Signal-converting device

Claim 1

An analog video signal converting device comprising: a plurality of input CCD transfer lines having substantially the same structure, said input CCD transfer lines being arranged in parallel with one another on a semiconductor substrate and having transfer stages on which transfer electrodes of substantially the same size are formed, said plurality of input CCD transfer lines being supplied with charges representative of a video signal, a plurality of operation CCD transfer lines having substantially the same structure, said operation CCD transfer lines being arranged in parallel with one another on the semiconductor substrate and being connected in series to said plurality of input CCD transfer lines, respectively, each of said plurality of operation CCD transfer lines including an input stage, a plurality of dividing stages formed contiguous with the input stage, a separating stage formed contiguous with the plurality of dividing stages, and a mixing stage formed contiguous with the separating stage, said dividing stages, said separating stage, and said mixing stage being serially arranged to transfer the charges in one direction, said plurality of dividing stages having a plurality of small electrodes which are smaller than the transfer electrodes, said separating stage having a separating electrode separating a charge, and said mixing stage having a mixing electrode whose size is equal to that of each of the transfer electrodes; a plurality of output CCD transfer lines having substantially the same structure, said plurality of output CCD transfer lines being arranged in parallel with one another on the semiconductor substrate and being connected in series to said plurality of operation CCD transfer lines, respectively, and including transfer stages on which transfer electrodes of substantially the same size which are as large as the transfer electrodes of said plurality of input CCD transfer lines are formed; drive voltage applying means for applying operation drive voltages in a different sequence from that of drive voltages supplied to the transfer electrodes of said plurality of input CCD transfer lines and said plurality of output CCD transfer lines, said operation drive voltages being applied to the small electrodes of said plurality of operation CCD transfer lines, the separating electrodes, and the mixing electrode; a first CCD horizontal buffer supplying charges representing horizontal lines of video information, said CCD horizontal buffer being connected to output sections of said plurality of input CCD transfer lines; and a second CCD horizontal buffer receiving charges representing horizontal lines of video information from said plurality of output CCD transfer lines, said second CCD horizontal buffer being connected to output sections of said plurality of output CCD transfer lines.