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AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsToru Koizumi, Shigetoshi Sugawa, Tetsunobu Kochi
Estimating the term…
A solid-state image pickup device comprises for each pixel a photoelectric converter PD, an input terminal FD of a signal amplifier and a transfer switch TX for transferring an optical signal from the photoelectric converter to the input terminal. The device additionally comprises means for resetting the photoelectric converter by opening the transfer switch TX under a condition of holding the voltage of the input terminal FD to a fixed high level before storing the optical signal in the photoelectric converter PD. With this arrangement, any residual electric charge in the photoelectric converter can be eliminated without paying the cost of reducing the manufacturing yield and degrading the chip performance.
-32. (canceled)
A solid-state image pickup device comprising, for each pixel, a photoelectric converter, an input terminal for a signal amplifier, a transfer switch for transferring an electric charge from the photoelectric converter to the input terminal and a reset switch for applying a reset voltage to the input terminal, wherein said device is adapted to operate such that a pulse signal is input, simultaneously for each pixel, to the reset switch and the transfer switch to turn on said reset switch and said transfer switch together at least in a predetermined period to thereby reset an electric charge at said electric converter, and after a photoelectric charge is stored in each pixel for a predetermined storage time, the photoelectric charge stored in the photoelectric converter of each pixel is read out on a line-by-line basis.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.