Patent ID: 8648949
Filing Date: 2014-02-11
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A solid-state imaging apparatus comprising: an imaging area wherein a plurality of pixel circuits are arranged two dimensionally, each of the pixel circuits including: a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements each for generating an electric charge by photoelectric conversion, an amplifying transistor for amplifying a voltage corresponding to the electric potential of a control electrode of the amplifying transistor, and a plurality of transfer switches each for transferring the electric charge from one of the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements to the control electrode; the solid-state imaging apparatus further comprising a vertical scanning circuit for controlling the plurality of transfer switches; a horizontal scanning circuit for reading out a signal based on the voltage amplified by the amplifying transistor; and a power source circuit for controlling a voltage supplied to the amplifying transistor to set the amplifying transistor to an activation state or a non-activation state, wherein the plurality of transfer switches transfer the electric charges from the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements sequentially to the control electrode while maintaining the amplifying transistor in the activation state, the horizontal scanning circuit sequentially reads out the voltages corresponding to the electric charges of the plurality of photoelectric conversion elements in one row of the plurality of pixel circuits, and a time period of maintaining the amplifying transistor in another row of the plurality of pixel circuits in the activation state includes at least a part of a horizontal scanning period of the one row of the plurality of pixel circuits, such that, during the horizontal scanning period for reading out the signals from the one row of the plurality of pixel circuits, the amplifying transistor of one of the plurality of pixel circuits in the another row is in the activation state.