JP2007230369A - On-vehicle apparatus adjusting device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an on-vehicle apparatus adjusting device capable of continuously adjusting the state of an on-vehicle apparatus according to the intention of a driver even when a vehicle is traveling. <P>SOLUTION: The on-vehicle apparatus adjustment device 1 for adjusting the state of an on-vehicle apparatus comprises a starting means 12 for starting the on-vehicle apparatus adjusting device, a face direction detection means 14 for detecting the angle of the face direction of a driver, and on-vehicle apparatus control means 15, 18 for controlling the state of the on-vehicle apparatus 17 according to the angle of the face direction detected by the face direction detection means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle device adjustment device that adjusts the state of an in-vehicle device, and more particularly to an in-vehicle device adjustment device that allows a driver to easily adjust the state of the in-vehicle device while performing a steering operation.

  Since the driver operates the steering, the accelerator, the brake pedal, or the like while driving the vehicle, it is difficult to operate other devices with their hands or feet away from them. Therefore, a vehicle is provided with a voice recognition device that analyzes a driver's voice and converts words spoken by the driver into operation contents based on the feature amount, and is used as a substitute for an operation with a hand or a foot.

Further, there has been proposed a vehicle interface that detects the direction of the driver's face and line of sight while driving the vehicle, and controls the illumination axis direction of the headlamp in the direction of the face and line of sight (for example, Patent Document 1). reference.). When driving on a curve or turning left or right, the driver pays attention to the direction of travel, so even if you are driving, you can control the direction of the headlamp's illumination axis according to the driver's face or line of sight. The headlamp can be controlled.
JP-A-7-96803

  However, the voice recognition device can operate in a discontinuous state such as “ON” or “OFF”, but it is difficult to continuously adjust the state of the in-vehicle device. This is because it is difficult to express a continuous measure of state with speech. It is possible to repeat a voice operation to finally reach a desired state, but the process is often troublesome.

  In addition, when detecting the driver's face direction and line of sight and controlling the direction of the headlamp's illumination axis, the direction of the illumination axis can be controlled continuously, but this automatically detects the driver's face direction and line of sight. Therefore, it does not reflect the will of the driver. That is, the vehicle interface described in Patent Document 1 is difficult to control by the driver's will.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle device adjustment device that can easily adjust the state of the in-vehicle device according to the driver's will even during traveling.

  In view of the above-described problems, the present invention provides an in-vehicle device adjustment device that adjusts the state of an in-vehicle device, an activation means (for example, a voice recognition device 12, a push button) that activates the in-vehicle device adjustment device, and a driver's face orientation. Face orientation detection means for detecting the angle and vehicle equipment control means for controlling the state of the vehicle equipment according to the face orientation angle detected by the face orientation detection means (for example, onboard devices such as the navigation ECU 15 and the suspension control ECU 18) Means for controlling).

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, even if it is drive | working, according to a driver | operator's will, the vehicle-mounted apparatus adjustment apparatus with which the continuous adjustment of the state of a vehicle-mounted apparatus is easy can be provided.

  Further, in one embodiment of the present invention, notification means (for example, an adjustment screen displayed on the display device 16, sound output from the speaker 17) for notifying the occupant of the state of the on-vehicle device controlled by the on-vehicle device control means, It is characterized by having.

  According to the present invention, the driver can recognize the adjustment state of the in-vehicle device visually or audibly.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, a gaze direction detection unit that detects the gaze direction of the driver, a travel direction detection unit that detects a travel direction of the host vehicle, and the gaze direction of the driver detected by the gaze direction detection unit And warning means for warning the driver when the traveling direction detected by the traveling direction detection means differs by a predetermined amount or more.

  According to the present invention, when the driver's line of sight is greatly different from the traveling direction while operating the vehicle-mounted device according to the face orientation angle, the driver can be alerted by alerting the driver. Will improve.

  Moreover, in one form of this invention, it has a gaze direction detection means to detect a driver | operator's gaze direction, and an alerting | reporting means displays the state of a vehicle-mounted apparatus in the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detection means. Features.

  According to the present invention, even when the volume is adjusted according to the face orientation angle, the volume adjustment screen can be displayed at a position that is easy for the driver to see.

  Even when the vehicle is traveling, it is possible to provide an in-vehicle device adjustment device that can easily adjust the state of the in-vehicle device according to the will of the driver.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The in-vehicle device adjustment device of the present embodiment makes it possible to detect the driver's face orientation and continuously adjust the state of the in-vehicle device when the driver designates a predetermined on-vehicle device. . In addition, what is necessary is just to be multistage so that it can be considered that it is continuous.

  FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram of the in-vehicle device adjustment device. 1 adjusts the volume of the speaker 17. Since the sound volume is adjusted via a navigation system that serves as an interface with the occupant, the in-vehicle device adjustment device 1 in FIG. 1 is controlled by the navigation ECU 15. The navigation ECU 15 is connected to a voice recognition device 12, a face orientation ECU 14, a display device 16, and a speaker 17.

  A steering sensor 21, a yaw rate sensor 22 and a vehicle speed sensor 23 are connected to the navigation ECU 15 via a CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol.

  The steering sensor 21 is a sensor that detects the steering angle of the vehicle, and detects the rotation angle of the steering. Since there is a fixed relationship between the steering rotation angle and the steering angle, the vehicle steering angle is detected by detecting the steering rotation angle. The yaw rate sensor 22 detects a rotational angular velocity about an axis (rolling axis) that passes through the center of gravity of the vehicle and extends in the front-rear direction of the vehicle. Further, the vehicle speed sensor 23 detects the traveling speed of the vehicle based on the rotational speed of each wheel. As will be described later, the traveling direction of the vehicle is detected based on the detection values of these sensors.

〔voice recognition〕
The voice recognition device 12 will be described. A microphone 11 is connected to the voice recognition device 12 and continuously acquires sound in the passenger compartment. The acquired sound is converted into an electric signal by the microphone 11 and output to the voice recognition device 12.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the voice recognition device 12. The converted electrical signal is input to the voice analysis unit 12a. The voice analysis unit 12a performs processing such as Fourier transform on the electric signal and extracts a feature amount effective for voice recognition. When the vehicle is traveling, noise other than voice such as road noise is input to the microphone, and such noise is removed by a filter or the like.

  The acoustic model 12b is a database in which the probability that a phonetic symbol (phoneme) corresponds to the sound of a feature amount is associated, and features of each phoneme are converted into data from a large amount of learning data in advance. Phonemes are the basic components of language pronunciation. The phoneme is the source of the actual sound (on), but the same phoneme may be different depending on the phoneme, dialect, speaker, etc. before and after, so it becomes a complex combination of vowels and consonants. Does not correspond one to one. The acoustic model 12b makes it possible to select phonemes that can be extracted from the feature amount of the input speech.

  The language model 12d is a dictionary of words that defines the content of utterance based on vocabulary, grammar, or language statistics. That is, by referring to the language model 12d, an impossible word string is excluded. Further, the probability that each word is used is associated with the language model 12d. For example, when used in a vehicle, there is a high possibility that the name of the in-vehicle device is input voice.

  The speech recognition unit 12c refers to the acoustic model 12b and the language model 12d based on the feature amount of the input speech, selects a phoneme string that most closely matches the input feature amount in the given grammar, and recognizes the recognition result. Output as.

  For example, when the driver utters “volume”, the voice recognition unit 12 c recognizes the word “ONRIO”, converts the word into a predetermined signal according to the word, and outputs the signal to the navigation ECU 15.

(Face orientation recognition)
Recognition of the face orientation angle will be described. A face orientation camera 13 is connected to the face orientation ECU 14. The face-facing camera 13 is provided at a predetermined position in the passenger compartment, and sends a face image (an image including the driver's face and background) obtained by photographing so as to include the face of the vehicle driver to the face-facing ECU 14. . The face-facing camera 13 shoots the driver's face at predetermined time intervals and outputs a face image to the face-facing ECU 14.

  The face direction ECU 14 detects the position of the face from the face image, and detects the face direction based on the relationship between the face eye arrangement and the contour line. The position of the face in the face image is determined by, for example, a method of calculating a difference between the sequentially captured face images, pattern matching using a standard face image (template), or detecting a skin color region using a color face image. There is.

  When the difference calculation of the sequentially inputted face images is performed, the outline of the face emerges due to the slight vibrations of the car and the passenger. That is, since the contour portion is sequentially photographed as a face image while slightly moving, an area having a large variation in a predetermined number of face images is detected as the face position. In the difference calculation, if the luminance is compared for each pixel and a region having a luminance difference greater than or equal to a predetermined value is detected, the contour portion can be raised.

  FIG. 3A shows an example of a face image in which the outline of the face is detected from the difference image. In FIG. 3A, the upper left of the face image is the origin (0, 0), the right direction is the X axis, and the lower direction is the Y axis. When detecting the position of the face from the difference image, an area where the luminance varies in the contour portion is detected. Therefore, if pixels with large luminance variations are projected in the X direction and the Y direction, the left and right edges of the face position and Peaks are obtained at the top and bottom. The face direction ECU 14 can detect a stable face position by integrating the projections of the varying pixels over a predetermined number. In FIG. 3A, the left end of the face is detected as x1, the right end is detected as x2, the upper end is detected as y1, and the lower end is detected as y2.

  When using pattern matching, prepare a face image template, detect the correlation of brightness by shifting the template and face image one pixel at a time, and if there is a face image in the region with the highest correlation To detect. In this case, it is preferable to prepare several templates having different orientations and angles so that the position of the face can be detected even if the orientation and angle of the face are different. In the case of detecting the face position by pattern matching, a known pattern matching such as a neural network or a support vector machine may be used.

  Next, the face direction ECU 14 detects the position of both eyes. For example, a partial image having diagonal vertices at coordinates (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) determined as face positions is extracted (face circumscribed rectangle), and the brightness of the upper half is 1 pixel in the Y-axis direction. Pixels below a predetermined level (high density) are detected (binarization processing). FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating an example of a circumscribed rectangle of the face. When all the pixel columns in the Y-axis direction are detected, an area where pixels having a luminance equal to or lower than a predetermined value is connected is extracted.

  If it is a face, it is expected that areas of the hair, eyebrows, and pupils (black eyes) will be extracted. Therefore, from below, areas where the luminance is detected to be equal to or lower than a predetermined value for each pixel column in the X-axis direction The positions of both eyes can be detected by extracting and detecting a region that continues relatively long sideways as the pupil. In FIG. 3B, the coordinates of the left pupil position are (x3, y3), and the right pupil position is (x4, y4). For example, in foreign countries where the color of the eyes is different, this can be dealt with by changing the luminance threshold.

  The positions of both eyes may be detected by pattern matching. As the template, image data of both eyes such as the driver's front direction and oblique sideways is acquired in advance, and the position of both eyes is detected from the circumscribed rectangle extracted as the image of the face position using the acquired image data.

  First, the face direction ECU 14 uses the above-described method to set the coordinates (x1, y1), (x2, y2) indicating the position of the face in the initial state and the coordinates (x3, y3), (x4, y4) indicating the position of the eyes. ) Is detected. The face orientation in the initial state is, for example, a state in which the driver is facing the front, but the face orientation at the start of the operation depending on the face orientation may be known even if the driver is not facing the front. As described later, the start of the operation is detected by the driver performing a starting operation by voice or pressing button operation.

  When the driver turns his face horizontally to either the left or right, the relationship between the coordinates of both ends of the face and the coordinates of the positions of both eyes changes. FIG. 4A shows an example of a face image that is taken when the driver turns to the left. As shown in FIG. 4A, the distance “x3-x1” from the coordinate x1 of the left end of the face to the coordinate x3 of the position of the left eye is increased, the distance “x4-x3” between both eyes is decreased, and the right eye The distance “x2−x4” from the coordinate x4 of the position to the coordinate x2 of the right end of the face becomes narrower.

Therefore, the face direction ECU 14 detects the direction of the face depending on whether the left or right end of the face is widened, and the driver's face direction angle with respect to the front according to the change of “x4-x3” or “x2-x4” Can be calculated. If “x4-x3” when facing the front is A, and “x4-x3” when facing the right or left horizontal direction is B, the face orientation angle F_θ is given by the following equation.
F_θ = arccos (B / A) (1)
Further, when the driver turns his / her face up or down, the relationship between the upper and lower coordinates of the face and the coordinates of the positions of both eyes changes. FIG. 4B shows an example of a face image that is captured when the driver faces downward. As shown in FIG. 4B, the distance “y2−y3 (y4)” from the coordinate y2 of the lower end of the face to the coordinates y3 and y4 of the positions of both eyes is reduced, and the face is determined from the coordinates y3 and y4 of the positions of both eyes. The distance “y3 (y4) −y1” to the coordinate y1 of the upper end of is widened. Conversely, when the driver turns upward, the distance “y2−y3 (y4)” from the coordinate y2 of the lower end of the face to the coordinates y3 and y4 of the positions of both eyes increases.

Therefore, the face direction ECU 14 detects the direction in which the face faces depending on whether the distance from the coordinate y2 of the lower end of the face to the position coordinates y3, y4 of both eyes is small or large, and the front is determined by the change of “y2-y3”. The face direction angle of the driver in the vertical direction with respect to can be calculated. When “y2−y3” when facing the front is C and “y2−y3” when facing upward or downward is D, the face orientation angle F_α is given by the following equation.
F_α = arccos (D / C) (2)
The face orientation angle calculated by the face orientation ECU 14 according to the expressions (1) and (2) is sent to the navigation ECU 15. Note that the method of detecting the face orientation angle is not limited to the above-described method, and the positions of the nose and mouth may be detected and the relationship (distance) between them and the position of the eyes may be used.

[Gaze direction detection]
The line-of-sight detection ECU 19 is connected to the two cameras 13A and 13B, and receives image data (hereinafter referred to as line-of-sight image) taken by the two cameras in synchronization. One of the cameras 13A and 13B can be shared by the camera 13.

  FIG. 5A shows a functional block diagram of the visual line detection device. The captured image data is input to the line-of-sight detection ECU 19. The gaze direction detection ECU 19 detects features such as black eyes and white eyes from the gaze images taken by the cameras 13A and 13B, and detects the gaze direction from the center position of the eyeball and the center position of the pupil. The internal parameters and relative positional relationship of the cameras 13A and 13B are known.

  FIG. 5B is a diagram showing the relationship between the cameras 13A and 13B and the line-of-sight image. The three-dimensional coordinate calculation unit 19A detects corresponding points from the line-of-sight images captured by the cameras 13A and 13B, and calculates a distance to a characteristic part such as a driver's eyeball. Since the line-of-sight images captured by the cameras 13A and 13B absorb differences other than parallax using internal parameters, the distance L to the feature point is detected based on the difference in pixel position where the corresponding point is captured.

  Since the driver's eyeball has a pupil at the center of the white eye, the pupil can be detected by binarizing the line-of-sight image. Since the pupil part is substantially circular, the pupil center calculation unit 19B calculates the coordinates of the center (KOL, KOR) of the black eye part of the binarized image.

  Next, the eyeball center calculation unit 19C calculates the eyeball center from the image of the white eye part. Since many fine blood vessels serving as characteristic portions are randomly present on the white eye, the left and right line-of-sight images can be associated with each other by the blood vessel patterns. Corresponding to the white-eye portion, accurate coordinates on the blood vessel pattern are obtained.

  FIG. 5C shows a schematic cross section of the eyeball. When the eyeball is considered as a sphere, the blood vessels in the white eye are present on the surface of the sphere. In addition, in order to specify the sphere, it is only necessary to know the center coordinates (three because it is three-dimensional) and the radius. Therefore, since there are four variables, the center coordinates of the eyeball can be calculated if four coordinates on the blood vessel are given.

  The line-of-sight detection unit 19D detects the line-of-sight direction from the center coordinates of the black eye and the center coordinates of the eyeball. Since the human line of sight may be equal to a line passing through the center of the eyeball and the center of the black eye, a straight line passing through the coordinates of the two points is the line-of-sight direction. Since there are left and right eyeballs, two straight lines are obtained, but the line-of-sight detection unit 19D sets the average of the directions of the two lines as the line-of-sight direction.

[Navigation system]
The navigation ECU 15 displays a map around the current vehicle position from a map database storing a road map based on the vehicle travel position detected by a GPS (Global Positioning System) / INS (Internal Navigation System) device 2, Guide the route to the ground.

  A display device 16 and a speaker 17 are connected to the navigation ECU 15. The display device 16 is a liquid crystal, organic EL, HUD (Head Up Display) or the like, and displays a road map, traffic information, a route to the destination, and the like. The display device 16 may have an operation unit such as a touch panel.

  In addition, the speaker 17 outputs sound by vibrating the vibration surface by the current amplified by the amplifier. Since the volume is proportional to the current, the volume can be controlled by controlling the amount of current. A traveling direction such as an intersection guided by the navigation ECU 15 from the speaker 17 is output by voice.

  The navigation ECU 15 may be connected to a television / radio receiver. It receives radio waves such as terrestrial broadcasts, HEO (Highly Elliptical Orbit) satellites, and One Seg, and outputs video and audio from the display device 16 and the speaker 17. Further, media such as a DVD may be reproduced and displayed.

[Hardware configuration of each ECU]
The face-facing ECU 14, the navigation ECU 15, the line-of-sight detection ECU 19, and the voice recognition device 12 are microcomputers in which a CPU, ROM, RAM, NV-RAM (Non-Volatile RAM), a communication unit, and the like are connected by a bus, and are stored in the ROM. The later-described control is executed by the CPU executing the program.

  The face direction ECU 14 implements a face direction detection unit that detects a driver's face direction angle by executing a program. The navigation ECU 15 executes the program, so that the in-vehicle device control means for controlling the state of the in-vehicle device according to the detected face orientation angle, the informing means for informing the occupant of the control state, the traveling direction and the line-of-sight direction are A warning means for warning the driver when different, a traveling direction detection means for detecting the traveling direction of the host vehicle, and the like are realized. The line-of-sight detection ECU 19 implements a line-of-sight direction detection unit that detects the direction of the driver's line of sight by executing a program. The voice recognition device 12 recognizes voice generated by the occupant by executing a program.

[Volume adjustment by face orientation]
With reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6, the procedure of the process in which the in-vehicle device adjustment device adjusts the volume of the speaker 17 according to the face orientation angle will be described using the above configuration.

  When adjusting the volume, the driver performs a predetermined activation operation to activate the in-vehicle device adjustment device (S11). As a result, the in-vehicle device adjustment device is activated. The activation operation may be any operation such as “sound volume” or pressing a button switch. In this embodiment, when the driver utters “volume”, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and sends a control signal to the navigation ECU 15. Note that words for the activation operation are registered in advance according to the in-vehicle device.

  The navigation ECU 15 activates a volume adjusting means for adjusting the volume (S12). Further, in order to make the driver recognize that it has been activated, the screen of the road map or the screen of the television is ended and a volume adjustment screen is displayed on the display device 16. The volume adjustment screen may be superimposed on a road map screen or a television screen. Further, the navigation ECU 15 informs the driver by voice from the speaker 17 that the volume can be adjusted by the face angle.

  FIG. 7 shows an example of the volume adjustment screen. The volume adjustment screen shows that the right direction is a direction to increase the volume and the left direction is a direction to decrease the volume. By referring to this, the driver can know in which direction the face can be turned to achieve the desired volume adjustment. In addition, a bar 161 indicating the current volume setting is displayed on the volume adjustment screen.

  Next, the face direction ECU 14 detects a face direction angle (S13). The face orientation angle detected immediately after the volume adjustment screen is activated is an initial state for detecting the face orientation angle. The face orientation angle in the initial state may be directed to the left or right, but is preferably front-facing.

  Next, when the driver turns his / her face left or right, the face direction ECU 114 sequentially detects the driver's face direction, and the navigation ECU 15 controls the volume of the speaker 17 according to the face direction angle (S14). That is, the volume is increased when the driver turns right, and the volume is reduced when the driver turns left. Since the face orientation ECU 14 detects the face orientation angle by performing image processing on a substantially fixed number of frames in a predetermined time, the volume can be adjusted according to the speed or amount of change of the face orientation angle.

  The navigation ECU 15 determines whether or not a volume adjustment end operation is detected from the driver (S15). The end operation is, for example, a voice “end of volume” or “end” by the driver. When the driver utters “volume end”, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and sends a control signal to the navigation ECU 15. Note that words for the end operation are registered in advance.

  If the end operation is not detected (No in S15), the control in steps S13 and S14 is repeated. When the end operation is detected (Yes in S15), the in-vehicle device adjustment device ends the volume adjustment control and returns the screen of the display device 16 to the original state.

  As described above, the in-vehicle device adjustment device of the present embodiment can adjust the volume without the driver performing an operation with his / her hands or feet. Safety is improved without being deprived of.

  In this embodiment, the volume of the speaker is adjusted with the face angle, but the present invention is preferably applied to an in-vehicle device whose state is continuously controlled, for example, mirror position, vehicle speed setting by cruise control, seat, etc. be able to.

  In the case of the mirror position, for example, when the driver utters “mirror, right”, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and sends a control signal to the navigation ECU 15. The navigation ECU displays a screen for operating the angle (position) of the right door mirror, and controls the angle of the door mirror according to the driver's face orientation angle. That is, if the driver turns to the right, the angle of the door mirror is controlled to the right, and if the driver is turned to the left, the angle of the door mirror is controlled to the left.

  Further, an image showing the state of the in-vehicle device as shown in FIG. 8A is displayed on the display device 17. That is, since the angle of the door mirror that is adjusted according to the face orientation angle is displayed, the driver can visually confirm the adjusted state if the vehicle-mounted device can recognize the state visually. When the driver says “End”, the door mirror is fixed at the operated angle. The door mirror may be a room mirror.

  When the vehicle speed is set by cruise control, the vehicle usually travels at a constant speed (hereinafter referred to as a cruise speed) during traveling, and the vehicle is accelerated by depressing an acceleration button or an accelerator pedal. When the acceleration button or accelerator pedal is released at the end of acceleration, the cruise speed is automatically reduced.

  When operating the vehicle speed by cruise control at the face orientation angle, when the driver utters “cruise control”, for example, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and sends a control signal to the navigation ECU 15. The navigation ECU 15 displays a screen for operating the vehicle speed by cruise control, and controls the vehicle speed according to the driver's face orientation angle.

  Although it is possible to detect the face orientation angle in both the left and right directions, usually when the brake is operated during cruise control, cruise control is canceled, so the face orientation direction to be detected to unify the operation method is only one direction ( It is preferable that the acceleration direction only).

  When the acceleration operation by the face angle is finished, when the driver utters “End”, the host vehicle automatically decelerates to the cruising speed.

  Also, when the acceleration operation by the face angle is finished, if the driver says “Set” before saying “End”, the driving speed at the time of speaking is set as the cruise speed, and the cruise start To do. When a new cruise speed is set, the navigation ECU 15 outputs the current cruise speed from the speaker 17 and displays it on the display device 16 to notify the driver.

  When adjusting the seat position, for example, when the driver utters “seat”, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and sends a control signal to the navigation ECU 15. The navigation ECU 15 displays a screen for operating the reclining angle of the seat, and controls the reclining angle of the seat according to the driver's face angle. For example, when the driver turns to the right, the seat is pushed down, and when the driver turns to the left, the seat is raised. Further, when the driver utters “End”, the seat is fixed at the operated reclining angle.

  Further, an image showing the state of the in-vehicle device as shown in FIG. 8B is displayed on the display device 17. That is, since the reclining angle of the seat adjusted according to the face orientation angle is displayed, the driver can visually confirm the adjusted state if the vehicle-mounted device can be visually recognized.

  As described above, when the vehicle-mounted device is controlled by the face-facing angle, all the vehicle-mounted devices that continuously control the state can be operated by the same operation method without knowing the position of the button, etc. Usability is improved.

[Suspension adjustment by face orientation]
The in-vehicle device adjustment device of the present embodiment can be suitably applied to an in-vehicle device that may continuously control the state. FIG. 9 shows another form of the functional block diagram of the in-vehicle device adjustment device. In FIG. 9, the same parts as those in FIG.

  The suspension control ECU 18 is connected to the navigation ECU 15 in the in-vehicle device adjustment device of FIG. The suspension control ECU 18 controls a so-called electronically controlled suspension. The electronically controlled suspension is a suspension device in which a vehicle body is suspended by a spring and a damper, and an actuator for switching and controlling a damping force is provided above the damper.

  The rotary valve installed in the damper has multiple large and small orifices.When an actuator connected to the upper part of the damper is driven, the rotary valve rotates and the orifice opens and closes, and the flow rate of the passing oil is reduced. The damping force of the damper can be continuously switched by changing.

  The suspension control ECU 18 communicates with the navigation ECU 15 using the CAN protocol or the like, and receives the detection result of the face angle. That is, the suspension control ECU 18 can control the damper damping force by controlling the damper actuator of each wheel based on the detection result of the face angle.

  In the electronically controlled suspension, an air spring may be used instead of the spring. By dividing the air chamber of the air spring into two main and sub, and letting air in and out through the air sealing port, the spring force can be divided into two stages, and the vehicle height against changes in the number of passengers and vehicle weight Can be kept constant. Air in / out is controlled by switching the air passage by an air valve driven by an actuator.

  The procedure of the process in which the suspension control ECU 18 adjusts the damping force (hereinafter referred to as hardness) of the suspension according to the face angle will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  When adjusting the hardness of the suspension, the driver performs a predetermined activation operation to activate the in-vehicle device adjustment device (S21). As a result, the in-vehicle device adjustment device is activated. The activation operation may be any operation such as utterance of “suspension” or pressing a button switch. When the driver utters “suspension”, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and sends a control signal to the navigation ECU 15. Note that words for the activation operation are registered in advance according to the in-vehicle device.

  The navigation ECU 15 displays a suspension adjustment screen for performing suspension adjustment (S22). Further, the navigation ECU 15 informs the driver by voice from the speaker 17 that the suspension hardness can be adjusted by the face orientation angle. Thereby, the driver | operator can recognize that the vehicle-mounted apparatus adjustment apparatus started. Further, the navigation ECU 15 starts communication with the suspension control ECU 18.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of the suspension adjustment screen. The suspension adjustment screen shows that the right direction is the direction that softens the suspension and the left direction is the direction that makes it hard. By referring to this, the driver can know in which direction the desired suspension can be adjusted. In addition, a bar 162 indicating the current suspension hardness is displayed on the suspension adjustment screen.

  Next, the face direction ECU 14 detects a face direction angle (S23). The face orientation angle detected immediately after the suspension adjustment screen is activated is an initial state for detecting the face orientation angle. The face orientation angle in the initial state may be directed to the left or right, but is preferably front-facing.

  Next, when the driver turns his / her face to the left or right, the face direction ECU 14 sequentially detects the driver's face direction, and the navigation ECU 15 sends the face direction angle to the suspension control ECU 18. Accordingly, the hardness of the suspension is controlled (S24). That is, the suspension is softened when the driver turns to the right and hardened when the driver turns to the left.

  The navigation ECU 15 determines whether or not an end operation for adjusting the hardness of the suspension is detected from the driver (S25). The end operation is, for example, a voice of “end of suspension” or “end” by the driver. When the driver utters “end of suspension”, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and sends a control signal to the navigation ECU 15. Note that words for the end operation are registered in advance.

  If the end operation is not detected (No in S25), the control in steps S23 and S24 is repeated. When the end operation is detected (Yes in S25), the in-vehicle device adjustment device ends the suspension adjustment control and returns the screen of the display device 16 to the original state.

  As described above, the in-vehicle device adjustment apparatus of the present embodiment can adjust the suspension hardness without the driver's operation by hand or foot. Safety is improved without being deprived of. Further, even if the position of the button or the like is not grasped, all the in-vehicle devices that continuously control the state can be operated by the same operation method, so that the convenience of the driver is improved.

[Alarm by detecting line of sight]
When operating the vehicle-mounted device according to the face orientation angle, the driver turns his / her face to the right or left, but it is desirable that the line of sight is in the traveling direction even during the operation. Therefore, an on-vehicle device adjustment device that detects the direction of the line of sight during an operation based on the face orientation angle and alerts the driver when the line of sight differs from the traveling direction by a predetermined amount or more will be described. The functional block diagram of the in-vehicle device adjustment device may be either FIG. 1 or FIG.

  The traveling direction of the vehicle is detected by the steering angle detected by the steering sensor 21 or the yaw rate detected by the yaw rate sensor 22. The navigation ECU 15 sounds an alarm when the traveling direction of the vehicle and the line-of-sight angle exceed a predetermined value.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a control procedure in which the navigation ECU 15 sounds a warning when the line of sight differs from the traveling direction by a predetermined amount or more during operation of the in-vehicle device depending on the face orientation angle. The steps already described will be briefly described.

  When adjusting the volume, the driver performs a predetermined activation operation to activate the in-vehicle device adjustment device (S31). As a result, the in-vehicle device adjustment device is activated. The navigation ECU 15 activates a volume adjustment means for adjusting the volume (S32). Further, in order to make the driver recognize that it has been activated, the screen of the road map or the screen of the television is ended and a volume adjustment screen is displayed on the display device 16. Next, the face direction ECU 14 detects a face direction angle (S33). The face orientation angle detected immediately after the volume adjustment screen is activated is an initial state for detecting the face orientation angle. When the driver turns his / her face to the left or right, the face direction ECU 114 sequentially detects the driver's face direction.

  In parallel with the detection of the face orientation angle, the line-of-sight detection ECU 19 detects the center of the eyeball and the center of the pupil from the line-of-sight image, and detects the direction of the line of sight from them (S34). The detected line-of-sight direction is sent to the navigation ECU 15. The navigation ECU 15 detects the traveling direction of the vehicle based on the steering angle, the yaw rate, and the like (S35).

  FIG. 13A shows the line-of-sight direction when the traveling direction of the vehicle and the line-of-sight direction are different from each other by a predetermined amount, and FIG. 13B shows the line-of-sight direction when the vehicle traveling direction and the line-of-sight direction are substantially the same. FIG. In order to operate the vehicle-mounted device with the face facing, the driver is facing the right direction in FIGS. 13 (a) and 13 (b). However, in FIG. 13B, the driver's line-of-sight direction is on the left with respect to the front direction of the face, and is therefore substantially the same as the traveling direction of the vehicle. On the other hand, in FIG. 13A, since the line-of-sight direction is substantially the same as the front direction of the face, the line-of-sight direction is also the right direction as the face direction angle.

  The navigation ECU 15 compares the line-of-sight direction and the traveling direction as shown in FIG. 13, and determines whether or not the line-of-sight direction differs from the traveling direction by a predetermined amount or more (S36). If the line-of-sight direction and the traveling direction are different from each other by a predetermined amount (Yes in S36), an alarm is heard from the speaker 17 (S38). Accordingly, the driver can recognize that the line of sight is deviated from the traveling direction because of the operation based on the face angle, and safety is improved.

  If the line-of-sight direction does not differ from the traveling direction by a predetermined amount or more (No in S36), the navigation ECU 15 controls the volume of the speaker 17 according to the face orientation angle (S37). That is, the volume is increased when the driver turns right, and the volume is reduced when the driver turns left.

  The navigation ECU 15 determines whether or not a volume adjustment end operation is detected from the driver (S39). When the driver utters “volume end” or the like, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and the navigation ECU 15 The navigation ECU 15 ends the volume adjustment control.

  As described above, the in-vehicle device adjustment device according to the present embodiment, when operating the on-vehicle device according to the face orientation angle, when the driver's line of sight differs greatly from the traveling direction, be careful of the driver by sounding an alarm. Can be encouraged.

[Control of display position of volume adjustment screen]
An in-vehicle device adjustment device that adjusts the display position of the volume adjustment screen according to the line-of-sight direction will be described. Since the display position is required to be adjustable, the display device 16 used in this embodiment is preferably a device that can adjust the display position, such as a HUD or a projector.

  The HUD includes a projector that projects a virtual image of a volume adjustment screen on a dashboard or the like, and is configured to be able to control the direction of projection by an actuator. The navigation ECU 15 controls the light projecting direction of the projector according to the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight detection ECU 19, and displays a volume adjustment screen in the driver's line-of-sight direction.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a procedure for controlling the display position of the volume adjustment screen in accordance with the face orientation angle.

  When adjusting the volume, the driver performs a predetermined activation operation to activate the in-vehicle device adjustment device (S41). As a result, the in-vehicle device adjustment device is activated. The navigation ECU 15 activates a volume adjusting means for adjusting the volume (S42). Further, in order to make the driver recognize that it has been activated, the road map screen and the television screen are terminated, and the volume adjustment screen is displayed on the windshield by the HUD.

  Next, the face direction ECU 14 detects a face direction angle (S43). The face orientation angle detected immediately after the volume adjustment screen is activated is an initial state for detecting the face orientation angle. When the driver turns his / her face to the left or right, the face direction ECU 114 sequentially detects the driver's face direction.

  The navigation ECU 15 controls the volume of the speaker 17 according to the face orientation angle (S44). That is, the volume is increased when the driver turns right, and the volume is reduced when the driver turns left.

  Next, the line-of-sight detection ECU 19 detects the center of the eyeball and the center of the pupil from the line-of-sight image, and detects the line-of-sight direction therefrom (S45). Since the detected line-of-sight direction is sent to the navigation ECU 15, the navigation ECU 15 controls the display position of the volume adjustment screen according to the line-of-sight direction (S46).

  FIG. 15 shows an example of a volume adjustment screen displayed based on the line-of-sight direction. The volume adjustment screen is displayed on the windshield. Since the line-of-sight direction is the left side in FIG. 15A, the volume adjustment screen is displayed on the left handle, and in FIG. 15B, the volume adjustment screen is displayed on the right side because the line-of-sight direction is the right side.

  The navigation ECU 15 determines whether or not a volume adjustment end operation is detected from the driver (S47). When the driver utters “volume end” or the like, the voice recognition device 12 recognizes the voice and the navigation ECU 15 The navigation ECU 15 ends the volume adjustment control.

  In this way, by controlling the display position of the volume adjustment screen according to the line-of-sight direction, the volume adjustment screen is displayed at a position that is easy to see from the driver even when the volume is adjusted by the face orientation angle. be able to. For example, when the vehicle travels around a corner, the driver's line of sight is directed forward in the diagonal direction, so by controlling the display position according to the direction of the line of sight, the driver's line of sight, the vehicle's direction of travel, and display The positions can be matched. Also in the present embodiment, an alarm may be heard when the traveling direction of the vehicle and the driver's line-of-sight direction are different from each other by a predetermined amount or more.

  As described above, the on-vehicle device adjustment device of the present embodiment can easily adjust the state of the on-vehicle device according to the driver's will even during traveling. Moreover, when adjusting a state continuously, since various vehicle-mounted apparatuses can be operated with the same operation method, a driver's convenience is also improved. Further, when the face angle is greatly different from the traveling direction, an alarm can be heard and the safety is not impaired. Since the display position of the screen for adjustment can be controlled in accordance with the driver's line-of-sight direction, the driver can easily view it.

It is a functional block diagram of an in-vehicle device adjustment device. It is a functional block diagram of a voice recognition device. It is an example of the face image from which the outline of the face was detected by the difference image. It is an example of the face image image | photographed when a driver | operator faces the left direction. It is a functional block diagram of a gaze detection device. It is a flowchart figure which shows the procedure of the process which a vehicle-mounted apparatus adjustment apparatus adjusts the volume of a speaker with a face direction angle. It is an example of a volume adjustment screen. It is an example of the state of the vehicle-mounted apparatus displayed on a display apparatus. It is an example of the functional block diagram of a vehicle-mounted apparatus adjustment apparatus. It is a flowchart figure which shows the procedure of the process which an in-vehicle apparatus adjustment apparatus adjusts the damping force of a suspension with a face direction angle. It is an example of a suspension adjustment screen. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a control procedure in which a navigation ECU sounds an alarm when a line of sight differs from a traveling direction by a predetermined amount or more during a face-facing operation. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between the advancing direction of a vehicle, and a gaze direction. It is a flowchart figure which shows the procedure which controls the display position of a volume adjustment screen according to a face direction angle. It is an example of the volume adjustment screen displayed based on the gaze direction.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 In-vehicle apparatus adjustment apparatus 11 Microphone 12 Voice recognition apparatus 13 Camera 14 Face direction ECU
15 Navi ECU
16 Display device 17 Speaker
18 Suspension control ECU
19 Gaze detection ECU

Claims (4)

In the in-vehicle device adjustment device that adjusts the state of the in-vehicle device,
Starting means for starting the in-vehicle device adjustment device;
A face direction detecting means for detecting a driver's face angle;
In-vehicle device control means for controlling the state of the in-vehicle device according to the face orientation angle detected by the face orientation detection means;
An in-vehicle device adjustment device comprising: Informing means for notifying the passenger of the state of the in-vehicle device controlled by the in-vehicle device control means,
The in-vehicle device adjustment device according to claim 1, wherein Gaze direction detecting means for detecting the gaze direction of the driver;
Traveling direction detection means for detecting the traveling direction of the host vehicle;
When the driver's line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detection unit and the traveling direction detected by the traveling direction detection unit are different from each other by a predetermined amount, an alarm unit that warns the driver;
The in-vehicle device adjustment device according to claim 1, wherein Gaze direction detecting means for detecting the gaze direction of the driver,
The notification means displays the state of the in-vehicle device in the line-of-sight direction detected by the line-of-sight direction detection means.
The in-vehicle device adjustment device according to claim 2.

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