JPH11304428A - Driver monitor device and automobile drive support system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driver monitor device and an automobile drive support system with a simple structure without applying special burden to a driver. SOLUTION: This device is provided with an eye recognition judging means 5 for detecting an image related to the eyes of a driver of an automobile with a CCD camera 1 as an eye position detecting means through a room mirror 3 as a specifying surface and for comparing the detected image with the previously stored reference data related to the eye, and provided with a buzzer 6 as a means for preventing forgotten adjustment by the signal from the eye recognition judging means 5 in the case where the image and the reference data do not coincide with each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a driver monitoring device and a vehicle driving support system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The number of fatalities from traffic accidents caused by automobiles has been on a downward trend since peaking in 1970, but has been on a gradual increase since bottom in 1980. It has been showing. In view of such a social situation, efforts to actively avoid traffic accidents on the automobile side are rapidly progressing.

[0003] One example of these approaches is an attempt to monitor the driver of an automobile. For example, a device that detects the position of the driver's eyes, a drowsiness detection device, and a drowsiness warning device are known as a driver monitoring device of an automobile.

[0004] Specific examples of these are disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
The one disclosed in -60515 is known.
This is an eye position detection device that captures an image of the entire face including the eyes using an image input unit and attempts to detect the eye position by image processing.

[0005] Further, the one disclosed in JP-A-5-115461 is also known. This utilizes a change in respiratory state that occurs when falling asleep. This is a dozing detection device that detects a change in the respiratory state as a change in the size of the body by a sensor attached to the body.

Further, the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-169994 is also known. This is a dozing warning device that detects a dozing state by detecting the inclination of the head with a sensor attached to the head and issues a warning.

[0007]

In the above conventional eye position detecting apparatus, the eye position cannot be specified unless an image of the entire face is taken. In addition, there is a problem that extremely complicated image processing is required to specify the eye position using this device.

Further, in the above-mentioned conventional dozing detection device, a sensor must be attached to the driver's body in order to detect a change in respiratory condition, which places a significant burden on the driver.

Further, the above-mentioned conventional drowsiness warning device has a problem that a sensor must be mounted on the head, which not only imposes a great burden on a driver but also increases the size of the device.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a driver monitoring device and a vehicle driving support system easily without imposing a special burden on a driver.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve this problem, a driver monitoring apparatus according to the present invention detects an image relating to the driver's eye of an automobile by means of an eye position detector through a specific surface. Eye-recognition determining means for comparing the image and the reference data relating to the eye stored in advance, and preventing forgetting of adjustment to be operated by a signal from the eye-recognition determining means when the image and the reference data do not match. Means. With this configuration, immediately after turning on the ignition switch of the vehicle, even if an image relating to the driver's eyes is missing from the eye position detecting means, the driver can quickly and easily achieve a desired positional relationship without imposing a special burden on the driver. An adjustable driver monitoring device can be realized.

[0012]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an image relating to the driver's eye of a motor vehicle is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and the detected image is stored in advance. Eye recognition determining means for comparing the reference data with respect to the present eye, and adjustment forgetting prevention means which operates based on a signal from the eye recognition determining means when the image does not match the reference data. Therefore, immediately after turning on the ignition switch of the car, even if an image relating to the driver's eyes is missing from the eye position detecting means, the driver can quickly and easily adjust the desired positional relationship without imposing a special burden on the driver. Has an action.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an image relating to the driver's eye while driving a car is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and the eye blinks in the detected image for a predetermined time or more. If there is no data related to the drowsy driving state, there is provided a drowsiness driving determination means for determining that the vehicle is in a drowsiness driving state, and a drowsiness driving suppression means that operates in response to a signal from the drowsy driving determination means when the drowsiness driving state is determined. In addition, it is possible to easily determine that the driver is in a dozing state only with an image relating to the driver's eyes taken from a specific surface in a narrow range without imposing a special burden on the driver, and to suppress the dozing operation.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an image relating to the driver's eyes while driving a car is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and the image is input to the eye position detecting means for a predetermined time or more. If not, it is provided with an aside driving operation determining unit for determining that the vehicle is in the aside driving operation state, and when it is determined that the vehicle is in the aside driving operation, there is provided an aside driving operation suppressing unit that operates based on a signal from the aside driving operation determining unit.
It is possible to easily determine that the driver is looking aside by the presence or absence of an image of the driver's eyes taken from a specific surface in a narrow range without imposing a special burden on the driver, and to suppress the driver from looking aside.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, since the specific surface is formed by a rearview mirror surface, parts permanently installed in an automobile can be used. In addition, it is a part that the driver adjusts daily, and the driver monitoring device can be easily realized without imposing a special burden on the driver.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, since the specific surface is constituted by the surface of the door mirror, only the permanent parts of the automobile can be utilized. Is the part that the driver adjusts daily,
A driver monitoring device can be easily realized without imposing a special burden on the driver.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, a half mirror is provided on the surface of the room mirror, and a camera using an artificial retinal chip is provided via the half mirror. With this configuration, it is not necessary to secure a special place for installing the eye position detecting means, and a driver monitoring device with an extremely high image processing speed can be realized.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, since the eye position detecting means is arranged near the rear window, the eye position detecting means can be installed with a margin. In addition, a driver monitoring device can be easily realized without imposing a special burden on the driver.

According to the present invention, an image relating to the driver's eye while driving a car is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and the eye blinks in the detected image for a certain time or more. If there is no data related to the drowsiness driving state, it is provided with a drowsiness driving determination unit for determining that the vehicle is in a drowsiness driving state, and an automatic brake device that operates based on a signal from the drowsiness driving determination unit when the drowsiness driving state is determined. Therefore, it is possible to realize a vehicle driving support system capable of decelerating the vehicle without imposing a special burden on the driver and suppressing the occurrence of an accident such as a rear-end collision.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, an image relating to the driver's eye while driving a car is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and the image is input to the eye position detecting means for a predetermined time or more. If not, it is provided with an aside driving determination unit for determining that the vehicle is in the aside driving state, and an automatic brake device that operates based on a signal from the aside driving operation determining unit when the aside driving operation is determined. In addition, it is possible to realize a vehicle driving support system that can prevent the traveling direction of the vehicle from being extremely deviated from the traveling lane by an aside driving without imposing a special burden on the driver and leading to an accident.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of a driver monitoring apparatus according to the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining the embodiment.

1 and 2, 1 is a CCD camera as eye position detecting means, 2 is a rear window, 3 and 4 are room mirrors and door mirrors as specific surfaces each containing an image relating to the driver's eyes, and 5 is a mirror. The eye recognition determining means 6 is a buzzer as a means for preventing forgetting to adjust.

The driver of the vehicle adjusts the surface of the rearview mirror 3 to secure a rear view through the normal rear window 2 for safe operation. Therefore, the CCD camera 1 is installed near the rear window 2 and the rearview mirror 3
It is possible to monitor the driver's eyes via the.

According to this method, it is possible to capture an image relating to the eyes of the driver, such as the presence of the driver's eyes and eye movements, from a narrow range such as the surface of the rearview mirror 3. The captured image is sent to the eye recognition determining means 5, and is compared with pre-stored reference data on the eye. If it is determined that the eye is not present, a signal is sent to the buzzer 6, and the adjustment of the surface of the room mirror 3 is performed. An alarm is issued to inform you of the defect. This makes it possible to immediately avoid the case where the driver forgets to adjust the surface of the rear-view mirror 3 after the driver turns on the ignition switch after getting on the car. With the above configuration, the driver monitoring device is completed without imposing a special burden on the driver, such as mounting a sensor.

This driver monitoring device completes a basic configuration for capturing an image of the driver's eyes, such as the presence of the driver's eyes and eye movements, so that it can be developed into various driver monitoring devices and car driving support systems described below. Become.

Further, since only the specified narrow range image is used, not only a very complicated image processing is not required but also the time required for the image processing can be shortened.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the CCD camera 1 is mainly installed near the rear window 2 has been described.
It is also possible to capture and monitor an image relating to the driver's eye by the D camera 1.

In the present embodiment, the CCD camera 1 has been described as the eye position detecting means, but any device having an imaging function may be basically used. For example, in the case of a camera using an artificial retinal chip, each element in the chip is directly converted into an electric signal according to the difference in brightness and output, so that it is converted into a digital signal once to read the outline of the image and computer-processed. This is unnecessary, and the processing speed is further improved. Further, since the camera using this artificial retinal chip is extremely small, it can be directly embedded in the room mirror 3 via a half mirror.

In the present embodiment, the buzzer 6 has been described as a means for preventing forgetting to adjust. However, various means such as a warning lamp and a seat vibration device can be used.

(Embodiment 2) FIG. 3 is a block diagram for explaining a second embodiment of the driver monitoring apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment of the vehicle driving support system according to the present invention.

In FIG. 3, the same components as those in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, detailed description thereof will be omitted, and only different portions will be described in detail. 4, the same components as those in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Only different components will be described in detail.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 7 denotes drowsy driving determination means,
Numeral 8 is a seat vibration device as a drowsy driving suppressing means.

Images relating to the eyes, such as the presence and movement of the eyes of the driver while driving the car, are captured in real time by the CCD camera 1 through the surface of the rear-view mirror 3, so that a certain amount of images are detected in the detected images. If there is no data relating to blinking of the eye for a longer time, it can be determined that the vehicle is in a dozing driving state. The part that performs this determination process is the drowsy driving determination unit 7.

When the drowsy driving determining means 7 determines that the vehicle is dozing, a signal is sent to the seat vibration device 8 to wake up the driver. With the above configuration, the driver monitoring device is completed.

In this embodiment, the seat vibrating device 8 has been described as the drowsy driving suppressing means. However, various means such as a warning lamp and a buzzer can be used.

As described in this embodiment, a driver monitoring device can be easily constructed without imposing a special burden on the driver, such as mounting a sensor.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 9 denotes an automatic brake device. When the drowsy driving determination means 7 determines that the vehicle is in a drowsy driving state, a signal is sent from the drowsiness driving determination means 7 to the automatic brake device 9 to decelerate the vehicle and prevent the vehicle from developing into an accident such as a rear-end collision. An automobile driving support system can be realized.

(Embodiment 3) FIG. 5 is a block diagram for explaining a third embodiment of the driver monitoring apparatus according to the present invention.

5, the same components as those in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. Only different components will be described in detail.

In FIG. 5, reference numeral 10 denotes an aside driving determination unit, and 11 denotes a buzzer as an aside driving suppression unit.

Since an image relating to the driver's eyes while driving a car is captured in real time by the CCD camera 1 through the surface of the rear-view mirror 3, if the image is not input to the CCD camera 1 for a certain period of time, it is aside. It can be determined that the vehicle is in the operating state. The part that performs this determination processing is the look-aside driving determination means 10.

When the side-by-side drive judging means 10 determines that the driver is looking aside, a signal is sent to the buzzer 11 to alert the driver. With the above configuration, the driver monitoring device is completed.

In the present embodiment, the buzzer 11 has been described as a means for suppressing the driver from looking aside.
Any of those that can be used as the drowsy driving suppression means described in (1) can be used.

As described in the present embodiment, a driver monitoring device can be easily constructed without imposing a special burden on the driver such as mounting a sensor.

Further, when the side-by-side driving determination unit 10 determines that the vehicle is looking aside, a signal is sent from the side-by-side driving determination unit 10 to the automatic brake device 9 similar to that shown in FIG. It is possible to realize a vehicle driving support system that can prevent the traveling direction from deviating extremely from the traveling lane and leading to an accident.

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention, an image relating to the eyes of the driver of an automobile is detected by the eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and the detected images and reference data relating to the eyes stored in advance are stored. An eye-recognition determining means for comparing the image and the reference data, and a forgetting-for-adjustment means operated by a signal from the eye-recognition determining means when the image and the reference data do not match. Immediately after turning on, even if an image relating to the driver's eyes is missing from the eye position detecting means, a driver monitoring device capable of quickly and easily adjusting to a desired positional relationship without imposing a special burden on the driver is provided. realizable.

If there is no data relating to blinking of the eye for a certain period of time in the detected image, a drowsy driving determining means for determining that the vehicle is in a drowsy driving state; Since the vehicle is provided with the drowsy driving suppression means that operates in response to a signal from the determination means, the driver is in a dozing state only with an image relating to the driver's eyes captured from a specific surface in a narrow range without imposing a special burden on the driver. And a driver monitoring device capable of suppressing drowsy driving at the same time can be realized.

Further, if an image is not input to the eye position detecting means for a certain period of time or more, a look-ahead operation determining means for determining that the driver is in a look-aside driving state, and if the image is determined to be a look-ahead driving state, the look-ahead driving determining means Since it is provided with a side-by-side driving suppression means that operates by a signal from the driver, without placing a special burden on the driver, it is said that the side-by-side driving is based on the presence or absence of an image related to the driver's eyes captured from a specific surface in a narrow range. It is possible to realize a driver monitoring device that can be easily determined and can suppress the driving aside.

Also, since the vehicle is provided with an automatic brake device that operates based on a signal from the drowsy driving determining means when it is determined that the vehicle is in a drowsy driving state, the vehicle is decelerated without imposing a special burden on the driver. Thus, it is possible to realize a vehicle driving support system capable of suppressing the occurrence of an accident such as a rear-end collision.

Further, since the vehicle is provided with an automatic brake device that operates based on a signal from the side-by-side driving determination means when it is determined that the vehicle is in a side-by-side driving state, the side-by-side driving can be performed without imposing a special burden on the driver. It is possible to realize a vehicle driving support system that can prevent the traveling direction of the vehicle from deviating extremely from the traveling lane and leading to an accident.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram for explaining a first embodiment of a driver monitoring device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the same.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a driver monitoring device according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining an embodiment of a vehicle driving support system according to the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram for explaining a third embodiment of the driver monitoring apparatus according to the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 CCD camera 2 Rear window 3 Rearview mirror 4 Door mirror 5 Eye recognition determination means 6,11 Buzzer 7 Drowsiness driving determination means 8 Seat vibrating device 9 Automatic brake device 10 Side driving determination means

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An eye recognition system for detecting an image related to an eye of a driver of an automobile via a specific surface by an eye position detecting means, and comparing the detected image with pre-stored reference data related to the eye. A driver monitoring device comprising: a determination unit; and an adjustment forgetting prevention unit that operates based on a signal from the eye recognition determination unit when the image and the reference data do not match. 2. An image relating to the eyes of a driver who is driving a car is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and if there is no data relating to blinking of the eyes for a certain period of time or more in the detected image, the driver falls asleep. A driver monitoring device comprising: a drowsy driving determination unit for determining that the vehicle is in a dozing state; and a drowsy driving suppression unit that is activated by a signal from the drowsy driving determination unit when the vehicle is determined to be in a drowsy driving state. 3. An image relating to the eyes of a driver who is driving a car is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and if the image is not inputted to the eye position detecting means for a predetermined time or more, the driver is in a side-by-side driving state. A driver monitoring apparatus comprising: an aside driving determination unit for determining that there is a vehicle; and an aside driving suppression unit that operates in response to a signal from the aside driving determination unit when it is determined that the vehicle is in an aside driving state. 4. The driver monitoring device according to claim 1, wherein the specific surface is a surface of a rearview mirror. 5. The door according to claim 1, wherein the specific surface is a surface of a door mirror.
The driver monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. 6. The driver monitoring device according to claim 4, wherein a half mirror is provided on a surface of the room mirror, and a camera using an artificial retinal chip is provided via the half mirror. 7. The driver monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the eye position detecting means is disposed near the rear window. 8. An image relating to the eyes of a driver who is driving a car is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and if there is no data relating to blinking of the eyes for a certain period of time or more in the detected image, the driver falls asleep. A vehicle driving support system comprising: a drowsiness driving determination unit for determining that the vehicle is in a state; and an automatic braking device that is activated based on a signal from the drowsiness driving determination unit when the vehicle is determined to be a drowsy driving state. 9. An image relating to the eyes of a driver who is driving a car is detected by an eye position detecting means via a specific surface, and if the image is not input to the eye position detecting means for a predetermined time or more, the driver is in a side-by-side driving state. An automobile driving support system comprising: an aside driving determination unit for determining that there is a vehicle; and an automatic brake device that operates based on a signal from the aside driving determination unit when the aside driving state is determined.