Patent ID: 7697172

Claim:
An image sensor comprising: a plurality of photoelectric converter elements each of which converts an optical signal into an electric signal; a plurality of channel selector switches which correspond to said photoelectric converter elements and which are selectively turned on and off to selectively connect and disconnect output portions of the corresponding photoelectric converter elements to and from a common signal line, in synchronization with a clock pulse signal; a first input terminal through which a resolution setting timing signal is received from an external device outside of the image sensor; a second input terminal through which a first resolution setting signal is received from said external device; a third input terminal through which a second resolution setting signal is received from said external device, the third input terminal receiving the clock pulse signal as said second resolution setting signal; and a resolution setting portion that receives said resolution setting timing signal, said first resolution setting signal and said second resolution setting signal, and selects one of a plurality of on-off control patterns of said plurality of channel selector switches, based on a selected one of a plurality of combinations of an on-off state of the first resolution setting signal and an on-off state of the second resolution setting signal upon at least one of rising and falling of said resolution setting timing signal, said plurality of channel selector switches being selectively turned on and off in the selected on-off control pattern, to set an image resolution value of the image sensor.