Image pickup apparatus and method of controlling the same
First Claim
1. An image pickup apparatus comprising:
- an image sensing unit configured to sense an image of a subject formed by an optical imaging system including a zoom lens and output an image signal;
a subject detection unit configured to detect the subject in an image screen based on the image signal output from the image sensing unit;
a subject size acquisition unit configured to acquire a size of the subject detected by the subject detection unit; and
a controller configured to perform an automatic zooming operation such that the zoom lens is driven to increase or decrease the size of the subject acquired by the subject size acquisition unit so that the size of the subject becomes equal to a reference size,wherein in a first case the controller resets the reference size to be equal to the size of the subject, and in a second case the controller resets the reference size to be equal to a mean value of subject sizes,wherein the first case is a case where the difference between the acquired size of the subject and the set reference size has increased beyond a predetermined threshold value and the position of the zoom lens has reached the wide angle end or the telephoto end, andwherein the second case is a case where the change in subject size is within the predetermined threshold value.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An image pickup apparatus detects a subject based on an image signal output from an image sensing unit and acquires a size of the detected subject. The image pickup apparatus performs an automatic zooming operation such that a zoom lens is driven so as to increase or decrease the size of the subject so that the size of the subject becomes equal to a reference size of the subject. In a case where the difference between the size of the subject and the reference size has increased beyond a predetermined threshold value and the position of the zoom lens has reached a wide angle end or a telephoto end, the image pickup apparatus resets the reference size to be equal to the current size of the subject.
-
Citations
14 Claims
-
1. An image pickup apparatus comprising:
-
an image sensing unit configured to sense an image of a subject formed by an optical imaging system including a zoom lens and output an image signal; a subject detection unit configured to detect the subject in an image screen based on the image signal output from the image sensing unit; a subject size acquisition unit configured to acquire a size of the subject detected by the subject detection unit; and a controller configured to perform an automatic zooming operation such that the zoom lens is driven to increase or decrease the size of the subject acquired by the subject size acquisition unit so that the size of the subject becomes equal to a reference size, wherein in a first case the controller resets the reference size to be equal to the size of the subject, and in a second case the controller resets the reference size to be equal to a mean value of subject sizes, wherein the first case is a case where the difference between the acquired size of the subject and the set reference size has increased beyond a predetermined threshold value and the position of the zoom lens has reached the wide angle end or the telephoto end, and wherein the second case is a case where the change in subject size is within the predetermined threshold value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. An image pickup apparatus comprising:
-
an image sensing unit configured to sense an image of a subject formed by an optical imaging system including a zoom lens and output an image signal; a subject detection unit configured to detect the subject in an image screen based on the image signal output from the image sensing unit; a subject size acquisition unit configured to acquire a size of the subject detected by the subject detection unit; a controller configured to perform an automatic zooming operation such that the zoom lens is driven to increase or decrease the size of the subject acquired by the subject size acquisition unit so that the size of the subject becomes equal to a set reference size; and an informing unit configured to inform information when the position of the zoom lens has reached a wide angle end or a telephoto end, wherein in a case where a position of the zoom lens has reached the wide angle end or the telephoto end, the controller resets the reference size to be equal to the size of the subject, and wherein in a case where the controller has reset the reference size to a new value, the informing unit stops informing information. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. An image pickup apparatus comprising:
-
an image sensing unit configured to sense an image of a subject formed by an optical imaging system including a zoom lens and output an image signal; a subject detection unit configured to detect the subject in an image screen based on the image signal output from the image sensing unit; a subject size acquisition unit configured to acquire a size of the subject detected by the subject detection unit; and a controller configured to perform an automatic zooming operation such that the zoom lens is driven to increase or decrease the size of the subject acquired by the subject size acquisition unit so that the size of the subject becomes equal to a reference size, wherein, in a first case, the controller resets the reference size to a first size of a subject, and in a second case, the controller resets the reference size to a second size of a subject, wherein the first case is a case where the difference between the acquired size of the subject and the set reference size has increased beyond a predetermined threshold value and the second case is a case where the changing amount in subject size is within the predetermined threshold value, and wherein the first size is a size after having changed and the second size is a changing size on the way. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
-
-
11. An image pickup apparatus comprising:
-
an image sensing unit configured to sense an image of a subject formed by an optical imaging system including a zoom lens and output an image signal; a subject detection unit configured to detect the subject in an image screen based on the image signal output from the image sensing unit; a subject size acquisition unit configured to acquire a size of the subject detected by the subject detection unit; a controller configured to perform an automatic zooming operation such that the zoom lens is driven to increase or decrease the size of the subject acquired by the subject size acquisition unit so that the size of the subject becomes equal to a reference size; and an informing unit configured to inform an information when the position of the zoom lens has reached a wide angle end or a telephoto end, wherein in a case where a position of the zoom lens has increased beyond a predetermined threshold value, the controller resets the reference size to be equal to the size of the subject, and wherein in a case where the controller has reset the reference size to a new value, the informing unit stops informing information. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
-
Specification