Patent ID: 7839439

Claim:
A solid-state imaging device comprising: a pixel array unit wherein a unit pixel group having a configuration wherein a portion of elements of a unit pixel is shared with a plurality of unit pixels is arrayed in a matrix form, said unit pixel having a detecting unit configured to detect changes in physical quantity by charge, a pixel signal generating unit configured to convert the charge detected at said detecting unit to a pixel signal, a transfer unit configured to transfer the charge detected at said detecting unit to said signal generating unit based on the input transfer control potential, and an initializing unit configured to initialize the potential of said pixel signal generating unit based on the input initialized control potential; and a driving control unit configured to control said unit pixels with a thinning reading mode to read a pixel signal of a portion of unit pixels of said pixel array unit; wherein said driving control unit controls blooming reduction potential which is said transfer control potential which is supplied to said transfer unit of the unit pixel to be thinned, so that the overflow charge at said detecting unit with said unit pixel to be thinned which has no shared relation with said unit pixel to be read transitions to in a state readily transferable to said pixel signal generating unit side of the unit pixel to be thinned, at time of said thinning reading mode; and performs controls such that the potential on the side more inactive than said blooming reduction potential is supplied as said transfer control potential to said transfer unit of said unit pixel to be thinned which is in a shared relation with said unit pixel to be read.