Patent ID: 8570411

Claim:
A solid-state image pickup device comprising: a sensor array including plural pixels disposed in an array of rows and columns on a semiconductor substrate, each pixel including a photodiode generating photoelectric charge upon receiving light and storing said generated photoelectric charge, a transfer transistor connected to said photodiode for transferring said photoelectric charge from said photodiode, a floating diffusion that transfers said photoelectric charge through said transfer transistor, an accumulating capacitive element connected to said photodiode via said transfer transistor and which works in an accumulating operation so that photoelectric charge flowing out from said photodiode is at least accumulated in it via said transfer transistor, an accumulating transistor, which couples or separates said floating diffusion and the potential of said accumulating capacitive element, and which has one source/drain region as said floating diffusion and connects the other source/drain region to said floating diffusion, and an amplification transistor having a gate electrode connected to said floating diffusion, each pixel sequentially outputting a first signal and a second signal, said first signal corresponding to the signal charge accumulated in said floating diffusion when said accumulating transistor is turned off and said second signal corresponding to the signal charge accumulated in said floating diffusion and said accumulating capacitive element when said accumulating transistor is turned on; a memory connected to each column of said array of pixels storing said first signal and said second signal; a signal determination circuit connected to said pixel array and said memory, said signal determination circuit selecting either said first signal or said second signal for storage in said memory, said signal determination circuit further outputting a signal indicating said selection.