Image sensor and driving method thereof

A driving method of an image sensor including first to fourth sub-pixels constituting a unit color pixel, the method comprising:

• sampling a first sensing signal and a second sensing signal from the first sub-pixel and the second sub-pixel, respectively, by applying a first effective integration time to the first sub-pixel and the second sub-pixel;
• sampling a third sensing signal and a fourth sensing signal from the third sub-pixel and the fourth sub-pixel, respectively, by applying a second effective integration time shorter than the first effective integration time to the third sub-pixel and the fourth sub-pixel;
• performing an averaging operation on the first sensing signal and the second sensing signal;
• and
• performing the averaging operation on the third sensing signal and the fourth sensing signal,
• wherein the first sub-pixel and the fourth sub-pixel share a first charge detection node, and
• wherein the second sub-pixel and the third sub-pixel share a second charge detection node.

An image sensor for sensing an image signal of a plurality of illumination ranges, the image sensor comprising:

• a first unit pixel including a first sub-pixel, a second sub-pixel, and a third sub-pixel sharing a first charge detection node;
• a second unit pixel including a fourth sub-pixel, a fifth sub-pixel, and a sixth sub-pixel sharing a second charge detection node;
• and
• a third unit pixel including a seventh sub-pixel, an eighth sub-pixel, and a ninth sub-pixel sharing a third charge detection node,
• wherein the first unit pixel, the second unit pixel, and the third unit pixel output sensing signals individually by using the first charge detection node, the second charge detection node, and the third charge detection node, and
• wherein the first to third unit pixels constitute a unit color pixel corresponding to a single color for the purpose of sensing the image signal in the plurality of illumination ranges.