Patent ID: 7324147

Claim:
An imaging device, comprising: an imaging element configured to accumulate charges obtained by photoelectric conversion of incident light providing an image of a subject, said imaging element transmitting accumulated charges to an output terminal in response to a vertical transfer clock and a horizontal transfer clock, and outputting said accumulated charges from said output terminal; a picked-up image signal processor having an input terminal connected to said output terminal of said imaging element, and an output terminal, said picked-up image signal processor performing predetermined signal processings on said accumulated charges received at said input terminal thereof, and outputting a resultant signal as a picked-up image signal from said output terminal thereof, an imaging system controller having an output terminal, said imaging system controller outputting a control signal from said output terminal thereof, said control signal giving a command to generate and output said vertical transfer clock and said horizontal transfer clock in a signal transmission period, a command to suspend output of said vertical transfer clock and said horizontal transfer clock in an idle period subsequent to said signal transmission period, and a command to periodically repeat said signal transmission period and said idle period a number of times corresponding to the number of horizontal lines of said imaging element, and when said image of a subject is determined to have a relatively high brightness level on the basis of said picked-up image signal, said imaging system controller sets said idle period to have a shorter response time length; and a timing generator having an input terminal connected to said output terminal of said imaging system controller, and an output terminal connected to said imaging element, said timing generator generating and outputting said vertical transfer clock and said horizontal transfer clock from said output terminal thereof in said signal transmission period, and suspending output of said vertical transfer clock and said horizontal transfer clock in said idle period in response to said control signal received at said input terminal thereof wherein the length of said idle period is n times (n is a natural number) the length of said signal transmission period.