Image pickup apparatus with white balance control based on brightness
US6621519B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 20, 1998 |
| Grant date | Sep 16, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 20, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04N23/88
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An image pickup apparatus such as a video camera has the capability of automatic white balance control whereby the white balance is quickly adjusted for any object even just after an operator has turned on a power supply. An image pickup element converts an optical image of an object into an electrical image signal. The image signal is applied to a signal processing circuit and separated into a luminance signal and color signals. The separated color signals or the R and B signals are amplified by gain control circuits under the control of the correction signals supplied by a correction signal computing part, and then applied to a color-difference signal forming circuit which in turn produces color-difference signals (R−Y) and (B−Y). An encoder circuit generates a television signal in the standard form from the above color-difference signals and the luminance signal. In this processing, the white balance is adjusted according to a white balance control signal generated on the basis of information about a state of illuminance onto an object picked up last time and stored in a data storing part.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.