Patent ID: 8724018

Claim:
A movable-mechanical-section controlling device comprising: pan/tilt driving controlling means for performing driving control on a movable mechanical section having a structure that moves so that an image pickup direction of an image pickup section that obtains an image-pickup image by performing an image pickup operation changes in a pan direction and a tilt direction, wherein unit pan operations that are performed in an angular range in the pan direction are performed for the respective two or more different tilt positions with decreasing angle of elevation at the tilt positions and, wherein, when a unit pan operation is to be started, the pan position of the movable mechanical section at the start of the unit pan operation is set as the center pan position for the unit pan operation, such that the pan position of the movable mechanical section for the start of the unit pan operation is not determined prior to the start of the pan operation, and such that the angular range of the pan operation is centered about the pan position of the movable mechanical section at the start of the unit pan operation.