US-12621569-B2 - Image pickup apparatus capable of setting focus detection area to area that user wants to set for detectable subject, image processing apparatus, control method for image processing apparatus, control method for image pickup apparatus, and storage medium

US12621569B2US 12621569 B2US12621569 B2US 12621569B2US-12621569-B2

Abstract

An image pickup apparatus capable of setting a focus detection area to an area that a user wants to set for a detectable subject is provided. The image pickup apparatus comprising a first detecting unit configured to detect an area, which corresponds to at least a part of a subject area within an image and shows subject characteristics, as a first local area, a second detecting unit configured to detect an area, which corresponds to at least a part of the subject area and shows photographing scene characteristics, as a second local area, and a local area selecting unit configured to select one of the first local area and the second local area as an area to be focused according to information about a photographing scene of a subject in a case that both the first local area and the second local area are detected by the first detecting unit and the second detecting unit.

Inventors

Akihiko Kanda
Hideyuki Hamano

Assignees

CANON KABUSHIKI KAISHA

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240924
Priority Date: 20210218

Claims (13)

1 . An image processing apparatus comprising: at least one processor or circuit configured to function as: a detecting unit configured to detect a vehicle within an image; an obtaining unit configured to obtain information about at least a direction in which the vehicle is photographed or about at least a tilt direction of the vehicle; and a setting unit configured to set an area to be focused within the image, wherein the setting unit changes the area to be focused, in accordance with a type of the vehicle detected by the detecting unit and the information obtained by the obtaining unit.
2 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein types of the vehicle detected by the detecting unit include a motorcycle and a car.
3 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the detecting unit detects an area of a head of a driver of the vehicle, as a subject area.
4 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the detecting unit detects an area of a body of the vehicle, as a subject area.
5 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein in a case where the vehicle detected by the detecting unit is a motorcycle and the motorcycle is in a photographing scene in which the motorcycle is photographed from a front in a direction of travel of the motorcycle or in which a body of the motorcycle tilts forward, the setting unit sets an area of a head of a driver of the motorcycle, as the area to be focused.
6 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein in a case where the vehicle detected by the detecting unit is a motorcycle and the motorcycle is in a photographing scene in which a body of the motorcycle tilts backward, the setting unit sets an area of the body of the motorcycle, as the area to be focused.
7 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the vehicle detected by the detecting unit is a car and the car is in a photographing scene in which the car is photographed from above and a front in a direction of travel of the car, the setting unit sets the area to be focused so as to keep an entire body of the car within a predetermined depth range.
8 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the vehicle detected by the detecting unit is a car and the car is in a photographing scene in which the car is photographed from a side relative to a direction of travel of the car, the setting unit sets an area of a side of a body of the car, as the area to be focused.
9 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the setting unit sets the area to be focused, based on a candidate for the area to be focused corresponding to an orientation of a subject detected by the detecting unit, the candidate being predetermined by a user.
10 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the setting unit uses dictionary data generated based on machine learning to output the area to be focused within the image.
11 . The image processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor or circuit is further configured to function as a display control unit configured to cause a display to display a display item indicating the area to be focused.
12 . An image processing method, comprising: detecting a vehicle within an image; obtaining information about at least a direction in which the vehicle is photographed or about at least a tilt direction of the vehicle; and setting an area to be focused within the image, wherein the setting includes changing the area to be focused, in accordance with a type of the vehicle and the information.
13 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a control method for an image processing apparatus, the control method comprising: detecting a vehicle within an image; obtaining information about at least a direction in which the vehicle is photographed or about at least a tilt direction of the vehicle; and setting an area to be focused within the image, wherein the setting includes changing the area to be focused, in accordance with a type of the vehicle and the information.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 17/668,881, filed Feb. 10, 2022, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, an image processing apparatus, a control method for the image processing apparatus, a control method for the image pickup apparatus, and a storage medium. Description of the Related Art Within a subject detected by an image pickup apparatus, it is necessary to set an area, in which a user (i.e., a photographer) wants to detect a focus, and track the subject. As a related technique, a technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2012-123301 has been proposed. In the technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2012-123301, in the case that the subject is a face of a person, eyes within the face are detected, the size of the detected eye is determined, and a focus detection area is set to the eyes or the face. In the technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2012-123301, although in the case that the subject is a person, the focus detection area can be set to the person's eyes or face, there is a risk to set the focus detection area to an area that depending on a photographing scene, the area, in which the user wants to detect the focus, is different from the user's intention for a different subject. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an image pickup apparatus capable of setting a focus detection area to an area that a user wants to set for a detectable subject, an image processing apparatus, a control method for the image processing apparatus, a control method for the image pickup apparatus, and a storage medium. Accordingly, the present invention provides an image pickup apparatus comprising a first detecting unit configured to detect an area, which corresponds to at least a part of a subject area within an image and shows subject characteristics, as a first local area, a second detecting unit configured to detect an area, which corresponds to at least a part of the subject area and shows photographing scene characteristics, as a second local area, and a local area selecting unit configured to select one of the first local area and the second local area as an area to be focused according to information about a photographing scene of a subject in a case that both the first local area and the second local area are detected by the first detecting unit and the second detecting unit. According to the present invention, it is possible to set the focus detection area to the area that the user wants to set for the detectable subject. Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram that shows a configuration example of an image pickup apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram that shows a pixel array of an image pickup element in the image pickup apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3A is a plan view of an image pickup pixel in the image pickup element of the first embodiment, and FIG. 3B is a cross sectional view of the image pickup pixel in the image pickup element of the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a structure of the image pickup pixel in the image pickup element of the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining pupil division by the image pickup element of the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a relationship between a defocus amount and an image shift amount in the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a focus detection area in the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flowchart that shows a flow of live view photographing of the image pickup apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a flowchart that shows a flow of an image pickup processing according to the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is a flowchart that shows a flow of a subject tracking AF processing according to the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a flowchart that shows a flow of a subject detecting processing and a tracking processing according to the first embodiment. FIG. 12 is a flowchart that shows a flow of a focus area detecting processing according to the first embodiment. FIG. 13 is a flowchart that shows a flow of a focus detection area setting processing according to the first embodiment. FIG. 14A, FIG. 14B, FIG. 14C, and FIG. 14D are diagrams for explaining focus areas that are detected by the focus area detecting processing of the first embodiment. FIG. 15 is a diagram that shows examples of scenes, in which detection as the focus area in the first embodiment can be effective. FIG. 16 is a flowchart that shows a flow of a predictive AF proc