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US 2014/0176786 A1Published application
Image capture apparatus and control method therefor
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorNaoki Iwasaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Subject distances of a plurality of subject areas included in a captured image are computed based on a plurality of focus evaluation values indicating in-focus positions of a plurality of focus detection areas set in the captured image. Upon detection of a change in the captured image, the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas are re-computed by re-moving a focus lens. In this case, a driving range of the focus lens includes in-focus positions corresponding to previously-calculated subject distances and corresponds to the distribution of the previously-calculated subject distances.
Claims9
An image capture apparatus comprising:
- a focus detection unit that detects a plurality of focus evaluation values by moving a focus lens within a driving range, the plurality of focus evaluation values indicating in-focus positions of a plurality of focus detection areas;
- a distance computation unit that computes subject distances of a plurality of subject areas included in a captured image based on the plurality of focus evaluation values;
- and
- a change detection unit that detects whether or not the captured image has changed,
- wherein when the change detection unit has detected a change in the captured image, the distance computation unit re-computes the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas by re-moving the focus lens,
- the driving range of the focus lens for re-computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas is determined in accordance with distribution of previously-computed subject distances of the plurality of subject areas, and
- the driving range of the focus lens for re-computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas includes in-focus positions corresponding to the previously-computed subject distances of the plurality of subject areas.
4 more elements
An image capture apparatus comprising:
- a focus detection unit that detects a plurality of focus evaluation values by moving a focus lens within a driving range, the plurality of focus evaluation values indicating in-focus positions of a plurality of focus detection areas;
- a distance computation unit that computes subject distances of a plurality of subject areas included in a captured image based on the plurality of focus evaluation values;
- and
- a change detection unit that detects whether or not the captured image has changed,
- wherein when the change detection unit has detected a change in the captured image after moving the focus lens to compute the subject distances for the first time, the distance computation unit re-computes the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas by re-moving the focus lens,
- when the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas computed for the first time fall within a part of a range from a near end to a far end, the driving range of the focus lens for re-computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas is set to be smaller than the driving range of the focus lens used when computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas for the first time, and
- the driving range of the focus lens for re-computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas includes in-focus positions corresponding to the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas computed for the first time.
4 more elements
A control method for an image capture apparatus comprising:
- a focus detection step of detecting a plurality of focus evaluation values by moving a focus lens within a driving range, the plurality of focus evaluation values indicating in-focus positions of a plurality of focus detection areas;
- a distance computation step of computing subject distances of a plurality of subject areas included in a captured image based on the plurality of focus evaluation values;
- and
- a change detection step of detecting whether or not the captured image has changed,
- wherein when a change in the captured image has been detected in the change detection step, the distance computation step re-computes the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas by re-moving the focus lens,
- the driving range of the focus lens for re-computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas is determined in accordance with distribution of previously-computed subject distances of the plurality of subject areas, and
- the driving range of the focus lens for re-computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas includes in-focus positions corresponding to the previously-computed subject distances of the plurality of subject areas.
4 more elements
A control method for an image capture apparatus comprising:
- a focus detection step of detecting a plurality of focus evaluation values by moving a focus lens within a driving range, the plurality of focus evaluation values indicating in-focus positions of a plurality of focus detection areas;
- a distance computation step of computing subject distances of a plurality of subject areas included in a captured image based on the plurality of focus evaluation values;
- and
- a change detection step of detecting whether or not the captured image has changed,
- wherein when a change in the captured image has been detected in the change detection step after moving the focus lens to compute the subject distances for the first time, the distance computation step re-computes the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas by re-moving the focus lens,
- when the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas computed for the first time fall within a part of a range from a near end to a far end, the driving range of the focus lens for re-computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas is set to be smaller than the driving range of the focus lens used when computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas for the first time, and
- the driving range of the focus lens for re-computing the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas includes in-focus positions corresponding to the subject distances of the plurality of subject areas computed for the first time.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.