Patent ID: 6847402

Claim:
An imaging apparatus having an autofocus function, comprising: an imaging video signal generator having a focus lens and an imaging device, and providing an imaging video signal; a driver moving a position of said focus lens relative to said imaging device; a first focus area setting controller setting a focus area divided into a plurality of regions on an imaging screen; a first focus evaluation value generator detecting a high frequency component of said imaging video signal at each of said plurality of regions to generate a plurality of focus evaluation values respectively corresponding to said plurality of regions; a first autofocus controller executing an autofocus operation determining, from positions where said plurality of focus evaluation values respectively assume maximal values, a position where a maximal value can be attained at a closest side to be an in-focus position, and controlling said driver to move the position of said focus lens to the in-focus position; and a first autofocus restarting controller controlling said driver to restart said autofocus operation and to determine an in-focus position while forcibly moving the position of said focus lens from said in-focus position toward a near side, whenever variation occurs in said plurality of focus evaluation values at said in-focus position; said autofocus operation being executed per certain period of said imaging video signal.