Patent ID: 8648923

Claim:
An image pickup apparatus which has an image pickup unit having a function to change an image pickup range and generates image data from an image pickup signal obtained by the image pickup unit, comprising: a storage unit configured to store the image data as a background image; an object detection unit configured to compare the background image with current image data output from the image pickup unit and detect a difference between them as an object image, if the difference continues for a predetermined time; a reception unit configured to receive a change request to change a current image pickup range of the image pickup unit to a new image pickup range of the image pickup unit; a control unit configured to control a first mode for controlling a function to change the current image pickup range of the image pickup unit to the new image pickup range in response to the received change request to obtain first image data having the new image pickup range from the image pickup unit and a second mode for controlling an image process for a trimming and a magnification of the image data in response to the received change request without changing the current image pickup range of the image pickup unit to generate second image data having an image pickup range corresponding to the change request; and a transmission unit configured to transmit the first image data obtained in the first mode or the second image data generated in the second mode, wherein the control unit controls the change of the image pickup range of the image pickup unit in response to the change request such that the control unit selects the first mode when the object detection unit does not execute the comparison between the background image and the current image data output from the image pickup unit and selects the second mode when the object detection unit executes the comparison between the background image and the current image data output from the image pickup unit.