Viewing direction estimation device

Abstract

A viewing direction estimation device of an embodiment includes, for example: a storage that stores therein a transition probability between viewing directions of a driver of a vehicle; and a processor configured to: receive an observation value on a face or a visual line of the driver; update the transition probability from the viewing direction at a first time to the viewing direction at a second time later than the first time, based on the observation value at the first time and the observation value at the second time; calculate a state probability shifting from the viewing direction at the first time to the viewing direction at the second time according to the updated transition probability using a Hidden Markov Model; and estimate the viewing direction at a time after the second time, based on the calculated state probability.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.