Patent ID: 8228383

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus comprising: a motion amount detecting unit configured to detect an amount of motion of at least one object on the basis of an image signal of the object; a type information storage unit configured to store a plurality of type information items used for detecting the type of the object; a type detecting unit configured to detect the type of the object on the basis of the plurality of type information items stored in the type information storage unit and the image signal of the object; a moving distance estimating unit configured to estimate a distance through which the object moves in an imaging screen on the basis of the amount of motion of the object detected by the motion amount detecting unit and the type of the object detected by the type detecting unit; and a ranging area control unit configured to control a size of a ranging area on the basis of the distance through which the object moves in the imaging screen estimated by the moving distance estimating unit, the ranging area control unit changing the size of the ranging area such that when the type of the object is a human being, the ranging area is increased in size and an increase in a horizontal direction is greater than an increase in a vertical direction; wherein the ranging area control unit changing the size of the ranging area such that when the type of the object is a human child, the ranging area is increased in size in the horizontal direction an equal amount on each side of the ranging area, and the ranging area control unit changing the size of the ranging area such that when the type of the object is a human adult, the ranging area is increased in size in the horizontal direction a greater amount on a side toward which the adult is moving then a side that the adult is moving away from.