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US 8,045,015 B2Granted
Image pickup apparatus, white balance control method thereof, and storage medium
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorShigeo Ogawa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image pickup apparatus capable of, when adjusting the white balance in development processing, eliminating the need for performing integration processing and calculation processing for white balance adjustment even when white balance is set to an arbitrary mode, thereby significantly reducing the processing time. In the image pickup apparatus, a calculation unit is adapted to, in a case where an integration parameter to be set in an integration unit is identical with or close to an integration parameter stored in a storage unit, calculate a white balance control value using a white balance integration value read out from the storage unit, without performing calculation processing using a white balance integration value acquired by an integration unit.
Claims12
An image pickup apparatus having a plurality of white balance modes, comprising:
- an image pickup unit adapted to capture images of a subject to obtain a video signal;
- an integration unit adapted to perform integration processing of the video signal obtained by said image pickup unit, based on a set integration parameter, to acquire a white balance integration value for each of the white balance modes;
- a calculation unit adapted to perform calculation processing using the white balance integration value acquired by said integration unit to calculate a white balance control value for correcting a color temperature of a light source;
- a storage unit adapted to store, for each of the white balance modes, the set integration parameter, the white balance integration value, corresponding to the set integration parameter, acquired by said integration unit, and the white balance control value calculated by said calculation unit,
- wherein said storage unit stores at least a first white balance integration value in association with a first integration parameter corresponding to a first light source;
- a comparison unit adapted to compare a second integration parameter to be set corresponding to a second light source different from the first light source with the first integration parameter stored in said storage unit;
- and
- a readout unit adapted to, in a case where a result of the comparison indicates that the second integration parameter to be set is identical with or close to the first integration parameter stored in said storage unit, read out the first white balance integration value corresponding to the first integration parameter from said storage unit,
- wherein said calculation unit is adapted to, in a case where the result of the comparison indicates that the second integration parameter to be set is identical with or close to the first integration parameter stored in said storage unit, calculate a second white balance control value using the read out first white balance integration value, without performing the calculation processing for obtaining a second white balance integration value using the second integration parameter.
6 more elements
A white balance control method for an image pickup apparatus having a plurality of white balance modes and a storage unit, the method comprising:
- an image pickup step of capturing images of a subject to obtain a video signal;
- an integration step of performing integration processing of the video signal obtained in said image pickup step, based on a set integration parameter, to acquire a white balance integration value for each of the white balance modes;
- a calculation step of performing calculation processing using the white balance integration value acquired in said integration step to calculate a white balance control value for correcting a color temperature of a light source;
- a storage step of storing in the storage unit, for each of the white balance modes, the set integration parameter, the white balance integration value, corresponding to the set integration parameter, acquired in said integration step, and the white balance control value calculated in said calculation step,
- wherein the storage unit stores at least a first white balance integration value in association with a first integration parameter corresponding to a first light source;
- a comparison step of comparing a second integration parameter to be set corresponding to a second light source different from the first light source with the first integration parameter stored in said storage step;
- and
- a readout step of, in a case where a result of the comparison indicates that the second integration parameter to be set is identical with or close to the first integration parameter stored in said storage step, reading out the first white balance integration value corresponding to the first integration parameter stored in said storage step,
- wherein said calculation step, in a case where the result of the comparison indicates that the second integration parameter to be set is identical with or close to the first integration parameter stored in the storage unit, calculates a second white balance control value using the read out first white balance integration value, without performing the calculation processing for obtaining a second white balance integration value using the second integration parameter.
6 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program executable by a processor of an image pickup apparatus having a plurality of white balance modes and a storage unit, to execute a white balance control method comprising:
- an image pickup step of capturing images of a subject to obtain a video signal;
- an integration step of performing integration processing of the video signal obtained in said image pickup step, based on a set integration parameter, to acquire a white balance integration value for each of the white balance modes;
- a calculation step of performing calculation processing using the white balance integration value acquired in said integration step to calculate a white balance control value for correcting a color temperature of a light source;
- a storage step of storing in a storage unit, for each of the white balance modes, the set integration parameter, the white balance integration value, corresponding to the set integration parameter, acquired in said integration step, and the white balance control value calculated in said calculation step,
- wherein the storage unit stores at least a first white balance integration value in association with a first integration parameter corresponding to a first light source;
- a comparison step of comparing a second integration parameter to be set corresponding to a second light source different from the first light source with the first integration parameter stored in said storage step;
- and
- a readout step of, in a case where a result of the comparison indicates that the second integration parameter to be set is identical with or close to the first integration parameter stored in said storage step, reading out the first white balance integration value corresponding to the first integration parameter stored in said storage step,
- wherein said calculation step, in a case where the result of the comparison indicates that the second integration parameter to be set is identical with or close to the first integration parameter stored in the storage unit calculates a second white balance control value using the read out first white balance integration value, without performing the calculation processing for obtaining a second white balance integration value using the second integration parameter.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.