Patent ID: 7443436

Claim:
An image pickup system comprising an image pickup device and a signal processing apparatus, for outputting luminance information corresponding to an amount of received light to an apparatus used in a subsequent stage, wherein the image pickup device includes: an image pickup unit in which a plurality of unit cells are arranged in a one- or two-dimensional array, each of the plurality of unit cells including a photoelectric converter corresponding to a single pixel and an output unit operable to generate and output a reset voltage according to an output voltage from the photoelectric converter at an initialization as well as a read voltage according to an output voltage from the photoelectric converter corresponding to the amount of the received light; a differential voltage generating unit operable to generate, with respect to each of the plurality of unit cells, a differential voltage according to a difference between the reset voltage and the read voltage; and a device output unit operable to output, with respect to each of the plurality of unit cells, the read voltage and the differential voltage to the signal processing apparatus, and the signal processing apparatus includes: a designating unit operable to designate, from among the plurality of unit cells, two or more unit cells as correction targets based on a judgment of whether read voltages outputted by the device output unit for the plurality of unit cells are respectively within a predetermined range; and a system output unit operable to output, for a unit cell being not one of the designated unit cells, the differential voltage of the unit cell as luminance information corresponding to the unit cell, and output, for a unit cell being one of the designated unit cells, a predetermined voltage indicating high luminance as luminance information corresponding to the unit cells, wherein the designating unit includes: a judging unit operable to make the judgment; and a selecting unit operable to select, from among unit cells having read voltages judged as not being within the predetermined range, two or more unit cells as the correction targets based on differential voltages outputted by the device output unit for the plurality of unit cells.