Image shooting control apparatus and control method thereof, image capturing apparatus, and storage medium

An image capturing apparatus comprising:

• an image shooting control apparatus having one or more processors which function as:
• an acquisition unit that acquires image data obtained through repeated shooting by an image sensor;
• a detection unit that detects a subject from the image data;
• a map creation unit that creates an environmental map based on information obtained by measuring surrounding environment;
• a storage unit that stores a plurality of pieces of history information, each piece associating (i) the subject, (ii) time information indicating a time at which the subject was detected, and (iii) a divided area in which the subject was detected among a plurality of divided areas obtained by dividing the environmental map;
• a determination unit that determines an order of the plurality of divided areas to be searched for the subject based on a plurality of stored pieces of the history information having different time stamps;
• and
• a control unit that controls an orientation of the image sensor, the image sensor;
• and
• a drive unit that drives the image sensor to change its orientation based on the control of the control unit,
• wherein the control unit controls the image sensor to shoot the plurality of divided areas in the order determined by the determination unit.

A control method of an image shooting control apparatus comprising:

• causing an image sensor to repeat shooting and output image data;
• detecting a subject from the image data;
• creating an environmental map based on information obtained by measuring surrounding environment;
• storing a plurality of pieces of history information, each piece associating (i) the subject, (ii) time information indicating a time at which the subject was detected, and (iii) a divided area in which the subject was detected among a plurality of divided areas obtained by dividing the environmental map;
• determining an order of the plurality of divided areas to be searched for the subject based on a plurality of stored pieces of the history information having different time stamps;
• and
• changing an orientation of the image sensor based on the order.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the storage medium storing a program that is executable by the computer, wherein the program includes program code for causing the computer to executes each step of the control method of the image capturing apparatus comprising:

• causing an image sensor to repeat shooting and output image data;
• detecting a subject from the image data;
• creating an environmental map based on information obtained by measuring surrounding environment;
• storing a plurality of pieces of history information, each piece associating (i) the subject, (ii) time information indicating a time at which the subject was detected, and (iii) a divided area in which the subject was detected among a plurality of divided areas obtained by dividing the environmental map;
• determining an order of the plurality of divided areas to be searched for the subject based on a plurality of stored pieces of the history information having different time stamps;
• and
• changing an orientation of the image sensor based on the order.