JP2013011483A - Driving support device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driving support device capable of accurately determining an external object to which a user of a vehicle is paying attention when a plurality of external objects are detected.SOLUTION: When a plurality of external objects are detected by determining means, a control unit 2 of a driving support device 1 acquires type information which records external objects estimated to be objects of interest of a user classified by type, from a user information recording unit 3. The control unit 2 specifies, as an output object, an external object corresponding to a type recorded in the user information recording unit 3, among the types corresponding to the external objects detected. It then outputs information regarding the external object which is the output object from an output device 30.

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving support apparatus that identifies and guides an object outside a vehicle that is being watched by a vehicle user.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a driving assistance device that identifies and guides an object outside a vehicle such as a building that is being watched by a driver by eye gaze detection and voice recognition. In this driving support device, the scenery image outside the vehicle acquired and stored at a predetermined time immediately before the driver's question is issued is collated with the line-of-sight direction. And it is disclosed by this collation that the outside object which the driver paid attention to immediately before the question is automatically specified (for example, Patent Document 1).

  Moreover, in the said patent document 1, the predetermined center integrates the information regarding the vehicle exterior object which became the object of the question reported from the several vehicle, ranks the vehicle exterior object by the frequency | count of a question, and it is used for each vehicle. Have feedback. By this feedback, if a plurality of non-vehicle objects are specified at the time of collation, a method of automatically narrowing down the non-vehicle objects to one by referring to the ranking ranked in descending order of the number of questions. It is disclosed.

JP 2006-90790 A

  However, the technique of automatically narrowing down the objects outside the vehicle with reference to the ranking of the number of questions as in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 specifies the vehicle object based on information collected from a plurality of vehicles. It may also occur when an out-of-vehicle object that the user is not interested in is identified. In particular, the greater the number of non-vehicle objects that are identified at the time of matching, the greater the possibility that the user's interest in each vehicle will be dispersed. There is a problem that becomes high.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a driving support device capable of more accurately specifying an object outside the vehicle that is being watched by a vehicle user when a plurality of objects outside the vehicle are specified. And

  In order to solve the above-described object, the driving support device according to claim 1 includes a specifying unit that specifies an object outside the vehicle that the user of the vehicle is interested in, and outputs the specified object outside the vehicle. If there are multiple user information recording means that classify and record the out-of-vehicle object that is estimated to be of interest by type and the out-of-vehicle object specified by the specifying means, it corresponds to this specified out-of-vehicle object Of the types, there is provided a means for outputting an object outside the vehicle corresponding to a type that matches the type recorded in the user information recording means.

  According to this configuration, even when a plurality of out-of-vehicle objects that the user is interested in are identified, the type that the user is expected to be interested in from the types of the plurality of out-of-vehicle objects identified. The object outside the vehicle corresponding to can be output. Accordingly, it is possible to more accurately identify and output an object outside the vehicle that the vehicle user is interested in (that is, the user wants to know).

  Even if there are a plurality of objects outside the vehicle that are finally narrowed down and specified (even if they cannot be narrowed down to one), these objects outside the vehicle are objects outside the vehicle that the user is paying attention to. no problem.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the user information recording means is characterized in that the object outside the vehicle used by the user is recorded by type.

  According to this configuration, the type corresponding to the non-vehicle object used by the user is recorded, so that the type of the non-vehicle object estimated to be of interest to the user can be extracted with higher accuracy.

  Further, in the driving support device according to the second aspect, as described in the third aspect, the types recorded in the user information recording means are classified based on the date and time when the user used the object outside the vehicle or the position used. It is characterized by having.

  According to this configuration, since the types corresponding to the objects outside the vehicle used by the user can be classified in detail according to conditions such as day of the week, time, and region, the user's interests depend on the situation where the driving support device is used. The type of the object outside the vehicle estimated to be present can be extracted with higher accuracy.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the types recorded in the user information recording means are classified based on the field input by the user.

  According to this configuration, the type of the non-vehicle object that is estimated to be of interest to the user can be extracted with higher accuracy by recording the type of the non-vehicle object corresponding to each field input by the user. it can.

  In the driving support device according to claim 5, the current position of the vehicle is recorded in the past based on the travel history recording means for recording the travel history of the vehicle and the map information updating means for newly updating or adding the feature on the map data. New feature search means for searching whether or not there is a feature that is newly updated or added to the map data among the objects outside the vehicle specified by the specification means between the time of travel and the present time; And the current position is a place where the vehicle has traveled in the past based on the travel history recorded by the travel history recording means, and a new location When the newly added or updated feature matches the object outside the vehicle specified by the specifying means according to the search result of the object search means, it is newly updated or added corresponding to the specified object outside the vehicle. It is characterized in that the the features and output target.

  It is considered that the user already knows various external objects around the current position of the vehicle on the road on which the vehicle has traveled in the past (especially the road on which the vehicle normally travels). However, when the information on the non-vehicle object is newly updated or added by updating the map, it is considered that the user does not know the information on the added non-vehicle object (that is, information that the user wants to know by inquiry).

  Therefore, when there are a plurality of objects outside the vehicle specified, it is possible to further narrow down and specify the objects outside the vehicle that the user of the vehicle is interested in (that is, the user wants to know).

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a driving support apparatus that outputs information on an object outside the vehicle that is specified by the specifying means and is an output target, using at least one of the video display means and the audio output means.

  According to this configuration, information such as guidance on the specified object outside the vehicle can be transmitted to the user through vision and / or hearing.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the structure of the driving assistance device in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the external object identification process in embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the detailed control processing of step S16 concerning FIG. 2 concerning this embodiment. It is a table regarding the usage log information of the object outside a vehicle recorded on the user information recording part of FIG. It is a flowchart which shows another control process in connection with this embodiment of FIG.2 S14. It is the schematic for demonstrating the effect of this embodiment of FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control process different from that in FIG. 3 for the control process in step S <b> 16 in FIG. 2 according to the present embodiment. It is a table regarding a user's interest information which concerns on this embodiment and was recorded on the user information recording part of FIG.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a driving support device used for a vehicle according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the driving support device 1. First, connection relationships will be described, and individual functions will be described later. The driving support device 1 communicates with a talk switch (abbreviated as “talk SW”) 10, a microphone 11, a position / orientation detection device 12, a line-of-sight camera 13, and a map data input device 14 provided outside the driving support device 1. The corresponding signal is input via the line. In addition, the driving support device 1 outputs a signal to the output device 30 provided outside via the communication line. The driving support device 1 includes a control unit 2, a user information recording unit 3, a voice recognition processing unit 20, a current position / orientation detection processing unit 21, a line-of-sight detection processing unit 22, a map data recording unit 23, and a voice processing unit. 24 and an image processing unit 25, and each unit (3, 20 to 25) is connected to the control unit 2 through a communication line so as to be able to communicate with each other.

  The talk SW 10 is a switch for generating a trigger for causing the voice recognition processing unit 20 to start the voice recognition processing. The user (here, the user is a voice recognition for voice recognition registered in the voice recognition processing unit 20 in advance). The switch is turned on or off by a vehicle driver or an occupant who is directed to the line-of-sight camera 13 for detecting the line-of-sight direction. Further, by turning on the switch, the control unit 2 starts a process for specifying the object outside the vehicle.

  The microphone 11 is for recording speech uttered by a user or the like (including passengers who are not voice-registered in addition to the user), and the input voice is transmitted to the voice recognition processing unit 20 as vocabulary data. Is done.

  Although not shown, the position / orientation detection device 12 includes a GPS receiver, an orientation sensor, a vehicle speed sensor, and the like. Each detection data detected by the position / orientation detection device 12 is transmitted to the current position / orientation detection processing unit 21, and the current position (latitude / longitude) and traveling direction of the vehicle are calculated.

  The line-of-sight camera 13 images the movement of the user's eyes, and transmits to the line-of-sight detection processing unit 22 image data obtained by photographing a face including the user's eyes.

  The map data input device 14 comprises a drive device such as a DVD-ROM drive, and reads map data (including detailed information on the features of facilities such as buildings and objects such as mountains) from the DVD-ROM media, and the map data Records in the recording unit 23. The means for obtaining the map data of this embodiment uses a drive device, but is not particularly limited. Any means can be used as long as it can always obtain the latest map data. For example, whenever map data is updated or added, the map data may be downloaded from a service center (not shown) using a wireless communication function (not shown) and recorded in the map data recording unit 23.

  The output device 30 includes a speaker unit 31 and a display unit 32, and guides information on the specified object outside the vehicle using display and / or sound. Specifically, the display unit 32 includes a liquid crystal display device (not shown), and the processing result of the image processing unit 25 (for example, if the object outside the vehicle is “facility such as a building”, its name, facility content, parking lot, Information such as business hours and the name, altitude, history, sightseeing, etc. of objects such as mountains are displayed on the display. In addition, the speaker unit 31 outputs the processing result (information similar to the display) of the voice processing unit 24 of the driving support device 1 from the speaker.

  The driving support device 1 analyzes vocabulary data of a user or the like received via the microphone 11 and recognizes voice content or recognizes whether or not a person is registered in advance in a memory (not shown). The unit 20 is provided. Further, a current position / orientation detection processing unit 21 that calculates the current position / orientation of the host vehicle based on each detection data transmitted from the position / orientation detecting device 12 is provided. Further, image data transmitted from the line-of-sight camera 13 is subjected to image processing (that is, a line-of-sight direction is detected from the face image of the user based on the movement of the eyeball), and map data transmitted from the map data input device 14 Thus, a map data recording unit 23 in which map data including feature update / addition information is recorded is provided. In addition, the control unit 2 that performs processing for specifying the object outside the vehicle by communicating with each processing unit and each recording unit of the driving support device 1, the object outside the vehicle used by the user, or the object outside the vehicle that the user is interested in However, the user information recording unit 3 that is recorded separately for each type, the audio processing unit 24 that performs processing for notifying the specified object outside the vehicle (for example, creation of synthesized speech), and the image processing unit 25 (drawing data) Creation, scale change processing, etc.).

  The voice recognition processing unit 20, the current position / orientation detection processing unit 21, the line-of-sight detection processing unit 22, the control unit 2, the voice processing unit 24, and the image processing unit 25 are a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an EEPROM, a DSP (digital signal). This is realized as a process periodically executed on a known microcomputer having a processor. Although not shown, the driving support device 1 includes an interface unit and is configured to exchange necessary information with a device provided outside the driving support device 1. The driving support device 1 exchanges information via this interface unit. For example, data relating to date and time transmitted from a device having a clock function (not shown) is received via the interface unit.

  Based on the above configuration, a basic processing method of the specifying means for specifying an object outside the vehicle according to the present embodiment will be briefly described.

  First, the driving assistance device 1 (the control unit 2) starts the vehicle outside object specifying process when the talk SW 10 is turned on.

  Next, the driving assistance device 1 calculates the current position / orientation based on each detection data input from the position / orientation detection device 12 (current position / orientation detection processing unit 21), and the line of sight that the vehicle user is paying attention to. The direction is detected from the photographing result of the line-of-sight camera 13 (line-of-sight detection processing unit 22), and the voice content is recognized by inputting vocabulary data obtained by the user or the like obtained through the microphone 11 (voice recognition processing unit 20).

  Then, the driving support device 1 specifies an object outside the vehicle to be output from the map data based on the current position / orientation calculation result, the gaze direction detection result, and the vocabulary data voice recognition result.

  In addition, the driving support device 1 searches and extracts information on the specified object outside the vehicle from the map data (recorded in the map data recording unit 23), and guides it by voice or video display (voice). Processing is performed by the processing unit 24 or the image processing unit 25), and the processing result is output.

  The output device 30 that has received the processing result outputs the information through at least one of the sound (speaker unit 31) and the video (display unit 32) in order to notify the information of the specified object outside the vehicle.

  It is to be noted that the basic configuration, operation principle, and control method of the driving support device that identifies and guides the object outside the vehicle that the vehicle user is paying attention to by the gaze detection and voice recognition as described above are well-known techniques. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-329463, etc.) and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the flow of the vehicle outside object specifying process by the driving support device 1 according to the present embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG.

  First, when the control unit 2 detects that the talk SW 10 has been switched to the on state by the user, the control unit 2 starts this processing (processing for specifying an object outside the vehicle).

  In step S10, in order to specify how many times the line-of-sight direction that the user pays attention is with respect to the direction of the currently traveling vehicle (that is, to obtain the line-of-sight direction more accurately), first, the current position of the vehicle And start to get the driving direction.

  Next, in step S11, detection of the user's line-of-sight direction is started by image processing in order to guess which object outside the vehicle the user is looking at.

  In step S12, voice input and voice recognition processing is started from the microphone 11. If there is voice input, the vocabulary data is processed by the voice recognition processing unit 20.

  In step S13, the speech recognition processing unit 20 analyzes the vocabulary data, thereby analyzing the contents of the question (extracting the vocabulary related to the object outside the vehicle) and recognizing whether the user's speech. This is an unintended voice recognition process (for example, an occupant who has not registered the voice while detecting the user's line of sight, asks for an object outside the vehicle different from the one intended by the user, and is recognized and processed) In order to prevent this, it is determined whether or not the question is from a user who has been voice-registered in advance. If it is a question from the user, the process proceeds to step S14. If it is not a question from the user, step S13 is repeatedly executed until the user's voice is input from the microphone 11.

  In step S14, an object outside the vehicle to be output is specified from the map data based on the vehicle position / orientation, the user's line-of-sight direction, and the utterance content (vocabulary). For example, suppose that a user asks "What is that?" While looking at the outside of the vehicle in the right direction (that is, the east side) while the vehicle is parked toward the north in a city where a plurality of buildings are lined up. In that case, a building on the east side of the vehicle in the direction of the user's line of sight is detected from the map data, and the building is specified as an out-of-vehicle object to be output. In addition, information on the facility of the building (name of the building and guidance in the building) is also extracted (hereinafter, examples of objects outside the vehicle will be described focusing on the facility of the building). If a plurality of objects outside the vehicle are specified from the user's line-of-sight direction, information about the plurality of objects outside the vehicle is extracted.

  In the next step S15, it is determined whether or not the object outside the vehicle specified in step S14 is narrowed down to one. When the number of objects outside the vehicle is narrowed down to one, it is possible to guess that the object outside the vehicle is the object outside the vehicle that the user wants to know because there is no object in the surroundings other than the object outside the vehicle. Therefore, the object outside the vehicle narrowed down to one is regarded as the object outside the vehicle that the user wants to know, and the process proceeds to step S <b> 17 to guide the user to the object outside the vehicle using the output device 30. In addition, when the number of objects outside the vehicle is not limited to one (that is, a plurality of objects outside the vehicle are identified), there must be a mixture of objects outside the vehicle that the user wants to know and objects that the user is not interested in. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S16, and a process of further specifying a plurality of objects outside the vehicle is performed. Details of this step S16 will be described later with reference to FIG. When the object outside the vehicle that the user wants to know is further specified in step S16, the process proceeds to step S17, and the output device 30 is used to notify the user of the object outside the vehicle.

  In step S <b> 17, information such as a name and guidance regarding an object outside the vehicle is output to the inside of the vehicle through the sound (speaker unit 31) or video (display unit 32) of the output device 30. Specifically, if the specified object outside the car is a department store called XX department store, "That is XX department store. XX department store has a food department, men's clothing, and women's clothing. Opening hours are from 10:00 to 19:00. There is also a parking lot that can park 150 cars at XX department stores. ”Voice guidance such as text or photos is given to the user. . Such guidance or the like may be performed using both audio output and video display output means.

  When the guidance in step S17 ends, the process proceeds to the end, and this process ends (the ON setting of the talk SW 10 is set to OFF).

  Next, processing means for further specifying a plurality of objects outside the vehicle in step S16 in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S161, data on the current date and time or the current vehicle position is acquired and stored in a memory such as a RAM.

  In step S162, based on the data acquired in step S161, usage history information, which is information related to the user used for determination in the next step, is extracted from the user information recording unit 3.

  Here, a method of creating the usage history information will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 4, information related to the usage history of the non-vehicle object used by the user in the past is recorded in the table (3a1, 3a2, 3b1, 3b2) of the user information recording unit 3 for each condition described later. In each table, priority (rank), frequency of use (%), type of non-vehicle object used by the user (specific names given to non-vehicle objects such as buildings and mountains are abstracted into common names) Items are prepared in advance.

  The design philosophy of this table is based on the assumption that an object outside the vehicle that is frequently used by the user is an object outside the vehicle that the user is paying attention to (approximately estimated that the user is interested or wants to know). It has been.

  The table recorded in the user information recording unit 3 records each object outside the vehicle on the map data by classifying it according to the type of the higher concept rather than the proper noun (dividing into categories). For example, if the object outside the vehicle is a store called □□ ramen, it is classified as a restaurant type, and if it is Mount Fuji, it is classified as a mountain type. The reason for recording by type in this way is to divide the objects outside the vehicle that the user has used in the past into different types, so that even if it is an object outside the vehicle that the user has never used, Whether or not it is an object outside the vehicle that is of interest to the user can be predicted by looking at the type. In addition, by categorizing by type, there are advantages in that the recording capacity can be saved and the search time can be shortened rather than recording and searching all proper nouns.

  The usage history information of the table of FIG. 4 is roughly divided into two groups, and is divided into a table group (3a1, 3a2) related to the date and a table group (3b1, 3b2) related to the region (location). Yes.

  It should be noted that whether the table of the group relating to the date or the region (location) is used for the use history information in step S162 described above is determined before starting the process of FIG. 2 (at least before the process of step S162). It is selected (or set) in advance by an operation of a user or the like from an input device such as a touch panel (not shown).

  From now on, the creation method for each table group will be described.

  First, a method for creating the inside of the table when the table group (3a1, 3a2) related to the date (weekday, holiday) is selected in advance will be specifically described below.

  When a user who is using a vehicle in daily life uses an object outside the vehicle (use refers to, for example, when the user stops at the parking lot of the object outside the vehicle or stays at the place for a predetermined time) Data on the type of the object, data on its position, and date / time data when the object outside the vehicle is used are input to the control unit 2.

  Then, the control unit 2 determines which table internal information is to be rewritten within the table group based on the input data.

  And the control part 2 calculates utilization frequency (%) based on the input data. Each time the control unit 2 calculates the usage frequency, the table sets priorities (first, second, third,...) In descending order of usage frequency.

  The types used here (for example, general names such as department stores, restaurants, and gyms) are recorded in advance for each object outside the vehicle registered in the map data.

  Here, in order to make the above description easier to understand, a case where a table group relating to a date is selected in advance will be described below with reference to a specific example of a method for creating the table.

  When a user stops a vehicle at a department store (type) named XX department store, it is determined that the user has used an object outside the vehicle.

  Note that the method of determining use is not limited to the above. For example, the destination setting function of a car navigation device (not shown) is used to set a destination location (for example, a restaurant named △ Δ Eat) as an object outside the vehicle. When a stop-by place (for example, a gym named △△ gym) is set, and a vehicle enters these places, it may be determined that the user has used an object outside the vehicle (set) Because it is a destination, you can expect to stop if you arrive).

  When the input date and time data is Sunday (holiday), the table selects 3a1 (history information for holidays / holiday).

  And the control part 2 calculates utilization frequency (%) based on each input data (type of object outside a vehicle). As a specific example, the type (department store) used this time in the table 3a1 is the same as the type (department store) used this time, and the cumulative number (for example, 29) of the type (department store) input in the past is the amount used this time (that is, 1). The usage frequency (%) is calculated by dividing the number obtained by adding (29 + 1 = 30) by the total number (for example, 100 in total) of all types input in the past in the table 3a1. In the case of this example, the usage frequency of the department store in the table 3a1 is 30/100 × 100 (% display) = 30 (%). Each time the usage frequency is calculated, the control unit 2 sets priorities (first, second, third,...) In order of increasing usage frequency. The priority of the department store here is set to the highest.

  Note that this priority is provided for easy understanding of the order of use frequency and is not essential data. Therefore, the usage frequency may be directly used for the type determination (step S163) described later instead of the priority.

  As described above, even when the user uses a type of a non-vehicle object other than the above-described department store, the use frequency and priority corresponding to the type of the non-vehicle object are obtained by the same calculation method, and the table 3a1 To be recorded.

  In addition, a method for creating the inside of the table when the table group (3b1, 3b2) relating to the region (location) is selected in advance will be specifically described below.

  If the input position data is around the home, the table selects 3b1 (usage history information / home neighborhood). In addition, it is assumed that the user uses a convenience store (type) called △ convenience store around the home.

  And the control part 2 calculates utilization frequency (%) based on the input data similarly to the calculation method of the table regarding the above-mentioned date. The usage frequency of this convenience store is 30%, and the highest priority is set. For other types, the use frequency and the priority are obtained by the same calculation method and recorded in the table 3b1.

  As described above, the usage history information as information relating to the user is recorded / updated every time the user using the vehicle uses the object outside the vehicle.

  Here, the process returns to the extraction of usage history information in step S162 in FIG. It is assumed that the vehicle is currently in a city area on a holiday (Sunday), and a table relating to the date is selected in advance as the table group. In this case, since it is a holiday, the table 3a1 in FIG. 4 is extracted as usage history information.

  Next, the process proceeds to step S163, and the type of priority (usage frequency may be used directly) equal to or higher than a predetermined value in the usage history information (table 3a1 in the example) matches the types of the plurality of specified outside objects. It is determined whether or not.

  As a specific example, there were four specified non-vehicle objects (name: type → ○ △ gym: sports gym, XX department store: department store, XX department store: department store, XX museum: cultural facility). Assume a case. Assuming that the predetermined value of the priority of the table 3a1 is determined to be 3 or more in advance, the department store with the first priority in the table 3a1 is the first restaurant, the second restaurant, and the third supermarket is a priority type with a predetermined value or higher. Applicable. It is searched whether or not the same type as the types of the plurality of specified external objects (four) among the first to third types matches. In this case, since XX department store and XX department store corresponding to the type of department store correspond to the type of department store with the highest priority in the table 3a1, the usage history information (table 3a1) has three or more priorities. It is determined that the type matches the types of the plurality of specified external objects, and the process proceeds to step S164.

  If the priority type of the extracted usage history information equal to or higher than the predetermined value does not match the types of the plurality of specified outside objects, the user wants to know the usage history information (≈ user's interest). The process is terminated assuming that there is no object outside the vehicle (proceeds to S17 in FIG. 2).

  The predetermined value of the priority may be determined by setting a fixed value in advance as described above, but may be a method in which the predetermined value of priority changes according to the conditions. For example, a priority value of a type having a usage frequency value closest to a value whose usage frequency exceeds a desired value (a value expected to be of interest to the user, such as 10%) may be set as the predetermined value. . In this way, by changing the predetermined priority value according to the desired value of the usage frequency, it is possible to eliminate the types with less usage frequency, so that only the types with higher user interest are selected to narrow down the objects outside the vehicle Can be used.

  In step S164, pre-extraction is performed on an object outside the vehicle that satisfies the condition that “each type of priority equal to or higher than a predetermined value of the usage history information matches the type of the specified plurality of objects outside the vehicle”. The extracted information such as the name and guidance is extracted (read), and the process ends (proceeds to S17 in FIG. 2). Specifically, in the example of step S163 described above, only information such as the name and guidance for the two stores XX department store and XX department store is left, and the other information regarding the XX gym and XX museum are discarded. In step S17, information such as the names and guidance of the two buildings extracted in step S163 is sequentially output.

  With the above configuration, when a plurality of objects outside the vehicle are specified, out-of-vehicle objects corresponding to the types corresponding to the types recorded in the user information recording unit 3 among the types corresponding to the specified objects outside the vehicle. Can be output. Therefore, even when multiple objects outside the vehicle are specified, the object outside the vehicle that the user is paying attention to (≈ estimated that the user's interest is high or the user wants to know) can be identified and output more accurately. can do.

  As in the example of step S163 described above, even if there are a plurality of finally identified objects outside the vehicle (even if they cannot be narrowed down to one), these objects outside the vehicle are not noticed by the user. There is no problem because it is an object outside the car.

(Other embodiments)
First, the driving support device used in the other embodiments has the same components as the driving support device 1 shown in the present embodiment, and the same components and the flowchart showing the control processing of the driving support device 1 are shown. The same processing is denoted by the same reference numeral, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  If a user has driven a road in the past, the object outside the vehicle that can be seen from the road in the past is expected to have been confirmed in the past if you are interested, so you already know the information about the object outside the vehicle it is conceivable that. Therefore, as a control process in place of step S14 in FIG. 2, a processing unit that adds a determination as to whether or not the vehicle has traveled on a road that is currently traveling as shown in FIG. 5 may be used.

  In step S141, as in step S14 of FIG. 2, an object outside the vehicle is specified from the map data based on the vehicle position, line-of-sight direction, and utterance content. And information, such as a name and guidance regarding a non-vehicle object, is extracted.

  In step S142, it is determined whether the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is a road that has traveled in the past.

  For this determination, every time a user travels a vehicle, the road travel route and the date and time when the user travels are recorded in the user information recording unit 3 from the vehicle position and map data information of the road. ing. Then, by searching whether or not the current position of the vehicle is on a past travel route, it is determined whether or not the road has traveled in the past.

  If it is determined that the road has never traveled in the past, the process is terminated, and the process proceeds to step S15 in FIG. If it is determined that the road has traveled in the past, the process proceeds to step S143.

  In step S143, a search is performed as to whether there is a feature that has been newly updated or added to the map data from the date and time when the vehicle traveled on the current road to the current date and time among the objects outside the vehicle identified in step S141. .

  In step S144, based on the search result in step S143, it is determined whether or not the newly updated or added feature matches the specified external object. If it is determined that there is no newly updated or added feature, the process ends, and the process proceeds to step S15 in FIG. If it is determined that the newly updated or added feature matches the object outside the vehicle, the process proceeds to step S145.

  In step S145, among the objects outside the vehicle specified in step S141, the objects that match the newly updated or added features in the map data are specified as the further objects outside the vehicle.

  The idea of step S145 is that the user wants to know if there is something that the user does not see on the road that he usually passes. On the other hand, if it is a regular road, the user is probably already aware of most facilities such as buildings and objects such as mountains, so new ones that have been updated or added with map data (features) Presumed to be interested. Therefore, when a newly added or updated feature in the map data matches the specified off-vehicle object, the newly updated or added feature corresponding to the specified off-vehicle object is output. It is said. Then, information such as a name and guidance regarding the feature (= non-vehicle object) is extracted as the output target (read information on the narrowed non-vehicle object is read out of the non-vehicle object extracted in step S141).

  By performing the processing as described above, when a plurality of objects outside the vehicle are specified, the objects outside the vehicle that the vehicle user is paying attention to can be further narrowed down and specified as output targets.

  Here, the flow of the effects of the present embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 will be described in an easy-to-understand manner using the schematic diagram of FIG.

  After the talk SW 10 is turned on, the user's line-of-sight direction is detected in steps S10 and S11. Then, if it is recognized in step S13 that the question is from the user (for example, what is that?), In a subsequent step S141, an object outside the vehicle is specified using map data based on the line-of-sight direction and the voice recognition result. Here, there are a plurality of four objects specified outside the vehicle (name: type → XX gym: sports gym, XX department store: department store, XX department store: department store, XX museum: cultural facility).

  Here, when the road currently being traveled is a road that has traveled in the past, it is searched from the travel history information whether there is a feature that has been newly updated or added from the past travel time. In step S145, if it is detected from the search of the travel history information that XX gym and XX department store are newly updated / added features, XX department store and XX museum are identified as objects outside the vehicle. The △ gym and XX department store with new facility information are identified as objects outside the vehicle that the user is paying attention to.

  Since there are still a plurality of identified objects outside the vehicle (two exist here), the usage history information is used to further narrow down the objects outside the vehicle.

  In step S164, from the date and time when the talk SW 10 is first pressed, if it is the current Sunday (holiday), for example, when acquiring information such as “Holidays are relatively frequent for department stores” from the usage history information, the user Among the identified non-vehicle objects, XX gym is excluded, and the XX department store classified as the type of department store frequently used by the user is identified as the non-vehicle object. And the information of the target object (xx department store) specified by step S17 is notified to a user. For example, “This is a XX department store. On the top floor, local gourmet events are held during the period of □□.” Information is output (notified) to the user using video and audio. . In this way, when a plurality of objects outside the vehicle are specified, by using two means for further specifying the plurality of objects outside the vehicle, the object outside the vehicle that the vehicle user is paying attention to is output. It is possible to specify and output with higher accuracy.

  By the way, the process of specifying a plurality of objects outside the vehicle in step S16 in FIG. 2 is based on the use frequency of the objects outside the vehicle that the vehicle user has used in the past as described above with reference to FIGS. Although the method of narrowing down the objects is used, the present embodiment is not limited to this, and other methods such as those shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 may be used.

  FIG. 7 shows a process for narrowing down the objects outside the vehicle based on the information related to the user (in this case, the information that the user is interested in = interest information) in the process of identifying a plurality of objects outside the vehicle in step S16 in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a means. Here, this process starts when a plurality of objects outside the vehicle are specified in step S15 in FIG. 2 (when there is not one object outside the vehicle).

  In step S165, the interest information data necessary for the determination process in step S166 is acquired from the user information recording unit 3.

  Here, the method of creating the interest information will be described in detail with reference to FIG. In FIG. 8, a table 3c relating to what the user is interested in is recorded in the user information recording unit 3, and in this table, the priority (rank), the field in which the user is interested, and the user are interested. Items of types of objects outside the vehicle corresponding to the field are prepared in advance.

  The design philosophy of this table is that the field that the user is more interested in is an object outside the vehicle that the user is paying attention to (≒ Expected to be high user's interest or want to know) It is made.

  This table 3c is used to process a plurality of interests (new things, things to eat, things to exercise, things to read, etc.) prepared in advance as field items from an input device (not shown) in the order in which the user is interested. They are selected in advance before performing, and are recorded in order of priority. In addition, types corresponding to the field are prepared in advance and recorded in a table. For example, when the user is interested in the field of “new”, the corresponding type corresponds to “a building or facility whose information is updated or added with the latest map data”. In addition, in the field of “food”, the type corresponding to the category is a store related to eating and drinking (Izakaya, restaurant, fast food, convenience store, etc.).

  In the present embodiment, a priority level equal to or higher than a predetermined value (for example, a higher priority level of 3 or higher) is assumed to be an out-of-vehicle object that the user is paying attention to. In step S165, as the interest information data, information of each type recorded in the corresponding type column of “new”, “eat”, “exercise” of the priority levels 1 to 3 in the table 3c is acquired.

  In step S166, it is determined whether or not each type of the above-described priorities 1 to 3 recorded in the interest information matches the types of the plurality of non-vehicle objects specified in step S15 in FIG. If the types of the priorities 1 to 3 do not match the types of the plurality of non-vehicle objects, the process is terminated and the process proceeds to step S17 in FIG. Further, if the types of the plurality of objects outside the vehicle coincide with each other, the process proceeds to step S167.

  In step S167, the pre-processing is performed on the out-of-vehicle object that satisfies the condition that each type of priority equal to or higher than the predetermined value of the interest information matches the types of the plurality of specified out-of-vehicle objects. The extracted information such as the name and guidance is extracted, and the process ends (proceeds to S17). Specifically, there are four identified non-vehicle objects (name: type → ○ △ gym (new): gym, XX department store: department store, XX department store (new): department store, XX museum: Assume that there is a cultural facility. For example, if two of XX Gym and XX department stores were recently opened and added to the map data, only the information such as the name and guidance for the XX gym and XX department stores is left, and the other XX Discard information about department stores and XX museums. In step S17, information such as the names and guidance of the two buildings extracted in step S167 is sequentially output.

  Even when a plurality of objects outside the vehicle are specified in this way, if the type of the object outside the vehicle that the user is interested in matches the type of the object outside the vehicle that is specified, it belongs to the type that the user is interested in. An object outside the vehicle can be output. In other words, it is possible to specify and output the object outside the vehicle that the user is paying attention to with higher accuracy. In addition, the process of specifying a plurality of objects outside the vehicle based on the input results of the user as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is troublesome to set a field of interest to the user in advance. Compared with the specific process of collecting past records as shown in FIG. 4, the capacity recorded in the user information recording unit 3 can be reduced, which is advantageous in terms of cost.

  Further, as described above, according to the present embodiment and other embodiments, it is possible to more accurately identify an object outside the vehicle that is being noticed by the user of the vehicle, so that the user can simply say “what is that?” Even if a question is asked, it is possible to obtain a special effect that information on an object outside the vehicle that the user wants to know can be guided more appropriately than in the past.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment in the driving assistance device of this invention has been described, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, This invention deviates from the summary of the invention which concerns on each claim of a claim Applicable as long as not.

  For example, in this embodiment, the detection method of the user's gaze direction is detected from the movement of the user's eyes, but is not limited to this. For example, the gaze direction is estimated from the face direction and detected as the gaze direction. Alternatively, the user's finger may be photographed with a camera and the line-of-sight direction may be estimated from the pointing direction and detected as the line-of-sight direction.

  In step S13 of FIG. 2, when there is no question from the user, the process of waiting for the question is performed all the time. However, the process is not limited to this. For example, the process of FIG. Additional flow processing may be provided.

  Furthermore, the usage history information table of FIG. 4 is not limited to this, and the table may be subdivided in order to more accurately specify the object outside the vehicle that the user wants to know. For example, it may be prepared by further subdividing for each time (morning, noon, night) with respect to the day of the week.

  In addition, when a destination is set in the car navigation device, a table for each outbound route and inbound route may be provided.

  Furthermore, it may be a combination of each table group. For example, when specifying an object outside the vehicle around a holiday home, weighting is performed by multiplying the types of usage frequencies common to the tables 3a1 and 3b1 in FIG. Priorities may be set in descending order of the multiplied values and used for determination.

  In other words, the configuration may be a combination of the embodiments. For example, the process using FIGS. 7 and 8 (another embodiment of step S16 in FIG. 2) and the process of FIG. 5 (another embodiment of step S14 in FIG. 2) may be used in combination. 5 may be executed either before or after the process using FIGS. 3 and 4 (or the process using FIGS. 7 and 8).

  The driving support device of the present invention can reduce costs by combining various devices such as the map data input device 14 and the output device 30 and a car navigation device that can commonly use various control functions. It can be preferably implemented as a navigation system.

  Further, the extraction processing of information such as the name and guidance regarding the object outside the vehicle (including the processing of reading the previously extracted information) is performed in step S14, step S164, steps S141, S145, and step S167, but is not limited thereto. For example, the information extraction process may be performed collectively in step S17.

1 Driving support device 2 Control unit 3 User information recording unit 10 Talk SW
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Microphone 12 Position / azimuth detection device 13 Line-of-sight camera 14 Map data input device 20 Voice recognition processing unit 21 Current position / azimuth detection processing unit 22 Gaze detection processing unit 23 Map data recording unit 24 Audio processing unit 25 Image processing unit 30 Output device 31 Speaker section 32 Display section

Claims (6)

In a driving support device that has a specifying means for specifying an object outside the vehicle that the vehicle user is paying attention to, and outputs the specified object outside the vehicle,
User information recording means for classifying and recording the object outside the vehicle estimated to be of interest to the user by type;
When there are a plurality of objects outside the vehicle specified by the specifying means, the objects outside the vehicle corresponding to the type corresponding to the type recorded in the user information recording means among the types corresponding to the specified outside vehicle object A driving support device comprising means for outputting the output.   The driving support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user information recording unit is configured to record an object outside the vehicle used by the user for each type.   The driving assistance apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the type recorded in the user information recording unit is classified based on a date and time or a position where the user uses the object outside the vehicle.   The driving support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the types recorded in the user information recording unit are classified based on a field input by the user. Travel history recording means for recording the travel history of the vehicle;
Map information updating means for newly updating or adding the feature on the map data;
Based on the travel history recording means and the map information update means, the map data includes the object outside the vehicle specified by the specifying means between the time point when the vehicle has traveled in the past and the current time. A new feature search means for searching whether or not there is a newly updated or added feature,
When there are a plurality of the specified non-vehicle objects,
Based on the travel history recorded by the travel history recording means, the current position is a place that has traveled in the past, and
According to the search result of the new feature search means, when the newly added or updated feature matches the non-vehicle object specified by the specifying means,
The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the newly updated or added feature corresponding to the specified non-vehicle object is an output target.   6. The information on the object outside the vehicle that is specified by the specifying unit and is the output target is output using at least one of a video display unit and an audio output unit. The driving assistance apparatus as described.

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