Hand pointing device

A hand pointing apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of illuminating means for illuminating a person to be recognized from different directions;
• a plurality of image pickup means, located in different positions corresponding to each of said plurality of illuminating means, wherein an image pickup range is adjusted so that said person to be recognized, who is illuminated by said corresponding illuminating means, may be within the image pickup range and an illuminated range on a floor surface, which is illuminated by said corresponding illuminating means, may be out of the image pickup range;
• controlling means for switching on/off said plurality of illuminating means one by one in sequence, and for controlling so as to pickup an image of said person to be recognized pointing to either a specific position or a specific direction by said image pickup means corresponding to said switched-on illuminating means;
• and
• determining means for extracting an image part corresponding to said person to be recognized from a plurality of images based on a plurality of images picked up by said plurality of image pickup means, and for determining either the position or the direction pointed to by said person to be recognized.

A hand pointing apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of illuminating means for illuminating a person to be recognized from different directions;
• at least one image pickup means for picking up an image of said person to be recognized, who is illuminated by said illuminating means;
• discriminating means for switching on/off said plurality of illuminating means one by one in sequence, for comparing a plurality of images of said person to be recognized pointing to either a specific position or a specific direction picked up by the same image pickup means during the switching on of said plurality of illuminating means, and for discriminating between an image part corresponding to said person to be recognized and an image part other than the image part corresponding to said person to be recognized in said plurality of images for at least one image pickup means;
• and
• determining means for extracting the image part corresponding to said person to be recognized from said plurality of images picked up by said image pickup means based on a result of a discrimination by said discriminating means, and for determining either the position or the direction pointed to by said person to be recognized.

A hand pointing apparatus comprising:

• illuminating means for illuminating a person to be recognized;
• a plurality of image pickup means for picking up an image of said person to be recognized, who is illuminated by said illuminating means from different directions;
• determining means for extracting an image part corresponding to said person to be recognized from a plurality of images based on a plurality of images of situations picked up by said plurality of image pickup means, the situations being indicative of said person to be recognized pointing to either a specific position or a specific direction, and for determining either the position or the direction pointed to by said person to be recognized;
• and
• preventing means for preventing an object which is not the subject to be recognized from remaining on the floor surface around said person to be recognized.

A hand pointing apparatus comprising:

• illuminating means for illuminating a person to be recognized who arrives at a predetermined place;
• a plurality of image pickup means for picking up an image of said person to be recognized, who is illuminated by said illuminating means from different directions;
• storing means for storing information for corresponding three-dimensional coordinates of a plurality of virtual points, positioned near said predetermined place, to the positions of said plurality of virtual points on said plurality of images picked up by said plurality of image pickup means;
• and
• determining means:
• for extracting an image part corresponding to said person to be recognized from a plurality of images based on a plurality of images of situations picked up by said plurality of image pickup means, the situations being indicative of said person to be recognized pointing to either a specific position or a specific direction;
• for determining the position of a feature point of said person to be recognized in each of said images;
• for determining the three-dimensional coordinates of the feature point based on the determined position of the feature point and the information stored in said storing means;
• and for determining either the position or the direction pointed to by said person to be recognized based on the determined three-dimensional coordinates of the feature point.

A hand pointing apparatus comprising:

• illuminating means for illuminating a person to be recognized;
• a plurality of image pickup means for picking up images of said person to be recognized, who is illuminated by said illuminating means from different directions;
• determining means for extracting an image part corresponding to said person to be recognized from a plurality of images based on a plurality of images of situations picked up by said plurality of image pickup means, the situations being indicative of said person to be recognized pointing to either a specific position or a specific direction, and for determining either the position or the direction pointed to by said person to be recognized;
• first detecting means for extracting the image part corresponding to a predetermined part of a body of said person to be recognized from said plurality of images, and for detecting a change in any one of either an area of the extracted image part, an outline of the extracted image part, or a length of an outline of the extracted image part;
• and
• processing means for executing a predetermined processing when said change is detected by said first detecting means.

A hand pointing apparatus comprising:

• illuminating means for illuminating a person to be recognized;
• a plurality of image pickup means for picking up images of said person to be recognized, who is illuminated by said illuminating means from different directions;
• determining means for extracting an image part corresponding to said person to be recognized from a plurality of images based on a plurality of images of situations picked up by said plurality of image pickup means, the situations being indicative of said person to be recognized pointing to either a specific position or a specific direction, for determining the three-dimensional coordinates of the feature point whose position is changed when said person to be recognized bends or extends an arm, and the three-dimensional coordinates of a reference point whose position is not changed even if said person to be recognized bends and extends an arm, and for determining either the position or the direction pointed to by said person to be recognized based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the feature point and the three-dimensional coordinates of the reference point;
• and
• processing means for calculating the distance between said reference point and said feature point and for executing a predetermined processing based on the change in the distance between said reference point and said feature point.