Patent ID: 7567281

Claim:
A solid state imaging device comprising: an imaging area where a plurality of first pixels and a plurality of second pixels are arranged in the form of a matrix, each of said first pixels and said second pixels having a photoelectric conversion portion and outputting a signal in accordance with brightness of incident light when selected; a plurality of first memories that respectively store signals of selected first pixels out of said plurality of first pixels; a plurality of second memories that are respectively connected in parallel to said first memories and respectively store signals of selected second pixels out of said plurality of second pixels; a horizontal signal line to which the signals stored in said first memories and in said second memories are read; and an output amplifier connected to said horizontal signal line, wherein an operation for reading the signals stored in said first memories to said horizontal signal line and an operation for outputting the signals from said output amplifier are performed at least partly in parallel with an operation for storing the signals of said selected second pixels out of said plurality of second pixels in said second memories, and an operation for reading the signals stored in said second memories to said horizontal signal line and an operation for outputting the signals from said output amplifier are performed at least partly in parallel with an operation for storing the signals of said selected first pixels out of said plurality of first pixels in said first memories.