Solid-state image pickup device and drive method thereof

A solid state imaging apparatus comprising:

• an X-Y addressable solid state imaging apparatus in which pixels are arranged in a matrix shape and color filters having predetermined color coding are formed in the respective pixels;
• and
• a driving unit that, in a process of pixel skipping to read out pixel information from the solid state imaging apparatus, with a pixel block consisting of plural pixels adjacent to one another in a row direction and a column direction set as a unit pixel block, reads out pixel information of a same color filter in the unit pixel block as pixel information for one pixel simulatively,
• wherein,
• the predetermined color coding has two rows and two columns as a unit and is a repetition of the unit,
• when k is a positive integer equal to or larger than 0, with (2k+3)×(2k+3) pixel blocks as unit pixel blocks, the driving unit reads out pieces of pixel information of the same color filter in each of the unit pixel blocks, the driving unit reads out pieces of pixel information of a same color filter in each of the unit pixel blocks simulatively as pixel information for one pixel in a state in which the unit pixel blocks are laid without overlapping one another, and the driving unit averages the added pieces of pixel information and outputs the averaged pieces of pixel information.