Patent ID: 8326571

Claim:
A person location detecting apparatus comprising: a projection light; a light emitting section for radiating the projection light; a TOF (Time Of Flight) method distance image sensor for receiving a reflected light from a room space of the projection light to output distance information in accordance with a distance to an object in the room space from each of a plurality of light receiving sections; a distance change detecting section for detecting a distance change to the object in the room space based on the distance information from the TOF method distance image sensor; and a person distinguishing section for distinguishing a person by identifying a shape of a detected distance change area to detect a direction and distance to the distance change area that is identified as a shape of a person as a location of a person, wherein the distance change detecting section measures a distance to the object in the room space in real time using the TOF method distance image sensor, calculates a differential value of the measured distance with respect to time, and determines that the measured distance is in a balanced state when the differential value becomes asymptotic to zero.