Patent ID: 9648266
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: H04N

Claim:
1. A driving method for an image pickup device having a plurality of pixels, a vertical signal line, and a signal processing circuit, the plurality of pixels having a first pixel and a second pixel, the first pixel having a first photoelectric conversion unit and a first amplifying transistor, the second pixel having a second photoelectric conversion unit; and a second amplifying transistor, the method comprising: amplifying a signal output to the vertical signal line with one of a first amplification factor and a second amplification factor lower than the first amplification factor by the signal processing circuit; performing a first operation if the signal processing circuit amplifies the signal output to the vertical signal line with the first amplification factor; and performing a second operation without performing the first operation if the signal processing circuit amplifies the signal output to the vertical signal line with the second amplification factor, wherein the first operation includes an operation in which a first signal and a second signal are mixed in the vertical signal line by at least partially overlapping a period when the first amplifying transistor outputs the first signal based on electric carriers generated by the first photoelectric conversion unit to the vertical signal line with a period when the second amplifying transistor outputs the second signal based on electric carriers generated by the second photoelectric conversion unit to the vertical signal line; and the second operation includes an operation in which the first and second photoelectric conversion units output a first number of signals based on electric carriers acquired by performing photoelectric conversion on incident light, and includes an operation in which the image pickup device outputs a second number of signals by performing a process of the first number of signals, the second number being smaller than the first number.