JP2020094861A - Driving assist device, driving assist program, and driving assist program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a driving assist device with which, when providing information for assisting a driver with driving on the basis of the driver's line of sight, it is possible to provide appropriate information to the driver.SOLUTION: The driving assist device comprises: a gaze area detection unit for detecting a gaze area that the driver of a vehicle is gazing on the basis of gaze information relating to the gaze direction of the driver; a gaze object detection unit for detecting an object present within the gaze area on the basis of information relating to the gaze area detected by the gaze area detection unit; a priority object determination unit for determining, when there exists a plurality of objects detected by the gaze object detection unit, a priority object among the plurality of objects which is to be provided with information; and an output control unit for causing notification information relating to the priority object determined by the priority object determination unit to be outputted.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a driving support device, a driving support program, and a driving support system that provide a driver of a vehicle with information for supporting driving.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, there is known a technique of providing a driver of a vehicle with information based on the line of sight of the driver as information for supporting the driving of the driver.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an information providing apparatus that determines a gaze target object that the driver gazes based on the driver's (driver's) gaze direction and outputs information regarding the gaze target object. The information providing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 detects an object present in the line of sight of the driver, and detects the detected object based on, for example, the time the object is present in the line of sight of the driver. From among the above, the gaze target is determined.

JP, 2008-82822, A

In the related art represented by the technology of the information providing apparatus as disclosed in Patent Document 1, when there are a plurality of objects that can be gazed objects, it is necessary to consider which object should be the gazed object. Not done. Therefore, there is a problem that it cannot be said that appropriate information can be provided to the driver.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in providing information for supporting the driving of the driver based on the driver's line of sight, appropriate information for the driver. It is an object of the present invention to provide a driving support device that can provide the vehicle.

The driving assistance device according to the present invention is based on the line-of-sight direction information regarding the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the vehicle, the gaze region detection unit that detects the gaze region that the driver gazes, and the gaze region detected by the gaze region detection unit. When there are a plurality of gaze target detection units that detect a target object that exists in the gaze region based on information about the region and a plurality of target objects detected by the gaze target detection unit, information is provided from among the plurality of target objects. It is provided with a priority target determination unit that determines a target priority target object, and an output control unit that outputs notification information regarding the priority target object determined by the priority target determination unit.

According to the present invention, when providing information for supporting the driving of the driver based on the line of sight of the driver, it is possible to provide appropriate information to the driver.

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the drive assistance device which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a priority target determination condition that the priority target determination unit refers to when the priority target determination unit determines a priority target object when a plurality of target objects exist in the gaze area in the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of the priority target determination condition referred to by the priority target determination unit when determining a priority target object when a plurality of objects exist in the gaze area in the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of the priority target determination condition referred to by the priority target determination unit when determining a priority target object when a plurality of objects exist in the gaze area in the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of the priority target determination condition referred to by the priority target determination unit when determining a priority target object when a plurality of objects exist in the gaze area in the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of the priority target determination condition referred to by the priority target determination unit when determining a priority target object when a plurality of objects exist in the gaze area in the first embodiment. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the driving support device according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an image of the notification information output as a result of the operation of the driving support device operating as described with reference to FIG. 7 in the first embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining an operation of generating and outputting notification information and an image of the output notification information in the conventional technology. 10A and 10B are diagrams showing an example of the hardware configuration of the driving support device according to the first embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Embodiment 1.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the driving support device 1 according to the first embodiment.
The driving support device 1 is mounted on, for example, a vehicle-mounted car navigation device installed on a dashboard of a vehicle.
As shown in FIG. 1, the driving support device 1 is connected to an output device 2, an in-vehicle camera 3, an out-of-vehicle camera 4, a line-of-sight detection device 5, and a public wireless communication device 6.

The output device 2 includes an audio output device 21 and a display device 22.
The voice output device 21 is, for example, a speaker installed in a car navigation device and installed in the vehicle, and outputs a voice based on notification information (details will be described later) output from the driving support device 1. Further, the voice output device 21 outputs the navigation information by voice in the navigation system.
The display device 22 is, for example, a liquid crystal display mounted in a car navigation device, or a head-up display that displays information by superimposing it on the driver's forward field of view, and is based on the notification information output from the driving support device 1. Display the image. The display device 22 also displays navigation information in the navigation system.

The in-vehicle camera 3 is, for example, a photographing device installed on a dashboard or a ceiling of a vehicle. The in-vehicle camera 3 photographs at least an area including a driver's seat in the vehicle. More specifically, the in-vehicle camera 3 photographs at least an area including the headrest of the driver's seat from the front. Hereinafter, the image captured by the in-vehicle camera 3 is referred to as “in-vehicle captured image”.
The in-vehicle camera 3 outputs the captured in-vehicle captured image to the line-of-sight detection device 5.

The vehicle exterior camera 4 is installed, for example, on the windshield of the vehicle, and photographs the scenery around the vehicle. More specifically, the vehicle exterior camera 4 captures at least an image corresponding to the driver's visual field. Hereinafter, the image captured by the vehicle exterior camera 4 will be referred to as a “vehicle exterior captured image”.
The vehicle exterior camera 4 outputs the captured vehicle exterior image to the driving assistance device 1.

The line-of-sight detection device 5 detects the line-of-sight direction of the driver based on the in-vehicle captured image output from the in-vehicle camera 3. The line-of-sight detection device 5, for example, detects the driver's line-of-sight direction by detecting the driver's face direction and eyeball direction from the in-vehicle captured image, and detects the driver's line-of-sight direction using existing technology. Good.
The line-of-sight detection device 5 outputs the detected information regarding the driver's line-of-sight direction (hereinafter referred to as “line-of-sight direction information”) to the driving support device 1.

The in-vehicle camera 3, the out-of-vehicle camera 4, and the line-of-sight detection device 5 may be shared with a so-called "driver monitoring system (DMS)".

The public wireless communication device 6 is, for example, a mobile phone or a smartphone. The public wireless communication device 6 outputs the traffic information obtained by the application to the driving support device 1.

The driving assistance device 1 is focused on by the driver on the basis of the driver's line-of-sight direction information output from the line-of-sight detection device 5, the vehicle exterior image output from the vehicle exterior camera 4, the current position information of the vehicle, and the like. The notification information regarding the object existing in the existing area (hereinafter referred to as “gaze area”) is generated, and the notification information is output from the output device 2. Details of the notification information will be described later.

The driving assistance device 1 includes a gaze area detection unit 11, a gaze target detection unit 12, an information acquisition unit 13, a priority target determination unit 14, an output control unit 15, and a map information storage unit 16.
The information acquisition unit 13 includes a position information acquisition unit 131, a vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132, and a state information acquisition unit 133.

The gaze area detection unit 11 detects the gaze area of the driver based on the driver's gaze direction information output from the gaze detection device 5. The gaze area is, for example, an area that has a predetermined predetermined spread from the center with the tip of the line of sight being gazed as the center.
Specifically, the gaze area detection unit 11 detects the direction in which the driver is gazing, based on the driver's gaze direction information. For example, when the driver's gaze direction does not change for a certain period of time, the gaze area detection unit 11 detects the gaze direction as the gaze direction of the driver. Then, the gaze area detection unit 11 detects the gaze area of the driver from the detected gaze direction.
The gaze area detection unit 11 outputs information about the detected gaze area of the driver to the gaze target detection unit 12. In the following description, the driver's gaze area is simply referred to as “gaze area”.

The gaze target detection unit 12 detects an object existing in the gaze area detected by the gaze area detection unit 11 based on the vehicle exterior image output from the exterior camera 4 and information about the gaze area output from the gaze area detection unit 11. To detect. In the first embodiment, the target object includes any object or living body such as a facility, a road sign, an entrance/exit point such as a toll road, or a passerby that the driver can visually recognize while driving the vehicle.
The gaze target detection unit 12 may detect an object existing in the gaze area by using an existing technique such as image matching. Further, for example, the gaze target detection unit 12 determines the gaze area based on the information on the current position of the vehicle output from the position information acquisition unit 131 described below and the map information stored in the map information storage unit 16 described below. You may make it detect the target object which exists inside.
The gaze target detection unit 12 outputs information regarding the detected target object to the priority target determination unit 14.
When the gaze target detection unit 12 detects a plurality of target objects in the gaze area, the gaze target detection unit 12 outputs information regarding all the detected target objects to the priority target determination unit 14.
Hereinafter, the information about one or more objects existing in the gaze area, which is output by the gaze target detection unit 12, is also referred to as “object information”.

The target object information output by the gaze target detection unit 12 includes information that can identify the target object such as position information of the target object in association with the information of the target object. The gaze target detection unit 12 may acquire the position information of the target object from the image captured outside the vehicle, the information on the current position of the vehicle, and the map information, for example. The position information of the object included in the object information is represented in the earth coordinate system. The gaze target detection unit 12 may convert the coordinate system in the image captured outside the vehicle to the earth coordinate system based on the current position of the vehicle, and obtain position information of the object represented by the earth coordinate system.

The information acquisition unit 13 acquires various kinds of information.
The position information acquisition unit 131 of the information acquisition unit 13 acquires information regarding the current position of the vehicle.
The position information acquisition unit 131 may acquire the information on the current position of the vehicle from, for example, GPS information received from a GPS satellite by a GPS receiver (not shown) mounted on the vehicle.
The position information acquisition unit 131 outputs the acquired information on the current position of the vehicle to the priority target determination unit 14.

The vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132 of the information acquisition unit 13 acquires information regarding the current vehicle speed.
The vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132 may acquire the current vehicle speed information from, for example, a vehicle speed sensor (not shown) mounted on the vehicle.
The vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132 outputs the acquired information on the current vehicle speed to the priority target determination unit 14.

The state information acquisition unit 133 of the information acquisition unit 13 acquires information regarding the current traveling state of the vehicle. In the first embodiment, the running state of the vehicle means, for example, a state in which the vehicle is stopped or running, or is moving forward or backward.
The state information acquisition unit 133 may acquire information regarding the current traveling state of the vehicle from, for example, a gear signal, or based on the vehicle speed information acquired by the vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132, regarding the current traveling state of the vehicle. Information may be acquired.
The state information acquisition unit 133 outputs the acquired information about the current traveling state of the vehicle to the priority target determination unit 14.

The priority target determination unit 14 is a target object to be preferentially provided with information to the driver based on the target object information output from the gaze target detection unit 12 and various information output from the information acquisition unit 13. To decide.
In the following description, the target object which is prioritized to provide information to the driver and which is determined by the priority target determination unit 14 is also referred to as “priority target object”.
Based on the object information, the priority target determination unit 14 determines the target object as a priority target object when only one target object exists in the gaze area.
Based on the object information, when there are a plurality of objects existing in the gaze area, the priority target determination unit 14 selects a priority target from among the plurality of objects according to a preset priority target determination condition. Decide things.
The information related to the priority target object determined by the priority target determination unit 14 will be output from the output device 2 later as the notification information. Generation of the notification information and output control of the notification information are performed by the output control unit 15 described later.

Here, the priority target determination condition referred to by the priority target determination unit 14 to determine the priority target when a plurality of target objects exist in the gaze area will be described in detail with a specific example.
The priority target determination condition is information for determining which target object is to be the priority target object among the plurality of target objects, and in the first embodiment, the priority target determination condition includes the vehicle position and the vehicle speed. Alternatively, the traveling state and the information on the objects for which the priorities are set are associated with each other.
The priority target determination condition can be set by the driver as appropriate and can be stored in a location of the driving support device 1 where the priority target determination unit 14 can refer to, for example. Further, for example, the priority target determination condition may be set at the time of shipment of the driving support device 1 and stored in a location where the priority target determination unit 14 of the driving support device 1 can refer to.

2 to 6 illustrate an example of the priority target determination condition referred to by the priority target determination unit 14 when determining a priority target in the case where a plurality of target objects exist in the gaze area in the first embodiment. FIG.

The priority target determination condition is, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, information in which the current position of the vehicle and the information of the target object to which the priority order is assigned are associated with each other. Note that, as shown in FIG. 2, not only the specific target objects but also the target objects, which are defined in the priority target determination condition and are given priority, are grouped in advance according to their attributes. The type of the object that is set according to the above is included. Specifically, for example, for a guide sign or a regulatory sign, “road sign” is set as the type of the object, and the “road sign” is defined by the priority target determination condition. In other words, in the priority target determination condition, the “road sign” includes a guide sign or a regulatory sign. The same applies to FIGS. 3 to 6 described below.
For example, if the vehicle is currently on a general road and based on the object information output from the gaze target detection unit 12, the gaze area includes a commercial building included in the facility and a guide sign included in the road sign. Suppose there are two objects. Further, it is assumed that the content of the priority target determination condition is as shown in FIG.
In this case, according to the priority target determination condition of FIG. 2, the commercial building has a higher priority than the guide sign. Therefore, the priority target determination unit 14 determines a commercial building having a higher priority as a priority target object according to the priority target determination condition.
In this way, the priority target determination unit 14 can determine the priority target object from the plurality of target objects existing in the gaze area according to the position of the vehicle according to the priority target determination condition.
The priority target determination unit 14 determines the position of the vehicle based on the current position information of the vehicle output from the position information acquisition unit 131 and the map information stored in the map information storage unit 16 described later. To do.

The priority target determination condition may be, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, information in which the current vehicle speed of the vehicle and the information of the target object to which the priority is assigned are associated with each other.
In the priority target determination condition shown in FIG. 3, the prioritized target objects are different depending on whether the vehicle speed is fast or slow. Here, for example, the priority target determination unit 14 determines that the vehicle speed is fast when the vehicle speed is equal to or higher than a preset threshold value, and determines that the vehicle speed is slow when the vehicle speed is lower than the preset threshold value. And The priority target determination unit 14 determines whether the vehicle speed is fast or slow based on the vehicle speed information output from the vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132.
For example, the vehicle speed is now 50 km/h, and based on the object information output from the gazing target detection unit 12, the gazing area has two objects of a highway entrance and exit and a commercial building included in the facility. Is present. Further, it is assumed that the threshold value for determining the vehicle speed is 60 km/h.
In this case, since the vehicle speed can be determined to be slow, according to the priority target determination condition of FIG. 3, the entrance/exit point of the highway has a higher priority than the commercial building. Therefore, according to the priority target determination condition, the priority target determination unit 14 determines an entry point of a highway having a higher priority as a priority target object.
In this way, the priority target determination unit 14 can determine the priority target object from the plurality of target objects existing in the gaze area according to the current vehicle speed in accordance with the priority target determination condition.

The priority target determination condition may be, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, information in which the current traveling state of the vehicle is associated with the information of the target object to which the priority is assigned.
In the priority target determination condition shown in FIG. 4, the prioritized target objects are different depending on whether the vehicle is in a traveling state in which the vehicle is moving forward or in a traveling state in which the vehicle is moving backward. The priority target determination unit 14 determines whether the vehicle is moving forward or backward based on the traveling state information output from the state information acquisition unit 133.
For example, it is assumed that the vehicle is moving forward and that two objects, that is, a regulation sign included in a road sign and a house included in a facility are present in the gazing area.
In this case, according to the priority target determination condition of FIG. 4, the regulation sign has a higher priority than the house. Therefore, the priority target determination unit 14 determines a regulatory sign having a higher priority as a priority target object according to the priority target determination condition.

In addition, for example, it is assumed that the vehicle is moving backward and two objects, a house included in the facility and a side mirror, exist in the gazing area.
In this case, according to the priority target determination condition of FIG. 4, neither the facility nor the side mirror is among the objects prioritized when the vehicle is moving backward in the priority target determination condition. Therefore, the priority target determination unit 14 determines that there is no priority target object.
For example, when the vehicle is being moved backward to park the vehicle, it is presumed that the driver does not need information regarding the side mirror although the driver confirms the backward movement condition by the side mirror. In addition, it is presumed that the information on the houses existing through the side mirrors is not needed. Further, when the vehicle is moved backward and parked, the driver's gaze area such as the left side, the right side or the rear side of the vehicle may frequently change. In such a case, it is presumed that the driver does not need to provide information regarding the object within the gaze area.
Therefore, for example, the driver sets the priority target determination condition so that it is determined that there is no priority target object when the vehicle is moving backward. As a result, as described above, the priority target determination unit 14 determines that there is no priority target object, and information about the target object in the gazing area, which is estimated to be unnecessary for the driver later, is not output. Like

In this way, the priority target determination unit 14 can determine the priority target object from the plurality of target objects existing in the gaze area according to the current running state of the vehicle according to the priority target determination condition. .
Further, the priority target determination unit 14 can also determine that there is no priority target object among the plurality of target objects existing in the gaze area according to the priority target determination condition. In the above example, the priority target determination unit 14 determines that there is no priority target object according to the priority target determination condition as shown in FIG. 4, but the priority target as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. Even according to the target determination condition, the priority target determination unit 14 can determine that there is no priority target object.

Further, as the priority target determination condition, an additional condition is set to the current position, the vehicle speed, or the traveling state, and the priority target determination unit 14 determines the priority target object in consideration of the additional condition. You can also do so.
For example, in the priority target determination condition shown in FIG. 2, for example, in the case where the current position of the vehicle is within the facility, FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the priority target determination condition which added that additional condition. When the vehicle is inside the facility, the priority target determining unit 14 takes into consideration whether or not there is a parking lot guidance sign among the plurality of objects according to the priority target determining condition as shown in FIG. Can also be determined.
Specifically, for example, it is assumed that the vehicle is in a parking lot of a commercial building, and two objects, that is, the commercial building and a guide sign for the parking lot, exist in the gazing area. In this case, the priority target determination unit 14 determines the parking lot guidance sign as a priority target object according to the priority target determination condition.

For example, suppose a driver visits a commercial building with a vehicle and seeks to park the vehicle in search of a parking lot in the commercial building. At this time, it is assumed that there are guide signs for a commercial building and a parking lot visited by the driver in the gazing area. In this case, it is presumed that a driver looking for a parking lot needs information about the parking lot.
Therefore, for example, when the vehicle is in a facility, if the driver has a parking lot guidance sign for a plurality of objects in the gazing area, the parking lot guidance sign is given the highest priority as a priority object. So that the priority target determination condition is set. As a result, as described above, the priority target determination unit 14 determines the guide sign of the parking lot as the priority target object, and subsequently, the information about the parking lot is output to the driver.
In the above example, the additional condition is “the object has a parking lot guidance sign”, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the additional condition may be “the current position is in the parking lot”, for example.
Further, here, the example in which the additional condition is set in the priority target determination condition shown in FIG. 2 has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the additional condition is set in the priority target determination condition shown in FIG. 3 or 4. It can also be done.

In each of the priority target determination conditions shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, only the current position of the vehicle, only the current vehicle speed, or only the current running state of the vehicle is associated with the information of the priority-assigned target object. It is supposed to be.
The priority target determination condition is not limited to this, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the current position, the vehicle speed, the running state of the vehicle, and the information of the objects to which the priorities are assigned are associated with each other. It may be one.
Alternatively, the priority target determination condition may be a condition in which any two of the current position, the vehicle speed, and the traveling state of the vehicle are associated with the information of the target object to which the priority is assigned. ..

In the priority target determination condition, when only the current position of the vehicle is associated with the information of the target object to which the priority order is assigned, the driving assistance device 1 includes the vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132 and the state information acquisition unit 133. There may be no configuration. In other words, when the priority target determination unit 14 does not question the vehicle speed and the traveling state of the vehicle when determining the priority target object, the driving support device 1 includes the vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132 and the state information acquisition unit 133. There may be no configuration.
Further, in the priority target determination condition, when only the current vehicle speed is associated with the information of the target object to which the priority order is assigned, the driving assistance device 1 causes the position information acquisition unit 131 and the state information acquisition unit 133 to operate. The configuration may not be provided. In other words, when the priority target determination unit 14 does not question the current position and traveling state of the vehicle when determining the priority target object, the driving assistance device 1 causes the position information acquisition unit 131 and the state information acquisition unit 133 to operate. The configuration may not be provided. In this case, the gaze target detection unit 12 may acquire the information on the current position of the vehicle from, for example, a GPS receiver.
Further, in the priority target determination condition, when only the current traveling state of the vehicle is associated with the information of the target object to which the priority order is assigned, the driving assistance device 1 determines the position information acquisition unit 131 and the vehicle speed information acquisition. A configuration without the portion 132 may be adopted. In other words, when the priority target determination unit 14 does not ask the current position and vehicle speed of the vehicle when determining the priority target object, the driving support device 1 includes the position information acquisition unit 131 and the vehicle speed information acquisition unit 132. There may be no configuration.

In addition, in the specific example described above, the case where two objects exist as the case where there are a plurality of objects existing in the gaze region, but this is only an example.
Even when there are three or more target objects existing in the gaze area, the priority target determination unit 14 determines the priority target objects according to the priority target determination conditions, as in the case described above with a specific example. To do.

Further, in the specific examples described above, when there are a plurality of objects existing in the gaze area, it is assumed that the plurality of objects are different types of objects such as facilities and road signs. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of objects of the same type may exist in the gazing range. Specifically, for example, there may be two guide signs included in the road sign in the driver's gaze range. In this case, the priority target determination unit 14 determines only one of the two guide signs as the priority target if the priority of the road sign is the highest when determining the priority target. You can Specifically, for example, the priority target determination unit 14 determines a guidance sign closer to the driver's gaze direction as a priority target object.
Moreover, the priority target determination unit 14 may determine both of the two guide signs as priority target objects.

The priority target determination unit 14 outputs information on the determined priority target object to the output control unit 15. When it is determined that there is no priority target object, the priority target determination unit 14 outputs information indicating that there is no priority target object to the output control unit 15 as information of the priority target object.
Hereinafter, the information of the priority target object output by the priority target determination unit 14 is also referred to as “priority target object information”.
Unless the priority target information is information indicating that there is no priority target, the priority target information output by the priority target determination unit 14 includes information such as position information that can identify the priority target. The information that can specify the priority target object has the same content as the information that can specify the target object, which is included in the target object information output from the gaze target detection unit 12.

Returning to the explanation of FIG.
The output control unit 15 generates notification information for notifying information regarding the priority target object based on the priority target object information output from the priority target determination unit 14, and causes the output device 2 to output the notification information. Specifically, the output control unit 15 causes the voice output device 21 to voice output the notification information. Alternatively, the output control unit 15 causes the display device 22 to display the notification information. The output control unit 15 may cause the display device 22 to display the notification information as well as having the sound output device 21 output the sound.

In the first embodiment, the notification information is, for example, attribute information of the target object when the priority target object is the target object included in the facility. The attribute information of the target object included in the facility is information indicating what kind of facility the target object is, such as the name, location, or number of persons accommodated in the target object. In addition to road information, the map information stored in the map information storage unit 16 to be described later includes the attribute information of the facility in association with the position information represented by latitude or longitude. The output control unit 15 may refer to the map information, acquire the attribute information of the facility, and generate the notification information.

Further, the notification information is, for example, information about the content indicated by the target object when the priority target object is the target object included in the road sign. Specifically, for example, a guide sign included in a road sign is information indicating the direction, direction, distance, or the like to a certain point. Further, for example, if it is a regulation sign included in a road sign, it is information indicating the content of regulation. The output control unit 15 may refer to the map information, acquire the information indicated by the road sign, and generate the notification information. The map information also includes information about road signs as road information.

The notification information is, for example, information indicating the availability of the parking lot when the priority target object is a parking lot guidance sign included in the road sign. The output control unit 15 may acquire the information regarding the vacancy status of the parking lot from the traffic information output from the public wireless communication device 6 and generate the notification information. The traffic information output from the public wireless communication device 6 also includes information on the availability of the parking lot.

What kind of notification information the output control unit 15 generates for what priority object is set in advance according to the priority object.
It suffices for the output control unit 15 to generate information regarding the priority target object as notification information in accordance with the priority target object.

The map information storage unit 16 stores map information. The map information includes road information, position information, facility information and the like.
Here, as shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the map information storage unit 16 is provided in the driving support device 1, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the map information storage unit 16 is provided outside the driving support device 1 for driving. The support device 1 may be provided at a location where it can be referenced.

The operation of the driving support device 1 according to the first embodiment will be described.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the driving support device 1 according to the first embodiment.
The gaze area detection unit 11 acquires the gaze direction information of the driver from the gaze detection device 5 (step ST701), and detects the gaze area of the driver based on the acquired gaze direction information of the driver (step ST702). ..
The gaze area detection unit 11 outputs information about the detected gaze area to the gaze target detection unit 12.

The gazing target detection unit 12 determines whether the gazing area detected by the gazing area detection unit 11 is within the gazing area detected by the gazing area detection unit 11 on the basis of the vehicle outside image output from the outside camera 4 and the information about the gazing area output by the gazing area detection unit 11 in step ST702. Detect existing object (step ST703)
The gaze target detection unit 12 outputs the detected target object information to the priority target determination unit 14.

The priority target determination unit 14 determines whether or not a plurality of target objects exist in the gaze area based on the target object information output from the gaze target detection unit 12 in step ST703 (step ST704).
In step ST704, when it is determined that there is only one target object in the gazing area (in the case of “NO” in step ST704), the priority target determination unit 14 determines the target object based on the target object information as the priority target object. Is determined (step ST705). That is, the priority target determination unit 14 determines the target object detected by the gaze target detection unit 12 in step ST703 as a priority target object.
The priority target determination unit 14 outputs information on the determined priority target object to the output control unit 15.

When it is determined in step ST704 that a plurality of objects exist in the gaze area (in the case of “YES” in step ST704), the priority target determination unit 14 outputs the object output from the gaze target detection unit 12 in step ST703. Based on the information and various information output from the information acquisition unit 13, the priority target object is determined (step ST706). Specifically, the priority target determination unit 14 determines, based on the target object information output from the gaze target detection unit 12 and the various information output from the information acquisition unit 13, a plurality of target objects according to the priority target determination condition. From within, decide the priority object.
The priority target determination unit 14 outputs the priority target object information to the output control unit 15.

The output control unit 15 generates notification information for notifying information about the priority target object based on the priority target object information output from the priority target determination unit 14 in step ST705 or step ST706 (step ST707), The generated notification information is output to the output device 2 (step ST708).

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining an image of the notification information output as a result of the operation of the driving support device 1 operating as described with reference to FIG. 7 in the first embodiment. In addition, in FIG. 8, in the driving assistance device 1, when the priority target determination unit 14 determines the priority target object based on the current position of the vehicle and the priority target determination conditions to be referred to are those shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the image of the notification information produced|generated and output.
Now, it is assumed that the vehicle is running on a highway and the driver 100 is gazing ahead in the direction of the guide sign 801 included in the road sign. At this time, the guide sign 801 overlaps with the building 802 in the field of view of the driver 100.

The gaze area detection unit 11 detects the gaze direction of the driver 100 based on the gaze direction information acquired from the eye gaze detection device 5 and detects the gaze area 800 (see steps ST701 to ST702 in FIG. 7).
The gaze target detection unit 12 is based on the exterior image captured by the exterior camera 4 and the gaze area 800 detected by the gaze area detection unit 11, and is an object existing in the gaze area 800. 802 is detected (see step ST703 in FIG. 7).
Since two objects have been detected in the gaze area 800 (refer to the case of “YES” in step ST704 of FIG. 7), the priority target determination unit 14 follows the priority target determination conditions shown in FIG. It is determined which one of 801 and the building 802 is to be the priority object.

Specifically, the priority target determination unit 14 determines that the vehicle is on the highway based on the current position information of the vehicle output from the position information acquisition unit 131 and the map information stored in the map information storage unit 16. To judge. Then, the priority target determination unit 14 determines that the guide sign 801 has a higher priority than the building 802 according to the priority target determination condition, and determines the guide sign 801 as a priority target object (step in FIG. 7). ST706).
The output control unit 15 generates the notification information 803 for notifying the information about the guide sign 801 that the priority target determination unit 14 has determined as the priority target object, and causes the output device 2 to output the notification information 803. Here, the output control unit 15 outputs the notification information 803 from the speaker.
The driver 100 can confirm the notification information 803 output as voice, and can understand that the guide sign 801 in the gazing area 800 has the content of “○km until ΔΔ”.
It is presumed that on the expressway, the information provided to the driver 100 requires more information about the guide sign 801 than information about the surrounding building 802. In the driving support device 1 according to the first embodiment, as described above, among the objects (the guide sign 801 and the building 802) existing in the gazing area 800 of the driver 100, the object (presumed to be more necessary) ( Information about the guide sign 801) can be output.

Note that, in FIG. 8, the output control unit 15 outputs the notification information 803 by voice, but the output control unit 15 causes the head-up display to display the notification information 803 by superimposing it on the gaze area 800. You may do it.
Since the information is provided to the driver 100 who is driving, it is preferable that the notification information 803 is displayed on the head-up display so that the driver 100 who is driving can visually recognize the notification information 803 without greatly removing the line of sight. ..
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and when the notification information 803 is displayed, for example, in addition to the head-up display, the output control unit 15 causes the display included in the navigation device installed on the control panel to display the notification information 803. May be. In this case, for example, the passenger can check the display and visually recognize the information regarding the guide sign 801.

As described above, in the related art represented by the technology of the conventional information providing apparatus, when there are a plurality of objects that can be gazed objects, which object should be the gazed object is not considered. ..
Therefore, for example, in the case of the above-described example described with reference to FIG. 8, the driver 100 does not need to consider which of the guide sign 801 and the building 802 is the object the driver 100 is gazing at. Inferred notification information 804 about the building 802 may be output (see FIG. 9).
Then, it cannot be said that appropriate information can be provided to the driver 100, and the driver 100 may feel annoyed.

On the other hand, as described in the example using FIG. 8, the driving support device 1 according to the first embodiment gives priority to which of the guide sign 801 and the building 802 exists in the gazing area of the driver 100. Information regarding the guide sign 801 which is estimated to be more needed by the driver 100 is provided by considering whether or not the target object is set. As a result, it is possible to provide the driver 100 with appropriate information.

As described above, when there are a plurality of objects in the gazing area of the driver, the driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment is a target to which information is preferentially provided among the plurality of objects. The priority target object is determined, and the notification information regarding the priority target object is output.
As a result, it is possible to output information regarding the object that is estimated to be needed by the driver. As a result, even when a plurality of objects are present in the driver's gaze area, it is possible to appropriately provide the driver with information.

Further, as described with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 6 and the like, the driving support device 1 according to the first embodiment has a plurality of objects in the driver's gaze area, and among the plurality of objects, When determining the priority target object, the priority target object is determined according to the priority target determination condition set according to the current position of the vehicle, the vehicle speed, or the traveling state of the vehicle.
As a result, it is possible to provide the driver with information that is estimated to be needed by the driver and that is suitable for the situation in which the driver is placed.

In addition, in the above-described first embodiment, the driving support device 1 is assumed to be mounted on the vehicle, but this is merely an example.
The driving support device 1 may be provided in a server (not shown), and the in-vehicle camera 3 and the like may be connected to the server by communication.
Further, only a part of the gaze area detection unit 11, the gaze target detection unit 12, the information acquisition unit 13, the priority target determination unit 14, and the output control unit 15 that configure the driving support device 1 is provided in the server. You can

Further, in the first embodiment described above, the priority target determination condition is to prioritize the target objects according to the position of the vehicle, the vehicle speed, or the traveling state, but this is merely an example. If the priority target determination condition is information that allows the priority target determination unit 14 to determine which target object is the priority target object among the plurality of target objects existing in the gaze area. Good.

Further, in the above-described first embodiment, the driving support device 1 detects the gaze area based on the vehicle outside image captured by the vehicle outside camera 4. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the driving assistance device 1 acquires the vehicle surroundings information from a vehicle surroundings sensor that acquires information around the vehicle instead of the vehicle outside camera 4, and acquires the vehicle surroundings information and the driver. The gaze area may be detected based on the line-of-sight direction information. The driving support device 1 may be adapted to acquire at least an image or information corresponding to the driver's visual field.

10A and 10B are diagrams showing an example of the hardware configuration of the driving support device 1 according to the first embodiment.
In the first embodiment, the functions of the gaze area detection unit 11, the gaze target detection unit 12, the information acquisition unit 13, the priority target determination unit 14, and the output control unit 15 are realized by the processing circuit 1001. That is, the driving support device 1 includes the processing circuit 1001 for performing control to output the notification information regarding the object existing in the driver's gaze area.
The processing circuit 1001 may be dedicated hardware as shown in FIG. 10A or may be a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1005 that executes a program stored in the memory 1006 as shown in FIG. 10B.

When the processing circuit 1001 is dedicated hardware, the processing circuit 1001 includes, for example, a single circuit, a composite circuit, a programmed processor, a parallel programmed processor, an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and an FPGA (Field-Programmable). Gate Array), or a combination thereof.

When the processing circuit 1001 is the CPU 1005, the functions of the gaze area detection unit 11, the gaze target detection unit 12, the information acquisition unit 13, the priority target determination unit 14, and the output control unit 15 are software, firmware, or software. It is realized by the combination of and firmware. That is, the gaze area detection unit 11, the gaze target detection unit 12, the information acquisition unit 13, the priority target determination unit 14, and the output control unit 15 are stored in the HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 1002, the memory 1006, and the like. It is realized by a CPU 1005 that executes a program and a processing circuit such as a system LSI (Large-Scale Integration). Further, the program stored in the HDD 1002, the memory 1006, or the like is the procedure or method of the gaze area detection unit 11, the gaze target detection unit 12, the information acquisition unit 13, the priority target determination unit 14, and the output control unit 15. It can also be said that it causes a computer to execute. Here, the memory 1006 is, for example, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), or an EEPROM (Electrically Organizable Memory). Or volatile semiconductor memory, magnetic disk, flexible disk, optical disk, compact disk, mini disk, DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and the like.

Note that some of the functions of the gaze area detection unit 11, the gaze target detection unit 12, the information acquisition unit 13, the priority target determination unit 14, and the output control unit 15 are realized by dedicated hardware, and some of them are realized. May be realized by software or firmware. For example, regarding the gaze area detection unit 11 and the gaze target detection unit 12, the function is realized by a processing circuit 1001 as dedicated hardware, and regarding the information acquisition unit 13, the priority target determination unit 14, and the output control unit 15. The processing circuit 1001 can realize the function by reading and executing the program stored in the memory 1006.
Further, the driving support apparatus 1 includes an input interface device 1003 and an output interface device that perform wired communication or wireless communication with a device such as the output device 2, the in-vehicle camera 3, the out-of-vehicle camera 4, the line-of-sight detection device 5, or the public wireless communication device 6. 1004 is provided.

As described above, the driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment includes the gaze area detection unit 11 that detects the gaze area in which the driver gazes based on the gaze direction information regarding the gaze direction of the driver of the vehicle. In the case where there are a plurality of gaze target detection units 12 that detect an object existing in the gaze region based on information about the gaze region detected by the gaze region detection unit 11 and a plurality of target objects detected by the gaze target detection unit 12 Of the plurality of target objects, a priority target determination unit 14 that determines a priority target object to be provided with information, and an output control unit 15 that outputs notification information regarding the priority target object determined by the priority target determination unit 14. It is configured to include. Therefore, when providing the information for supporting the driving of the driver based on the line of sight of the driver, it is possible to provide appropriate information to the driver.

In addition, in the driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment, the priority target determination unit 14 determines the priority target object according to the current position of the vehicle. Further, the priority target determination unit 14 determines the priority target object according to the current vehicle speed of the vehicle. In addition, the priority target determination unit 14 determines the priority target object according to the current traveling state of the vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to provide the driver with more appropriate information suitable for the situation in which the driver is placed.
Further, in the driving assistance device 1 according to the first embodiment, when the vehicle is moving backward, the priority target determination unit 14 does not select any of the plurality of target objects existing within the driver's gaze area as the priority target object. Therefore, the output control unit 15 may not output the information regarding the priority object. Therefore, even if there are multiple objects in the driver's gaze area, the driver should not provide information to the driver in a situation where it is presumed that information is not required. can do.

It should be noted that, in the present invention, it is possible to modify any constituent element of the embodiment or omit any constituent element of the embodiment within the scope of the invention.

Since the driving assistance device according to the present invention is configured to provide appropriate information to the driver in providing the information for assisting the driving of the driver based on the line of sight of the driver, the vehicle The present invention can be applied to a driving support device that provides the driver with information for supporting driving.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Driving support device, 2 output device, 21 audio output device, 22 display device, 3 in-vehicle camera, 4 exterior camera, 5 line-of-sight detection device, 6 public wireless communication device, 11 gaze area detection part, 12 gaze target detection part, 13 Information acquisition unit, 131 position information acquisition unit, 132 vehicle speed information acquisition unit, 133 state information acquisition unit, 14 priority target determination unit, 15 output control unit, 16 map information storage unit, 800 gazing area, 801 guidance sign, 802 building, 803, 804 notification information, 1001 processing circuit, 1002 HDD, 1003 input interface device, 1004 output interface device, 1005 CPU, 1006 memory.

Claims (7)

Based on the line-of-sight direction information about the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the vehicle, a gaze area detection unit that detects the gaze area that the driver gazes,
Based on information about the gaze area detected by the gaze area detection unit, a gaze target detection unit that detects an object existing in the gaze area,
When there are a plurality of objects detected by the gaze target detection unit, a priority target determination unit that determines a priority target object that is a target for information provision among the plurality of target objects,
An output control unit that outputs notification information about the priority target object determined by the priority target determination unit. The priority target determination unit,
The driving assistance device according to claim 1, wherein the priority target object is determined according to a current position of the vehicle. The priority target determination unit,
The driving assistance device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the priority target object is determined according to a current vehicle speed of the vehicle. The priority target determination unit,
The driving assistance device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the priority target object is determined according to a current traveling state of the vehicle. When the vehicle is moving backward, the priority target determination unit determines that none of the plurality of target objects is the priority target object,
The driving support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the output control unit does not output information regarding the priority target object. The gaze area detection unit, based on the line-of-sight direction information about the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the vehicle, the step of detecting the gaze area that the driver gazes,
The gaze target detection unit, based on the information about the gaze area detected by the gaze area detection unit, a step of detecting an object existing in the gaze area,
Priority target determination unit, when there is a plurality of target objects detected by the gaze target detection unit, of the plurality of target objects, determining a priority target object for which information is to be provided,
And a step of causing the output control unit to output the notification information regarding the priority target object determined by the priority target determination unit. Based on the line-of-sight direction information about the line-of-sight direction of the driver of the vehicle, a gaze area detection unit that detects the gaze area that the driver gazes,
Based on information about the gaze area detected by the gaze area detection unit, a gaze target detection unit that detects an object existing in the gaze area,
When there are a plurality of target objects detected by the gaze target detection unit, a priority target determination unit that determines a priority target object that is a target for information provision among the plurality of target objects,
An output control unit that outputs notification information about the priority target object determined by the priority target determination unit.

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