Body direction estimation device and body direction estimation program

A body direction estimation device comprising:

• an upper body distance measurement unit for performing distance measurement of an upper body of a target;
• a grouping unit for grouping measured distance data derived from the distance measurement performed by the upper body distance measurement unit;
• an ellipse calculation unit for calculating an approximate ellipse for each of groups generated by the grouping unit;
• an ellipse selection unit for selecting an ellipse for estimation of a direction of the target based on a positional relationship among the plurality of approximate ellipses, if any, calculated by the ellipse calculation unit;
• and
• a body direction estimation unit for estimating a direction of the target based on the ellipse selected by the ellipse selection unit.

A body direction estimation program that allows a computer to execute:

• an upper body measured distance acquiring function for acquiring measured distance data derived from distance measurement of an upper body of a target;
• a grouping function for grouping the measured distance data acquired from the upper body measured distance acquiring function;
• an ellipse calculation function for calculating an approximate ellipse for each of groups generated by the grouping function;
• an ellipse selection function for selecting an ellipse for estimating a direction of the target based on a positional relationship among the plurality of approximate ellipses, if any, calculated by the ellipse calculation function;
• and
• a body direction estimation function for estimating the direction of the target based on the ellipse selected by the ellipse selection function.