Image pickup apparatus in which storage control is separately carried out for each focus detection area group

A focus detection device comprising:

• a plurality of line sensors each including a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements;
• storage control means for performing storage control associated with said photoelectric conversion elements;
• bi-directional communication means for performing a bi-directional communication with said storage control means, wherein said plurality of line sensors and said bi-directional communication means are arranged in a same image sensor device;
• and
• a plurality of focus detection areas corresponding to respective line sensors,
• wherein said plurality of focus detection areas are grouped into a plurality of focus detection area groups the number of which is smaller than the number of focus detection areas, said storage control means associated with the photoelectric conversion elements performs storage control through said bi-directional communication means in said image sensor device, and said storage control is performed separately and sequentially for each focus detection area group through said bi-directional communication means in said image sensor device using a storage control level that is adjusted separately for each focus detection area group.

An image pickup apparatus comprising:

• N image sensing devices each of which corresponding to a respective different image detection area, N being an integer greater than 3, said N image sensing devices being grouped into M groups, M being an integer smaller than N;
• control means for controlling output levels of said N image sensing devices;
• and
• bi-directional communication means for performing a bi-directional communication with said control means, wherein said N image sensing devices and said bi-directional communication means are arranged in a same image sensor device,
• wherein said control means controls output levels of said N image sensing devices through said bi-directional communication means in said image sensor device, the output level control being performed separately and sequentially for each said group through said bi-directional communication means in said image sensor device.

An image pickup apparatus comprising:

• N image sensing devices;
• control means for controlling output levels of said N image sensing devices;
• and
• bi-directional communication means for performing a bi-directional communication with said control means, wherein said N image sensing devices and said bi-directional communication means are arranged in a same image sensor device,
• wherein said control means controls output levels of said N image sensing devices through said bi-directional communication means in said image sensor device, the output level control being performed separately and sequentially for said N image sensing devices through said bi-directional communication means in said image sensor device.

An image pickup apparatus connected to a control apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of image sensing means for photoconverting an optical image into an image signal;
• and
• bi-directional communication means for performing bi-directional communication with control means, wherein said plurality of image sensing means and said bi-directional communication means are arranged in a particular image sensing device,
• wherein output levels of said plurality of image sensing means are controlled by said control means through said bi-directional communication means in said image sensing device,
• wherein said output level control is performed separately and sequentially for said plurality of image sensing means through said bi-directional communication means.