Patent ID: 7443438

Claim:
A solid-state image-sensing device comprising: a plurality of pixels, each pixel including a photoelectric conversion portion that outputs an electrical signal commensurate with amount of incident light and a signal output portion that feeds a current to the photoelectric conversion portion and that outputs the electrical signal outputted from the photoelectric conversion portion, wherein the pixels are divided into groups each consisting of a plurality of vertically adjacent pixels and a plurality of horizontally adjacent pixels, wherein coupling of the photoelectric conversion portions of the individual pixels can be switched among (a) a state in which, within each group of pixels, the photoelectric conversion portions of all the pixels of the group are coupled together, (b) a state in which, within each group of pixels, the photoelectric conversion portions of all the vertically adjacent pixels in each column are coupled together, and (c) a state in which, within each group of pixels, the photoelectric conversion portions of all the horizontally adjacent pixels in each row are coupled together, and wherein, within each group of pixels, the electrical signals are outputted from the signal output portion of one of the pixels of which the photoelectric conversion portions are coupled together.