Patent ID: 8164626

Claim:
A monitoring camera apparatus comprising: an imaging unit for generating monitoring video; an autofocus function for automatically adjusting focus of the imaging unit; a rotating unit for rotating the imaging unit; a distance detecting unit for detecting subject distance from the imaging unit to a subject using the autofocus function; a direction detecting unit for detecting a shooting direction of the imaging unit; and a height calculating unit for calculating camera installation height based on the subject distance detected by the distance detecting unit and the shooting direction detected by the direction detecting unit, the height calculating unit calculating the camera installation height by converting the detected subject distance into vertical length using the shooting direction in which the subject distance is detected, wherein the rotating unit rotates the imaging unit to direct the imaging unit in a plurality of directions, and the height calculating unit calculates, as the camera installation height, vertical height from an inclined plane passing through a line joining the lowest measurement point of the subject distance and the highest measurement point of the subject distance in space based on the plurality of subject distances obtained in the plurality of measurement use shooting directions.