Patent attributes
A signal current corresponding to an incident light intensity is output from a photodiode PD, the signal current is converted into a signal voltage by an integration circuit 10, and the amount of a change in signal voltage in a predetermined time is output from a CDS circuit 20. The difference between two voltage values output from the CDS circuit 20 is obtained by a difference arithmetic circuit 30 and held by a S-H circuit 40. In addition, the maximum value of voltage values obtained by the difference arithmetic circuits 30 of respective units 100n is obtained by comparison circuits 50 of the respective units 100n, a reference signal voltage generation circuit 500, a final coincidence determination circuit 200, and a reference voltage hold circuit 300, and on the basis of the maximum value, the A/D conversion range of an A/D conversion circuit 400 is set.