JP2005326962A - Driving support device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driving support device that prevents car sickness. <P>SOLUTION: An occupant head detection part 12 detects the position of an occupant's head according to outputs of a camera 3 and a seat sensor 4, and a vehicle behavior acquisition part 11 acquires vehicle behavior from an acceleration sensor 2 and a vehicle control system 20. An occupant influence calculation part 13 calculates the behavior of the occupant's head and stores the calculation in a storage part 15. A driving operation determination part 14 determines whether or not there is a possibility of car sickness from the behavior of the occupant's head and, if finding a possibility of car sickness, executes a warning to the driver through a notification system 30 and vehicle motion control through the vehicle control system 20. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support device that collects information related to traveling of a vehicle and supports driving of the vehicle based on the collected information, and more particularly to a driving support device that prevents the occurrence of car sickness.

  In recent years, a driving support device has been devised that acquires various information related to driving a vehicle, provides information to the driver, assists driving operation, and intervenes in vehicle operation, thereby improving the ride comfort of the vehicle. .

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a suspension control device that switches the damping force of a shock absorber based only on information based on wheel speeds detected by a wheel speed sensor, thereby improving the riding comfort and running stability of the vehicle.

  Further, Patent Document 2 determines the magnitude and direction of acceleration detected by an acceleration sensor, and sends fluid to an airbag corresponding to the direction of maximum acceleration acting on the occupant on the vehicle seat. A vehicle seat control system that improves and secures an optimal driving posture is disclosed.

  Further, Patent Document 3 discloses a vehicle control device that detects vibrations in the vertical direction or the front-rear direction of an occupant using a sensor housed in a seat belt, and controls the drive unit based on the sensor output to change the riding comfort state of the vehicle. Is disclosed.

  Patent Document 4 discloses a vehicle occupant detection device that reliably detects the presence and position of an occupant, and Patent Document 5 discloses an electric control device that improves the riding comfort of a vehicle by controlling a shock absorber. doing.

  Further, Patent Document 6 discloses a suspension control device that improves the ride comfort by extracting the resonance frequency components of the suspension spring and unsprung from the wheel speed and changing the rigidity of the suspension based on the resonance frequency component. ing.

JP-A-5-229328 JP-A-6-90834 JP-A-6-141958 JP 11-295440 A Japanese Patent Publication No. 2890921 Patent Publication No. 2917665

  By the way, car sickness is also called acceleration disease or motion sickness, and the semicircular canal that balances the body by swinging irregularly and repeatedly such as pitching, rolling, horizontal shaking on the horizontal plane, and vertical movement. This is caused by excessive stimulation.

  In other words, car sickness occurs mainly due to head vibration. However, in the above-described conventional technology, since it is attempted to improve riding comfort based on the state of the vehicle and the acceleration applied to the seat belt, it may be impossible to realize appropriate control to prevent the passengers from getting sick. There was a problem.

  Also, compared to drivers who can expect vibration, passengers other than the driver are more likely to get sick, but the driver himself cannot perceive how much vibration other passengers feel. In some cases, it is impossible to carry out a proper driving operation, and other occupants feel strong vibrations or excessively suppress vibrations.

  Thus, it has been an important issue to realize a technology that can identify the influence of vibrations on passengers other than the driver and prompt the driver to perform an appropriate driving operation.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems caused by the prior art and to solve the problems. The present invention accurately obtains the influence of vibration applied to the occupant and assists the driving operation, thereby causing car sickness. An object of the present invention is to provide a driving support device that can effectively prevent the above.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, the driving support apparatus according to the invention of claim 1 collects information related to the traveling of the vehicle, and performs driving that supports driving of the vehicle based on the collected information. A support device that detects the behavior of the head of an occupant and a determination unit that determines a possibility of getting sick of the occupant based on a detection result by the head behavior detection unit. And a notification means for notifying the driver of a warning when it is determined by the determination means that there is a possibility of causing car sickness.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant, determines the possibility that the occupant will get car sickness based on the detection result, and may cause the car sickness. If it is determined that there is, the driver is warned.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the driving support apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention further comprises photographing means for photographing an occupant in the vehicle, wherein the head behavior detecting means is based on a result of photographing by the photographing means. It is characterized by detecting the behavior of the head of an occupant.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the driving support device photographs the head of the occupant, detects the behavior thereof, determines the possibility that the occupant may get car sickness based on the detection result, and the car sickness occurs. If it is determined that there is a possibility, the driver is warned.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the driving support apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention further comprises seating detecting means for detecting a seating position of an occupant and vehicle behavior detecting means for detecting the behavior of the vehicle. The head behavior detecting means calculates the behavior of the head of the occupant from the seating position and the vehicle behavior.

  According to the invention of claim 3, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant from the sitting position and the behavior of the vehicle, determines the possibility that the occupant is intoxicated based on the detection result, A warning is given to the driver when it is determined that car sickness may occur.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the driving support apparatus according to the first, second, or third aspect, wherein the head behavior detecting means is configured to detect the plurality of occupants when a plurality of occupants are on the vehicle. The behavior of the head is acquired for each of the plurality of occupants, and the determination means determines the possibility that the car sickness will occur for each of the plurality of occupants.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the driving support device detects the behavior of each head for a plurality of occupants, determines the possibility of car sickness in each occupant based on the detection result, The driver is warned when it is determined that it may occur.

  In addition, in the driving support device according to the invention of claim 5, in the invention of claims 1 to 4, the determination means sets the behavior of the head detected by the head behavior detection means to the size of the behavior alone. The determination is made based on the above.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant, determines the possibility that the occupant will have a car sickness based on the single magnitude of the behavior, and the car sickness occurs. If it is determined that there is a possibility, the driver is warned.

  Further, the driving support apparatus according to the invention of claim 6 further comprises storage means for storing a history of behavior of the head detected by the head behavior detection means in the inventions of claims 1 to 5, wherein the determination means Is characterized in that the determination is performed based on a history of the behavior of the head stored in the storage means.

  According to the invention of claim 6, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant, determines the possibility that the occupant will have car sickness based on the history, and may cause the car sickness. If the judgment is made, a warning is given to the driver.

  The driving support device according to a seventh aspect of the present invention further comprises an input receiving means for receiving an input of a motion sickness occurrence notification indicating that a car sickness has occurred to the occupant in the first to sixth aspects of the invention, wherein the determination The means is characterized in that, when the input accepting unit accepts the input of the vehicle sickness occurrence notification, the judging unit lowers a threshold used for subsequent determination.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, the driving support device makes the determination stricter by lowering the determination threshold value when a passenger gets sick.

  The driving support device according to an eighth aspect of the present invention is the driving support device according to the sixth or seventh aspect, further comprising identification means for identifying the occupant, wherein the storage means includes the identified occupant information and the behavior of the head. And the history of car sickness of the occupant are stored in association with each other, and the determination means reads information corresponding to the occupant in the vehicle from the storage means and sets a threshold value used for determination. .

  According to the invention of claim 8, the driving support device identifies the occupant and stores the behavior of the head and the history of car sickness in association with each occupant and stores the threshold value based on information corresponding to the occupant who has boarded the vehicle. Set.

  A driving support apparatus according to a ninth aspect of the present invention is the driving support device according to any of the first to eighth aspects, further comprising operation control means for controlling the operation of the vehicle based on a determination result by the determination means. To do.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant, determines the possibility of causing car sickness in the occupant based on the detection result, and may cause car sickness. When it is determined that there is, the operation of the vehicle is controlled.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 1, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant, determines the possibility that the occupant is intoxicated based on the detection result, and may cause the intoxication of the occupant. A driver assistance device that can effectively prevent the occurrence of car sickness by accurately obtaining the influence of vibration applied to the occupant and assisting the driving operation. There is an effect that it can be obtained.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 2, the driving support device photographs the head of the occupant, detects the behavior thereof, determines the possibility that the occupant is intoxicated based on the detection result, and The driver is warned when it is determined that it may occur, so it is possible to easily and accurately acquire the influence of vibrations applied to the occupant and assist in driving operations, thereby effectively preventing car sickness. An effect that a simple driving support device can be obtained.

  According to the invention of claim 3, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant from the seating position and the behavior of the vehicle, and determines the possibility that the occupant is intoxicated based on the detection result. The driver is warned when it is determined that car sickness may occur, so the driver can assist in driving operation by obtaining the impact of vibration on the occupant with high accuracy, thus effectively generating car sickness. Thus, it is possible to obtain a driving assistance device that can be prevented.

  According to the invention of claim 4, the driving support device detects the behavior of each head for a plurality of occupants, determines the possibility of causing sickness in each occupant based on the detection result, and The driver is warned when it is determined that there is a possibility of the occurrence of an accident. Thus, it is possible to obtain a driving assistance device that can be prevented.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 5, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant, determines the possibility that the occupant will get sick, based on the single magnitude of the behavior, The driver is warned when it is determined that it may occur, so the driver can assist in driving by accurately acquiring the single effect of vibration on the occupant, thus effectively preventing car sickness. There is an effect that a possible driving support device can be obtained.

  According to the invention of claim 6, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant, determines the possibility that the occupant will get sick, based on the history, and may cause the sickness. The driver will be warned if it is determined that the driver will be able to accurately obtain the effects of vibrations on the passengers from the vibration history and assist in driving operations. There exists an effect that an apparatus can be obtained.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 7, the driving support device lowers the determination threshold and makes the determination strict when an occupant has a car sickness. Therefore, the driving operation device accurately acquires the influence of vibration applied to the occupant. As a result, it is possible to obtain a driving support device that can relieve the symptoms even when car sickness occurs.

  According to the invention of claim 8, the driving support device identifies an occupant and stores the behavior of the head and the history of car sickness for each occupant in association with each other, and based on information corresponding to the occupant who has boarded the vehicle. Since the threshold is set, there is an effect that it is possible to obtain a driving support device that supports driving operation based on the ease of sickness of the occupant on board and can effectively prevent the occurrence of car sickness.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 9, the driving support device detects the behavior of the head of the occupant, determines the possibility that the occupant will get a car sickness based on the detection result, and may cause the car sickness. Since the vehicle operation is controlled when it is determined that the vehicle is present, the influence of the vibration applied to the occupant is accurately acquired to control the vehicle operation, thereby obtaining a driving support device that can effectively prevent the occurrence of car sickness. There is an effect that can be.

  Exemplary embodiments of a driving support apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a schematic configuration of a driving support apparatus 10 that is an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the driving support apparatus 1 is connected to an input device 1, an acceleration sensor 2, a camera 3, a seat sensor 4, a vehicle control system 20 and a notification system 30.

  The input device 1 is a device that accepts information input by a switch, a touch panel display, voice input, or the like. Specifically, the input device 1 accepts input of occupant identification information and a motion sickness occurrence notification indicating that a motion sickness has occurred in the occupant.

  The acceleration sensor 2 is a sensor that measures acceleration applied to the vehicle, and the camera 3 is a photographing unit that captures an image inside the vehicle. Furthermore, the seat sensor 4 is a sensor that detects a seating state of an occupant in the vehicle.

  The vehicle control system 20 is a control system that controls the operation of the vehicle. Specifically, the vehicle control system 20 includes a handle 21, an accelerator 22, a brake 23, and the like. The notification system 30 includes an indicator 31, a display 32, a speaker 33, and the like, and is used to notify various information to the driver and other passengers.

  The driving support apparatus 10 includes a vehicle behavior acquisition unit 11, an occupant head position detection unit 12, an occupant influence calculation unit 13, a driving operation determination unit 14, and a storage unit 15. The vehicle behavior acquisition unit 11 acquires vehicle behavior information from the acceleration sensor 2 and the vehicle control system 20 and outputs the vehicle behavior information to the occupant influence calculation unit 13.

  The occupant head position detection unit 12 detects the position of the occupant's head based on the outputs of the camera 3 and the seat sensor 4. Then, the occupant influence calculation unit 13 calculates the influence on the occupant, that is, the behavior of the occupant's head, based on the position of the occupant's head and the behavior of the vehicle.

  Specifically, since the movement of the occupant's head acquired by the camera 3 is relative to the vehicle as shown in FIG. 2, the actual occupant's head can be obtained by adding the behavior of the vehicle. Can be obtained. Since the influence of the behavior of the vehicle differs depending on where the occupant is sitting, the value acquired by the acceleration sensor 2 is used after being corrected by the seating position of the occupant.

  When a plurality of occupants are in the vehicle, the occupant influence calculation unit 13 calculates the behavior of the head for each occupant. Then, the calculated magnitude of the behavior of the head (such as the moving amount x of the head shown in FIG. 2 and the moving speed) is stored in the storage unit 15 as an occupant influence value and is output to the driving operation determination unit 14.

  The storage unit 15 stores a history of occupant influence values as occupant influence data 15a. On the other hand, the driving operation determination unit 14 determines whether or not driving by the driver is appropriate based on the occupant influence value output from the occupant influence calculation unit 13 and the occupant influence data 15a stored in the storage unit 15, that is, It is determined whether or not a behavior that causes car sickness is felt.

  Specifically, the driving operation determination unit 14 includes a single determination unit 14a and an accumulation determination unit 14b therein. The single determination unit 14a detects that the occupant's head has greatly shaken, and determines that “the passenger may be intoxicated” if the magnitude exceeds the single determination threshold. On the other hand, the accumulative determination unit 14b monitors the frequency of the occupant's head shaking, and determines that there is a possibility that the occupant may have a car sickness when the frequency is high.

  The two judgment logics are used in this way, even if the number of swings is one, if the swing is large, car sickness may occur, and if the swing is small but the frequency of the swing is large This is because car sickness may occur. Note that the initial values of the threshold and the frequency used for these determinations are obtained by experiments or the like.

  Then, when the driving operation determination unit 14 determines that there is a possibility that car sickness may occur, the driver's warning using the notification system 30 or the vehicle operation using the vehicle control system 20 is intervened. To do.

  Furthermore, when the input device 1 accepts the input of the car sickness occurrence notification, the driving operation determination unit 14 lowers the determination threshold to make the determination strict, and prompts the driver to drive with less burden on the occupant. I am going to do that.

  Further, when the input device 1 identifies an occupant on board, the driving operation determination unit 14 reads out from the occupant influence data 15a storage unit 15 corresponding to the occupant and sets a determination threshold value. In other words, if the occupant has caused car sickness in the past, the occupant's influence value at that time is read to notify the driver to drive in a range where the occupant does not get drunk, and control the operation of the vehicle To do.

  Here, with reference to FIG. 3, the determination in the driving operation determination part 14 is further demonstrated. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a specific example of the occupant influence value calculated by the occupant influence calculation unit 13 and the determination threshold value in the driving operation determination unit 14.

  In the figure, the determination threshold Th1 is a threshold used by the single determination unit 14a for determination, and the single determination unit 14a indicates that “the passenger may have a car sickness if the occupant influence value exceeds the determination threshold Th1. It is determined. If an input of a motion sickness occurrence notification is accepted, the determination threshold value is lowered to the determination threshold value Th1a, and a stricter determination is performed.

  The determination threshold Th2 is a threshold used by the accumulation determination unit 14b for determination. The accumulation determination unit 14b counts the frequency at which the occupant influence value exceeds the determination threshold Th2, for example, the number of occurrences during a predetermined time. Is determined to be greater than or equal to a predetermined value, it is determined that there is a possibility that a passenger may get sick.

  The determination by the accumulation determination unit 14b may be performed by weighting the frequency. Further, in the case where the determination becomes strict after the occurrence of car sickness, the value of the threshold Th2 may be decreased, or the frequency determination value may be decreased. Further, the determination may be made strict by changing the weighting coefficient.

  Next, the processing operation of the driving support device 10 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the processing operation of the driving support apparatus 10, and this processing flow is repeatedly executed while the vehicle is traveling.

  First, the driving assistance device 10 acquires the position of the occupant's head by the occupant head position detection unit 12 (step S101). Next, the behavior of the host vehicle is acquired by the vehicle behavior acquisition unit 11 (step S102).

  And the passenger | crew influence calculation part 13 calculates a passenger | crew influence value from the position of a passenger | crew's head and the behavior of a vehicle (step S103). Thereafter, the single determination unit 14a in the driving operation determination unit 14 compares the occupant influence value with the single determination threshold value (Th1 or Th1a) (step S104).

  As a result, if the occupant influence value exceeds the single determination threshold (step S104, Yes), the driving operation determination unit 14 warns using the notification system 30 (step S110).

  On the other hand, when the occupant influence value does not exceed the single determination threshold (No at Step S104), the occupant influence value is stored in the storage unit 15 (Step S105), and the cumulative determination unit 14b receives the occupant influence data 15a from the storage unit 15. It is determined whether the frequency at which the occupant influence value is read and exceeds the cumulative determination threshold value (Th2) is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (step S106).

  As a result, if the frequency is equal to or higher than the predetermined value (step S106, Yes), the driving operation determination unit 14 warns using the notification system 30 (step S110). As this warning, for example, it may be notified by voice such as “There is a possibility that car sickness may occur. Please suppress sudden steering and sudden acceleration”.

  Then, after the end of step S110, or when the frequency is less than the predetermined value (step S106, No), the driving operation determination unit 14 determines whether or not the input device 1 has received a notice of occurrence of car sickness (step S107). ).

  As a result, if the motion sickness occurrence notification is received (step S107, Yes), the driving operation determination unit 14 decreases the threshold value (step S111). Then, after the end of step S111, or when the occurrence of a car sickness notification is not received (step S107, No), the driving support device 10 ends the process.

  Note that, as described above, this processing flow is repeatedly executed while the vehicle is traveling. Therefore, if the threshold is lowered in step S111, the determination in the subsequent processing becomes severe. In this processing flow, the warning for the driver has been described as an example, but it goes without saying that the operation control using the vehicle control system 20 may be performed together with the warning for the driver.

  As this operation control, for example, the handle may be made heavy or the accelerator operation may be suppressed. Further, depending on the degree of possibility of car sickness, notification may be given when “possible”, and operation control may be performed when “possibility is high”.

  As described above, the driving support device 10 according to the present embodiment determines the possibility of car sickness based on the behavior of the head of the occupant and notifies the driver. Can be prevented appropriately.

  In addition, when car sickness occurs in the occupant, the determination threshold is lowered and subsequent determinations are made, so that car sickness can be mitigated. Furthermore, the occupants are identified, the history of the behavior of each occupant's head and the occurrence history of car sickness are stored in association with each other, and the determination threshold is set based on the stored information when the occupant next boardes, The occurrence of car sickness can be prevented in advance.

  As described above, the driving support apparatus according to the present invention is useful for driving operation support, and is particularly suitable for driving support that prevents the occurrence of car sickness.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a driving support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing explaining the motion of the passenger | crew's head acquired by the camera 3 shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing explaining the determination in the driving operation determination part shown in FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the processing operation of the driving assistance apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input device 2 Acceleration sensor 3 Camera 4 Seat sensor 10 Driving support device 11 Vehicle behavior acquisition part 12 Crew head detection part 13 Crew influence calculation part 14 Driving operation determination part 14a Single determination part 14b Accumulation determination part 15 Storage part 20 Vehicle control System 21 Handle 22 Accelerator 23 Brake 30 Notification system 31 Indicator 32 Display 33 Speaker

Claims (9)

A driving support device that collects information related to traveling of a vehicle and supports driving of the vehicle based on the collected information,
Head behavior detecting means for detecting the behavior of the head of the occupant;
Based on the detection result by the head behavior detection means, a determination means for determining the possibility of causing car sickness in the occupant;
A notification means for notifying a driver of a warning when it is determined by the determination means that a car sickness may occur;
A driving support apparatus comprising:   2. The driving according to claim 1, further comprising photographing means for photographing an occupant in the vehicle, wherein the head behavior detecting means detects the behavior of the occupant's head from a result of photographing by the photographing means. Support device.   Seat detection means for detecting the seating position of the occupant and vehicle behavior detection means for detecting the behavior of the vehicle, wherein the head behavior detection means detects the occupant's head from the seating position and the vehicle behavior. The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein the behavior is calculated.   The head behavior detecting means acquires the behavior of the head for each of the plurality of occupants when a plurality of occupants are on the vehicle, and the determining means is the vehicle for each of the plurality of occupants. The driving support device according to claim 1, wherein the possibility of causing sickness is determined.   5. The determination unit according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines the behavior of the head detected by the head behavior detection unit based on the magnitude of the behavior alone. Driving assistance device.   The apparatus further comprises storage means for storing a history of the behavior of the head detected by the head behavior detection means, and the determination means performs the determination based on the history of the behavior of the head stored by the storage means. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein   It further comprises an input receiving means for accepting an input of a car sickness occurrence notification indicating that a car sickness has occurred in an occupant, and the determining means is configured to accept the input of the car sickness occurrence notification. In the case, the driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein a threshold value used for subsequent determination is lowered.   Identification means for identifying the occupant is further provided, and the storage means stores the identified occupant information, the history of behavior of the head, and the history of car sickness of the occupant in association with each other, and the determination means includes The driving support device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein information corresponding to an occupant in the vehicle is read from the storage means and a threshold value used for determination is set.   The driving support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an operation control unit that controls the operation of the vehicle based on a determination result by the determination unit.

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