Patent ID: 8293561

Claim:
A driving method of an image pickup device comprising: a photoelectric conversion element; a transfer gate for transferring a charge of the photoelectric conversion element; a floating node to which the charge can be transferred by the transfer gate; a first transistor for resetting a voltage of the floating node; a second transistor comprised in a source follower circuit, and being capable of outputting a signal based on the voltage of the floating node; a signal line for transmitting the signal outputted from the second transistor; an A/D converter arranged correspondingly to the signal line, for converting the signal transmitted through the signal line into a digital signal; and a current source comprised in the source follower circuit, wherein the method comprises: a noise read out step for reading out the signal based on the voltage of the floating node reset by the first transistor; a photoelectric conversion signal read out step for reading out a signal based on the charge of the photoelectric conversion element transferred by the transfer gate; a first limiting step for limiting a voltage variation of the signal line within a first voltage; and a second limiting step for limiting the voltage variation of the signal line within a second voltage different from the first voltage, wherein the first limiting step is performed during at least a part of the noise read out step, and the second limiting step is performed during at least a part of the photoelectric conversion signal read out step.