Image pickup apparatus

• US 8,817,122 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2011
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Okamura, Satoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Velez, Roberto
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kao, Yih-Sien
• Application Number:
  US13/024,051
• Publication Number:
  US 20110199502A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,294 Days
• Field of Search: 348/222.1, 348/345, 348348-349, 348/353, 348/361
• US Class Current: 348/222.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/611 where the recognised objects include parts of the human body
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/69 Control of means for changing angle of the field of view, e.g. optical zoom objectives or electronic zooming

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus includes a face area selecting unit configured to select at least a face area situated at a first object distance and a face area situated at a second object distance, and to select a face area occupying the smallest area in a picked-up image among two or more face areas in a case where the two or more face areas are situated at the first object distance or at the second object distance.

Claims

1. An image pickup apparatus comprising:

a detecting unit configured to detect a predetermined area in a picked-up image;

an obtaining unit configured to obtain information including at least information corresponding to object distances of a object corresponding to the detected area, and information corresponding to object sizes of the detected area;

a selecting unit configured to select fewer areas than the detected areas on the basis of the information in a case where an assist function is set in manual focusing; and

a display unit configured to effect enlarging display of the selected areas,

wherein the selecting unit selects at least an area which is corresponding to a first object distance and an area which is corresponding to a second object distance from the detected areas, and wherein the selecting unit is configured to, if two or more detected areas are situated at the first object distance or if two or more detected areas are situated at the second object distance, select an area occupying the smallest area in the picked-up image among the two or more detected areas.

2. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selecting unit selects at least a most distant area and a nearest area situated in the depth of field from among the detected areas.

3. An image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image pickup apparatus has an adjusting function of the depth of field capable of adjusting the depth of field at the time of photographing and performs a selecting operation by the selecting unit and an enlarging display operation by the display unit during adjusting the depth of field.

4. The image pickup apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting unit is configured to detect a face area as the predetermined area.

5. A control method of an image pickup apparatus comprising the steps of:

detecting a predetermined area in a picked-up image;

obtaining information including at least information corresponding to object distances of a object corresponding to the detected area, and information corresponding to object sizes of the detected area;

selecting fewer areas than the detected areas on the basis of the information in a case where an assist function is set in manual focusing; and

effecting enlarging display of the selected areas,

wherein the step of selecting fewer areas than the detected areas selects at least an area which is corresponding to a first object distance and an area which is corresponding to a second object distance from the detected areas, and wherein the step of selecting fewer areas than the detected areas, if two or more detected areas are situated at the first object distance or if two or more detected areas are situated at the second object distance, select an area occupying the smallest area in the picked-up image among the two or more detected areas.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program comprising a program code for causing a computer to execute the control method according to claim 5.