JP2010137663A - Spectacles monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a spectacles monitoring device where a state monitoring of a driver can be performed even when spectacles worn by the driver easily becomes fogged. <P>SOLUTION: The spectacles monitoring device 1 has an air conditioning control unit 3 for allowing an air conditioner 11 to execute an anti-fogging movement for preventing the spectacles from being fogged when the condition of the spectacles capable of being fogged is established. The spectacles monitoring device 1 has a fogging condition determination section 2 for determining the possibility of success and failure of the fogging condition, a vehicle interior temperature/humidity detection section 6 for detecting the temperature or humidity of the vehicle interior, and a vehicle exterior temperature/humidity detection section 7 for detecting the temperature or humidity of the vehicle exterior. The fogging condition determination section 2 determines the possibility of success and failure of the fogging condition by using the detection result of the vehicle interior temperature/humidity detection section 6 and the vehicle exterior temperature/humidity detection section 7. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an eyeglass monitoring device that monitors the state of eyeglasses worn by a driver.

Conventionally, a face image capturing device that captures an image of a driver's face is known for vehicles. This face image pickup device performs image processing using image pickup data obtained from an image pickup means provided in a vehicle compartment, and outputs image data used for detecting a driver's state. With regard to this type of face image capturing apparatus, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses that when a driver wears spectacles, near-infrared light is detected when the eyes cannot be detected due to surface reflection of the spectacle lens. A face image capturing apparatus is disclosed that can be observed by irradiating the eyes.
Japanese Patent No. 3316725

  The face image pickup device described above can detect the driver's eyes even if the spectacles worn by the driver have a lens surface reflection.

  However, it is conceivable that when the driver wears spectacles, the spectacles become cloudy, which makes it impossible to accurately detect the driver's eyes. Then, the driver's accurate state monitoring based on the driver's eye condition may not be performed, or the state monitoring may be different from the actual driver state, and the driver may not be accurately supported. . In addition, when the eyeglasses become cloudy, the determination of the driver's condition may be stopped and the driver's assistance may not be performed.

  Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and provides a spectacle monitoring device that can monitor a driver's condition even when the spectacles worn by the driver are in a cloudy state. With the goal.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention is a spectacles monitoring device that monitors the state of spectacles worn by a driver, and prevents spectacles from being fogged when a clouding condition in which the spectacles are fogged is satisfied. The eyeglass monitoring device has air conditioning control means for causing the air conditioning device to perform the anti-fogging operation.

  This spectacles monitoring device can prevent the spectacles from being fogged because the air conditioner performs an anti-fogging operation when the fogging condition is satisfied.

  The spectacles monitoring device includes a cloudy condition determination unit that determines whether or not a cloudy condition is successful, an in-vehicle temperature / humidity detection unit that detects temperature or humidity in the vehicle, and an outside temperature / humidity detection unit that detects temperature or humidity outside the vehicle. The cloudy condition determining means can determine whether or not the fogging condition is successful using the detection results of the in-vehicle temperature / humidity detecting means and the outside temperature / humidity detecting means.

  In this way, the temperature and humidity inside and outside the vehicle can be reflected in the success or failure of the cloudy condition.

  The eyeglass monitoring device further includes a face image photographing means for photographing a driver's face image, and an eye detecting means for detecting the driver's eyes based on the face image photographed by the face image photographing means. The air-conditioning control means preferably causes the air-conditioning apparatus to execute the anti-fogging operation when the number of times of detection that the driver's eyes cannot be detected by the eye detection means exceeds a predetermined number.

  In this way, even in an atmosphere where the glasses are likely to be cloudy, the air conditioner does not perform the anti-clouding operation when the eyes can be detected.

  Further, in the eyeglass monitoring device, the air conditioning control means can cause the air conditioner to execute an anti-fogging operation when a fogging promotion condition for promoting fogging of the glasses is satisfied.

  In this way, the anti-fogging operation can be performed only when the glasses are more likely to be cloudy.

  As described above in detail, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an eyeglass monitoring device that can monitor the state of the driver even when the eyeglasses worn by the driver are in a state of being easily clouded.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. In addition, the same code | symbol is used for the same element and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a spectacle monitoring apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The spectacles monitoring device 1 includes a cloudy condition determination unit 2, an air conditioner control unit 3, an eye detection unit 4, and a spectacle presence / absence detection unit 5. The eyeglass monitoring device 1 also includes an in-vehicle temperature / humidity detection unit 6, an out-of-vehicle temperature / humidity detection unit 7, a driver camera 8, a power window switch 9, and an infrared lamp 10.

  The cloudy condition determination unit 2 is configured by an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) together with the air conditioner control unit 3, the eye detection unit 4 and the glasses presence / absence detection unit 5. The ECU includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an input / output port, and the like. The CPU operates in accordance with a control program stored in the ROM while reading / writing data from / to the RAM, so that the cloudy condition determination unit 2, the air conditioner control unit 3, Functions as the eye detection unit 4 and the spectacle presence / absence detection unit 5 are realized.

  The cloudy condition determining unit 2 determines whether or not the cloudy condition is satisfied, and outputs a cloudy condition satisfaction signal d2 to the air conditioner control unit 3 when the cloudy condition is satisfied and conditions C3 and C4 described later are satisfied. The cloudy condition refers to a condition for causing the glasses worn by the driver who drives the vehicle to become cloudy (fogging occurs in the glasses).

  The air conditioner control unit 3 causes the air conditioner 11 to execute an anti-fogging operation for preventing the glasses from being clouded when the clouding condition determination signal d2 is output from the clouding condition determination unit 2. The eye detection unit 4 detects the eyes of the driver based on face image data d8 (described later) input from the driver camera 8 (described later), and outputs eye detection data d4 indicating the detection result to the cloudy condition determination unit 2.

  The glasses presence / absence detection unit 5 detects whether or not the driver is wearing glasses based on the face image data d8 from the driver camera 8, and the glasses presence / absence detection data d5 indicating the detection result is used as the cloudy condition determination unit. Output to 2. The spectacle presence / absence detection unit 5 detects the presence / absence of spectacles based on the presence / absence of a high-intensity point of infrared rays emitted from the infrared lamp 10 reflected on the lens part of the spectacles worn, based on the face image data d8, for example. . At this time, when a high brightness point is detected, it is detected that glasses are worn, and if not, glasses are not worn. Further, it may be detected that glasses are worn when the edge state of the image or an image near the eyes cannot be obtained due to irregular reflection, and that glasses are not worn otherwise.

  Then, the in-vehicle temperature / humidity detection unit 6 detects the in-vehicle temperature and humidity, and outputs in-vehicle temperature / humidity detection data d6 indicating the detection result to the cloudy condition determination unit 2. The vehicle outside temperature / humidity detection unit 7 detects the temperature and humidity outside the vehicle, and outputs vehicle outside temperature / humidity detection data d7 indicating the detection result to the cloudy condition determination unit 2.

  The driver camera 8 includes an optical lens, a CCD as an image sensor, and a signal processing unit that processes signals from the CCD. The driver camera 8 generates face image data d8 indicating an image of a predetermined region including the driver's face imaged on the CCD by the optical lens, and the generated face image data d8 is used as the eye detection unit 4 and the spectacle presence / absence detection unit. 5 and output. When a power window switch (not shown) is operated, the power window switch 9 outputs an operation signal d9 corresponding to the operation content to the cloudy condition determination unit 2.

  The infrared lamp 10 irradiates infrared rays so as to be reflected by a lens of spectacles worn by the driver. The infrared lamp 10 is installed at a position where the driver camera 8 can capture a reflection image of the infrared lamp 10 reflected on the spectacle lens.

  Next, the operation content of the eyeglass monitoring apparatus 1 having the above configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the eyeglass monitoring routine realized by the eyeglass monitoring apparatus 1. The eyeglass monitoring routine is incorporated in a driver state monitoring routine (not shown) for monitoring the driver's state, and is executed during the execution of the driver state monitoring routine.

  In the spectacles monitoring apparatus 1, when the spectacles monitoring routine starts, first, in S1, the fogging condition determination unit 2 determines whether or not the condition C1 (condition for determining whether or not glasses are worn) is met. In this case, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 determines whether the driver is wearing glasses based on the presence / absence of luminance data representing glasses based on the glasses presence / absence detection data d5 input from the glasses presence / absence detection unit 5. If the person is wearing glasses, the operation proceeds to S2, otherwise the glasses monitoring routine is terminated.

  In subsequent S2, the fogging condition determination unit 2 executes a condition C2 preprocessing described later, and in subsequent S3, determines whether the condition C2 (cloudy condition) is successful based on the result of the condition C2 preprocessing. The cloudy condition determination unit 2 proceeds to S4 when determining that the glasses worn by the driver may be cloudy, and ends the glasses monitoring routine otherwise.

  In S4, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 executes a condition C3 pre-processing described later, and in the subsequent S5, based on the result of the condition C3 pre-processing, the condition C3 (condition for determining that luminance data representing the eyes can no longer be detected) (Also referred to as “eye non-detection condition”). The cloudy condition determination unit 2 determines whether or not the eye non-detection condition is satisfied based on the result of the condition C3 pre-processing, and when determining that the eye non-detection condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to S6. If not, the eyeglass monitoring routine is terminated.

  In S6, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 executes a condition C4 pre-processing described later, and in subsequent S7, based on the result of the condition C4 pre-processing, the condition C4 (a condition that promotes the clouding of the glasses) The success or failure of the promotion condition is also determined. The fogging condition determination unit 2 determines whether or not the fogging promotion condition is satisfied by opening the vehicle window by operating the power window switch 9, and when determining that the fogging promotion condition is satisfied, the process goes to S8. If not, the eyeglass monitoring routine is terminated.

  In the eyeglass monitoring device 1, when the operation proceeds to S <b> 8, the clouding condition determination unit 2 outputs the clouding condition establishment signal d <b> 2 to the air conditioner control unit 3 to control the air temperature and the wind direction of the air conditioner 11. When the air conditioner control unit 3 inputs the fogging condition establishment signal d2, the air conditioner 11 performs an operation (anti-fogging operation) for preventing the glasses from fogging, and then ends the glasses monitoring routine.

  The cloudy condition determination unit 2 executes the condition C2 preprocessing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this condition C2 preprocessing, a temperature difference and a humidity difference between the inside and outside of the vehicle are detected, and based on the detection result, predetermined data is set in a fogging flag, which will be described later, in an atmosphere where the glasses are cloudy.

  For example, when the inside of the car is cold and the outside is hot, such as when the air conditioner is cloudy, the window is opened (in this case, the glasses are cold). There are cases where people get on, heat up, and suddenly raise the temperature (when the outside is cold and the inside of the car is hot) (the glasses are cold in this case as well). When detecting the temperature difference between the spectacle lenses in the vehicle, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, the IR matrix sensor 12 detects the surface temperature of the spectacles, while the air conditioner 11 detects the temperature in the vehicle and calculates the difference between the two. do it.

  Then, when the condition C2 pre-processing is started, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 proceeds to S11, and detects the outside air temperature (T1) and the outside air humidity (M1) from the vehicle outside temperature and humidity detection data d7. Next, when the cloudy condition determination unit 2 proceeds to S12, it detects the inside air temperature (T2) and the inside air humidity (M2) from the vehicle interior temperature / humidity detection data d6. Subsequently, the clouding condition determination unit 2 compares the outside air temperature (T1) and the inside air temperature (T2) in S13. If the former is larger than the latter, the operation proceeds to S14, otherwise the operation proceeds to S15. Proceed.

  When the operation proceeds to S14, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 calculates the amount of water vapor (W1) contained in the outside air by the saturated water vapor amount at the outside air temperature (T1) × humidity. Further, when the operation proceeds to S15, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 calculates the amount of water vapor (W2) contained in the inside air by the saturated water vapor amount at the inside air temperature (T2) × humidity.

  The cloudy condition determination unit 2 advances the operation to S16 following S14, and obtains the value of the saturated water vapor amount (first calculated water vapor amount) in the amount of water vapor (W1) -inside air temperature (T2) contained in the outside air. In the above, it is determined whether or not the first calculated water vapor amount is larger than a predetermined constant (hereinafter, this condition is referred to as “first saturation condition”). When the first saturation condition is satisfied, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 advances the operation to S18, and sets data (for example, “9”) indicating that the glasses are likely to be clouded in the cloudy flag as an atmosphere in which the glasses are cloudy. However, if the first saturation condition is not satisfied, the condition C2 preprocessing is terminated without executing S18.

  Further, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 proceeds to S17 following S15, and calculates the value of the saturated water vapor amount (second calculated water vapor amount) at the amount of water vapor contained in the inside air (W2) −the outside air temperature (T1). After the determination, it is determined whether or not the second calculated water vapor amount is larger than a predetermined constant (hereinafter, this condition is referred to as “second saturation condition”). When the second saturation condition is satisfied, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 advances the operation to S18, and is an atmosphere in which the glasses can be clouded, and data (for example, “9”) indicating that the cloudy condition is satisfied is used as the cloudy flag. If not, the condition C2 preprocessing is terminated without executing S18.

  Further, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 executes the condition C3 preprocessing according to the flowchart shown in FIG. When the cloudy condition determination unit 2 starts the pre-processing for the condition C3, the operation proceeds to S21, and the eyes of the driver are measured using the eye detection data d4. In subsequent S22, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 determines whether or not the driver's eyes could not be detected. If not, the operation proceeds to S23, and if detected, the operation proceeds to S24.

  The cloudy condition determination unit 2 adds “1” to the number of times that the driver's eyes could not be detected when the operation proceeds to S23 (referred to as the number of times of failure, also referred to as the number of times of non-detection). After setting the number of times N to “0” and clearing the number of failures, the condition C3 preprocessing is terminated. Further, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 advances the operation to S25 following S23, and determines whether or not the number of failures N has exceeded a predetermined constant (that is, whether or not the failure has continued for a certain number of times). In this case, the operation proceeds to S26, and if not, the condition C3 pre-processing is terminated without executing S26. The cloudy condition determination unit 2 determines that the driver's eyes can no longer be detected when the operation proceeds to S26, and thus data indicating that the driver's eyes cannot be detected and the non-detection condition is satisfied (for example, “99”). ) Is set in the non-detection flag, and then the condition C3 preprocessing is terminated.

  Then, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 executes the condition C4 preprocessing along the flowchart shown in FIG. The cloudiness condition determination unit 2 proceeds to S31 when the condition C4 pre-processing is started, and determines whether or not the opening switch of the power window switch 9 is turned on. In that case, the operation proceeds to S32. If not, the condition C4 preprocessing is terminated. Further, when the operation proceeds to S32, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 sets data (for example, “8”) indicating that the window has been opened to the window opening flag, assuming that the driver has opened the window.

  Further, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 can execute the condition C4 preprocessing along the flowchart shown in FIG. When the condition C4 preprocessing is started, the cloudy condition determination unit 2 proceeds to S41 and detects the inside air temperature (T2). Subsequently, the operation proceeds to S42, it is determined whether or not the first saturation condition is satisfied. If the first saturation condition is satisfied, the operation proceeds to S43, and if not, the operation proceeds to S44. In S43, the inside air temperature (T2)> air conditioner set temperature and the air volume of the air conditioner> predetermined number, and whether or not the condition (first high output condition) that the window is open is determined, and the first high output condition If the condition is established, the operation proceeds to S45, and if not, the condition C4 preprocessing is terminated. In S44, it is determined whether or not the inside air temperature (T2) <the air conditioner set temperature and the air volume of the air conditioner> a predetermined number of conditions (second high output condition), and the second high output condition is satisfied. Advances the operation to S45, and otherwise ends the condition C4 preprocessing. In S45, the output of the air conditioner 11 is high and a sudden temperature change is expected, and data (for example, “7”) indicating that the fogging promotion condition is satisfied is set in the fogging promotion flag.

  On the other hand, when the air conditioner control unit 3 operates the air conditioner 11 in response to the cloudy condition establishment signal d2, that is, when the air conditioner 11 performs the anti-fogging operation, the direction of the driver's face is predicted according to the flowchart shown in FIG. Then, the air blow of the air conditioner 11 is controlled along the flowchart shown in FIG. By doing this, while tracking the driver's face, the wind is applied to the driver so that the glasses are not fogged. In this case, the driver may become uncomfortable, for example, when the wind is directly applied to the driver, the face position is predicted so that it does not occur, while switching between hot and cold air intermittently It is recommended to blow.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the face moving direction prediction process when the air conditioner control unit 3 operates the air conditioner 11 according to the cloudy condition establishment signal d2. When the air conditioner control unit 3 starts the movement direction prediction process, the operation proceeds to S51 and measures the direction (angle θ1) of the driver's face. Next, the operation proceeds to S <b> 52, and the air conditioner control unit 3 calculates a predicted angle θ <b> 3 of the driver's face orientation according to the following equation (1).
θ3 = θ1 + (θ1−θ2) / sampling period × time to be predicted (1)
(Θ2 is the last measured value)

  Next, the air conditioner control unit 3 advances the operation to S53, sets θ1 measured in S51 to θ2, and then ends the process.

  Moreover, the air-conditioner control part 3 controls ventilation of the air-conditioner 11 along the flowchart shown in FIG. When the air conditioner control unit 3 starts operating, the operation proceeds to S61, and “1” is added to the air blowing parameter T. Next, the air conditioner control unit 3 advances the operation to S62, and determines whether or not the air blowing parameter T exceeds a certain constant.

  When the operation of the air conditioner control unit 3 proceeds to S63, the predicted angle of the face direction after a certain time is measured, and in the subsequent S64, the wind direction is set according to the predicted angle measured in S63. Further, the air conditioner control unit 3 causes the air conditioner 11 to blow air at a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time in S65, and returns to normal air conditioner control to cause the air conditioner 11 to perform normal air blowing in subsequent S66. Further, in S67, “0” is set to the air blowing parameter T, and the air blowing control process is ended.

  As described above, according to the eyeglass monitoring device 1 according to the present embodiment, when the driver is wearing eyeglasses, when the clouding condition is satisfied, and the non-detection condition and the clouding promotion condition are satisfied, That is, when the spectacles are surely cloudy, the fogging condition determination unit 2 outputs the fogging condition establishment signal d2 to the air conditioner control unit 3, whereby the air conditioner 11 performs an anti-clouding operation and the glasses are not fogged. It is like that.

  Therefore, even if the glasses worn by the driver are cloudy, it is possible to prevent the glasses from becoming cloudy, and to reduce fogging even if the glasses are cloudy. Therefore, by using the eyeglass monitoring device 1 according to the present embodiment, when the driver's condition is monitored based on the driver's eye condition, the eye detection failure due to the fogging of the glasses is prevented or reduced. be able to. Therefore, even if the glasses are cloudy, the driver's state monitoring becomes accurate, and the driver's accurate assistance is performed based on the actual driver's state.

  Further, since the cloudy condition determination means determines the success or failure of the cloudy condition using the detection results of the in-vehicle temperature / humidity detection unit 6 and the outside temperature / humidity detection unit 7, the temperature / humidity inside and outside the vehicle is determined depending on the success / failure of the cloudy condition. It can be reflected.

Further, since the air conditioner control unit 3 causes the air conditioner 11 to perform the anti-clouding operation only when the number of times of non-detection exceeds the determined number, the eyes can be detected even in an atmosphere in which the glasses are likely to be cloudy. In some cases, the air conditioner 11 does not perform the anti-fogging operation, and therefore, the extra anti-fogging operation is not performed. Further, since the air conditioner control unit 3 causes the air conditioner 11 to execute the anti-clouding operation when the clouding promotion condition is satisfied, the anti-clouding operation is performed only when the glasses are more likely to be cloudy.
Furthermore, according to the eyeglass monitoring apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the eyes of the eyeglasses are detected by detecting the eyes of the driver from the face image obtained by photographing the driver and controlling the air conditioner according to the detection result of the eyes. Clouding can be suppressed and the driver can be monitored appropriately.

  The above description is the description of the embodiment of the present invention, and does not limit the apparatus and method of the present invention, and various modifications can be easily implemented. In addition, an apparatus or method configured by appropriately combining components, functions, features, or method steps in each embodiment is also included in the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the spectacles monitoring apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the spectacles monitoring routine implement | achieved by the spectacles monitoring apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of condition C2 pre-processing. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of condition C3 pre-processing. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of condition C4 pre-processing. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of another condition C4 pre-processing. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of a driver | operator's face direction prediction process. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of a ventilation control process. It is a figure which shows an example of the structure for calculating | requiring the difference of a spectacles lens and vehicle interior temperature.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Glasses monitoring apparatus, 2 ... Cloudy condition determination part, 3 ... Air-conditioner control part, 4 ... Eye detection part, 5 ... Glasses presence detection part, 6 ... Car interior temperature detection part, 7 ... Outside temperature detection part, 8 ... Driver camera 11 ... Air conditioner.

Claims (5)

An eyeglass monitoring device for monitoring the state of eyeglasses worn by a driver,
Having air conditioning control means for causing the air conditioner to perform an anti-fogging operation to prevent the glasses from fogging when a clouding condition that the glasses are cloudy is established,
An eyeglass monitoring device. Clouding condition determination means for determining success or failure of the clouding condition;
In-vehicle temperature / humidity detection means for detecting the temperature or humidity in the vehicle,
Vehicle temperature and humidity detection means for detecting temperature or humidity outside the vehicle,
The cloudy condition determining means determines the success or failure of the fogging condition using detection results of the in-vehicle temperature and humidity detecting means and the outside temperature and humidity detecting means.
The spectacles monitoring device according to claim 1. A face image photographing means for photographing the driver's face image;
Eye detection means for detecting the eyes of the driver based on the face image photographed by the face image photographing means;
The air conditioning control means causes the air conditioner to execute the anti-fogging operation when the number of non-detections in which the driver's eyes cannot be detected by the eye detection means exceeds a predetermined number of times.
The spectacles monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The air conditioning control means causes the air conditioner to execute the anti-fogging operation when a fogging promotion condition for promoting fogging of the glasses is satisfied.
The spectacles monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   An eyeglass monitoring device that detects the driver's eyes from a face image of the driver and controls the air conditioner in accordance with the detection result of the eyes.

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