Patent attributes
The subject disclosure is directed towards energy saving mechanisms of image sensor circuitry (e.g., in a camera). Image quality data, such as provided by an application, is processed to make energy consumption of image sensor circuitry more proportional to output image quality by controlling the operation of one or more controllable power saving mechanisms of the image sensor circuitry. Power saving mechanisms may include a frequency controlled clock, the ability to turn off unneeded components, an inter-frame standby mode that puts the image sensor circuitry into a standby mode between capturing sequential frames, selectable parallel analog chains having different energy usage properties and column circuitry that allows turning off circuitry corresponding to unneeded columns of the sensor array.