Patent ID: 7411614

Claim:
An image sensing apparatus comprising: an image sensing device which outputs a single output image; a first color temperature detection device which detects color temperature information of the single output image of said image sensing device by using the single output image of said image sensing device; a second color temperature detection device which detects color temperature information of an ambient light by a color sensor which does not use the single output image of said image sensing device; a calculation device which calculates a ratio of a white region in the single output image of said image sensing device; a generation device which generates weighted color temperature information by weighting the color temperature information of the single output image detected by said first color temperature detection device and the color temperature information of the ambient light detected by said second color temperature detection device so that the weighted color temperature information becomes closer to the color temperature information of the single output image as the ratio becomes larger, and the weighted color temperature information becomes closer to the color temperature information of the ambient light as the ratio becomes smaller; and a white balance control device which controls white balance of the single output image of said image sensing device by using the weighted color temperature information generated by said generation device, wherein, taking T to be a value corresponding to the weighted color temperature information, taking Tw to be a value corresponding to the color temperature information of the single output image, taking N to be a value corresponding to the ratio of the white region, and Ts to be a value corresponding to the color temperature information of the ambient light, T is generated in accordance with a formula: T=N×Tw/K +(1− N/K )× Ts, wherein K is a predetermined reference value to generate Tw as the weighted color temperature when N exceeds K.