Patent ID: 8305473

Claim:
A driving method of a solid-state imaging apparatus that includes: a pixel region with pixels arranged two dimensionally, wherein each of the pixels includes a photoelectric conversion element for accumulating an electric charge according to an incident light, a floating diffusion region for holding the electric charge, a transfer unit for transferring the electric charge accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element to the floating diffusion region, a reset unit for resetting the electric charge held in the floating diffusion region, and an output unit for outputting a pixel signal according to a voltage in the floating diffusion region; and a holding unit for holding the pixel signals output from the output units, the method comprising steps of: conducting, in a first frame, a read out scan in a first drive mode, for selecting a pixel by controlling a potential of the floating diffusion region of the pixel by a power source unit and the reset unit, and holding the pixel signal of the pixel in the holding unit; and commencing, in a second frame following the first frame, a read out scan in a second drive mode different from the first drive mode, and conducting a reset scan in the second drive mode, for resetting the electric charge accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element of the pixel, wherein the reset scan starts in the first frame in which the read out scan in the first drive mode is conducted, and is conducted without overlapping with a holding operation of holding the pixel signal in the holding unit within a horizontal synchronization period.