Patent ID: 8350956

Claim:
A method of operating an image pickup system, the method comprising: generating, by a controller of the image pickup system, a first control signal in response to a long duration exposure mode selectively input by a user, wherein the image pickup system includes first circuits to process image data associated with the long duration exposure mode and second circuits to process image data associated with other modes; setting the second circuits to a standby mode in response to the first control signal; generating, by the controller, a second control signal when the standby mode has been established; opening a shutter of the image pickup system in response to the second control signal; and performing, by the image pickup system, a long duration exposure to accumulate a charge corresponding to an optical signal incident on an image sensor of the image pickup system when the shutter is open, wherein the performing of the long duration exposure includes blocking current from flowing through a column signal line connected to an output terminal of a pixel array included in the image sensor during a period the shutter is open.