Patent ID: 7787040

Claim:
A solid-state image-taking element comprising: a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements two-dimensionally arranged; a first vertical transfer route for transferring signal charges stored on the photoelectric conversion elements vertically downward along the row direction of the arrangement; a second vertical transfer route for transferring the signal charges stored on the photoelectric conversion elements vertically upward along the row direction of the arrangement; a vertical transfer control device which controls a vertical transfer of the signal charges on the first and second vertical transfer routes with a vertical transfer control signal; a first horizontal transfer route, provided below the first vertical transfer route, for transferring the signal charges sent from the first vertical transfer route in a horizontal direction along the line direction of the arrangement; a second horizontal transfer route, provided above the second vertical transfer routes, for transferring the signal charges sent from the second vertical transfer route in the horizontal direction along the line direction of the arrangement; and a charge-sending control electrode for controlling timing for sending the signal charges from each vertical transfer route to the second horizontal transfer routes in a second connection portion connecting the second horizontal transfer route with the second vertical transfer route, wherein said plurality of photoelectric conversion elements comprises: a first readout gate for reading the signal charges to one of the adjacent first and second vertical transfer routes; a second readout gate for reading the signal charges to the vertical transfer route other than the one for reading the signal charges from the first readout gate; and a readout control device which controls whether to read the signal charges from the first readout gate or to read the signal charges from the second readout gate, and wherein the vertical transfer control device uses the charge-sending control electrode to control sending of the signal charges from the second vertical transfer route to the second horizontal transfer route in different timing from sending of the signal charges from the first vertical transfer route to the first horizontal transfer route.