An object of this invention is to make one image
pickup device sharable, with high reliability, among the multiple application programs that dynamically vary camera parameters. In order to achieve this object, the invention includes an image
pickup device 6 that acquires images, an image
pickup device controller 13 that accepts
image acquisition requests from the multiple application programs 151 to 15N and controls the image pickup device, an application scheduler 14 that selects application programs to be executed. The invention further includes an element 17 that stores the image data volumes and image
data acquisition rates required in the multiple application programs 151 to 15N, an element that selects multiple concurrently
executable application programs on the basis of the above image data volumes and image
data acquisition rates, and an
image acquisition scheduler 14 that determines the timing and intervals at which the multiple
executable application programs repeat acquiring image data from one image pickup device without overlapping in terms of time. In addition, an operations section that explicitly presents concurrently
executable application programs to a user and commands the startup of these programs is displayed on a navigation screen menu 19. According to this invention, one image pickup device can be shared, with high reliability, among multiple application programs. Also, the user can
start up executable application programs without hesitation.