 11 , wherein the data for color filter array reconstruction comprises at least one of: data for anti-vignetting, color channel gains, range scaling parameters, demosaicing algorithms, range clipping parameters, and gamma correction data.

13. The image sensor IC of claim 1 , wherein said antifuse non-volatile memory is encoded with data defining embedded firmware for microprocessor or DSP control.

14. The image sensor IC of claim 1 , further comprising a processor coupled to said image sensor IC.

15. An electronic device comprising:

an image sensor integrated circuit (IC) including

a substrate,

a volatile memory on said substrate;

an antifuse non-volatile memory on said substrate, and

an image sensing pixel array on said substrate; and

a co-processor coupled to said image sensor IC and configured to

write contents of said antifuse non-volatile memory to said volatile memory, the contents including operational parameters of the image sensor IC, and

re-write the contents back into a different region of said volatile memory.

16. The electronic device of claim 15 , further comprising an auxiliary device connected to at least one of said image sensor IC and said co-processor.

17. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein said auxiliary device comprises a motor for driving a lens carriage, and said antifuse non-volatile memory is encoded with operational parameters for driving said motor.

18. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein said motor comprises a piezoelectric motor.

19. The electronic device of claim 17 , further comprising a lens position sensor arranged in feedback with said motor.

20. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the operational parameters for driving said motor comprise at least one of a first command signal frequency for driving the motor in a first direction, a second command signal frequency for driving the motor in a second, direction, and a hard-stop lens position defining an infinity focus.

21. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein said electronic device defines at least one of an optical mouse, a web camera, an imaging apparatus, and a mobile telephone.

22. An electronic device comprising:

a co-processor;

an image sensor integrated circuit (IC); and

a motor for driving a lens carriage and coupled to at least one of said co-processor and said image sensor IC;

said image sensing IC including a non-volatile memory encoded with operational parameters for driving said motor, and a volatile memory;

said co-processor configured to

write contents of said non-volatile memory to said volatile memory, the contents including operational parameters of the image sensor IC, and

re-write the contents back into a different region of said volatile memory.

23. The electronic device of claim 22 , wherein said electronic device defines at least one of an optical mouse, a web camera, an imaging apparatus, and a mobile telephone.

24. The electronic of claim 22 , wherein said motor comprises a piezoelectric motor.

25. The electronic device of claim 22 , further comprising a lens position sensor arranged in feedback with said motor.

26. The electronic device of claim 22 , wherein the operational parameters for driving said motor comprise one or more of a first command signal frequency for driving the motor in a first direction, a second command signal frequency for driving the motor in a second direction, and a hard-stop lens position defining an infinity focus.

27. The electronic device of claim 22 , wherein the non-volatile memory comprises an antifuse non-volatile memory.

28. A method of operating an image sensor integrated circuit (IC) comprising a substrate, a volatile memory on the substrate, an antifuse non-volatile memory on the substrate, and an image sensing pixel array on the substrate, the method comprising:

writing the contents of the antifuse non-volatile memory to a volatile memory, the contents including operational parameters of the image sensor IC;

selectively powering the antifuse non-volatile memory; and

re-writing the contents back into a different region of said volatile memory.

29. The method of claim 28 , further comprising powering up the antifuse non-volatile memory upon power-up of the image sensor IC.

30. The method of claim 28 , further comprising powering down the antifuse non-volatile memory when it contents have been mapped to the volatile memory.

31. The method of claim 28 , further comprising encoding the antifuse non-volatile memory with data for at least one of part-tracking, defect correction of image data, and color filter array reconstruction.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein the data for defect correction comprises locations of defective pixels.

33. The method of claim 31 , wherein the data for defect correction comprises couplet locations.