In this paper we present a new organic computing principle denoted as marching pixels for the architectures of future smart CMOS camera chips. The idea of marching pixels is based on the realization of a massively-parallel fine-grain single-chip processor array. Marching pixels are virtual organic units which are propagating in a pixel processor array, similar to virtual ants in ant algorithms. The task of the marching pixels is to carry out autonomously important image pre-processing tasks, e.g. fast and robust detection of objects and its center points or tracking of moving objects. We are favoring organic computing principles based on virtual life-like objects which are implemented in hardware to realize fast reply times and self-healing properties. This technology is thought for future smart sensor chips which will integrate hundreds of million transistors. The paper presents the basic idea of marching pixels and its functional behavior for different algorithmic tasks. Furthermore...