JP2012083950A - Driving support device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driving support device capable of adequate driving support corresponding to a driver's driving posture.SOLUTION: A driving support device 1 comprises: a seat belt length detection sensor 43 which detects a pullout length of a seat belt of a vehicle; and a control part 21 which monitors a surrounding of the vehicle and performs driving support control based on the surrounding. When the seat belt length detection sensor 43 detects a temporary change in the pullout length, the control part 21 corrects the control based on the pullout length.

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support apparatus for a vehicle.

  Conventionally, a combine described in Patent Document 1 below is known as a technique in such a field. This combine is provided with a rear monitoring means such as a back sonar that detects an obstacle existing behind the traveling machine body and informs the operator and surrounding workers. In this type of combine, when moving backward at the edge of the field or when moving backward for garage storage, it is necessary to perform the backward operation until just before the rear part of the traveling machine body and the obstacle existing behind it come into contact with each other. In some cases, it has been proposed to allow the operator to perform this reverse operation safely and reliably. For this reason, it is configured to change the alarm output cycle of the reverse alarm horn that informs the driver and surrounding workers of the backward operation of the traveling aircraft according to the distance between the obstacle approaching the traveling aircraft and the traveling aircraft. ing.

JP 2009-191911 A

  However, in this type of device, the rear field of view also changes depending on the driver's posture, and the necessity of alarms and the like vary depending on the driver's posture. In other words, the driving assistance required by the driver differs depending on whether the driver is driving in a posture with excellent rear view or not. Therefore, it is desired to provide appropriate driving assistance in consideration of the driving posture of the driver.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a driving support device that enables appropriate driving support according to the driving posture of a driver.

  A driving support apparatus according to the present invention includes a seat belt length detection sensor that detects a pull-out length of a seat belt of a vehicle, and a control unit that monitors a surrounding situation of the vehicle and performs driving assistance control based on the surrounding situation. The control means is characterized in that the control is changed based on the pull-out length when there is a temporary fluctuation in the pull-out length detected by the seat belt length detection sensor.

  In the driving support device, when there is a temporary change in the pull-out length of the seat belt, the driving support control is changed based on the pull-out length. Temporary fluctuations in the seat belt pull-out length are considered to reflect changes in the driver's driving posture, so this driving assistance device provides appropriate driving assistance corresponding to the driver's driving posture. be able to.

  Further, the control means performs driving support control for presenting the driver with an image of the blind spot range of the driver around the vehicle. The blind spot range that is the target range of the video presentation to the driver may be changed based on the above.

  If the driving posture of the driver of the vehicle is changed, the field of view around the vehicle is also changed, and the blind spot range for which video is provided by driving assistance is also changed. Therefore, according to the configuration of the driving support device, it is possible to appropriately provide the image of the blind spot range desired by the driver according to the driving posture.

  The control means performs driving support control for detecting an obstacle existing in the blind spot range of the driver around the vehicle and presenting information on the obstacle to the driver. When there is a change, the blind spot range, which is an obstacle detection target range, may be changed based on the drawer length.

  If the driving posture of the driver of the vehicle is changed, the field of view around the vehicle is also changed, and the blind spot range where obstacle detection by driving assistance is desired is also changed. Therefore, according to the configuration of the driving support apparatus, it is possible to appropriately provide obstacle information in the blind spot range desired by the driver in accordance with the driving posture.

  According to the driving assistance apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driving posture of the driver.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the driving assistance device which concerns on this invention. It is a side view which shows the blind spot corresponding to the attitude | position of the driver | operator of a vehicle. It is a top view which shows the blind spot corresponding to the attitude | position of the driver | operator of a vehicle. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the driving assistance device of FIG.

  Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a driving support apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  A driving support apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on an automobile 100 (see FIGS. 2 and 3), monitors the surroundings of the vehicle, and provides it to the driver as an image. The driving assistance device 1 captures a situation around the vehicle, a front wide camera 11 that images the front of the vehicle, a front corner camera 12 that images the left and right front corners of the vehicle, and the left and right rear sides of the vehicle. And a rear side camera 13 for imaging. Further, the driving support device 1 includes a control unit (control unit) 21 that processes the imaging data of these cameras 11 to 13 and a display monitor 31 that outputs an image based on the processed imaging data. The monitor 31 is provided in the driver's seat and can present the situation around the vehicle imaged by the cameras 11 to 13 to the driver as an image.

  The driving support device 1 further includes a seat position detection sensor 41 that detects the seat position of the driver's seat, a headrest height detection sensor 42 that detects the height of the headrest of the driver's seat, and the length of the seat belt in the driver's seat. And a seat belt length detection sensor 43 for detecting the above. Information obtained from these sensors 41 to 43 is input to the control unit 21 as an electrical signal.

  The control unit 21 includes a viewpoint position calculator 23, a blind spot range calculator 25, and an image recognizer 27. The control unit 21 is configured by hardware such as an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). In addition, the viewpoint position calculator 23, the blind spot range calculator 25, and the image recognizer 27 are components realized by software by the ECU operating according to a predetermined program, for example.

  Here, if it is assumed that the driver is sitting on the seat in a normal posture, the position of the driver's eyes (viewpoint position) may be determined almost uniquely by the seat position and the headrest height. Therefore, the viewpoint position calculator 23 calculates the driver's viewpoint position based on the seat position information and the headrest height information obtained from the sensors 41 and 42 described above.

  Further, since the window shape of the automobile 100 is constant, it may be considered that if the driver's viewpoint position is determined, the range of the driver's blind spot around the vehicle is uniquely determined. Therefore, the blind spot range calculator 25 calculates the blind spot range of the driver around the vehicle. The blind spot range calculator 25 outputs video to the monitor 31 for a part of the imaging information obtained from the cameras 11 to 13 corresponding to the blind spot range. Where the blind spot range has the highest necessity for video confirmation for the driver, according to the driving support device 1, by displaying video information only on the calculated blind spot range on the monitor 31, the blind spot is displayed. Detailed information can be provided to the driver in an enlarged image of the range.

  Further, the image recognizer 27 processes the video information in the blind spot range to detect an obstacle existing in the blind spot range. And when the said obstruction exists in a blind spot range, the display which alerts a driver | operator and the information regarding an obstruction (for example, distance to an obstruction, etc.) are displayed on the monitor 31. FIG. Thus, the troublesomeness of the driver due to excessive detection / notification can be suppressed by setting the target range for obstacle detection only to the blind spot range. Further, by omitting the obstacle detection in a relatively low necessity range (a range other than the blind spot range), the processing load such as video processing is reduced, which leads to cost reduction of the driving support device 1.

  The above is based on the premise that the driver is sitting on the seat in a normal posture (hereinafter referred to as “normal posture”). For example, as shown in FIG. 2, the driver (indicated by reference numeral D1 or D2). It may be possible to temporarily drive in a leaning posture. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the blind spot range A2 of the driver D2 in the forward leaning posture is different from the blind spot range A1 of the driver D1 in the normal posture. Also, the blind spot range varies depending on the degree of forward leaning posture of the driver.

  Here, since it is necessary to pull out the seat belt further forward when the driver leans forward, it may be considered that the shift to the forward leaning posture of the driver appears as a change in the withdrawal length of the seat belt. In addition, it may be considered that the degree of the forward leaning posture of the driver appears as a difference in the drawer length compared with that in the normal posture. In other words, if the seat belt pull-out length fluctuates in the longer direction with respect to the normal posture, the driver is considered to be in a forward leaning posture, and the greater the difference between the pull-out length and the normal posture, the greater the driving It may be considered that the person's viewpoint position is in front.

  Therefore, when the seat belt withdrawal length obtained by the seat belt length detection sensor 43 temporarily changes, the viewpoint position calculator 23 further extracts the seat belt withdrawal in addition to the above-described seat position information and headrest height information. Based on the above, the viewpoint position of the driver is calculated.

  Hereinafter, the process of the driving support apparatus 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, when the driver is seated in a normal posture at the start of driving, the seat position detection sensor 41 detects the seat position and transmits the seat position information to the control unit 21 (S1). Further, the headrest height detection sensor 42 detects the height of the headrest, and transmits the headrest height information to the control unit 21 (S2). Next, the viewpoint position calculator 23 calculates the viewpoint position in the normal posture of the driver based on the seat position information and the headrest height information (S3). Further, the seat belt length detection sensor 43 detects the withdrawal length of the seat belt, and transmits the seat belt length information to the control unit 21 (S4). The drawer length obtained in this process S3 is the drawer length in the normal posture.

  Next, the control unit 21 acquires the current seat belt length and determines whether or not the value is a value in a normal posture (S5). Here, when the current seat belt length is a value in the normal posture (Yes in S5), the blind spot range calculator 25 is in the normal posture based on the viewpoint position in the normal posture obtained in the process S3. Is calculated (S6). Then, the image recognizer 27 performs obstacle detection in the blind spot range (S7), and displays on the monitor 31 the image of the blind spot range and information on the obstacle present in the blind spot range.

  On the other hand, if the current seat belt length is different from the value in the normal posture in step S5 (No in S5), the difference between the current seat belt length and the length of the seat belt in the normal posture (previous The current viewpoint position is calculated based on the degree of tilt posture (S9). Then, based on the viewpoint position, the blind spot range calculator 25 calculates a blind spot range corresponding to the degree of the forward tilt posture (S10). Then, the image recognizer 27 performs obstacle detection in the current blind spot range (S11), and displays the video of the blind spot range and information on the obstacles existing in the blind spot range on the monitor 31 (S8).

  According to the driving support apparatus 1 as described above, even when the driver is in a forward leaning posture, the degree of forward leaning is recognized in real time, and the viewpoint position of the driver is included in consideration of the forward leaning degree. The blind spot range can be calculated appropriately. As a result, even when the driving posture of the driver changes, it is possible to appropriately provide the image of the blind spot range and the obstacle information of the blind spot range.

  In addition, as a means for detecting the driver's posture, a method of calculating the posture based on the angle of the inner mirror or the side mirror is also conceivable, but when the inner mirror or the side mirror is made into an electronic mirror, The method cannot be used. Further, although a method of capturing the driver with a plurality of cameras and detecting the driver's posture by image processing is conceivable, it causes a cost increase. On the other hand, according to the driving assistance device 1, the forward leaning posture of the driver can be detected by a simple method such as detection of the seat belt length, and the cost can be reduced.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Driving assistance device, 21 ... Control part (control means), 43 ... Seat belt length detection sensor, 100 ... Vehicle.

Claims (3)

A seat belt length detection sensor for detecting the length of the vehicle seat belt withdrawn;
Control means for monitoring the surrounding situation of the vehicle and performing driving support control based on the surrounding situation,
The control means changes the control based on the pull-out length when the pull-out length detected by the seat belt length detection sensor is temporarily changed. The control means includes
Driving assistance control for presenting the driver with an image of the blind spot range of the driver around the vehicle,
2. The blind spot range, which is a target range of video presentation to the driver, is changed based on the drawer length when there is a temporary change in the drawer length. The driving support device according to 1. The control means includes
It detects driving obstacles in the blind spot range of the driver around the vehicle and performs driving support control for presenting information on the obstacle to the driver,
3. The blind spot range, which is a detection target range of the obstacle, is changed based on the drawer length when there is a temporary change in the drawer length. The driving assistance apparatus as described.

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