Patent ID: 7050098

Claim:
A signal processing apparatus for processing an image signal, comprising: a driving unit adapted to drive an image sensing unit which comprises a plurality of image sensing regions of one frame, a plurality of charge transfer elements in one-to-one correspondence with said plurality of image sensing regions, for respectively transferring image signals generated in said corresponding image sensing regions, and a plurality of output terminals in one-to-one correspondence with said plurality of charge transfer elements, for outputting said image signals transferred by said corresponding charge transfer elements, and to make said respective output terminals output image signals and dummy image signals from said corresponding image sensing regions; a first processor adapted to reduce offset differences between said plurality of image signals outputted from said plurality of output terminals by correcting said image signals on the basis of said dummy image signals obtained in association with an image sensing operation for reading out said image signals from said plurality of output terminals; a second processor adapted to reduce gain differences between said plurality of image signals outputted from said plurality of output terminals by correcting each of said image signals outputted from said respective output terminals based on a gain correction value predetermined prior to said image sensing operation; and a synthesizing unit adapted to synthesize said image signals outputted from the respective output terminals after having undergone offset correction by said first processor and gain correction by said second processor into one image, wherein said dummy image signals are obtained from said output terminals, during which time said image signals are not outputted from said output terminals, by driving said charge transfer elements in a similar manner as said image signals are transferred.