Patent ID: 8179465

Claim:
A solid-state imaging device capable of intermittent operation, comprising: a pixel unit including a plurality of pixels arranged in a matrix, each of the pixels performing photoelectric conversion; and a pixel signal readout circuit for reading out a pixel signal for a plurality of pixels; wherein the pixel signal readout circuit includes: a plurality of comparators, each of which is disposed to correspond to a column of pixels, each of the comparators comparing a readout signal potential with a reference voltage to provide a determination signal; and a plurality of counters each individually configured to determine a count value for when a corresponding one of the comparators changes its output state, wherein each of the comparators includes an initializing switch for determining an operating point for each column at a start of a row operation, and is configured so that an initialization signal applied to the initializing switch is controlled independently in parallel, and the initializing switch is held in an off-state at a start of non-operating row.