Patent ID: 7872674

Claim:
A solid-state imaging device comprising: a photo-detection unit that generates charges in response to a received light; a charge read-out unit that reads said generated charges; a charge transfer unit that transfers said charges read by said charge read-out unit to a charge detection unit in response to a first clock and a second clock; and a clock supply circuit that generates said first clock and said second clock, wherein said charge transfer unit includes: a first charge transfer element; a second charge transfer element adjacent to said first charge transfer element; a charge transfer element group adjacent to said second charge transfer element and including a plurality of charge transfer elements that are different from said first charge transfer element and said second charge transfer element; and another first charge transfer element that is adjacent to said charge transfer element group and is different from said second charge transfer element, wherein in a first time period, said clock supply circuit supplies said first clock to said first charge transfer element, said second clock to said second charge transfer element, and constant potentials to respective said plurality of charge transfer elements, wherein operation modes of the solid-state imaging device include: a low resolution mode; and a high resolution mode in which resolution is higher than that in said low resolution mode, and wherein in said low resolution mode, four charge transfer elements provided between said second charge transfer element and said another first charge element are said plurality of charge transfer elements.