DEVICE AND METHOD FOR RECOGNIZING HAND SHAPE AND POSITION, AND RECORDING MEDIUM HAVING PROGRAM FOR CARRYING OUT THE METHOD RECORDED THEREON

An object of the present invention is to provide a device and a method for recognizing hand shape and position even if a hand image to be provided for recognition is rather complicated in shape, and a recording medium having a program for carrying out the method recorded thereon.A hand image normalization part 11 deletes a wrist region respectively from a plurality of images varied in hand shape and position before subjecting the images to normalization in hand orientation and size to generate hand shape images. An eigenspace calculation part 13 calculates an eigenvalue and an eigenvector respectively from the hand shape images under an analysis based on an eigenspace method. An eigenspace projection part 15 calculates eigenspace projection coordinates by projecting the hand shape images onto an eigenspace having the eigenvectors as a basis. A hand image normalization part 21 deletes a wrist region from an input hand image, and generates an input hand shape image by normalizing the input hand image to be equivalent to the hand shape images. An eigenspace projection part 22 calculates eigenspace projection coordinates for the input hand shape image by projecting the same onto the eigenspace having the eigenvectors as the basis. A hand shape image selection part 23 compares the eigenspace projection coordinates calculated for the input hand shape image with each of the eigenspace projection coordinates calculated for the hand shape images, and then determines which of the hand shape images is closest to the input hand shape image. A shape/position output part 24 outputs shape information and position information on the determined hand shape image.