Gesture recognition apparatus, method thereof and program therefor

1. A gesture recognition apparatus comprising:

an image acquiring unit configured to acquire a moving image;

a detecting unit configured to detect a locus of a fingertip position of a user from the moving image;

a setting unit configured to set an effective range for determining whether or not a flap action is performed, and to determine a size in one direction of the effective range from the locus of the fingertip position in N frames;

a determining unit configured to determine whether or not the locus of the fingertip position is of a flap action when the locus of the fingertip position is included in the effective range; and

a recognizing unit configured to recognize a gesture of the user flap action when the locus of the fingertip position is of the flap action.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a display unit configured to display the moving image and the effective range in a superimposed manner.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the setting unit sets also a first direction vector which indicates the flap action in addition to the effective range, and

the determining unit determines that the locus of the fingertip position is of the flap action when the locus is included in the effective range and an angle formed between a second vector indicated by the locus of the fingertip position and the first direction vector is smaller than a determination angle.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a managing unit configured to send loci of fingertip positions of respective fingers to the determining unit and the setting unit in order when the detecting unit detects the loci of the respective fingertip positions of a plurality of fingers, wherein

the setting unit sets the effective ranges from one finger to another,

the determining unit performs determination of the flap action from one finger to another, and

the recognizing unit integrates the flap action of the plurality of fingers to recognize the gesture of the user.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the effective range is a rectangular area.

6. A gesture recognition method comprising:

acquiring a moving image;

detecting a locus of a fingertip position of a user from the moving image;

setting an effective range for determining whether or not a flap action is performed from the locus of the fingertip position, and determining a size in one direction of the effective range from the locus of the fingertip position in N frames;

determining whether or not the locus of the fingertip position is of the flap action when the locus of the fingertip position is included in the effective range; and

recognizing a gesture of the user from the flap action when the locus of the fingertip position is of the flap action.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium including programmed instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform at least:

acquiring a moving image;

detecting a locus of a fingertip position of a user from the moving image;

setting an effective range for determining whether or not a flap action is performed from the locus of the fingertip position, and determining a size in one direction of the effective range from the locus of the fingertip position in N frames;

determining whether or not the locus of the fingertip position is of the flap action when the locus of the fingertip position is included in the effective range;

and

recognizing a gesture of the user from the flap action when the locus of the fingertip position is of the flap action.

8. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein the setting unit determines the size in one direction of the effective range which is the rectangular area from the locus of the fingertip position, and determines the size in the other direction from the size of the fingertip.

9. A gesture recognition apparatus comprising:

storage for storing a program; and

a computer processor communicatively coupled to the storage, the computer processor configured to execute the program stored in the storage to control the gesture recognition apparatus to perform operations comprising:

acquiring a moving image;

detecting a locus of a fingertip position of a user from the moving image;

setting an effective range for determining whether or not a flap action is performed, and determining a size in one direction of the effective range from the locus of the fingertip position in N frames;

determining whether or not the locus of the fingertip position is of a flap action when the locus of the fingertip position is included in the effective range; and

recognizing a gesture of the user flap action when the locus of the fingertip position is of the flap action.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , further comprising a display configured to display the moving image and the effective range in a superimposed manner.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

setting a first direction vector which indicates the flap action in addition to the effective range; and

determining that the locus of the fingertip position is of the flap action when the locus is included in the effective range and an angle formed between a second vector indicated by the locus of the fingertip position and the first direction vector is smaller than a determination angle.

12. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting the loci of the respective fingertip positions of a plurality of fingers;

setting the effective ranges from one finger to another;

determining the flap action from one finger to another; and

integrating the flap action of the plurality of fingers to recognize the gesture of the user.

13. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the effective range is a rectangular area.