Image capturing apparatus capable of automatically searching for an object and control method thereof, and storage medium

1. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing device configured to capture an object image;

at least one processor or circuit and a memory storing instructions to cause the at least one processor or circuit to perform operations of the following units of the image capturing apparatus:

a calculating unit configured to divide a shooting angle of view of the image capturing device into a plurality of areas and calculate an importance level for each of the plurality of areas; and

a control unit configured to carry out control so that a zoom unit changes the shooting angle of view of the image capturing device to a wide-angle side, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed,

wherein the calculating unit recalculates the importance level for each of the plurality of areas, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed, and

wherein the control unit deletes the importance level stored previously in the case where an operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.

2. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein when the calculation of the importance level by the calculating unit is the first calculation, or when a predetermined amount of time has passed following the previous calculation of the importance level, the control unit carries out control so that the zoom unit changes the shooting angle of view to the wide-angle side.

3. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

an image capturing device configured to capture an object image;

at least one processor or circuit and a memory storing instructions to cause the at least one processor or circuit to perform operations of the following units of the image capturing apparatus:

a searching unit configured to search for an object in the image data captured by the image capturing device;

a calculating unit configured to divide the shooting angle of view of the image capturing device into a plurality of areas and calculate an importance level for each of the plurality of areas, and

a control unit configured to store the importance level calculated by the calculating unit,

wherein the searching unit re-searches for an object in the image data captured by the image capturing device, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed, and

wherein the control unit deletes the importance level stored previously in the case where an operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.

4. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 3 ,

wherein the control unit carries out control so that a zoom unit changes a shooting angle of view to a wide-angle side when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed, and

wherein the control unit controls the amount by which the zoom unit changes the shooting angle of view to the wide-angle side on the basis of an operation amount when the imaging direction of the image capturing device has been changed by a manual pan operation.

5. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 4 ,

wherein the control unit carries out control so that the zoom unit moves the shooting angle of view to the wide-angle side in the case where the operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.

6. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 4 ,

wherein the control unit carries out control so that the zoom unit moves the shooting angle of view to a predetermined wide-angle position before the wide-angle end in the case where the operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is less than a predetermined amount.

7. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 6 ,

wherein the control unit saves the importance level stored previously in the case where the operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is less than a predetermined amount.

8. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 3 ,

wherein when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation, the control unit causes the image capturing device to move to a horizontal position with respect to a tilt direction.

9. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the control unit saves the importance level stored previously in the case where the operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is less than the predetermined amount.

10. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the searching unit determines an area having a high importance level as an area to search for the object.

11. The image capturing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein based on the importance level of each area, the image capturing device carries out an automatic image capturing in a case where the importance level is greater than a predetermined value.

12. A method for controlling an image capturing apparatus, the image capturing apparatus including an image capturing device that captures an object image, and the method comprising:

dividing a shooting angle of view of the image capturing device into a plurality of areas and calculating an importance level for each of the plurality of areas; and

carrying out control so that the shooting angle of view of the image capturing device is changed to a wide-angle side, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed,

wherein in the calculating, the importance level for each of the plurality of areas is recalculated, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed, and

wherein in the carrying out control, the importance level stored previously in the case where an operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount is deleted.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the steps of a method for controlling an image capturing apparatus, the image capturing apparatus including an image capturing device that captures an object image, and the method comprising:

dividing a shooting angle of view of the image capturing device into a plurality of areas and calculating an importance level for each of the plurality of areas; and

carrying out control so that the shooting angle of view of the image capturing device is changed to a wide-angle side, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed,

wherein in the calculating, the importance level for each of the plurality of areas is recalculated, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed, and

wherein in the carrying out control, the importance level stored previously is deleted in the case where an operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.

14. A method for controlling an image capturing apparatus, the image capturing apparatus including an image capturing device that captures an object image, and the method comprising:

dividing a shooting angle of view of the image capturing device into a plurality of areas and calculating an importance level for each of the plurality of areas;

searching for an object in the image data captured by the image capturing device; and

storing the importance level calculated by the calculating,

wherein in the searching, an object is re-searched for in the image data captured by the image capturing device, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed, and

wherein the importance level stored previously is deleted in the case where an operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the steps of a method for controlling an image capturing apparatus, the image capturing apparatus including an image capturing device that captures an object image, and the method comprising:

dividing a shooting angle of view of the image capturing device into a plurality of areas and calculating an importance level for each of the plurality of areas;

searching for an object in the image data captured by the image capturing device; and

storing the importance level calculated by the calculating,

wherein in the searching, an object is re-searched for in the image data captured by the image capturing device, when the imaging direction of the image capturing device is changed, and

wherein the importance level stored previously is deleted in the case where the operation amount when the image capturing device has been subjected to a manual pan operation is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount.