Patent ID: 7362356

Claim:
A white balance correction apparatus, comprising: a dividing unit adapted to divide an image into a plurality of areas; a pattern storage unit adapted to store patterns indicating combinations of positions of each of the divided areas and conditions used, the patterns including a pattern that correlates the central portion of an image with a first condition and areas other than the central portion with a second condition; a white evaluation unit adapted to determine whether image data within every divided area is indicative of the color white according to the position of each divided area in the image, wherein white evaluation processing of all divided areas is executed using an identical condition, a first color temperature calculated from the central portion of the image and a second color temperature calculated from a peripheral portion of the image are compared, and said white evaluation unit is controlled so as to perform the white evaluation using an identical condition, irrespective of the position of a divided area in the image, if the first color temperature is equal to or higher than the second color temperature; and a white balance correction unit adapted to perform a white balance correction based upon image data determined to be indicative of the color white.