JPH04356879A - Solid-state image pickup device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To suppress energy consumption in the state of practically maintaining the discharge effect of unnecessary charges by setting a time zone to drive a vertical sift register at high speed at an irreducibly minimum for discharging the unnecessary charges. CONSTITUTION:When an image pickup command switch 29 is turned on, an exposure control circuit 30 is operated and applies a transfer control signal to a synchronizing pulse generator 20. A transfer command pulse is generated from the generator 20, and a transfer pulse is applied through drivers 21-23 to a solid-state image pick up element 3. As the result, the optical charges of a photoelectric conversion element to form picture elements at prescribed timing are transferred to the vertical shift register. The charges in the vertical shift register during a period from just after this transfer to the prescribed time zone are transferred to a horizontal shift register at high speed by a high speed driving means. Thus, since the high-speed drive during the prescribed time zone excepting for just after driving start and just before read start is stopped, the energy consumption is suppressed while maintaining the discharge effect of unnecessary charges.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to solid-state imaging devices used in electronic cameras and the like, and more particularly to improvements in driving means for solid-state imaging devices.

0002

[Prior Art] Even if you attempt to obtain a still image using a solid-state imaging device used in conventional electronic cameras, etc., if the subject is a fast-moving object, "blurring" etc. may occur due to the so-called accumulation effect. However, there was a problem in that clear still images could not be obtained. One possible solution to this problem is to include a mechanical shutter like a normal film camera in the optical system, but the mechanical shutter
The rising or falling speed, that is, the response speed during the opening/closing operation is relatively slow. For this reason, when a mechanical shutter is used, there is a risk that an error may intervene in the exposure time. If the image sensor itself could have a shutter effect, it would be extremely advantageous in terms of its mechanism and characteristics. MO as a light receiving sensor in an image sensor, that is, a photoelectric conversion element
In the case of a CCD image sensor using an S diode, when a high level voltage is applied to the MOS electrode, a depletion layer is generated under the MOS electrode and photocharges are accumulated, and when a low level voltage is applied to the MOS electrode, No photocharge is accumulated. Therefore, by shortening the application period of the high-level voltage, the photocharge accumulation time can be shortened, and a so-called electronic shutter function can be provided. However, in practice, there are the following problems. That is, by shortening the application period of the high-level voltage, the photocharge accumulation time is shortened, but a so-called ghost appears in the image, making it impossible to obtain an image of good quality. The reason is,
This is because the vertical shift register is operating during the period when a low level voltage is applied to the MOS electrode, so some photocharge generated by the light receiving sensor, that is, the photoelectric conversion element is mixed into the vertical shift register.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] As a means for eliminating unnecessary charges mixed in as described above, the vertical shift register is driven at a higher speed than the video signal readout speed before the photocharge readout operation, and thereby the vertical shift register It is possible to consider means to discharge unnecessary residual charges within the battery. However, simply driving the vertical shift register at high speed will consume about 1 watt more power than when driving normally, resulting in an increase in power consumption. An object of the present invention is to provide a solid-state imaging device that can minimize power consumption while substantially maintaining the effect of discharging unnecessary charges.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems and achieve the objects, the present invention takes the following measures. In other words, a photoelectric conversion element constituting each pixel, a plurality of vertical shift registers for vertically transferring the accumulated charge of this photoelectric conversion element, and a method for horizontally transferring the electric charge transferred by these vertical shift registers to the outside. a solid-state image sensor having a horizontal shift register for output;

0
[005] A means for accumulating photocharges corresponding to an optical image incident on the photoelectric conversion element through an optical system in the solid-state image sensor, and a means for accumulating photocharges accumulated in each photoelectric conversion element in a predetermined manner. a transfer means for transferring to the vertical shift register at a timing; a means for stopping the transfer by the transfer means for a predetermined time interval and accumulating photocharges in the photoelectric conversion element within this time interval;
A readout means for transferring the photocharges accumulated by this means to the vertical shift register at a predetermined timing and driving the vertical shift register and the horizontal shift register at predetermined driving frequencies; a high-speed drive means for driving the vertical shift register at a higher speed than a drive speed for normal video signal readout before a readout operation;

[0006] The high-speed drive by the high-speed drive means is carried out at a predetermined time period immediately after the drive start time in the time period from the drive start time (immediately after time t3) to the time when the reading means starts reading out the photocharges (t7 time). A time interval of a predetermined width (t
4 to t6).

[0007]

[Effects] By taking the above measures, the following effects occur. That is, the time interval in which the vertical shift register is driven at high speed is limited to a time interval of a predetermined width by the high-speed drive stopping means. For example, as shown in the first embodiment,
In the vertical shift register high-speed drive period before the read operation by the read means, high-speed driving is performed in each time interval from immediately after time t3 to time t4, and from time t6 to time t7, but in the time interval from time t4 to time t6. In this case, high-speed driving is not performed. In other words, the vertical shift register is driven at high speed to discharge unnecessary charges only in the minimum necessary time period. Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to suppress power consumption to a minimum while substantially maintaining the effect of discharging unnecessary charges.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image capturing and recording section according to a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an electronic camera.

In FIG. 1, 1A and 1B are lenses of an optical system, and an aperture mechanism 2 is inserted between them. The aperture mechanism 2 is driven by an iris driver 33, which will be described later. The optical image of the subject (not shown) captured through the lenses 1A, 1B and the aperture mechanism 2 is
An image is formed on the photoelectric conversion surface of the solid-state image sensor 3 installed at the focal point of the lens system. As will be described later, the solid-state image sensor 3 is composed of, for example, an interline batch transfer type CCD, and converts an optical image of a subject formed on a photoelectric conversion surface into an electrical signal. The output of the solid-state image sensor 3 is supplied to a color separation circuit 8 via an amplifier 4, a sampling hold circuit 5, an amplifier 6, and an LPF 7, and also to a CCD photometry circuit 3, which will be described later.
1. The color separation circuit 8 separates the applied electrical signal into a luminance signal Y and color difference signals RY, BY, and outputs the FM
The signal is supplied to the modulator 9. The FM modulator 9 performs FM modulation on the luminance signal Y and the color difference signals RY and BY in respective frequency bands, and supplies the modulated signals to the recording amplifier 10. Recording amplifier 1
0 amplifies each FM modulated signal and supplies it to the magnetic head 11 during a period in which a write pulse WG, which will be described later, is applied. The magnetic head 11 records the supplied signal on the recording track of the magnetic disk 12 in an FM manner.

The synchronizing pulse generator 20 responds to a control signal from an exposure control circuit 30, which will be described later, and outputs a φV driver 21.
, φH driver 22, and SG driver 23, and cause each driver 21, 22, and 23 to output a vertical shift register transfer clock φV, a horizontal shift register transfer clock φH, and a sensor gate pulse SG, respectively. In this way, the solid-state image sensor 3 is driven. Further, the synchronization pulse generator 20 provides timing pulses to the color separation circuit 8 and the FM modulator 9, and also supplies synchronization pulses to the synchronization detector 24 to match the operation timing and phase of the imaging system and the recording system. Apply to one input end.

A PG pulse from a rotational phase detection pulse generator 25 attached to the magnetic disk 12 is applied to the other input end of the synchronous detector 24 . In this manner, the synchronization detector 24 compares the PG pulse with the synchronization pulse, and provides a signal to the motor drive circuit 26 so that the rotational speed and phase of the magnetic disk 12 always match the operating timing of the imaging system. The motor drive circuit 26 is connected to the detector 2
disk drive motor 2 based on the signal given from 4.
7 is driven and controlled. As a result, the magnetic disk 12 rotates at a constant speed of 3600 RPM in a steady state, and one field of image recording is performed during one rotation.

The recording gate circuit 28 is triggered by a trigger pulse TG generated when the imaging command switch 29 linked to the release button of the electronic camera is turned on, and based on the synchronization pulse from the synchronization pulse generator 20, The write pulse W has a width corresponding to one field period.
G is generated and given to the recording amplifier 10, and the recording amplifier 10 is kept in an operating state for only that period.

The exposure control circuit 30 converts the photocharges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion elements constituting each pixel of the solid-state image sensor 3 into
A predetermined timing (first time point) after the imaging command is given by turning on the imaging command switch 29
a transfer means for transferring a batch to a vertical shift register in the same element; stopping the batch transfer by this transfer means for a predetermined time interval; and accumulating photocharges in each of the photoelectric conversion elements at a second point in the time interval; a CC that responds to the output of the LPF 7 with the photocharge accumulated by this means;
A readout means that transfers data to the vertical shift register and performs reading at a third point in time when an exposure time determined based on photometric information obtained by a D photometric circuit 31, an external photometric circuit 32 made of a photodiode, etc. has elapsed; , means for driving the vertical shift register at high speed to discharge unnecessary residual charges in the vertical shift register before the reading operation by the reading means.

The exposure control circuit 30 controls the synchronization pulse generator 20 when an external command is applied to the terminal 30a.
A control signal according to the above-mentioned external command is given to the unit to execute each of the above-mentioned means, and the solid-state image sensor 3 is driven in a still image capturing mode, and otherwise the solid-state image sensor 3 is driven in a moving image capturing mode. It has become. In either case, a control signal is given to the iris driver 33 to set the aperture value of the aperture mechanism 2 to a predetermined value.

In this apparatus, the CCD photometry circuit 31 is activated in the exposure control circuit 30 before the release button is pressed, the imaging command switch 29 is turned on, and the trigger pulse TG is input to the exposure control circuit 30.
The exposure time is constantly measured and calculated based on the output of the aperture mechanism 2 and the aperture value of the aperture mechanism 2.

Further, in FIG. 1, reference numeral 34 denotes an encoder, which converts the luminance signal Y and the color difference signals RY, BY, which are the outputs of the color separation circuit 8, into, for example, an NTSC signal.
This is sent to the viewfinder 35. Thus, the viewfinder 35 allows the content of the image to be monitored.

Next, the solid-state image sensor 3 will be explained in detail. The solid-state image sensor 3 used in this device is as follows:
It is desirable to use a batch transfer type element in which the photocharges accumulated in each pixel are collectively transferred to the outside of the pixel at the same timing. As such an element, for example, an interline batch transfer type CCD solid-state image sensor is known. This type of device is described in the Journal of the Television Society Vol. 37 No.
10 (1983) P776-781 "MOS type sensor CCD image sensor using high resistance MCZ substrate".

FIG. 2 shows a specific example of the solid-state image sensor 3 adopted in this apparatus based on the above-mentioned viewpoint, and shows an interline batch transfer type CCD 40. The code 41 in the figure is
MOS with color filters R, G, B on each surface
This is a light receiving sensor, that is, a photoelectric conversion element, consisting of diodes, each forming one pixel. A vertical shift register 42 made of a CCD is provided adjacent to the photoelectric conversion element 41. These vertical shift registers 42 receive photocharges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion elements 41 and convert them into CCs.
The data are sequentially transferred to the horizontal shift register 43 consisting of D. The horizontal shift register 43 transfers the photocharges to the output section 44 in units of one horizontal scanning line. The output section 44 includes a preamplifier, amplifies a minute current, and outputs it from the output terminal Vout.

Note that the above-mentioned interline batch transfer type CCD
Each of the input terminals 40 is connected to a CCD driver (21 to 21 in FIG. 1).
23), sensor gate signal SG as a reset pulse, vertical shift register transfer clocks φV1, φV
2, horizontal shift register transfer clock φH1, φH2,
etc. will be supplied. The photoelectric charge accumulation time in each of the photoelectric conversion elements 41 is determined based on the timing of transferring the charges from the photoelectric conversion element 41 to the vertical shift register 42.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 2 described above. In FIG. 3, the sensor gate 45
is a common electrode formed commonly for each photoelectric conversion element 41. Further, the vertical shift registers 42 are arranged alternately, with those that work effectively in odd fields as shown by thin arrows, and those that work effectively in even fields as shown by thick arrows, and a transfer clock φ is provided for each group.
V1 and φV2 are commonly supplied.

The photocharge batch transfer is thus performed as follows. When the potentials of each part in FIG. 3 are set as shown below, the photocharges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element 41 are transferred to the vertical shift register 42. (1) When the sensor gate signal SG is "L" and φV1 is "H" in an odd number field (2) When the sensor gate signal SG is "L" and φV2 is "H" in an even number field Therefore, the sensor gate signal SG goes from H level to L
The point at which the level changes is the point at which the batch transfer of accumulated photocharges starts.

FIG. 4 shows the above-mentioned interline batch transfer type CC.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the operation timing when the D40 is operated in a normal moving image capturing mode. In FIG. 4, VD is a vertical drive pulse, and HD is a horizontal drive pulse. HD
The numerical values "1 to 525" written in correspond to horizontal scanning line numbers. The sensor gate signal SG changes between "H" and "L" once per field. At the timing of the change to "L", the photoelectric charge of the photoelectric conversion element 41 is transferred to the vertical shift register 42. In other words, at this timing, the information of all pixels in that field is transferred into the vertical shift register 42. φV1 and φV2 are two sets of vertical shift register transfer clocks, and at the same time,
It is also related to charge transfer from each photoelectric conversion element 41 to the vertical shift register 42.

Now, at a certain point, the imaging command switch 29 is turned on.
When the trigger pulse TG is input to the exposure control circuit 30, the exposure control circuit 30 operates and provides a transfer control signal to the synchronization pulse generator 20. Therefore, a transfer command pulse is sent from the synchronous pulse generator 20, and the driver 21
, 22, 23, transfer pulses are applied to the solid-state image sensor 3. As a result, in the first field, time t1
That is, when SG becomes "L" in the 11th H, φV1
becomes "H", so at this point, the charges of all pixels related to the image output in the first field are transferred to the vertical shift register 42, and the inside of the pixel is cleared. At the same time, accumulation of photocharges starts again.

On the other hand, in the second field, since φV2 is "H" at the timing when the sensor gate signal SG becomes L at time t2, that is, the 275th H, the second field
The charges of all pixels related to the image to be output in the field are transferred to the vertical shift register 42.

As described above, in each field, the signal charge transferred to the vertical shift register 42 is transferred to the video output by the transfer operation of the vertical shift register 42 and horizontal shift register 43 by φV1, φV2 and φH1, φH2 immediately thereafter. is output as That is,
CCD from the 1st H after “V register empty feed” in Figure 4
Output as an output signal. Note that the example shown in FIG. 4 is for the frame accumulation mode, and the photocharge accumulation time is 1.
/30 seconds.

FIG. 5 shows the interline batch transfer type CC.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the operation timing when the D40 is driven in a still image capturing mode. When an external command is given to the terminal 30a of the exposure control circuit 30, the exposure control circuit 30 drives and controls the solid-state image sensor 3 in the still image capturing mode. That is, when the imaging command switch 29 is turned on and the trigger pulse TG is input to the exposure control circuit 30, the exposure control circuit 3
0 is activated and provides a transfer control signal for still image capturing to the synchronization pulse generator 20. Therefore, a transfer command pulse is sent from the synchronization pulse generator 20, and the drivers 21, 22,
A transfer pulse is applied to the solid-state image sensor 3 via 23. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, when SG becomes "L" at time t3, both φV1 and φV2 become "L".
Therefore, all the photocharges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion elements 41 constituting each pixel in the odd field and even field are transferred to the vertical shift register 42 at the same time. Immediately after this, in the period from time t4 to time t4, the charges in the vertical shift register 42 are transferred to the horizontal shift register 43 at high speed by high-speed driving means using φV1 and φV2 at frequencies 2 to 4 times higher than the normal frequency. . In the horizontal shift register 43, the vertical shift register 4
The charge transferred from 2 is output to the output section 4 by φH1 and φH2.
Transfer to 4. During the period from time t4 to t5, no photoelectric charge is accumulated in the photoelectric conversion element 41, and furthermore, the vertical shift register 42 is maintained in a state in which signal charge reading has been completed during the period from time t4 to t5. , it does not pick up photogenerated charges.

[0027] When SG becomes "H" at time t5,
Accumulation of photocharge begins. Then, at time t7, S
When G becomes “L”, since φV2 is “H” at this time, the photocharges accumulated in the photoelectric conversion elements 41 in the even field are transferred to the vertical shift register 42. The photoelectric charge accumulation time at this time is the period from time t5 to time t7, but the above period is determined also based on the photometric information, and the so-called element shutter effect depends on the length of this period. brought about. The output signal having the shutter effect is read out for one field period from time t7,
In addition, one field of image is recorded on the recording track of the magnetic disk 12 by the write pulse WG.

By the way, during the time period from time t4 to time t6, high-speed driving of the vertical shift register 42 is stopped by the high-speed driving stopping means. and from time t6 to t7
In the time period from time t3 to time t4, the vertical shift register 42 is driven by φV1 and φV2 having frequencies equal to or higher than the frequencies of φV1 and φV2 in the time period from time t3 to time t4. Residual charge is discharged. That is, when the vertical shift register 42 is driven at high speed during the period from time t3 to time t4, since SG is "L", the dark current and photocharge of the photoelectric conversion element 41 are may enter the vertical shift register 42, and some charges may remain. However, in this embodiment, as described above, the vertical shift register 42 is driven again at high speed over a predetermined time period before time t7, so that the remaining charges are sufficiently discharged. Note that the driving frequency of the vertical shift register 42 during the period from time t6 to time t7 is preferably a higher frequency in order to realize a short-time shutter. Since the amount of charge transferred during the period from time t6 to time t7 is significantly smaller than in the steady state, the decrease in transfer efficiency due to the increase in the frequency of φV1 and φV2 does not pose much of a problem. Therefore, it is quite possible to increase the frequency, for example, the steady state frequency is about 15KH.
It can be several tens of times larger than z. Note that the charges in the vertical shift register 42 can be efficiently transferred to the horizontal shift register 43.
, the driving frequency of the vertical shift register 42 is an integral fraction of the driving frequency of the horizontal shift register 43
It is desirable to set it to . For example, if the frequency of the horizontal shift register 43 is 7.16 MHz, the frequency of the vertical shift register 42 is selected to be 3.58 MHz.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by controlling the "L" period of SG in the still image capturing mode, the time for accumulating photoelectric charges in the photoelectric conversion element 41 is relatively controlled, and the element Since it is designed to have a shutter effect, unlike when using a mechanical shutter, there is no need to pay particular attention to the rising speed and falling speed of the opening/closing operation of the shutter mechanism, and the shutter effect can be exerted with high precision. . Moreover, in this device, when capturing a still image, the vertical shift register 42 is driven at high speed to discharge the charge mixed in from the photoelectric conversion element 41, so there is no possibility that ghosts or the like will appear in the obtained image. do not have.

Particularly in this case, the time interval in which the vertical shift register 41 is driven at high speed is limited to a time interval of a predetermined width by the high-speed drive stop means. That is, in the vertical shift register high-speed driving period before the signal charge readout operation start time t7 by the readout means, high-speed driving is performed in each time interval from immediately after time t3 to time t4 and from time t6 to time t7. , t4 to t6, high-speed driving is not performed. In other words, the vertical shift register 42 is driven at high speed to discharge unnecessary charges only in the minimum necessary time period. In this way, the increase in power consumption caused by driving the vertical shift register 42 at high speed can be suppressed to a minimum while substantially maintaining the effect of discharging unnecessary charges.

[0031] Furthermore, this device is normally operated in a moving image capturing mode, and can be operated in a still image capturing mode with a shutter effect only when necessary, so normally the moving image is sent to the viewfinder 35 and the release button is pressed It can be used to capture and record still images only when pressed. Note that since there is no mechanical shutter, the solid-state image sensor 3 is always in an exposed state in normal times. Therefore, so-called TTL photometry through the lens can be performed, and it can also be applied to single-lens reflex type electronic cameras. Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the operation timing according to the second embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment, a driving means for obtaining a high-speed shutter effect was shown, but in this second embodiment, a driving means that can obtain a long-time shutter effect of at least one field or more is used. In FIG. 6, SG1 indicates the voltage waveform of the sensor gate signal during normal image capturing, and SG2 indicates the voltage waveform of the sensor gate signal used together with SG1 during still image capturing.

[0033] When SG2 becomes "L" at time t8, since both φV1 and φV2 are "H" at this time,
The photocharges of each photoelectric conversion element 41 in the odd field and even field are transferred to the vertical shift register 42 simultaneously. After that, during the period up to time t9, the high frequency φV
1, φV2 and φH1, φH2, the vertical shift register 42 and the horizontal shift register 43 are driven at high speed, and all the photocharges in the vertical shift register 42 accumulated before the previous field are discharged to the outside. After that, until time t10, SG2, φV1, φV2 are all “
It is held at "L". SG2 is “H” at time t10
Then, accumulation of photoelectric charges in the photoelectric conversion element 41 is started, and at time t12, when a time TX unrelated to the timing of SG1 has elapsed, the electric charges in the photoelectric conversion element 41 are transferred to the vertical shift register 42. During the period from time t11, which is before time t12, to time t12, the vertical shift register 42 is again driven at high speed in the same manner as between time t8 and time t9, and the dark current mixed in the vertical shift register 42 is reduced. and photocharges are discharged to the outside. Note that at this time, the horizontal shift register 43 may also be driven at higher speeds φH1 and φH2 within a range that does not reduce transfer efficiency. The signal charges transferred into the vertical shift register 42 at time t12 are held in the vertical shift register 42 because both φV1 and φV2 become “L” immediately thereafter. Then, at a time point after time t12, the signal charge having the shutter effect is read out during one field period from time point t13 when the first SG1 arrives to time t14 when the next SG1 arrives. After time t14, normal imaging or still image imaging is repeated again.

As described above, in this embodiment, since the time t12 at which the accumulation of photocharges ends can be set independently of SG1, by applying an external command to the terminal 30a of the exposure control circuit 30, From time t10 to time t
The time TX up to 12 can be set arbitrarily, and the shutter effect from low speed to high speed can be obtained arbitrarily. Other than the above, the same effects as in the first embodiment are achieved. Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

[0035]

According to the present invention, the time interval in which the vertical shift register is driven at high speed is limited to a time interval of a predetermined width by the high-speed drive stopping means. For example, as shown in the first embodiment, in the vertical shift register high-speed drive period before the read operation by the read means, immediately after time t3 to t4
High-speed driving is performed in each time interval from time t6 to time t7, but high-speed driving is not performed in the time interval from time t4 to time t6. In other words, the vertical shift register is driven at high speed to discharge unnecessary charges only in the minimum necessary time period. Thus, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a solid-state imaging device that can suppress power consumption to a minimum while substantially maintaining the effect of discharging unnecessary charges.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an imaging recording section according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific example of a solid-state image sensor according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the main parts of the solid-state image sensor according to the same example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing operation timing when the solid-state imaging device according to the same embodiment is driven in a moving image imaging mode.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing operation timing when the solid-state imaging device according to the same embodiment is driven in a still image imaging mode.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing operation timing when the solid-state imaging device according to the second embodiment of the present invention is driven in each imaging mode.

[Explanation of symbols]

1A, 1B...Lens, 2...Aperture mechanism, 3...Solid-state image sensor, 4, 6...Amplifier, 5...Sampling and hold circuit, 7
...LPF, 10...recording amplifier, 11...magnetic head, 12
...Magnetic disk, 21...φV driver, 22...φH driver, 23...SG driver, 25...pulse generator for rotational phase detection, 27...disk drive motor, 2
9... Imaging command switch, 35... View finder, 40
...Interline batch transfer type CCD, 41...Photoelectric conversion element, 42...Vertical shift register, 43...Horizontal shift register, 44...Output section, 45...Sensor gate.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A photoelectric conversion element constituting each pixel, a plurality of vertical shift registers for vertically transferring the accumulated charge of the photoelectric conversion element, and a plurality of vertical shift registers for horizontally transferring the charges transferred by these vertical shift registers. a solid-state image sensor having a horizontal shift register for outputting the image to the outside; a means for accumulating photocharge corresponding to a light image incident on the photoelectric conversion element of the solid-state image sensor through an optical system; transfer means for transferring the photocharges accumulated in each photoelectric conversion element by the means to the vertical shift register at a predetermined timing; means for accumulating photocharges in the photoelectric conversion element, and transferring the photocharges accumulated by the means to the vertical shift register at a predetermined timing, and driving the vertical shift register and the horizontal shift register at respective predetermined driving frequencies. a readout means for reading data, a high-speed drive means for driving the vertical shift register at a higher speed than a drive speed for normal video signal readout before the readout operation by the readout means; Driving is performed for a time period of a predetermined width excluding a predetermined time period immediately after the drive start time and a predetermined time period immediately before the readout start time within the time period from the start of the drive to the time when the reading means starts reading out the photocharges. A solid-state imaging device comprising: high-speed drive stopping means for stopping in a section.