Patent ID: 7834922

Claim:
An image sensing apparatus including a photoelectric conversion unit constituted by a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements converting exposed light into charge and accumulating the charge therein, the photoelectric conversion elements being arranged in a matrix, and an electronic shutter function for controlling an exposure time for each frame, the apparatus comprising: a first readout unit that reads out charge from pixels composed of the photoelectric conversion elements corresponding to an entire exposure area of the photoelectric conversion unit using a destructive readout mode, the charge being accumulated in the pixels as a result of exposure for a predetermined exposure time, the entire exposure area being an entire area of the photoelectric conversion unit to which light can be exposed, the destructive readout mode being configured such that a reset operation for clearing the charge accumulated in the pixels is performed after the charge is read out from the pixels; a second readout unit that reads out charge from pixels composed of the photoelectric conversion elements corresponding to a specific area in the entire exposure area of the photoelectric conversion unit using a non-destructive readout mode, in a period when the first readout unit is reading out charge from the entire exposure area, the charge read out by the second readout unit being the charge accumulated in the pixels composed of the photoelectric conversion elements corresponding to the specific area, the non-destructive readout mode being configured such that the charge accumulated in the pixels is maintained after the charge is read out from the pixels; an image data generation unit that generates an image data on the basis of a first pixel data composed of the charge read out by the first readout unit, the charge being obtained by exposing the entire exposure area to light for the predetermined exposure time; a control data generation unit that generates a control data for use in controlling a predetermined control object on the basis of a second pixel data composed of the charge read out by the second readout unit, the charge being obtained by exposing the specific area to light with a plurality kinds of exposure times; and a control data output unit that outputs the control data generated by the control data generation unit.