Patent ID: 8378401

Claim:
A solid state imaging apparatus comprising: a plurality of photodiodes arranged in an array; a plurality of floating diffusion sections each being connected to ones of the plurality of photodiodes via each of a plurality of transfer transistors; a plurality of read-out lines each being selectively connected to at least two of the plurality of transfer transistors; a plurality of reset transistors each being connected to one of the plurality of floating diffusion sections; a plurality of pixel amplifier transistors each detecting and outputting the potential of one of the plurality of floating diffusion sections; a plurality of signal lines each transferring an output from one of the plurality of pixel amplifier transistors, wherein the plurality of photodiodes include a first photodiode, a second photodiode, a third photodiode and a fourth photodiode, the plurality of transfer transistors include a first transfer transistor, a second transfer transistor, a third transfer transistor and a fourth transfer transistor, the plurality of read-out lines include a first read-out line, a second read-out line, a third read-out line and a fourth read-out line, the first read-out line is adjacent to the second read-out line, the second read-out line is disposed between the first read-out line and the third read-out line, the third read-out line is disposed between the second read-out line and the fourth read-out line, the first read-out line is connected to the first photodiode in row m via the first transfer transistor, where m is a positive integer, the second read-out line is connected to the second photodiode in the row m via the second transfer transistor, the third read-out line is connected to the third photodiode in row m+1 via the third transfer transistor, the fourth read-out line is connected to the fourth photodiode in the row m+1 via the fourth transfer transistors, the first photodiode and the third photodiode are disposed in one of column n and column n+1, where n is a positive integer, the second photodiode and the fourth photodiode are disposed in the other of the column n and the column n+1, and one of the column n and the column n+1 is disposed between one of the plurality of signal lines and the other of the column n and the column n+1.