Patent ID: 7430006

Claim:
A driving method for a solid-state image sensing device having a plurality of sensor portions arranged two-dimensionally in horizontal (row) and vertical (column) directions, a vertical charge transfer portion disposed adjacent each column of sensor portions, and a plurality of vertical transfer electrodes disposed over the vertical charge transfer portions and grouped together in the vertical direction by row for causing vertical charge transfer of signal charges contained within the vertical charge transfer portions, said method comprising the steps of: transferring signal charges from the plurality of sensor portions to the vertical transfer registers during a sensor read out operation; and subsequently selectively applying high level driving pulses to the groups of vertical transfer electrodes in a vertical transfer period so as to transfer the signal charges in the vertical direction; wherein the vertical transfer period is sub-divided into a plurality of sub-periods, each sub-period defined by a transition of one of the driving pulses applied to the vertical transfer electrodes, and the sub-period or sub-periods in which the number of vertical transfer electrodes in each group receiving high level driving pulses becomes minimum is/are longer than the sub-period or sub-periods in which the number of vertical transfer electrodes in each group receiving high level driving pulses is not a minimum.