Patent ID: 7098945
Filing Date: 2006-08-29
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. An electronic camera apparatus with the capability of correcting luminance balance in an image signal read out from an image sensing element, said image signal representing a color image constructed by a plurality of pixels and generating a desired image from the image signal, comprising: a luminance correction section coupled at the output of the image sensing element and operative on individual units of raw colors of said pixels, each one of said pixels each being formed from a set of predetermined units of colors and each unit of color having an analog value representing luminance information, the luminance information being discrete on a time axis, to A) generate individual correction coefficients for each of said predetermined colors of each said pixel from a plurality of correction coefficients B) correct white balance using corresponding luminance information in the image signal on the basis of each said correction coefficient, and C) output a new image signal used for image generation; and D) store the new image in a memory located within the electronic camera, wherein said luminance correction section comprises a first correction control section for sequentially generating a luminance correction amount corresponding to each pixel from a plurality of first correction coefficients on the basis of a clock signal synchronized with each luminance information in the image signal, a second correction control section for sequentially generating a luminance correction amount corresponding to each pixel from a plurality of second correction coefficients on the basis of a clock signal synchronized with each luminance information in the image signal, and a luminance correction amplification section for setting a synthesized gain as a product of a first gain corresponding to the luminance correction amount sequentially generated by said first correction control section and the luminance correction amount sequentially generated by said second correction control section to amplify the input image signal by the synthesized gain corresponding to each luminance correction amount in units of luminance information, and outputting the new image signal.