JP2007069679A - On-vehicle alarm device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly issue a warning according to a looking aside state of a driver while suppressing inconvenience to the driver by an alarm before vehicular collision. <P>SOLUTION: In case that a driver's line of sight is in a front surface direction, the alarm is issued toward the vehicle driver when collision possibility with a front obstacle reaches a standard threshold level. In case that the driver's line of sight is not in the front surface side, the alarm is issued to the vehicle driver when the collision possibility with the front obstacle reaches a threshold level lower than the standard threshold level. The threshold level of the collision possibility issuing the alarm is changed according to the duration of state that the vehicle driver's line of sight is not in the front surface direction (Steps 100 to 104). Concretely, the longer the duration is, the lower the threshold level becomes. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an on-vehicle alarm device, and more particularly to an on-vehicle alarm device that issues an alarm to a vehicle driver when the possibility of collision with a front obstacle reaches a predetermined level.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a device that issues a collision warning to a vehicle driver when the possibility of collision of the host vehicle with an obstacle ahead of the vehicle reaches a predetermined level (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this apparatus, it is detected whether or not the driver is looking aside using an image taken by a camera provided in the passenger compartment. Then, when the driver's side aside is detected, the predetermined level related to the possibility of collision with a front obstacle for warning the vehicle driver is changed to a small value. For this reason, according to the above-described conventional apparatus, when the vehicle driver looks aside, a collision warning can be output early, and as a result, safety during vehicle travel can be improved. .
JP 2004-145725 A

  By the way, the conventional device only changes the predetermined level in a binary manner depending on whether or not the driver is looking aside. There are only two timings. In this regard, the driver's aside looks different in duration of gaze depending on the object to be viewed, but in the above-mentioned conventional device, the alarm start timing is set in advance for looking aside regardless of the length of the duration when looking aside. Therefore, it is not changed flexibly according to the length of the duration. For this reason, there is a possibility that it may be difficult to issue an alarm in accordance with the driver's looking aside.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described points, and can perform an appropriate alarm in accordance with the driver's side-by-side state while suppressing annoying the driver by an alarm before a vehicle collision. An object is to provide an in-vehicle alarm device.

  The above purpose is to provide a first warning means for warning the vehicle driver when the possibility of collision with a forward obstacle reaches a predetermined level, and when the vehicle driver's line-of-sight direction is not in the front direction. A vehicle-mounted alarm device comprising: a second alarm unit that warns a vehicle driver before the possibility of a collision with a front obstacle reaches the predetermined level, the vehicle driver's line-of-sight direction being in front A sidewatch duration time counting means for counting a duration time that is not in the direction, and an alarm timing change for changing a timing at which an alarm is started by the second warning means according to the duration time counted by the sidearm duration time counting means A vehicle-mounted alarm device comprising: means.

  In this aspect of the invention, the timing at which an alarm is started for the vehicle driver before the possibility of a collision with a front obstacle reaches a predetermined level in accordance with the duration in which the vehicle driver's line of sight is not in the front direction. Be changed. When the above duration is relatively short, it can be determined that the driver's line of sight has quickly returned to the front from the side-by-side condition.Therefore, the warning start timing is greatly increased from the point when the possibility of collision reaches a predetermined level. This is not necessary because it may be an unpleasant warning to the person. In addition, when the duration is relatively long, it can be determined that the driver's line of sight is not easily turned to the front from the side-by-side state, so the alarm start timing should be greatly advanced from the time when the possibility of collision reaches a predetermined level. However, this is effective in prompting the driver to avoid collisions at an early stage. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to perform an appropriate warning in accordance with the driver's looking aside while suppressing annoying the driver by the warning before the vehicle collision.

  In the above-described in-vehicle alarm device, the alarm timing changing unit may advance the timing as the duration time increases. In this case, the alarm timing changing unit may increase the duration as the duration time increases. In order to start the alarm by the alarm means of 2, the threshold level at which the possibility of collision with the front obstacle should be reached should be lowered.

  In the above-described on-vehicle alarm device, the possibility of collision with the front obstacle may correspond to the time until the host vehicle collides with the front obstacle.

  Furthermore, in the above-described on-vehicle alarm device, the alarm may be a buzzer sound or an alarm display.

  In these inventions, the “front direction” is a direction when the driver generally turns his / her line of sight substantially in the vehicle traveling direction during straight running.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the appropriate warning according to the driver | operator's looking-aside state can be performed, suppressing giving an annoyance to a driver | operator by a warning before a vehicle collision.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration diagram of an in-vehicle alarm device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The in-vehicle alarm device 10 of the present embodiment predicts a collision between the own vehicle and a preceding vehicle, an oncoming vehicle, an obstacle such as a stationary object existing in front of the own vehicle, and the possibility of the collision becomes relatively high. It is a pre-crash safety (PCS) system that sometimes warns a vehicle driver for collision avoidance or collision mitigation.

  In this embodiment, the on-vehicle alarm device 10 includes an electronic control unit (hereinafter referred to as a PCS-ECU) 12 mainly composed of a computer. The PCS-ECU 12 is connected to an obstacle sensor 14 disposed on a bumper, a front grill or the like at the front end of the vehicle body. The obstacle sensor 14 is composed of, for example, a millimeter wave radar, a laser radar, a camera, or the like, and sends a signal corresponding to an obstacle existing in front of the own vehicle (particularly on the course of the own vehicle) to the PCS-ECU 12. Output. The PCS-ECU 12 detects the presence or absence of a front obstacle based on the output signal of the obstacle sensor 14, detects the distance between the host vehicle and the front obstacle when there is a front obstacle, and Based on the detected distance and the own vehicle speed detected using a vehicle speed sensor or the like, the relative speed between the two is detected.

  The in-vehicle alarm device 10 also includes a camera ECU 16 mainly composed of a computer connected to the PCS-ECU 12 through serial communication. A camera 18 is connected to the camera ECU 16. For example, the camera 18 is disposed on the upper surface of the steering column cover so as to face the vehicle traveling direction and in the direction in which the vehicle driver's head is present, and the vehicle driver's face is almost from the front. Take a picture. For night photography, a lamp that projects infrared rays toward the face of the vehicle driver may be provided.

  The video signal of the camera 18 is supplied to the camera ECU 16. The camera ECU 16 performs binarization processing and feature point extraction processing based on the video signal supplied from the camera 18 to extract an image showing the driver's face, and the driver's face width from the extracted image. And the center line of the face is detected, and the left / right distance ratio of the face shown in the image is calculated from the parameters, and the direction in which the driver's face faces, that is, the angle from the front (hereinafter, the driver is a straight line) When a line of sight is directed in front of the vehicle traveling direction along the traveling lane during traveling, the angle is set to 0 °; Information about the face direction angle of the vehicle driver detected by the camera ECU 16 is supplied to the PCS-ECU 12. Based on the information supplied from the camera ECU 16, the PCS-ECU 12 grasps the face orientation angle θ as the direction in which the vehicle driver turns his line of sight.

  An alarm display 20 and an alarm buzzer 22 are connected to the PCS-ECU 12. The alarm display 20 is, for example, a meter unit provided on an instrument panel in the passenger compartment, and alerts the vehicle driver by displaying an alarm according to a drive command from the PCS-ECU 12 as will be described later. The alarm buzzer 22 is a buzzer alarm provided in the vehicle interior, and alerts the vehicle driver by sounding a buzzer according to a drive command from the PCS-ECU 12 as will be described later.

  Next, operation | movement of the vehicle-mounted alarm device 10 of a present Example is demonstrated. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the in-vehicle alarm device 10 according to the present embodiment.

  In this embodiment, when the PCS-ECU 12 detects the presence of a forward obstacle based on the output of the obstacle sensor 14, the distance and relative speed with respect to the forward obstacle and the course of the host vehicle are thereafter determined at regular intervals. Based on the position of the front obstacle with respect to the route and the like, the possibility that the own vehicle collides with the front obstacle at the present time (collision possibility) is calculated. The shorter the time until the host vehicle collides with the obstacle ahead, the higher the possibility of collision. Therefore, the possibility of collision calculated by the PCS-ECU 12 depends on the distance between the host vehicle and the obstacle ahead and the relative speed between them. The value corresponding to the time obtained by dividing by (collision prediction time) may be used. In this case, the shorter the collision prediction time, the larger the value.

  In general, a vehicle driver makes a predetermined time (for example, 1.8 seconds or 2 seconds) before colliding with a front obstacle (for example, a stopped vehicle) ahead on the same lane as that of the own vehicle. In many cases, an operation such as a steering operation or a brake operation for avoiding a collision is started by about 30 meters before the speed of 60 km / h. Therefore, it is effective to avoid the collision and reduce the damage by giving a warning and warning to the vehicle driver at an early timing before the collision, but the vehicle driver can take the collision avoiding action described above. Assuming that the driver is warned within a predetermined time, a warning may occur even when the driver is planning to take a collision avoidance action in the near future. It can be annoying and uncomfortable. Therefore, the PCS-ECU 12 determines the possibility of collision that can effectively take collision avoidance action while suppressing the driver from feeling uncomfortable, that is, the time until the collision (for example, 1.8 seconds or 2 seconds). The reference threshold level (reference time t1 until the collision) for starting the alarm is stored in the storage device in advance.

  In addition, when a vehicle collides with the front, the driver looks at the inner mirror, the outer mirror on the driver's seat or on the passenger's seat, the display on the passenger compartment, or the outside of the vehicle for safety confirmation on the left and right sides of the vehicle. Often caused by carelessness due to looking aside. Therefore, in order to avoid collision and reduce damage to the vehicle, when the driver's attention to the front of the vehicle is reduced before the collision, the above warning is given to the vehicle driver at an earlier timing than usual. It is appropriate to do.

  Here, the driver's side look is performed with a certain degree of angle of view from the front. Therefore, the PCS-ECU 12 stores in advance in the storage device a threshold value θ0 (for example, ± 15 °) of the face angle for determining whether or not the driver is looking aside to remove the line of sight from the front direction. is doing. The PCS-ECU 12 compares the face orientation angle θ with the threshold value θ0 stored in the storage device every time information on the driver's face orientation angle θ is supplied from the camera ECU 16.

  As a result of the comparison, the PCS-ECU 12 determines that the driver's line of sight is almost in front when the face angle θ is within the threshold value θ0. When the possibility of collision with a front obstacle is calculated, the possibility of collision is compared with a reference threshold level stored in the storage device. Note that the reason why the driver's line of sight is almost in front is that the face orientation angle θ is the threshold value after the duration of the state in which the face orientation angle θ is within the threshold value θ0 reaches a predetermined time. The duration of the state outside the value θ0 may be until the predetermined time is reached, and at the time of such determination, the calculated collision possibility is compared with the reference threshold level.

  From the comparison result, when the possibility of collision reaches the reference threshold level, that is, when the predicted collision time becomes less than or equal to the reference time t1, an alarm is displayed so that an alarm is issued from that time until the collision. A drive command is issued to the display 20 and the alarm buzzer 22. In this case, the warning display 20 displays a warning and the warning buzzer 22 sounds a buzzer to avoid or mitigate the collision between the host vehicle and the obstacle ahead (see FIG. 2A). .

  Further, the PCS-ECU 12 determines that the driver's line of sight is not facing the front direction in the situation where the face angle θ is outside the threshold value θ0 as a result of the above comparison, and starts a warning to the driver. In this case, the possibility of a collision should be reached by making the threshold time tt that the predicted collision time with a front obstacle should reach is longer than the reference time t1 (by making the collision time earlier with respect to the time of the collision). The threshold level is lowered from the reference threshold level. Then, when the possibility of collision between the host vehicle and the front obstacle at the present time is calculated as described above, the possibility of collision is compared with the threshold level after the level is lowered. It is determined that the driver's line of sight is not facing the front direction after the duration of the state in which the face angle θ is outside the threshold value θ0 reaches a predetermined time (eg, 0.3 seconds) The duration of the state in which the face orientation angle θ is within the threshold value θ0 may be until a predetermined time is reached, and at the time of such determination, the calculated collision possibility is compared with the threshold level after the level is lowered. It becomes.

  From this comparison result, when the possibility of collision reaches the threshold level after the level drop, that is, when the predicted collision time becomes less than or equal to the threshold time tt longer than the reference time t1, A drive command is issued to the alarm display 20 and the alarm buzzer 22 so that an alarm is issued until the collision. In this case, the warning display 20 displays a warning and the warning buzzer 22 sounds a buzzer to avoid or mitigate the collision between the host vehicle and the front obstacle (see FIG. 2B). .

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, before the collision with the front obstacle, the warning display by the warning display 20 for collision avoidance or damage reduction, and the warning of the buzzer sounding by the warning buzzer 22, the driver looks in the front direction. When the driver is facing, the timing at which the driver can take a normal collision avoidance action has passed.On the other hand, when the driver is looking away from the front, the timing at which the driver can take a normal collision avoidance action is taken. This can be done before it has passed. That is, before the collision with a front obstacle, when the driver has taken his gaze off from the front direction, the alarm start timing for collision avoidance or damage reduction is It is possible to speed up. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, before the collision with the front obstacle, while preventing the driver from being bothered by the alarm as much as possible, it is possible to prevent the collision avoidance action due to the driver's looking aside from being delayed. This makes it possible to improve safety during vehicle travel.

  By the way, it is assumed that the warning start timing (threshold time tt) that is advanced when the driver is gazing away from the front direction is uniformly determined in advance regardless of the duration of the side look. There is a risk that it may be difficult to perform an alarm in accordance with the state of looking aside. That is, when the duration of looking aside is relatively short, it can be determined that the driver's line of sight has quickly turned to the front from the looking-aside state, so there is a possibility that a warning that is evenly advanced to the start timing becomes an unpleasant warning to the driver. Yes, if the duration of the sideways look is relatively long, it can be judged that the driver's line of sight is not easily turned to the front from the state of looking aside. There may be an alarm that is insufficient to turn around.

  Therefore, when the vehicle driver is looking aside before the collision with the front obstacle, the in-vehicle warning device 10 of the present embodiment changes the timing of starting the warning according to the duration of the looking aside. Yes. Hereafter, the characteristic part of a present Example is demonstrated with reference to FIG. 3 thru | or FIG. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example of a control routine executed by the PCS-ECU 12 in the in-vehicle alarm device 10 of the present embodiment. FIG. 4 shows a map showing the relationship between the aside look duration and the threshold time tt used in this embodiment. Moreover, FIG. 5 shows the figure for demonstrating the characteristic operation | movement of the vehicle-mounted alarm device 10 of a present Example.

  In this embodiment, the PCS-ECU 12 indicates that the driver's line of sight is not directed in the front direction because the driver's face orientation angle θ based on the image captured by the camera 18 is outside the threshold θ0 for side-by-side discrimination. Is determined (when affirmative determination is made in step 100), the duration for which the state continues thereafter is counted (step 102). Then, according to the counted duration of the side look, the threshold level from which the possibility of collision with the front obstacle should be reached in order to start warning to the driver from the above-mentioned reference threshold level is reached. The amount of decrease is changed, that is, when the warning to the driver is started, the advance time from the reference time t1 of the threshold time tt to reach the predicted collision time with the front obstacle is changed (step 104). ).

  Specifically, the PCS-ECU 12 stores in advance in the storage device a map that represents the relationship between the look-ahead duration and the threshold time tt as shown in FIG. In this map, when the look-ahead duration is shorter than the predetermined time s1, the threshold time tt substantially coincides with the reference time t1 (= the advance time is zero), but the look-ahead duration is equal to or longer than the predetermined time s1. In some cases, the longer the duration time, the longer the threshold time tt becomes than the reference time t1 (early with respect to the time of collision, the advance time becomes longer), and the armpit look duration is longer than the predetermined time s1. When it is greater than or equal to the large predetermined time s2, the threshold time tt is a predetermined time t2 longer than the reference time t1 (for example, 3 seconds or 3.5 seconds until a collision) (= maximum advance time). Is set to Therefore, the PCS-ECU 12 refers to a map showing the relationship between the aside look duration and the threshold time tt as shown in FIG. The advance time of the threshold time tt is set, and thereafter, every time the look-ahead duration is updated, the threshold level decrease amount corresponding to the look-ahead duration, that is, the advance time of the threshold time tt is set. Set.

  In a situation where the PCS-ECU 12 determines that the driver's line of sight is not directed in the front direction, the calculated collision possibility is calculated when the collision possibility between the host vehicle and the front obstacle at each time point is calculated. Is compared to a threshold level that is reduced by an amount corresponding to the look-ahead duration as described above. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the calculated collision predicted time is equal to or less than a threshold time tt that is advanced from the reference time t1 by a time corresponding to the aside continuation time as described above.

  As a result, when the collision prediction time is longer than the above threshold time tt and the possibility of collision does not reach the above threshold level, no drive command is issued to the alarm display 20 and the alarm buzzer 22. . On the other hand, when the predicted collision time becomes equal to or shorter than the threshold time tt and the possibility of collision reaches the threshold level, the alarm display 20 and the alarm are displayed so that an alarm is issued from that time until the collision. A drive command is issued to the buzzer 22.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 5 (A), there is a certain amount of time until the collision with the front obstacle (specifically, the maximum time of the preceding time from the reference time t1 of the threshold time tt and its time) The situation where the driver's line of sight does not face the front occurs in a situation where it is longer than the time obtained by adding the minimum time for which the sidewatch should be continued to maximize the advance time, and the sideways state is long (s2 ), The advance time from the reference time t1 of the threshold time tt is maximized, and in this case, the estimated time of collision is maximized in a state in which the lookout continues. The alarm is started when the threshold time tt (predetermined time t2) is reached.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 5B, when a side look that the driver's line of sight does not face the front in a situation where the time until the collision with the front obstacle is not sufficient as described above, The above-mentioned advance time increases according to the duration of the state, but the estimated collision time becomes less than the threshold time tt during the increase process, so the estimated collision time becomes less than the threshold time tt. At that point an alarm is started. This means that the advance time from the reference time t1 of the threshold time tt is limited depending on the start timing of the side look with respect to the time of the collision.

  Note that, as shown in FIG. 5C, a side effect occurred before the collision with the front obstacle, but a threshold time tt where the collision prediction time is increased as the side effect duration increases. Before the following, when the driver's line of sight turns away and the driver's line of sight turns to the front, it is preferable to set the threshold time tt to the normal reference time t1 with the advance time set to zero. It is. This is because if the driver's line of sight turns to the front, the need to advance the alarm start timing earlier than the normal timing is reduced. In this case, as usual, the alarm is started when the predicted collision time becomes the reference time t1 or less.

  Thus, in the on-vehicle alarm device 10 of the present embodiment, the alarm start timing that is advanced when the driver removes the line of sight from the front direction is set to the duration of the state in which the line of sight is off and a side look is occurring. It can be changed according to the length. Specifically, the longer the aside look continuation time is, the longer the preceding time from the reference time t1 of the threshold time tt that should reach the predicted time of collision with the front obstacle in starting the warning to the driver. By doing so, the amount of decrease in the threshold level from which the possibility of collision should be reached from the reference threshold level is increased, and the alarm start timing can be advanced.

  For this reason, if the vehicle driver's side look duration is relatively short before the collision with the front obstacle, the alarm start timing will not be much earlier than the point when the possibility of collision reaches the reference threshold level. It is possible to prevent the driver from giving unpleasant feelings due to the warning. In addition, when the vehicle driver's side look duration is relatively long, the warning start timing will be much earlier than the point when the possibility of collision reaches the reference threshold level, so the driver whose line of sight does not turn to the front. It is possible to promptly promote actions for collision avoidance and damage reduction. Therefore, according to the in-vehicle alarm device 10 of the present embodiment, it is possible to perform an appropriate alarm in accordance with the driver's side-by-side state while suppressing annoying the driver by the alarm before the vehicle collision. Yes.

  Further, in this embodiment, the warning start timing that is advanced when the driver removes his / her line of sight from the front direction depends on the duration of the state in which the line of sight is off and the side effect is occurring as described above. However, it is also changed according to the time until the collision when the side effect begins. Specifically, the above warning start timing tends to be larger and faster than usual as the time until the collision when the aside is started, but when the time until the collision is relatively short, it tends not to advance much. Become.

  In such a configuration, the driver is alerted without waiting until the driver's side-arming ends, that is, without checking the exact side-arming duration. It is possible to prompt the driver whose line of sight does not turn to the front earlier to avoid collision and to reduce damage, as compared with the configuration in which the warning is started.

  Further, in the present embodiment, after a sidewalk occurs once before the collision with the forward obstacle, the collision prediction time is less than the threshold time tt that the advance time is increased as the sidewalk duration increases. If the side effect is resolved before the alarm starts, the alarm start timing returns to the normal timing, and the alarm is started when the predicted collision time becomes the reference time t1 or less. In this regard, according to the in-vehicle alarm device 10 of the present embodiment, the alarm start timing is not unnecessarily advanced after the driver's line of sight has turned to the front direction. It is possible to suppress as much as possible.

  In the above-described embodiment, the reference threshold level corresponds to the “predetermined level” recited in the claims, and the PCS-ECU 12 causes the predicted collision time to be equal to or less than the reference time t1. When the possibility of collision reaches a reference threshold level, the driver gives a drive command to the alarm display 20 and the alarm buzzer 22 so that the “first alarm means” described in the claims is When the line of sight is removed from the front direction and the predicted collision time is less than or equal to the threshold time tt longer than the reference time t1, the warning display is displayed when the possibility of collision reaches the threshold level after the level drops. 20 and the alarm buzzer 22 are given a drive command so that the “second alarm means” described in the scope of claims is the step 102 in the routine shown in FIG. By executing the processing, the “aside look duration counting means” described in the claims is realized, and the “alarm timing changing means” described in the claims is realized by executing the processing of step 104. ing.

  By the way, in the above-described embodiment, the angle at which the face faces from the front is detected as the vehicle driver's line-of-sight direction. However, the present invention is not limited to this and is directed to the vehicle driver's eyes. The direction itself may be detected.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, after a side-view occurs once before the collision with the front obstacle, the predicted collision time is equal to or less than the threshold time tt in which the advance time is increased as the side-view duration increases. If the side effect is resolved before the alarm time is reached, the alarm start timing is returned to the normal timing, but this return can be collided with the preceding time of the threshold time tt set to zero at once. It may be realized by recovering the threshold level of the sex to the reference threshold level at once, or conversely, depending on the duration of the state where the driver's line of sight is facing the front direction after the side effects are resolved Alternatively, the threshold time tt may be reduced by reducing the preceding time and gradually recovering the threshold level of the collision possibility to the reference threshold level.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the start timing of the warning that is advanced when the line of sight is removed from the front direction is changed according to the duration of the state where the driver's line of sight is off and a side look is occurring. However, the relationship between the driver's side-viewing duration and the threshold time tt that the predicted collision time with the front obstacle should reach in starting the warning to the driver is a downwardly convex curve. However, it is also possible to use a map in which the relationship between the two is linear or stepped.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, when the driver's line of sight is facing the front direction, an alarm that is issued when the possibility of collision reaches a reference threshold level and the driver's line of sight deviates from the front direction. In the situation where the possibility of collision reaches the threshold level after the level drop, the alarm to be given is the same alarm as the alarm display by the alarm display display 20 and the buzzer sounding by the alarm buzzer 22 However, for example, different alarms may be used, such as changing the buzzer sounding interval or combining the buzzer sounding and the alarm braking.

  In this case, the PCS-ECU 12 issues an alarm driving command when the possibility of collision reaches a reference threshold level in a situation where the driver's line of sight is facing the front direction. The described "first warning means" is patented by issuing a warning drive command when the possibility of a collision reaches a threshold level after the level has dropped in a situation where the driver is looking away from the front. The “second warning means” described in the claims is realized.

It is a block diagram of the vehicle-mounted alarm device which is one Example of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the vehicle-mounted alarm device of a present Example. It is a flowchart of an example of the control routine performed in the vehicle-mounted alarm device of a present Example. It is the map showing the relationship between the aside look duration used in a present Example, and threshold time tt. It is a figure for demonstrating the characteristic operation | movement of the vehicle-mounted alarm device of a present Example.

Explanation of symbols

10 On-vehicle alarm device 12 PCS-ECU
16 Camera ECU
18 Camera 20 Alarm display 22 Alarm buzzer

Claims (5)

A first warning means for giving a warning to the vehicle driver when the possibility of a collision with a forward obstacle reaches a predetermined level; and when the vehicle driver's line of sight is not in the front direction, A vehicle warning device comprising: a second warning means for warning a vehicle driver before the possibility of collision reaches the predetermined level;
A side look duration counting means for counting a duration in which the vehicle driver's line-of-sight direction is not in the front direction;
An alarm timing changing means for changing a timing at which an alarm is started by the second alarm means according to the duration counted by the armpit duration counting means;
An on-vehicle alarm device comprising:   The on-vehicle alarm device according to claim 1, wherein the alarm timing changing unit advances the timing as the duration time increases.   The warning timing changing means lowers a threshold level at which the possibility of collision with a front obstacle should be reached when the second warning means starts an alarm as the duration time is longer. The on-vehicle alarm device according to Item 2.   The on-vehicle alarm device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the possibility of collision with a front obstacle corresponds to a time until the host vehicle collides with a front obstacle.   The on-vehicle alarm device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the alarm is a buzzer sound or an alarm display.

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