Patent ID: 8106981

Claim:
An image photographing apparatus, comprising: a sensor unit to optically sense a light beam incident on a sub-defined region of the sensor unit, of a plurality of sub-defined regions of the sensor unit, with the sub-defined region including a plurality of sensors with at least two different sensitivities, and to convert the sensed light beam into a plurality of electrical signals respectively corresponding to at least the plurality of sensors; and a signal extraction unit to extract a quantity of accumulated electric charge performed by at least one of the plurality of sensors, with reference to each of the plurality of electrical signals, to output at least one signal representative of an intensity of the sub-defined region based upon the extracted quantity of accumulated electric charge, wherein the extracted quantity of accumulated electric charge performed by a first sensor, of the at least one of the plurality of sensors, is based upon an amplitude of an electrical signal of a second sensor, of the plurality of sensors, in a same frame, wherein the first sensor comprises an optical signal sensing unit to convert the sensed light beam into a first electrical signal and a reset control unit to reset the first electrical signal of the optical signal sensing unit to an initial value based upon a review of the first electrical signal, with the first electrical signal discharging over time such that the first electrical signal reduces in amplitude from the initial value over time, and wherein the signal extraction unit extracts the quantity of accumulated electric charge for the first sensor using a determined frequency of resets of the first electrical signal performed within a period of time corresponding to a frame information being generated using the sensed light beam, using a final value of the first electrical signal at an end of the period of time in defining the at least one signal, and extracts a frequency of resets with reference to the amplitude of the electrical signal of the second sensor, with the second sensor having a different sensitivity from the first sensor.