JP4973551B2 - Driver status determination device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a driver state determination device that determines a biological state of a driver who is driving.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to perform physical condition management without taking a special time, for example, a pulse wave sensor or an electrocardiographic sensor that detects a pulse wave or an electrocardiogram from a finger of a measurement person (hereinafter collectively referred to as a biosensor) There is known a physical condition management device installed in the steering of a vehicle. In this physical condition management device, a detection signal (pulse wave, cardiac potential, etc.) from a biosensor obtained by grasping the steering wheel while the subject is driving, a pulse rate or a heart rate calculated from the detection signal Etc. (hereinafter collectively referred to as biometric information). Incidentally, the biological information may be an autonomic nerve activity amount, blood pressure, pulse wave propagation speed, etc. in addition to the pulse rate and heart rate.

  As an example of this physical condition management device, various types of information acquired from other in-vehicle devices that detect the driving environment and vehicle behavior are stored as a measurement environment for biological information, and the biological information obtained during driving is the same measurement. A physical condition determination device that determines the physical condition of a driver by comparing with biological information (hereinafter referred to as a determination reference value) stored in the past under an environment has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

In addition, in this physical condition determination device, when it is determined that the driver's physical condition is abnormal, the brake is automatically activated to prompt the driver to stop the vehicle or to stop the vehicle by displaying a warning screen or a voice message. Safety control is performed to gradually decelerate the vehicle.
JP 2007-290504 A

  By the way, not only when the physical condition is abnormal, but also when the driving driver is in a sleepy state (hereinafter referred to as a sleepy state) or too excited (hereinafter referred to as an excited state) If the above safety control can be performed, it is possible to protect the driver in such a state and to prevent the vehicle that the driver was driving from causing a further serious accident. Can do.

  On the other hand, in the conventional physical condition determination device, even under the same measurement environment as in the past, depending on the driver's fatigue level (for example, the influence of circadian rhythm change) due to physical condition before driving or time elapsed during driving, etc. In order to cope with the change in the biological information that occurs, the normal range including the criterion value (the range in which the physical condition can be considered normal) has to be set wider for each measurement environment.

  For this reason, when a conventional physical condition determination device tries to determine a driver's physical condition (hereinafter referred to as a “biological condition”) including a sleepy state or an arousal state (hereinafter referred to as a “driver condition determination”), the driver suddenly falls within a normal range. There is a problem that it may be impossible to make an appropriate driver state determination by overlooking the slight change in the pulse (heart rate) and the subtle change in the pulse (heart rate) according to the change in vehicle behavior. there were.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a driver state determination device capable of accurately determining a driver state according to a change in a biological state of a driver during driving. To do.

  The driver state determination apparatus according to claim 1, which has been made to achieve the above object, wherein the detection means detects a biological signal from the driver of the vehicle, and the behavior acquisition means determines whether the vehicle is running or stopped. Get the behavior information that shows whether it is in a state. The detection means may be provided on a vehicle component (for example, a steering wheel, a seat, etc.), a portable device that can be used outside the vehicle, or measured without contact with the driver. An in-vehicle camera or the like may be used.

  Then, based on the biological information based on the biological signal detected by the detecting unit and the behavior information acquired by the behavior acquiring unit, the calculating unit corresponds to biological information corresponding to the traveling time of the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as traveling biological information). Then, biometric information corresponding to the stop of the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as biometric information at the time of stop) is set, and a biometric change value representing the degree of change between the biometric information at the time of travel and the biometric information at the time of stop is calculated.

  Finally, the determination unit determines the biological state of the driver based on the biological change value calculated by the calculation unit. The biological state refers to the physical condition of the driver including a sleepy state and an excited state.

Therefore, according to the driver state determination device of the present invention, since the degree of change (biological change value) of the biological information in the driving state (running, stop) is set as a determination target, each biological information is a value within the normal range. Even so, it is possible to accurately determine the biological state of the driver (hereinafter referred to as the driver state) by capturing a sudden change in biological information within the normal range .
Here, in the driver state determination apparatus according to the present invention, the calculation means is the biological information based on the biological signal detected by the detection means when a predetermined time has passed so that the driver can settle after the vehicle stops. Is set as biometric information at the time of stop.
Therefore, according to the driver state determination device of the present invention, more stable biometric information than that immediately after the vehicle stops can be set as the biometric information at the time of stop. For example, the driver state at the time of stop of the vehicle Can be prevented.

  The biological signal may be a cardiac potential or a pulse wave representing a heart rate or a pulse rate, or a blood pressure value or a skin temperature, as described in claim 2. Further, the biological change value may be a difference between the traveling biological information and the stopping biological information as described in claim 3.

  By the way, if the driver's condition during driving is normal, the driver's pulse (heart rate) becomes higher when the vehicle is traveling than when the vehicle is stopped, and the driver's pulse (heart rate) is higher than when the vehicle is traveling. It is known that the driver's pulse rate (heart rate) and the like are lowered in order to relax.

  For this reason, as described in claim 4, it is desirable that the determination means determine that the driver's biological condition is abnormal when the biological change value is equal to or less than a first determination threshold value defined in advance. Note that the first determination threshold value used here may be a value that allows the running biological information and the stopped biological information to be regarded as the same value.

  According to the driver state determination device configured as described above, a sleepy state (excessive relaxed state) or an excited state (excessive tension state) can be reliably captured among the abnormalities of the driver state.

  Alternatively, as described in claim 5, in the driver state determination device, the storage unit stores the biological change value, the determination unit sets the biological change value stored by the storage unit as the determination reference value, and the biological state change When the degree of change between the value and the determination reference value exceeds a preset second determination threshold, the driver's biological state may be determined to be abnormal. Note that the second determination threshold value used here may be a value that can be considered that the biological change value and the determination reference value are greatly different.

  According to the driver state determination device configured as described above, since the determination is made by comparing the current biological change value and the past biological change value, the biological change value exceeds the first determination threshold value. Even so, changes in the driver's rapid pulse (heart rate) and the like can be captured, and as a result, the determination accuracy of the driver state can be improved.

Note that, as described in claim 6, the determination unit may set the biological change value used at the time of the determination by the previous determination unit as the determination reference value.
In this case, since the driver state during driving is continuously determined, it is possible to determine the driver state in accordance with changes in biological information that occur according to the driving state.

  In the driver state determination device, as described in claim 7, the environment acquisition unit acquires environment information representing a driving environment of the vehicle, and the storage unit acquires the biological change value by the environment acquisition unit. Store it in association with environmental information. Then, the determination unit may set the biological change value associated with the environment information acquired by the environment acquisition unit as the determination reference value.

In this case, since the measurement conditions of the current biological change value and the past biological change value are aligned and compared, the determination accuracy of the driver state can be further improved.
Incidentally, examples of the driving environment include the type of road on which the vehicle is traveling (highway, general road), the external environment of the vehicle (time zone, weather), the internal environment of the vehicle (indoor temperature, humidity), etc. As described in claim 8, it may be whether there is another vehicle around the vehicle.

In this case, the determination criterion can be changed according to the degree of tension of the driver.
By the way, as described in claim 9, the calculating means uses the biological information based on the extracted biological value extracted from the biological signal detected by the detecting means within a predetermined time as the biological information at the time of travel and the biological information at the time of stop. It is desirable to set.

  Specifically, the extracted biological value may be the maximum value of the biological signal within a certain time as described in claim 10, or the biological value within a certain time as described in claim 11. It may be an average value of the signal.

  In both cases, the measurement environment of the biological change value representing the change between the biological information when traveling and the biological information when stopped can be made closer by aligning the setting conditions of the biological information when traveling and the biological information when stopped. Further, the determination accuracy of the driver state can be further improved.

In addition, as described in claim 12 , the driver state determination device is configured such that when the abnormality notification unit determines that the driver's biological state is abnormal by the determination unit, the driver's biological state is abnormal. May be notified.

  According to the driver state determination device configured as described above, for example, when the vehicle is stopped, after the driver is calmed, notification that the driver state is abnormal (abnormal notification) may be performed. it can.

Alternatively, as described in claim 13 , the driver state determination device performs vehicle control according to the behavior information when the vehicle control unit determines that the biological state of the driver is abnormal by the determination unit. Is desirable.

Specifically, the vehicle control means may perform notification by warning sound as vehicle control, or adjust the temperature of the in-vehicle air conditioner or adjust the volume of the in-vehicle audio device as described in claim 14. May be performed as vehicle control.

In the former case, for example, a driver in a sleepy state can be awakened, and in the latter case, for example, a space that can calm down a driver in an excited state can be provided.
Further, as described in claim 15 , the driver state determination device is configured such that when the normal notification unit determines that the biological state of the driver is normal by the determination unit after the vehicle control by the vehicle control unit, It is desirable to notify that the biological state is normal.

In this case, by notifying that the driver state has returned to normal, the driver can drive with confidence.
In the driver state determination device, as described in claim 16 , the seat detection means detects the driver's seat position, and the prohibition means causes the seat detection means to cause the driver to sit out of the predetermined position. When it is detected, it is desirable to prohibit the determination of the biological state by the determination means.

  In this case, it is possible to prevent a determination error from occurring due to the movement of the driver.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
<Overall configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a driver state determination device to which the present invention is applied and an outline of an in-vehicle LAN to which the driver state determination device is connected.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an in-vehicle LAN (Local Area Network) 10 to which the driver state determination device 1 is connected has a travel electronic control device (hereinafter referred to as an ECU) that executes vehicle travel control. 2) and various ECUs such as an air conditioner ECU 3 for controlling an air conditioner (air conditioner) 14 mounted on the vehicle, a navigation device 4 is connected.

  Among these, the travel ECU 2 controls the inter-vehicle distance from the preceding vehicle and the speed of the host vehicle based on the detection data from the vehicle speed sensor 11, the acceleration sensor 12, and the peripheral camera 13 that captures the outside periphery of the vehicle. Is transmitted to the driver state determination device 1 via the in-vehicle LAN 10, such as behavior information indicating whether the vehicle is running or stopped, and peripheral information indicating whether or not another vehicle exists outside the vehicle. Is configured to do.

  The air conditioner ECU 3 performs automatic temperature control for optimally controlling the temperature in the vehicle interior, and transmits temperature information indicating the temperature in the vehicle interior to the driver state determination device 1 via the in-vehicle LAN 10. Further, the air conditioner ECU 3 automatically receives a command for instructing temperature adjustment via the in-vehicle LAN 10 even when the air conditioner 14 is stopped or the temperature / air volume is set by the driver. It is configured to perform temperature control.

  Based on the detection data from the GPS device 15 and the input data from the map data input device 16, the navigation device 4 displays a map around the vehicle, sets a route to a set destination, and controls guidance by voice. And road information indicating the road type (general road, highway) at the current position of the vehicle is transmitted to the driver state determination device 1 via the in-vehicle LAN 10.

  The navigation device 4 is a well-known device that realizes an AV function such as reproduction of various media such as CD, DVD, TV, FM / AM radio, etc. in addition to the navigation function, and a command for instructing volume adjustment via the in-vehicle LAN 10. Is received, volume control is performed to lower the playback volume of various media.

<Configuration of driver state determination device>
The driver state determination device 1 is provided at a position where the driver's hand touches to detect a biological sensor group 21 for detecting the biological state of the driver, and is provided outside the passenger compartment of the vehicle body to detect the external environment of the vehicle. An external sensor group 22 for performing the operation, a seat sensor group 23 provided in the passenger compartment of the vehicle body for detecting the seat position of the driver, a bus controller 24 for transmitting and receiving various data via the in-vehicle LAN 10, A non-volatile memory (for example, EEPROM) 25 for storing various data input via the sensor groups 21 to 23 and the bus controller 24, a display unit 26 for displaying an image, and an audio output for outputting audio And a control unit 20 that executes various processes in accordance with inputs from the units 21 to 24 and controls the display unit 26 and the audio output unit 27.

  Among these, the biosensor group 21 includes an electrocardiogram sensor 21a that outputs an electrocardiogram signal that represents the driver's electrocardiogram, and a pulse wave sensor 21b that outputs a pulse wave signal that represents the driver's pulse wave. . The electrocardiographic sensor 21a is composed of a pair of electrodes installed along the circumferential direction of the steering, and detects a potential difference generated when the left and right hands of the person to be measured are in contact with the pair of electrodes. A signal based on the potential difference is output as an electrocardiogram signal. Further, the pulse wave sensor 21b is composed of a photoelectric element installed at a predetermined position inside the steering surface, and a change in the amount of light received when the fingertip of the person to be measured comes into contact with the photoelectric element (that is, the blood of the driver). Change in flow rate) is detected, and a signal based on the change in the amount of received light is output as a pulse wave signal.

  The external sensor group 22 includes a light sensor 22a that detects illuminance outside the passenger compartment and a rain sensor 22b that detects raindrops outside the passenger compartment, and outputs external information as detection results of these sensors. The seat sensor group 23 includes a seat sensor 23a that detects whether or not the measurement subject is seated in the driver seat, and an indoor camera 23b that captures the measurement subject in the driver seat. The seat information that is the detection result is output.

  The display unit 26 is a color display device, and includes a known transflective liquid crystal display, a general liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, a CRT, a head-up display, and the like, any of which may be used. The display unit 26 may be provided with a dedicated device for the device, or may be a device already installed for the navigation device 4.

  In the memory 25, signal data (hereinafter referred to as biological signal data) indicated by a detection signal (electrocardiographic signal, pulse wave signal; hereinafter referred to as biological signal) from the biological sensor group 21 is stored for a preset retention period. An area for storage (hereinafter referred to as a biological signal area) is provided. Further, the memory 25 is provided with an area for storing biometric information described later (hereinafter referred to as a biometric information area), an area for storing biometric change values described later (hereinafter referred to as a biochange area), and the like. ing.

  The control unit 20 is configured around a well-known microcomputer including a CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, a bus line connecting these components, and the like based on a program stored in the ROM. In addition to executing the driver support process described in the above, when a biological signal is input from the biological sensor group 21, a process for writing the biological signal data in the biological signal area of the memory 25 (hereinafter referred to as a data writing process) is executed. Is configured to do.

<Driver support processing>
Here, the driver assistance processing executed by the CPU of the control unit 20 will be described in detail along the flowchart shown in FIG. This process is started when the driver state determination device 1 is turned on and then repeatedly executed, and is executed in parallel with the data writing process until the power is turned off.

First, when this process is started, in S110, a driver state determination process for determining a physical condition (biological state) including a driver's sleepiness state and arousal state is executed.
In continuing S120, the vehicle control process for performing vehicle control based on the determination result in S110 is performed, and this process is complete | finished.

<Driver status determination process>
Next, the driver state determination process executed in S110 of the driver assistance process will be described in detail along the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, when this process is started, in S205, seat information is acquired from the seat sensor group 23, and based on the seat information, the position of the driver in the driver seat is set in advance so as to align the measurement conditions of the biological signal. It is determined whether or not the predetermined position has been set. If an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to S210. If a negative determination is made, the same step is repeated. In the present embodiment, the seat information acquired from the seat sensor group 23 is used to determine whether or not the driver is seated in the driver seat based on the detection result of the seat sensor 23a, and to the detection result of the indoor camera 23b. Based on this, it is determined whether or not the position of the driver is a predetermined position.

  In S210, based on the behavior information received from the travel ECU 2 via the in-vehicle LAN 10, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling. If an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to S230. Is stopped, and the process proceeds to S215.

  In S215, a predetermined time (for example, 3 seconds) secured in advance for the driver to settle down after the vehicle stops, and the vehicle remains stopped based on the behavior information in S210. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to S220. If the determination is negative, the process returns to S205.

In S220, the driving flag indicating the driving state is set to 1 indicating that the vehicle is stopped, and the process proceeds to S225.
In S225, among the vital sign data stored in the vital sign area of the memory 25 by the data writing process, based on the data when the specified time has passed in S215, the driver's pulse (heart rate), autonomic nerve activity, Biological information representing a blood pressure value, a pulse wave velocity, and the like is calculated.

  The pulse wave propagation speed is obtained by using a belt-type sensor wound around the wrist of the person to be measured or a sensor worn on a finger as the pulse wave sensor 21a, and the heartbeat propagation speed obtained by the electrocardiographic sensor 21a. It is demanded from. The blood pressure value can be calculated (estimated) based on the pulse wave velocity and the pulse wave signal.

  The biometric information at the time of stop, which is the biometric information calculated here, is stored in the biometric information area of the memory 25 in association with various information (hereinafter referred to as environmental information) acquired via the external sensor group 22 and the in-vehicle LAN 10. Then, the process proceeds to S240.

  The environmental information includes peripheral information from the traveling ECU 2, temperature information from the air conditioner ECU 3, road information from the navigation device 4, and external information from the external sensor group 22. The biological information is calculated based on at least one biological signal data (that is, both biological signal data may be used) of an electrocardiogram signal or a pulse wave signal.

On the other hand, in S230 that is performed when it is determined that the vehicle is traveling in S210, the driving flag is set to 0 indicating that the vehicle is traveling, and the process proceeds to S235.
In S235, the biological information is calculated based on the maximum value within a predetermined time among the biological signal data stored in the biological signal area of the memory 25 by the data writing process, and the calculated biological information is the travel time. The biometric information is associated with the environment information and stored in the biometric information area of the memory 25, and the process proceeds to S240.

  In S240, the latest running biometric information and stop biometric information are extracted from the biometric information stored in the biometric information area of the memory 25, and the difference between the running biometric information and the stop biometric information is obtained. The biochange value as the obtained result is associated with the environment information and stored in the biochange area of the memory 25, and the process proceeds to S245.

  In S245, it is determined whether or not the biological change value stored in S240 is equal to or less than a first determination threshold value that is defined in advance. If an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to S285, and if a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to S250. Note that the first determination threshold is a value (that is, a value near zero) that allows the latest running biometric information and stop biometric information to be regarded as the same value.

  In S250, among the environment information associated with the biological change value stored in the biological change area of the memory 25, the information corresponding to the biological change value stored in the previous main process (hereinafter referred to as the previous change value). And whether the one corresponding to the biological change value stored in S240 matches. Here, if the two pieces of environmental information match, it is considered that there is no change in the driving environment, and the process proceeds to S255. On the other hand, if they do not match, the driving environment is assumed to have changed, and the process proceeds to S260. .

In S255, the previous change value is set to a determination reference value serving as a comparison reference for determining the biological state of the driver, and the process proceeds to S265.
On the other hand, in S260, the biometric change values stored in the biometric change area of the memory 25 are associated with the same environmental information as the biometric change values stored in S240 (hereinafter referred to as environment change values). Is extracted, and this environmental change value is set as the criterion value, and the process proceeds to S265.

  In S265, it is determined whether or not the biological change value stored in S240 is lower than the determination reference value set in S255 or S260. If an affirmative determination is made, the process proceeds to S285. If a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to S270. .

  In S270, it is determined whether the difference between the biological change value stored in S240 and the determination reference value set in S255 or S260 exceeds a preset second determination threshold value. The process proceeds to S285, and if a negative determination is made, the process proceeds to S275. The second determination threshold is a value that can be regarded as a difference between the biological change value and the determination reference value (for example, a value obtained by subtracting 10 to 30% from the average value of past determination reference values).

  In S275, it is determined whether or not the state flag indicating the driver's state is set to 0 indicating that the driver's biological state is normal. If an affirmative determination is made, the process returns to S205 and a negative determination is made. In this case, it is assumed that the status flag is set to 1, and the process proceeds to S280.

In S280, the status flag is set (changed) to 0, and this process ends.
On the other hand, in S285 that proceeds when an affirmative determination is made in the previous S245 or S270, the state flag is set to 1 indicating that the driver's biological state is abnormal, and the present process ends.

  That is, in this process, as shown in FIG. 4, when the vehicle is traveling, the difference between the biological information at the time of traveling and the biological information at the time of the previous stop of the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as a measurement difference during traveling) is calculated. Judgment is made based on the measurement difference at the time of traveling stored in the processing. When the vehicle is stopped, the difference between the biological information at the time of stopping and the biological information at the time of the previous driving of the vehicle (hereinafter referred to as the measurement difference at the time of stopping) The determination is made based on the measurement difference at the time of stop stored in this process.

  Further, in this process, if the same driving environment is used, the living body change value (running measurement difference, stop measurement difference) is equal to or less than the first determination threshold (near zero value), or the living body change value is determined. When the difference between the biological change value and the determination reference value exceeds the reference value and exceeds the second determination threshold (70 to 90% of the determination reference value), it is determined that the driver's biological condition is abnormal Yes.

<Vehicle control processing>
Next, the vehicle control process executed in S120 of the driver assistance process will be described in detail along the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, when this process is started, in S310, it is determined whether or not the state flag set in the previous driver assistance process is 1, and if the determination is affirmative, the biological state of the driver is abnormal. If the determination is negative and the driver's biological condition has changed from abnormal to normal, the process proceeds to S360.

  In S320, it is determined whether or not the driving flag set in the previous driver assistance process is 0. If the determination is affirmative, it is considered that the vehicle is traveling and the process proceeds to S330 and a negative determination is made. If the vehicle is stopped, the process proceeds to S340.

In S330, a warning sound is notified through the audio output unit 27, and the process proceeds to S350.
On the other hand, in S340, a command for instructing temperature adjustment is transmitted to the air conditioner ECU 3 via the in-vehicle LAN 10, and a command for instructing volume adjustment is transmitted to the navigation device 4, and the process proceeds to S350.

In S350, it is informed through the display part 26 and the audio | voice output part 27 that a driver | operator's biological condition is abnormal, and this process is complete | finished.
On the other hand, in S360 which proceeds when it is considered that the driver's biological state has changed from abnormal to normal in S310, it is confirmed that the driver's biological state is normal via the display unit 26 and the voice output unit 27. The notification is made and the process is terminated. Note that this step (S360) may be terminated without being performed as necessary.

  In the above embodiment, the biosensor group 21 is the detection means, the vehicle speed sensor 11 is the behavior acquisition means, the memory 25 is the storage means, the external sensor group 22, the travel ECU 2, the air conditioner ECU 3, the navigation device 4 is the environment acquisition means, and the seat sensor. The group 23 corresponds to seat detection means, S210 to S240 correspond to calculation means, S245 to S285 correspond to determination means, S310 to S340 correspond to vehicle control means, S350 corresponds to abnormality notification means, S360 corresponds to normal notification means, and S205 corresponds to prohibition means.

<Effect of this embodiment>
As described above, in the driver state determination device 1 of the present embodiment, when the biological information that should be different according to the driving state (running, stop) is substantially the same in the driver state determination process, It is determined that the biological state (driver state) is abnormal.

  Therefore, according to the driver state determination device 1 of the present embodiment, even if each piece of biological information (biological information at the time of travel, biological information at the time of stoppage) is a value within the normal range, The change can be captured, and as a result, the driver state can be determined with high accuracy.

  In addition, in the driver state determination process, the driver state is abnormal even when the biological change value (the difference between the biological information at the time of traveling and the biological information at the time of stoppage) that should not change much if the driving environment is similar is greatly different. It is determined that For this reason, even if it is a case where the biometric information at the time of driving | running | working and the biometric information at the time of a stop are different values, abnormality of a driver | operator state can be caught, and the determination precision of a driver | operator state can be improved by extension.

  In the driver state determination process, if there is a change in the driving environment of the vehicle (road type, illuminance outside the vehicle), the same environmental information is associated with the biometric change value stored in the past. Since the (environmental measurement value) is set as the determination reference value, it is possible to compare the current biological change value and the past biological change value by aligning the measurement conditions, thereby further improving the determination accuracy of the driver state. be able to.

[Other Embodiments]
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention, it is possible to implement in various aspects.

  For example, in the driver state determination process of the above embodiment, the maximum value within a certain time is used as the biological signal data for calculating the traveling biological information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the average value within the certain time is used. Or a trend value represented by a standard deviation may be used.

  On the other hand, in the driver state determination process of the above embodiment, the value at the time when the specified time has elapsed is used as the biological signal data for calculating the biological information at the time of stop. Values within the range (maximum value, average value, trend value) may be used.

  In the driver state determination process of the above-described embodiment, the previous measurement value is set as the determination reference value when there is no change in the driving environment. A value (initial measurement value) may be set.

  In the driver state determination process of the above-described embodiment, the environment measurement value that is the determination reference value when there is a change in the driving environment is associated with the same environment information as the biological change value. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and environmental information that approximates as much as possible may be used.

  Incidentally, the environmental information of the above embodiment is surrounding information (presence / absence of vehicle), temperature information, road information (road type), and external information, but is not limited to this, for example, walking as surrounding information The presence / absence of a person, the difference between suburban areas / urban areas as map information, the presence / absence of fogging of wind glass, and the difference in vehicle behavior (acceleration / deceleration / constant speed, high speed / low speed) as behavior information may be used.

  By the way, in the driver state determination process of the above embodiment, the difference between the biological change value and the determination reference value is the second determination as a condition for determining that the driver state is abnormal when there is no change in the driving environment. If it exceeds the reference value, it is essential that the biological change value falls below the determination reference value. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be added that the biological change value exceeds the determination reference value.

  In this case, it is possible to detect an excessive tension of the driver when the vehicle is traveling. For this reason, as a vehicle control process, instead of notifying by warning sound, the driver is prompted to stop the vehicle by displaying a warning screen or a voice message, or the brake is automatically operated to stop the vehicle. You may perform safety ensuring control which decelerates gradually. Alternatively, the temperature of the air conditioner and the volume of the audio may be adjusted.

  Furthermore, in the driver state determination process of the above embodiment, the determination of the biological state of the driver is performed by using a difference (biological change value) between the biological information when traveling and the biological information when stopped, or a biological change value and a determination reference value. However, the present invention is not limited to these, and it may be performed based on the ratio between the biological information when traveling and the biological information when stopped, or the ratio between the biological change value and the determination reference value. Good.

  Further, in the vehicle control process of the above embodiment, control for performing temperature adjustment and volume adjustment is performed when the vehicle is stopped. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a relaxing scent is emitted. Control for actuating each of the vibration device that vibrates the fragrance device or the driver's seat may be performed. Furthermore, you may perform the audio | voice output for awakening the driver | operator before driving | running | working.

  In addition, although the biosensor group 21 of the said embodiment is installed in steering, it is not limited to this, For example, it is a belt-type thing formed so that it might be wound around a wrist of a to-be-measured person. Alternatively, a non-contact type such as a seat built-in type may be used and installed in another in-vehicle device.

  In addition, the seat sensor group 23 of the above-described embodiment includes the seat sensor 23a and the indoor camera 23b. However, the seat sensor group 23 only needs to detect a driver's seat position. For example, a distance sensor or an image using infrared rays. You may comprise with a sensor etc. Alternatively, the biological sensor group 21 may be configured to realize the function of the seat sensor group 23.

The block diagram which shows the outline | summary of the structure of the driver state determination apparatus to which this invention was applied, and the in-vehicle LAN to which a driver state determination apparatus is connected The flowchart which shows the detail of the driver | operator assistance process which CPU of the control part 20 performs. The flowchart which shows the detail of the driver | operator state determination process performed by a driver | operator assistance process. The graph for demonstrating the determination method by a driver state determination process. The flowchart which shows the detail of the vehicle control process performed by a driver | operator assistance process.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Driver state determination apparatus, 2 ... Traveling ECU, 3 ... Air conditioner ECU, 4 ... Navigation apparatus, 10 ... In-vehicle LAN, 11 ... Vehicle speed sensor, 12 ... Acceleration sensor, 13 ... Peripheral camera, 14 ... Air conditioner, 15 ... GPS Device: 16 ... Map data input device, 20 ... Control unit, 21 ... Biosensor group, 21a ... Electrocardiographic sensor, 21b ... Pulse wave sensor, 22 ... External sensor group, 22a ... Light sensor, 22b ... Rain sensor, 23 ... Seat sensor group, 23a ... seat sensor, 23b ... indoor camera, 24 ... bus controller, 25 ... memory, 26 ... display unit, 27 ... audio output unit.

Claims (16)

Detecting means for detecting a biological signal from a driver of the vehicle;
Behavior acquisition means for acquiring behavior information indicating whether the vehicle is running or stopped;
Based on the biological information based on the biological signal detected by the detection means and the behavior information acquired by the behavior acquisition means, the biological information at the time of traveling, which is the biological information corresponding to the traveling time of the vehicle, and the vehicle Calculation means for setting biometric information at the time of stop corresponding to the biometric information at the time of stopping, and calculating a biometric change value representing a degree of change between the biometric information at the time of travel and the biometric information at the time of stop;
A determination unit that determines a biological state of the driver based on the biological change value calculated by the calculation unit;
Equipped with a,
The calculation means calculates the biological information based on the biological signal detected by the detection means when the specified time has elapsed in advance so that the driver can settle down after the vehicle stops. A driver state determination device characterized by being set as follows.   The driver state determination apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the biological signal is a cardiac potential or a pulse wave.   The driver state determination device according to claim 1, wherein the biological change value is a difference between the traveling biological information and the stopping biological information.   4. The driver according to claim 3, wherein the determination unit determines that the biological state of the driver is abnormal when the biological change value is equal to or less than a first determination threshold value defined in advance. State determination device. Storage means for storing the biological change value;
The determination means sets the biological change value stored by the storage means as a determination reference value, and the degree of change between the biological change value and the determination reference value exceeds a preset second determination threshold value. In this case, it is determined that the driver's biological condition is abnormal.   The driver state determination device according to claim 5, wherein the determination unit sets the biological change value used at the time of the previous determination by the determination unit as the determination reference value. Comprising environment acquisition means for acquiring environment information representing the traveling environment of the vehicle;
The storage means stores the biological change value in association with the environment information acquired by the environment acquisition means,
6. The driver state determination device according to claim 5, wherein the determination unit sets the biological change value associated with the environment information acquired by the environment acquisition unit as the determination reference value. .   8. The driver state determination apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the traveling environment is whether or not another vehicle exists around the vehicle.   The calculating means sets the biological information based on the extracted biological value extracted from the biological signal detected by the detecting means within a predetermined time as the running biological information and the stopped biological information. The driver state determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.   The driver state determination apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the extracted biological value is a maximum value of the biological signal within the predetermined time.   The driver state determination apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the extracted biological value is an average value of the biological signals within the predetermined time. If by the determining means biological condition of the driver is determined to be abnormal, claims 1 to 11, characterized in that it comprises an abnormality informing means for informing that the biological condition of the driver is abnormal The driver state determination apparatus in any one of. If the biological condition of the driver is determined to be abnormal by the determining means, to any of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that it comprises a vehicle control unit for performing vehicle control according to the behavior information The driver state determination device described. The driver state determination device according to claim 13 , wherein the vehicle control unit performs temperature adjustment of an in-vehicle air conditioner or volume adjustment of an in-vehicle audio device as the vehicle control. After the vehicle control by the vehicle control means, provided with a normal notification means for notifying that the driver's biological condition is normal when the determination means determines that the driver's biological condition is normal. The driver state determination apparatus according to claim 13 or 14 , Seat detection means for detecting the driver's seat position;
A prohibiting unit that prohibits the determination of the biological state by the determination unit when the seat detection unit detects that the driver is sitting out of a predetermined position;
The driver state determination apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 15 , further comprising:

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