Patent ID: 8089528

Claim:
A color signal processing circuit comprising: a first calculating unit that generates a first divided value by dividing a first primary color signal of a plurality of primary color signals generated by an image pickup element irradiated with light from a light source via an optical system, by a second primary color signal of the plurality of primary color signals; a second calculating unit that generates a second divided value by dividing a third primary signal of the plurality of primary color signals by the second primary signal; a position specifying unit that specifies a position of the light source based on the first and second divided values, with a position that expresses a color temperature of light of the light source in a color coordinate system determined by a first coordinate axis expressed by dividing the first primary color signal by the second primary color signal and a second coordinate axis expressed by dividing the third primary color signal by the second primary color signal as the position of the light source; and a pull determining unit that determines a displacement amount between the position of the light source specified by the position specifying unit and a position of a target point on a blackbody radiation curve defined in the color coordinate system, sets gain values for the first to third primary colors for adjusting a white balance based on the displacement amount, and supplies the gain values to primary color signal amplifying units that amplify the first to third primary color signals, wherein the pull determining unit determines, in the color coordinate system, whether the position of the light source is positioned on a predetermined isochromatic temperature line that pass through the target point, and wherein if the position of the light source is determined to be not positioned on the predetermined isochromatic temperature line, the pull determining unit determines a closest isochromatic temperature line that is at the shortest distance from the position of the light source and determines a convergence point based on the closest isochromatic temperature line.