Patent ID: 7626608

Claim:
An object detecting apparatus, comprising: a plurality of photosensors which detect a direction in which an object moves and which output a detection signal representing the direction of the object move; a microwave sensor which performs object detection and which outputs a discrimination signal representing approach or departure of the object, the microwave sensor being configured to transmit waves toward the object, to measure Doppler shift of the waves reflected from the object, and to calculate a speed of the object based on the measured Doppler shift; an acquiring unit which acquires information concerning the object; a control unit configured to, based on the detection signal output from said plurality of photosensors and the discrimination signal output from said microwave sensor, generate state data representing the state of the object, and based on the state data, control activation of said acquiring unit; and a state description unit configured to calculate a normalized ratio of number of approach responses to a total number of responses from the microwave sensor and a normalized ratio of number of departure responses to the total number of responses from the microwave sensor, and to control the activation of the acquiring unit based on the normalized ratio of number of approach responses and the normalized ratio of number of departure responses.