Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a first acquisition unit configured to acquire area information indicating a selection area in a first image captured by a first image capturing unit;

a second image capturing unit configured to capture a second image by performing image capturing for an image capturing range narrower than an image capturing range of the first image capturing unit;

a driving control unit configured to control an image capturing area of the second image capturing unit based on the area information acquired by the first acquisition unit, such that the second image capturing unit captures an area which includes an entire area of the selection area in the first image and which has a size larger than a size of the selection area; and

a control unit configured to clip an image of an area equivalent to the selection area from the second image captured by the second image capturing unit of which the image capturing area has been controlled by the driving control unit, for displaying the clipped image at a client apparatus,

wherein the control unit compares, by using template matching, an image of the selection area in the first image captured by the first image capturing unit and the second image captured by the second image capturing unit of which the image capturing area has been controlled by the driving control unit, and clips the image of the area equivalent to the selection area from the second image captured by the second image capturing unit of which the image capturing area has been controlled by the driving control unit.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a correspondence unit configured to acquire correspondence information indicating a correspondence between coordinates of a point in the first image and a pan/tilt position of the second image capturing unit when an image capturing direction of the second image capturing unit is adjusted to a direction corresponding to the point, and correspondence information indicating a correspondence between a size of an area in the first image and a zooming factor of the second image capturing unit when a viewing angle of the second image capturing unit is adjusted to a viewing angle corresponding to the area,

wherein the second image capturing unit is configured to adjust the pan/tilt position and the zooming factor,

wherein the first acquisition unit acquires information about central coordinates and a size of the selection area, as the area information indicating the selection area, and

wherein the driving control unit controls the second image capturing unit, based on the information about the central coordinates and the size of the selection area acquired by the first acquisition unit, and the correspondence information acquired by the correspondence unit.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the driving control unit

controls the pan/tilt position of the second image capturing unit to be a pan/tilt position corresponding to the central coordinates of the selection area based on the correspondence information, and

controls the zooming factor of the second image capturing unit to be a zooming factor that attains a wider viewing angle than the zooming factor corresponding to the size of the selection area based on the correspondence information.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the correspondence unit acquires the correspondence information that reflects an amount of a misalignment between central coordinates of the clipped image in the second image and central coordinates of the second image, as the correspondence information indicating the correspondence between the coordinates of the point in the first image and the pan/tilt position of the second image capturing unit.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an output unit configured to output the first image to the client apparatus,

wherein the first acquisition unit receives setting of the selection area within the first image displayed at the client apparatus, and acquires the area information indicating the selection area.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 ,

wherein the first image capturing unit includes a plurality of image capturing units that perform image capturing by sharing an image capturing range, and

wherein the first image is a panoramic image that is a combination of a plurality of images captured by the respective plurality of image capturing units.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a third acquisition unit configured to acquire distance information indicating a distance from the second image capturing unit to an object,

wherein the driving control unit controls a size of the image capturing area of the second image capturing unit, based on the distance information acquired by the third acquisition unit.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7 ,

wherein the second image capturing unit includes a focusing unit, and

wherein the third acquisition unit acquires a distance to an object brought into focus by the focusing unit, as the distance information.

9. An image capturing apparatus comprising:

the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 ;

the first image capturing unit configured to capture the first image; and

the second image capturing unit configured to capture the second image.

10. An information processing method comprising:

acquiring area information indicating a selection area in a first image captured by a first image capturing unit;

controlling an image capturing area of a second image capturing unit based on the area information, such that the second image capturing unit captures an entire area which includes an entire area of the selection area in the first image and which has a size larger than a size of the selection area, wherein the second image capturing unit captures a second image by performing image capturing for an image capturing range narrower than an image capturing range of the first image capturing unit;

comparing, by using template matching, an image of the selection area in the first image captured by the first image capturing unit and the second image captured by the second image capturing unit of which the image capturing area has been controlled in the controlling; and

clipping an image of an area equivalent to the selection area from the second image captured by the second image capturing unit of which the image capturing area has been controlled in the controlling, for displaying the clipped image at a client apparatus.

11. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing a program for implementing an information processing method by an image capturing apparatus, the method comprising:

acquiring area information indicating a selection area in a first image captured by a first image capturing unit;

controlling an image capturing area of a second image capturing unit based on the area information, such that the second image capturing unit captures an entire area which includes an entire area of the selection area in the first image and which has a size larger than a size of the selection area, wherein the second image capturing unit captures a second image by performing image capturing for an image capturing range narrower than an image capturing range of the first image capturing unit;

comparing, by using template matching, an image of the selection area in the first image captured by the first image capturing unit and the second image captured by the second image capturing unit of which the image capturing area has been controlled in the controlling; and

clipping an image of an area equivalent to the selection area from the second image captured by the second image capturing unit of which the image capturing area has been controlled in the controlling, for displaying the clipped image.