1. A handheld imaging device, comprising: an image sensor for sensing an image; an integrated chip provided on a wafer substrate, the integrated chip integrating on the wafer substrate a dedicated image processor for processing the sensed image, and an image sensor interface for receiving signals from the image sensor; a plurality of processing units provided in the dedicated image processor, the plurality of processing units connected in parallel by a crossbar switch to form a multi-core processing unit for the processor; and a CPU provided in the integrated chip for performing general operating system duties, wherein a transfer of data from the image sensor interface to the dedicated image processor is conducted entirely within the integrated chip and on the shared wafer substrate.