Single sensor color camera with user selectable image record size

DETAILED DESCRIPTION In accordance with the invention, the aforementioned problems are solved with an electronic camera for processing images of different resolution, as set forth in the description of the preferred embodiments.
As claimed, the camera includes an image sensor for generating a baseband image signal representative of color image pixels arranged in vertical and horizontal directions as obtained from a two-dimensional array of photosites covered by a pattern of luminance and chrominance color filters.
A buffer memory includes sufficient capacity for storing the color image pixels as baseband signals corresponding to at least one image.
An output memory, connected subsequent to the buffer memory, includes capacity for storing processed image signals obtained from the buffer memory.
A resolution mode switch selects the pixel resolution of the image by specifying the order in which the color image pixels are selected for storage in both vertical and horizontal directions, the order including a full resolution mode in which all color image pixels are selected and at least one reduced resolution mode in which a fewer number of color image pixels are selected.
A timing controller responsive to the pixel resolution selected by a resolution mode switch accordingly changes the number of horizontal and vertical pixels that represent the image by effecting a subsampling of the color image pixels for the reduced resolution mode.
Finally, the selected color image pixels are stored in the output memory, such that the output memory is able to store more images in the reduced resolution mode than in the full resolution mode.
Several advantageous technical effects flow from the invention.
One advantage is that each reduced resolution image directly corresponds to the image pixel data on the sensor, thus being a truer representation with less contamination by processing noise.
Another advantage is that the processing channel before subsampling can be much simpler than in the prior art, with the usual attendant advantages in cost and speed