Occupant state recognition apparatus

An occupant state recognition apparatus that recognizes a state of an occupant by determining an eye open state and an eye closed state of an eye of a driver sitting in a driver's seat of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:

• an eyelid opening recognition unit configured to recognize an eyelid opening of the driver, a maximum value of the eyelid opening of the driver, and a minimum value of the eyelid opening of the driver based on image information captured by a driver monitoring camera of the vehicle;
• an eye state determination unit configured to determine that the eye is in the eye open state if the eyelid opening becomes greater than or equal to a threshold value which is preset, and to determine that the eye is in the eye closed state if the eyelid opening becomes less than the threshold value;
• and
• a threshold value resetting unit configured to reset the threshold value to a value between the maximum value and the minimum value of the eyelid opening of the driver recognized by the eyelid opening recognition unit, if the maximum value has not become greater than or equal to the threshold value for a predetermined period or a period corresponding to a predetermined number of times of eyelid opening and closing, or if the minimum value has not become less than or equal to the threshold value for the predetermined period or the period corresponding to the predetermined number of times of eyelid opening and closing.