JP2022132318A - Excitement degree determination device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an excitement degree determination device which supports driver's driving by effectively adjusting an excitement degree by a driver of a movable body.

SOLUTION: An excitement degree determination device includes a feature quantity acquisition part which detects a feature quantity relating to behavior of a driver of a movable body, a travel control information acquisition part which acquires travel control information as information relating to a travel control state of the movable body when the feature quantity is detected, and an excitement degree determination part which determines an excitement degree of an occupant on the basis of the feature quantity and travel control information.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2022,JPO&INPIT

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an excitement level determination device, and more particularly to an excitement level determination device capable of determining a user's excitement level.

Conventionally, the beat information of the music and the detection result of the user's motion are compared to determine whether or not the user is moving their body in time with the music. A terminal device has been proposed that associates and stores information indicating determination results. (Patent document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 6055659

For example, in a mobile object such as an automobile, it is desirable that a driver who is responsible for operating the mobile object is not in an excessively excited state. Therefore, it is preferable to be able to determine the state of excitement of the driver. However, the terminal device described in Patent Document 1 only determines whether or not the user is moving in time with the music when the music is reproduced, and stores the result. Therefore, an example of a problem is that it is difficult to accurately determine whether or not the user is currently in an excited state, depending on the terminal device described in Patent Document 1 and the information acquired by it. .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and for example, it is desirable to provide an excitement degree determination device that assists the driver's driving by effectively adjusting the excited state of the driver of the mobile object. aim.

According to the first aspect of the invention, there is provided a feature amount acquiring unit for detecting a feature amount relating to behavior of a driver of a mobile body, and a travel control apparatus which is information relating to a travel control state of the mobile body when the feature amount is detected. An excitement level determination device comprising: a driving control information acquisition section for acquiring information; and an excitement level determination section for determining the excitement level of the occupant based on the feature amount and the driving control information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a front seat portion of a vehicle equipped with an excitement level adjusting device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention; 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an excitement level adjustment device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of an excitement degree data table. It is an example of a reference value table. It is an example of a reference value table. FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device that is Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

Preferred embodiments of the invention are described below. However, these may be appropriately modified and combined. Also, in the following description and accompanying drawings, substantially the same or equivalent parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. Also, in the following description, the term video includes moving images and still images.

An excitement suppressing device 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the first embodiment, the case where the excitement level adjustment device 10 is mounted on the automobile M will be described as an example.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a front seat portion of an automobile M as a moving body to which an excitement level adjustment device 10 is attached. In FIG. 1, as an installation example, the case where the excitement degree adjustment device 10 is installed in the center console portion of the front seat of the automobile M is shown.

The upper body camera 11 as a passenger photographing unit is a camera capable of photographing the upper body of the passenger of the automobile M. The upper body camera 11 is provided on the dashboard DB, for example, and is oriented so as to photograph the driver in the driver's seat. Note that the upper body camera 11 may be arranged at a position where it is possible to photograph the situation such as the motion of the passenger's upper body. For example, the upper body camera 11 may be provided on the rearview mirror RM, or may be provided on the upper end of the windshield FG or on the ceiling near the upper end.

The upper body camera 11 is communicably connected to the excitement level adjustment device 10 and is capable of transmitting a signal of the captured image to the excitement level adjustment device 10 .

The lower body camera 13 is a camera capable of photographing the lower body of the passenger in the vehicle, for example, the legs. The lower body camera is provided, for example, on the surface of the dashboard DB and on the side of the steering wheel H, and is oriented so as to photograph the feet of the driver. The lower body camera 13 is communicably connected to the excitement level adjustment device 10 and is capable of transmitting a signal of the captured image to the excitement level adjustment device 10 .

The microphone 15 is a microphone device that receives sounds inside the vehicle, and is arranged on the dashboard DB, for example. The microphone 15 may be provided anywhere, such as the rearview mirror RM or the steering wheel, as long as it can receive the sound inside the vehicle. The microphone 15 is communicably connected to the excitement level adjustment device 10 and can transmit the collected sound signal to the excitement level adjustment device 10 .

Note that the upper body camera 11, the lower body camera 13, and the microphone 15 are used as feature amount detection units for detecting feature amounts related to the behavior of the passenger.

The GPS receiver 17 is a device that receives signals (GPS signals) from GPS (Global Positioning System) satellites. The GPS receiver 17 is arranged on the dashboard DB, for example. The GPS receiver 17 may be placed anywhere as long as it can receive GPS signals. The GPS receiver 17 is communicably connected to the excitement level adjustment device 10 and can transmit the received GPS signal to the excitement level adjustment device 10 .

The touch panel 19 is, for example, a touch panel monitor in which a display 19A such as a liquid crystal display capable of displaying images and a touch pad 19B are combined. The touch panel 19 is arranged on the dashboard DB, for example. The touch panel 19 may be arranged at a place where it can be visually recognized by the driver and can be reached by the driver. For example, the touch panel 19 may be attached to the center console CC within the dashboard DB.

The display 19</b>A is communicably connected to the excitement level adjustment device 10 and can perform screen display based on the control of the excitement level adjustment device 10 . Further, the touch panel 19B can transmit to the excitement level adjustment device 10 a signal representing an input operation to the touch panel 19B received from the user.

The speaker 21 is provided, for example, on the interior side of the A-pillar P or the door DR. The speaker 21 is communicably connected to the excitement level adjustment device 10 and can emit sounds such as music and voice based on the control of the excitement level adjustment device 10 .

[1. System configuration and operation]
FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the excitement level adjustment device 10. As shown in FIG. For example, the excitement level adjustment device 10 includes a large-capacity storage device 33, a control unit 35, an input unit 37, an output unit 39, a data communication unit 41, and a content reading unit 43 via a system bus 31. They are devices that work together.

The mass storage device 33 is composed of, for example, a hard disk device, SSD (solid state drive), flash memory, etc., and stores various programs such as an operating system and terminal software.

Various programs may be acquired from another server device or the like via a network, for example, or may be recorded on a recording medium and read via various drive devices. That is, various programs stored in the mass storage device 33 (including programs for executing processing in the excitement level adjustment device 10, which will be described later) can be transmitted via a network and can be computer-readable. It is possible to record it on a recording medium and transfer it.

The control unit 35 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 35A, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 35B, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 35C, etc., and functions as a computer. Various functions are realized by the CPU 35A reading and executing various programs stored in the ROM 35B and the mass storage device 33. FIG.

The input unit 37 is an interface unit that communicably connects the excitement level adjustment device 10 and the touch pad 19B. The excitement level adjustment device 10 can receive, via the input unit 37, a signal indicating an input operation to the touch pad 19B. The input unit 37 can also serve as an interface unit that communicably connects the excitement level adjustment device 10 and the microphone 15 . In this case, the excitement level adjustment device 10 can receive a voice input signal related to the user's voice input operation from the microphone 15 via the input unit 37 .

The output unit 39 is communicably connected to the display 19A and the speaker 21, and transmits a video or image signal to the display 19A for display, or transmits an audio signal to the speaker 21 to output sound. It is possible to

The data collection unit 41 is an interface unit that communicably connects the excitement level adjustment device 10, the upper body camera 11, the lower body camera 13, and the microphone 15 with each other. The excitement level adjustment device 10 receives video signals from the upper body camera 11 and the lower body camera 13 via the data collection unit 41 .

The excitement level adjustment device 10 also receives the audio signal from the microphone 15 via the data collection unit 41 . Based on the video and audio signals received via the data collection unit 41, the control unit 35 determines the amount of movement of each part of the driver's body in the movement of the driver of the vehicle equipped with the excitement level adjustment device 10. A motion feature amount can be calculated.

For example, the control unit 35 can calculate the motion feature amount based on the size of the motion of the passenger of the automobile M based on the video signals from the upper body camera 11 and the lower body camera 13 . For example, the motion feature amount is obtained by normalizing the detected movement amount of each part of the body to a value between 0 and 1, with the preset maximum movement amount of each part of the body being 1. be. In this embodiment, as an example, image processing is performed to calculate motion feature amounts using only the amount of movement of the head, hands, and feet of the driver of the automobile M. FIG.

For example, the control unit 35 can calculate the voice feature amount based on the loudness of the voice of the passenger of the car M based on the voice input from the microphone 15 . This speech feature amount is obtained by normalizing the input speech to a value between 0 and 1, with a preset maximum speech being set to 1, for example. In this embodiment, as an example, only the extracted voice of the driver of the automobile M is used as the input voice to calculate the voice feature amount.

The calculated voice feature amount and motion feature amount are stored in an excitement level database (excitement level storage DB) 33A in the large-capacity storage device 33 .

The data collection unit 41 also serves as an interface for communicably connecting the excitement level adjustment device 10 and the travel control device VC of the vehicle M on which the excitement level adjustment device 10 is mounted. The travel control device VC is a device that governs the travel control of the automobile M. As shown in FIG. In this embodiment, the cruise control device VC determines whether to control the vehicle M manually or automatically at any of levels 1 to 5. FIG.

Further, in this embodiment, the travel control device VC stores control information indicating whether the automobile M is currently traveling under manual driving control or under automatic driving control at any of levels 1 to 5 as data. It can be transmitted to the excitement level adjustment device 10 via the collection unit 41 . It should be noted that the state of manual operation control is assumed to be automatic operation level 0.

Further, when there is a plan to change the driving control mode of the automobile M, the cruise control device VC can transmit the plan to the excitement level adjustment device 10 via the data collection unit 41 .

The content reading unit 43 may be, for example, a reading device (such as an optical disc drive) for an optical disc such as a CD (Compact Disc), a DVD, or a BD (Blu-ray (registered trademark) Disc) itself, or may be connected communicably thereto. may have been It may also be, for example, an interface with digital media such as a USB terminal or a wireless communication device such as a Wi-Fi communication device or a Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication device. That is, the excitement level adjustment device 10 can acquire content data from the outside via the content reading unit 43 .

The control unit 35 can reproduce content data read from the outside via the content reading unit, and display a video or image (hereinafter simply referred to as video) of the content on the display 19A via the output unit 39. It is possible. In addition, the control unit 35 can reproduce content data read from the outside via the content reading unit and cause the speaker 21 to generate sound including voice and sound of the content.

[Operation as an excitement level storage device]
The operation of the excitement level adjustment device 10 when it functions as an excitement level storage device will be described below. The excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement level storage device reproduces content and receives an input of an evaluation excitement level, which is an evaluation by the driver of the excitement level of the driver of the automobile M during reproduction of the content. to get this. In the following description, it is assumed that there are three levels from 1 to 3 for the excitement level evaluated by the driver (hereinafter also referred to as the user) and the actual excitement level, which is the actual excitement level of the driver. Also, the automated driving level in the following description is, for example, the automated driving level defined by the Japanese government or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the US Department of Transportation.

The excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement level storage device acquires the behavioral feature quantity of the driver during content reproduction and the driver's evaluated excitement level when the behavioral feature quantity is detected. The excitement level adjustment device 10 aggregates the detected behavioral feature amount of the driver for each level of the evaluation excitement level when the behavioral feature amount is detected. Then, the excitement level adjustment device 10 selects the feature value corresponding to each level of excitement level, such as the average value of the behavior feature amount at each level of excitement level, from the feature values aggregated for each level of the evaluation excitement level. Calculate the reference value as The excitement level adjustment device 10 associates and stores each level of excitement level and the feature amount corresponding to each level of excitement level.

When judging the level of the actual degree of excitement of the driver from the action feature amount of the driver of the automobile M, it is also possible to make the judgment using a predetermined reference value. However, by using a reference value calculated by aggregating the behavioral feature amount for each level of evaluation excitement of the driver of the vehicle M, the driver's personal characteristics of the behavior of the driver of the vehicle M are taken into consideration. It is possible to estimate or determine the actual level of excitement. That is, by using the calculated reference value, it is possible to more accurately determine the level of excitement of the driver from the behavior feature amount of the driver of the automobile M.

The excitement level adjustment device 10 can provide a reference value of a feature amount that contributes to accurate determination of the driver's excitement level.

[An example of an operation routine for operation as an excitement level storage device]
An example of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement level storage device will be described below.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an excitement level storage routine R1 as an example of an action routine. The excitement level storage routine R1 is repeatedly executed, for example, when the power of the excitement level adjustment device 10 is turned on.

When the excitement degree storage routine R1 is started, the control section 35 first determines whether or not the reproduction of the content has been started (step S1). If it is determined in step S1 that the reproduction of the content has not started (step S1: NO), the routine R1 ends.

For example, content reproduction is started by the control unit 35 when the driver or the like performs a content reproduction operation via the touch pad 19B. In reproducing the content, the content read from the content reading unit 43 may be reproduced, or the content stored in the large-capacity storage device 33 may be reproduced.

When it is determined in step S1 that the reproduction of the content has started (step S1: YES), the control unit 35 acquires the action feature amount including the driver's action feature amount and voice feature amount (step S2). For example, the control unit 35 detects and acquires the behavior feature amount of the driver from the video obtained from the upper-body camera 11 and the lower-body camera 13 and the sound obtained from the microphone 15 . In this step S1, the control section 35 functions as a feature amount detection section.

In the acquisition of the action feature amount, the action feature amount related to the driver's action described above is obtained by, for example, motion-capturing the action of each part of the driver's body from the images obtained from the upper-body camera 11 and the lower-body camera 13. may be obtained by calculating with

After step S2 ends, the control unit 35 acquires the automatic driving level (step S3). This automatic driving level can be obtained from the cruise control device VC via the data collection unit 41 as described above.

When step S3 ends, the control unit 35 determines whether or not the reproduction of the content has ended (step S4). If it is determined in step S4 that the reproduction of the content has not ended (step S4: NO), the control section 35 repeats step S4.

If it is determined in step S4 that the reproduction of the content has ended (step S4: YES), the control unit 35 waits for input of the evaluation excitement level from the driver (step S5). While waiting for the input of the evaluation excitement level, the display 19A may display options for the evaluation excitement level to prompt the driver to input the evaluation excitement level to the touch pad 19B. In this step S5, the control unit 35 functions as an excitement level acquiring unit.

After executing step S5, the control unit 35 determines whether or not the evaluation excitement level has been input (step S6). This determination can be made by whether or not selection of the level of evaluation excitement has been made via the touch pad 19B. If it is determined in step S6 that the evaluation excitement level has not been input (step S6: NO), the control section 35 executes step S5 again and waits for the evaluation excitement level to be input.

In step S6, when it is determined that the evaluation excitement level has been input (step S6: YES), the control unit 35 converts the reproduced content and the acquired evaluation excitement level, automatic driving level, and behavioral feature quantity into excitement It is stored as degree data in the excitement degree database 33A (step S7). In this step S7, the control section 35 functions as a feature amount storage section.

FIG. 4 shows an excitement level data table T1, which is an example of the excitement level data accumulated in the excitement level database 33A. In the excitement degree data table T1 shown in FIG. 4, as an example, each piece of excitement degree data is assigned a data ID, and the content, the automatic driving level when the content is being reproduced, the evaluation excitement degree, and each feature amount are They are arranged in this order from left to right. In addition, automatic driving level 3 or higher is not distinguished in the excitement level data table T1. This is because, for example, at automatic driving level 3 or higher, the degree of freedom of the driver's body does not change, and it is considered that there is no tendency difference in behavior feature amounts.

When step S7 ends, the control unit 35 totalizes the excitement level data stored in the excitement level database 33A after the excitement level data was added in step S6. Then, the reference value of the feature amount that can be used as the criterion for judging the actual degree of excitement is calculated and stored in the excitement degree database 33A (step S8).

A reference value that can be used as a criterion for judging the actual degree of excitement may be the average value for each part of the behavioral feature values linked to the same evaluation degree of excitement. For example, the reference value corresponding to evaluation excitement level 1 is linked to data ID1, ID3, ID7, . It may be obtained by calculating the average value of each feature amount.

FIG. 5 shows a reference value table T2, which is an example of reference value data stored in the excitement degree database 33A. As shown in the reference value table T2, corresponding to each excitement level, i.e., linked to each excitement level, the reference value of the feature amount of each part of the body and the reference value of the voice feature amount is saved.

As described above, in the excitement level adjustment device 10 functioning as the excitement level storage device, each characteristic that serves as a criterion for determining that the driver is one of the excitement levels for each level of excitement level. Quantity reference values are stored. By using such a reference value, it becomes easy to accurately determine the actual degree of excitement from the driver feature amount in consideration of the driver's habits of behavior. That is, the excitement level adjustment device 10 functioning as the excitement level storage device described above can provide a reference value that contributes to accurately determining the actual excitement level in consideration of the driver's habits of behavior. be.

When judging the degree of excitement using these reference values, for example, each feature amount of the driver calculated from the video signal obtained from the upper body camera 11 and the lower body camera 13 and the audio signal obtained from the microphone 15 Determine the set of closest reference features. Then, it may be determined that the actual level of excitement of the driver is the level of excitement associated with the set of reference feature values.

In the above description, only the level of excitement is classified, and the reference value of each feature amount is calculated for each level of excitement. However, the degree of freedom of the driver's body may vary depending on the level of automated driving.

For example, when the automatic driving level is 0, the driver must manually perform all operations related to driving the car, so the driver cannot take his hands off the steering wheel, and the accelerator and brake I can't take my feet off. On the other hand, when the automatic driving level is 3 or higher, the steering and acceleration/deceleration are automated, so the driver can move his hands relatively freely.

In order to calculate the reference value of the feature amount that takes into account the degree of freedom of the body due to the difference in the level of automated driving, the feature amount is aggregated for each situation with the same level of excitement and the same level of automated driving. A reference value for each feature amount may be calculated and stored.

FIG. 6 shows a reference value table T3, which is an example of reference value data stored in the excitement level database 33A. As shown in the reference value table T3, the reference feature amount may be stored in association with each combination of the excitement level and the automatic driving level.

In this way, it is possible to provide reference values that contribute to more accurate determination by further subdividing the reference values that serve as criteria for judging the degree of excitement according to the level of automatic driving.

The excitement level adjusting device 10 determines the level of excitement using the reference value, and when it is determined that the level of excitement exceeds a predetermined threshold value, the excitement suppressing device 10 performs a suppressing action to suppress the level of excitement of the driver. may function. At this time, the excitement level adjustment device 10 can acquire the behavior feature amount of the driver in a predetermined time period, and determine the driver's excitement level based on the behavior feature amount and the reference value.

[Operation as an excitement degree determination device]
The operation of the excitement level adjustment device 10 when it functions as an excitement level determination device will be described below. In the following description, it is assumed that the larger the action feature value, the higher the degree of excitement. The excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement level determination device acquires the behavioral feature quantity of each part of the body of the driver of the vehicle M and the driving control information of the vehicle M when the behavioral feature quantity is acquired. The driving control information includes the automatic driving level. Then, the level of excitement of the driver is determined based on the behavior feature amount and the driving control information that have been acquired.

Depending on the level of automatic driving, the degree of dependence of driving control of the automobile M on the driver changes. Therefore, the automatic driving level can also be said to be dependence information regarding the dependence of driving control of the automobile M on the driver.

Drivers are expected to have different degrees of freedom in body movements depending on the level of automated driving. Therefore, it may be possible to accurately determine the degree of excitement of the driver by adding the automatic driving level to the determination of the degree of excitement based on the behavior feature amount.

When determining the level of excitement, the excitement level adjustment device 10 may correct the behavior feature amount based on the automatic driving level and determine the excitement level using the corrected value. That is, the correction coefficient for the behavior feature amount may be set individually for each automatic driving level.

Further, the correction of the action feature amount may be performed individually for each action feature amount of each part of the driver's body. That is, the correction coefficient for the action feature amount may be set individually for each action feature amount of each part of the driver's body.

The degree of freedom of movement of each part of the driver's body varies depending on the situation of automatic driving. For example, if the steering cannot be done manually, the freedom of movement of the upper body is low. Also, for example, when acceleration and deceleration must be performed manually, the freedom of movement of the lower body is low. Therefore, by correcting the behavior feature amount based on the automatic driving level for each part of the driver's body, it is possible to determine the level of excitement by taking into account the degree of freedom of each part of the driver's body. can be possible.

The excitement level adjustment device 10 may change the reference value for determining the excitement level, which is the reference value used for determining the level of the excitement level, based on the automatic driving level without correcting the behavior feature amount.

Further, the excitement level adjustment device 10 may determine the level of excitement level to be lower as the level of automatic driving increases. For example, when determining the level of excitement, the excitement level adjustment device 10 may make the value after correction of the behavior feature quantity smaller as the automatic driving level becomes higher. In addition, when determining the level of excitement, the excitement level adjustment device 10 may increase the reference value used to determine the level of excitement as the automatic driving level increases.

Normally, the higher the automated driving level, the greater the degree of freedom of body movement for the driver. Therefore, the lower the level of automatic driving, that is, the higher the degree of dependence on the driver, the higher the level of excitement.

[An example of an operation routine for operation as an excitement level determination device]
An example of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as the excitement level determination device will be described below.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an excitement degree determination routine R2 as an example of an operation routine. The excitement level determination routine R2 is repeatedly executed, for example, when the excitement level adjustment device 10 is turned on.

When the excitement level storage routine R2 is started, the control unit 35 first detects and acquires the behavior feature amount including the driver's action feature amount and voice feature amount (step S1). In this step S1, the control section 35 functions as a feature amount detection section.

For example, the control unit 35 acquires the behavior feature amount of the driver from the video obtained from the upper-body camera 11 and the lower-body camera 13 and the sound obtained from the microphone 15 . In the acquisition of the action feature amount, the action feature amount related to the driver's action described above is obtained by, for example, motion-capturing the action of each part of the driver's body from the images obtained from the upper-body camera 11 and the lower-body camera 13. may be obtained by calculating with

After step S1 ends, the control unit 35 acquires the automatic driving level (step S2). This automatic driving level can be obtained from the cruise control device VC via the data collection unit 41 as described above. In this step S2, the control unit 35 functions as a travel control information acquisition unit.

After step S2 ends, the control unit 35 corrects each of the behavior feature amounts acquired in step S1 based on the automatic driving level (step S3). For example, this correction may be performed by applying a larger coefficient to each of the behavior feature quantities as the level of automatic driving increases. In other words, the larger the number of operations performed by the driver to drive the vehicle M, that is, the higher the degree of dependence on the driver in the driving control of the vehicle M, the larger the coefficient that is applied to each of the behavior feature amounts. good.

As described above, different correction values may be set for each of the behavior feature amounts. For example, when the automatic driving level is 1 or 2, when the steering is automated, the hand action feature amount is multiplied by 0.7 as a correction value, and the other action feature amounts are not corrected, and acceleration/deceleration is In the case of automation, the foot may be multiplied by 0.8 as a correction value, and other behavior feature amounts may not be corrected. Further, when the automatic driving level is 3 or higher, all motion feature amounts may be multiplied by 0.5 as a correction value, and the voice feature amount may not be corrected.

After step S3 ends, the control unit 35 determines the degree of excitement of the driver using the correction value acquired in step S3 (step S4). In this step S4, the control section 35 functions as an excitement degree determination section. This determination of the degree of excitement may be made based on a preset reference value. Further, this determination of the degree of excitement may be performed based on the reference value of the behavioral feature quantity calculated and stored by the degree of excitement adjusting device 10 by functioning as the degree of excitement storing device described above.

Thus, according to the excitement level adjustment device 10 functioning as the excitement level determination device described above, it is possible to determine the excitement level taking into consideration the difference in the automation level. Specifically, for example, it is possible to determine the degree of excitement of the driver based on the behavior feature amount, taking into consideration the degree of physical freedom of the driver that varies depending on the automation level. Therefore, it is possible to accurately determine the degree of excitement of the driver.

In the description of the excitement degree determination routine R2, each of the behavioral feature amounts is corrected in step S3, but each of the behavioral feature amounts may not be corrected. In this case, the preset reference value for determining the level of excitement may be corrected according to the automatic driving level of the automobile M or the mode of automatic driving control such as automatic acceleration/deceleration control or automatic steering control. .

[Operation as an excitement suppression device (pattern 1)]
An example of the operation of the excitement adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement suppression device will be described below. In the following description, it is assumed that the larger the action feature value, the higher the degree of excitement. The excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement level suppression device acquires the behavioral feature quantity of each part of the body of the driver of the vehicle M and the automatic driving level of the vehicle M when the behavioral feature quantity is acquired.

The excitement level adjusting device 10 determines the driver's excitement level based on the acquired behavior feature amount. Then, the excitement level adjustment device 10 determines whether or not the determined excitement level exceeds an excitement level threshold determined based on the current automatic driving level of the automobile M, and determines that the excitement level threshold is exceeded. , to perform an action that suppresses the degree of excitement of the driver.

This action of suppressing the degree of excitement may be, for example, an action of reproducing video content, voice, or acoustic content that reduces the degree of excitement of the driver, that is, calms the driver, via the display 19A or the speaker 21 .

The excitement degree adjustment device 10 may set the excitement degree threshold value lower as the automatic driving level is lower, that is, as the driving control of the automobile M is more dependent on the driver. Further, the determination of whether or not the excitement degree threshold is exceeded is made by determining whether or not the average value of the driver's behavioral feature amounts exceeds a predetermined threshold, or whether one or more of the individual behavioral feature amounts It may be done depending on whether or not a threshold set for is exceeded.

According to the excitement degree adjusting device 10 functioning as the excitement degree suppressing device described above, the degree of excitement of the driver is appropriately controlled according to the automatic driving level, that is, according to the degree of dependence of the running control of the automobile M on the driver. By doing so, it is possible to bring the driver into a state suitable for steering.

[An example of an operation routine for the operation (pattern 1) as an excitement suppressing device]
An example of an operation routine of the excitement adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement suppression device will be described below. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an excitement suppression routine R3 as an example of an operation routine. The excitement level suppression routine R3 is repeatedly executed, for example, when the excitement level adjustment device 10 is turned on.

When the excitement level suppression routine R3 is started, the control unit 35 first acquires the behavior feature amount including the driver's action feature amount and voice feature amount as the excitement level (step S1). For example, the control unit 35 acquires the behavior feature amount of the driver from the video obtained from the upper-body camera 11 and the lower-body camera 13 and the sound obtained from the microphone 15 . In step S1, the control unit 35 functions as an excitement degree acquiring unit.

In the acquisition of the action feature amount, the action feature amount related to the driver's action described above is obtained by, for example, motion-capturing the action of each part of the driver's body from the images obtained from the upper-body camera 11 and the lower-body camera 13. may be obtained by calculating with

After step S1 ends, the control unit 35 acquires the automatic driving level (step S2). This automatic driving level can be obtained from the cruise control device VC via the data collection unit 41 as described above. In this step S2, the control unit 35 functions as a travel control information acquisition unit.

After step S2 ends, the control unit 35 determines whether or not the degree of excitement acquired in step S1 exceeds the degree of excitement threshold determined corresponding to the automatic driving level (step S3). In this step S3, the control section 35 functions as an excitement degree determination section. In this determination, when the average of the behavior feature values of each part of the body acquired in step S1 exceeds the feature value threshold value determined corresponding to the automatic driving level, it is determined that the degree of excitement exceeds the excitement degree threshold value. You can

Also, in this determination, one or more of the behavior feature amounts of each part of the body acquired in step S1 is a feature amount threshold value determined for each of the behavior feature amounts of each part of the body corresponding to the level of automatic driving. , it may be determined that the excitement exceeds the excitement threshold.

At step S3, it is determined that the degree of excitement does not exceed the threshold value (step S3: NO), and then the routine ends. In step S3, when it is determined that the degree of excitement exceeds the threshold (step S3: YES), the control unit 35 performs an excitement suppression operation to suppress the degree of excitement of the driver (step S4). In this step S4, the control section 35 functions as an excitement suppression section. As described above, this excitement level suppression operation may be, for example, an operation of reducing the driver's excitement level through the display 19A or the speaker 21, that is, reproducing content that calms the driver. It may be an operation of reproducing content with a low degree of excitement stored in a storage device.

In the explanation of the above-mentioned excitement level suppression routine R3, in step S3, it is determined whether or not the excitement level exceeds the excitement level threshold using the feature value threshold determined by the automatic driving level.

However, the feature value threshold value may be determined not only by the automatic driving level but also by the mode of automatic driving control. For example, when steering control is automatic, the driver does not need to operate the steering wheel and the degree of freedom of hand motion is high, so the threshold value for the feature value related to hand motion may be increased or eliminated. . Also, for example, when the acceleration/deceleration control is automatic, the driver does not need to operate the accelerator or the brake, and the degree of freedom of foot movement is high. may or may not.

[Operation as an excitement suppression device (pattern 2)]
An example of the operation of the excitement adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement suppression device will be described below. In the following description, it is assumed that the larger the action feature value, the higher the degree of excitement.

The excitement level adjusting device 10 when functioning as an excitement level suppressing device changes the driving control mode with a different degree of dependence on the driver, e.g. Acquire transition information (hereinafter also simply referred to as mode transition information). The mode transition information includes, for example, information on the current driving control mode and the driving control mode after transition. That is, the mode transition information is information regarding transition of the traveling control mode.

When the mode transition information is received, that is, acquired, the excitement level adjustment device 10 determines whether or not the post-transition cruise control mode is more dependent on the driver than the pre-transition cruise control mode. Specifically, for example, it is determined whether or not the automatic driving level after transition is lower than the automatic driving level before transition.

When determining that the travel control mode after transition is more dependent on the driver than the travel control mode before transition, the excitement level adjustment device 10 performs an operation to suppress the excitement level of the driver. This action of suppressing the degree of excitement may be, for example, an action of reproducing video content, voice, or acoustic content that reduces the degree of excitement of the driver, that is, calms the driver, via the display 19A or the speaker 21 .

The excitement level adjustment device 10 acquires the current excitement level of the driver, determines whether or not it exceeds the excitement level threshold determined based on the post-transition driving control mode, for example, the automatic driving level, and determines whether or not the excitement level If it is determined that the threshold value is exceeded, an action to suppress the driver's excitement level may be executed. The degree of excitement of the driver may be calculated based on the behavior feature amount of the driver.

Further, when the acquired excitement level of the driver exceeds the excitement level threshold, the excitement level adjustment device 10 has a greater effect of suppressing the excitement level as the difference between the excitement level and the excitement level threshold increases. It is also possible to perform an action. In addition, the excitement level adjusting device 10 may perform an operation that has a greater effect of suppressing the excitement level as the time to transition to the traveling control mode is shorter.

The effect of suppressing the degree of excitement may be greater the milder the tone of the music being played, specifically, the slower the pitch of the music being played.

According to the excitement degree adjusting device 10 functioning as the excitement degree suppressing device described above, when the driving control mode shifts to a mode with a higher degree of dependence on the driver, by controlling the degree of excitement of the driver, It is possible to bring the person into a state suitable for maneuvering.

[An example of an operation routine for the operation (pattern 2) as an excitement suppressing device]
An example of an operation routine of the excitement adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement suppression device will be described below. FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an excitement suppression routine R4 as an example of an operation routine. The excitement level suppression routine R4 is repeatedly executed, for example, when the excitement level adjustment device 10 is turned on.

When the excitement suppression routine R4 is started, the control unit 35 first waits for arrival of mode transition information (step S1). The mode shift information is issued from the cruise control device VC when the cruise control device VC determines that the cruise control mode will shift. This determination may be made, for example, by the cruise control device VC acquiring position information from the GPS receiver 17 and determining whether or not the allowable automatic driving level differs between the current location and the location to be reached soon.

When step S1 ends, the control unit 35 determines whether or not the mode change information has arrived and been received (step S2). In steps S1 and S2, the control unit 35 functions as a mode transition information acquisition unit. If it is determined in step S2 that the mode change information has not yet been received (step S2: NO), the control unit 35 continues step S1 and waits for the arrival of the mode change information.

In step S2, when it is determined that the mode transition information has been received (step S2: YES), the control unit 35 determines whether or not the traveling control mode transitions to a mode with a high degree of dependence on the driver ( step S3). In this determination, for example, the automatic driving level after transition may be lower than the current driving level before transition, and the cruise control mode may be shifted to a mode that is highly dependent on the driver.

In step S3, it is determined not to shift to a driving control mode with a high degree of dependence on the driver (step S3: NO). If it is determined that the dependence is low, routine R4 ends.

In step S3, when it is determined that the driving control mode will shift to a driving control mode with a high degree of dependence on the driver (step S3: YES), the control unit 35 sets the current degree of excitement to the degree of excitement determined by the driving control mode after the transition. It is determined whether or not the threshold is exceeded (step S4).

In step S<b>4 , for example, the control unit 35 acquires behavior feature amounts of each part of the body based on information from the upper-body camera 11 , the lower-body camera 13 , or the microphone 15 . Then, when the average of the acquired behavioral feature amounts of each part exceeds the feature amount threshold value determined corresponding to the driving control mode, for example, the automatic driving level, it is determined that the degree of excitement exceeds the excitement degree threshold value. You can

Further, in step S4, one or more of the acquired behavior feature amounts of each part of the body are determined for each of the behavior feature amounts of each part of the body corresponding to the driving control mode, for example, the automatic driving level. It may be determined that the degree of excitement exceeds the threshold of excitement when the feature value threshold is exceeded.

In step S4, when it is determined that the degree of excitement exceeds the threshold (step S4: YES), the control unit 35 performs an excitement suppression operation to suppress the degree of excitement of the driver (step S5). In steps S3 to S5, the control section 35 functions as an excitement suppression section. This excitement suppression operation may be, for example, an operation of reproducing content that reduces the driver's excitement level via the display 19A or the speaker 21, as described above.

When step S5 ends or when it is determined that the degree of excitement exceeds the threshold in step S4 (step S4: NO), the control unit 35 determines whether or not the timing for shifting to the operation control mode has arrived. Determine (step S6). This determination may be made, for example, by the control unit 35 inquiring of the travel control device VC about the timing of transition to the operation control mode.

In step S6, when it is determined that the timing for shifting to the control mode has arrived (step S6: NO), the control section 35 terminates the excitement suppression operation, and the routine ends. In step S6, when it is determined that the timing for switching to the control mode has not yet arrived (step S6: NO), the control unit 35 executes step S4 again, and if the degree of excitement still exceeds the threshold value , the excitability suppression action is continued.

In the excitement level suppression routine R4, the difference between the excitement level and the excitement level threshold or the time until the transition to the driving control mode is not taken into consideration, but these may be taken into consideration.

FIG. 10 shows the excitement level suppression routine R5 when considering the difference between the excitement level and the excitement level threshold or the time until the transition to the driving control mode. Since the excitement suppression routine R5 differs from the excitement suppression routine R4 only in part, only the different parts will be explained.

In the excitement degree suppression routine R5, when it is determined that the excitement degree exceeds the threshold value in step S4 (step S4: YES), the control unit 35 determines whether the time until the transition to the driving control mode is less than a predetermined time. (step S4-1).

In step S4-1, when it is determined that the transition to the driving control mode is longer than the predetermined time (step S4-1: YES), the control unit 35 determines the current degree of excitement of the driver and the driving control mode after transition. It is determined whether or not the difference from the excitement degree threshold determined by is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (step S4-2).

In step S4-2, when it is determined that the difference between the current excitement level and the excitement level threshold is equal to or less than a predetermined value (step S4-2: NO), the control unit 35 executes a normal excitement suppression operation. (step S5-1). In step S4-1, it is determined that the time until the transition to the driving control mode is less than the predetermined time (step S4-1: YES), or in step S4-2, the difference between the current excitement level and the excitement level threshold. is greater than or equal to the predetermined value (step S4-2: YES), the control unit 35 executes a special excitement suppression operation (step S5-2).

This special excitement suppression operation is an operation that is more effective in suppressing (reducing) the driver's excitement level than the normal excitement suppression operation. For example, in the special excitement suppression action, music with a more gentle melody than the normal excitement suppression action may be reproduced.

[Operation as content selection device]
An example of the operation of the excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as a content selection device will be described below.

The excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as a content selection device reproduces content such as video or audio, acquires the behavior feature amount of the driver during reproduction of the content, and uses it as information of the content. Store and accumulate in association with content information.

The excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as a content selection device, based on the stored content information and the action feature amount linked thereto, when playing back one content, Select the next content, which is the content to be played.

For example, this selection of content is performed by selecting content having a manner of excitement close to the one content being reproduced and the manner of excitement of the user (hereinafter simply referred to as manner of excitement). In the following description, when the degree of matching of the user's behavior feature amount between one piece of content and another piece of content is high, it is determined that the user's excitement is similar between the one piece of content and the other piece of content. do.

Therefore, the excitement level suppression device 10 compares the behavior feature value associated with the currently reproduced content with the behavior feature value associated with the other content, and determines whether the other content is available. to choose from. For example, the excitement level suppression device 10 compares the behavior feature value associated with the content being reproduced with the behavior feature value associated with the other content, and determines whether the other content is to choose from. Specifically, for example, the content linked to the behavioral feature value that has a high degree of matching with the behavioral feature value linked to the one piece of content being reproduced is selected from among the other contents.

The evaluation of the degree of matching of the behavioral feature amounts is performed by comparing the associated behavioral feature amounts for each part of the body between one piece of content and another piece of content, and matching when the sum of differences in the feature amounts is small. It may be done by evaluating that the degree is high.

In addition, the evaluation of the degree of matching of the action feature amounts is performed by calculating the ratio of the action feature amounts for each part of the body linked to one piece of content (for example, the head feature amount: the hand feature amount: the foot feature amount). , in comparison with the behavior feature amount for each part of the body linked to other content, and when the degree of approximation of the ratio value is high, the degree of matching may be evaluated as high.

As described above, according to the excitement level suppression device 10 functioning as the above-described content selection device, the content to be reproduced next to the content currently being reproduced is the content that is similar to the content currently being reproduced in the manner of user excitement. By doing so, it is possible to reproduce the content without spoiling the user's excitement. Further, when the content for suppressing the excitement level is being reproduced, the content for suppressing the excitement level can be reproduced continuously.

[Example of operation routine for operation as a content selection device]
An example of an operation routine of the excitement level adjustment device 10 when functioning as an excitement level storage device will be described below.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an excitement accumulation routine R6 as an example of an operation routine for accumulating how the user is excited. The excitement level accumulation routine R6 is repeatedly executed, for example, when the power of the excitement level adjustment device 10 is turned on.

When the excitement accumulation routine R6 is started, the control section 35 first determines whether or not the reproduction of the content is started (step S1). If it is determined in step S1 that the reproduction of the content has not started (step S1: NO), the routine R6 ends.

In step S1, when it is determined that the reproduction of the content has started (step S1: YES), the control unit 35 detects and acquires the action feature amount including the driver's action feature amount and voice feature amount (step S2). In this step S2, the control section 35 functions as a feature amount detection section. For example, the control unit 35 acquires the behavior feature amount of the driver from the video obtained from the upper-body camera 11 and the lower-body camera 13 and the sound obtained from the microphone 15 .

In the acquisition of the action feature amount, the action feature amount related to the driver's action described above is obtained by, for example, motion-capturing the action of each part of the driver's body from the images obtained from the upper-body camera 11 and the lower-body camera 13. may be obtained by calculating with

After step S2 ends, the control unit 35 determines whether or not the reproduction of the content has ended (step S3). In step S3, if it is determined that the reproduction of the content has not ended (step S3: NO), the control section 35 repeats step S3.

When it is determined in step S3 that the reproduction of the content has ended (step S4: YES), the control unit 35 accumulates the content being reproduced and the behavior feature amount as excitement degree data in the excitement degree database 33A. (step S4). In this step S4, the control section 35 functions as a storage section.

Here, the data accumulated in the excitement level database 33A may be, for example, data excluding the automatic driving level and the evaluation excitement level from the excitement level data table T1 shown in FIG. 4 in the above description.

In this way, the information including the content and the behavior feature value linked to the content is accumulated by the excitement level accumulation routine R6.

FIG. 12 shows a content reproduction routine R7 in which the user selects, as the next content, a content that excites him in the same manner as the content being reproduced, and reproduces it. The content reproduction routine R7 may be started, for example, when a content reproduction operation is received from the user through the touch pad 19B or the like.

When the content reproduction routine is started, first, the control unit 35 starts reproduction of content (step S1). In this step S1, the control section 35 functions as a content reproduction section. After step S1 is finished, the control unit 35 selects the content whose manner of excitement of the user is similar to the manner of excitement of the content being reproduced (step S2). In this step S3, the control section 35 functions as a content selection section.

For example, in this selection, the control unit 35 first refers to the data stored in the excitement level database 33A by the excitement level accumulation routine R5 described above, and reads out the behavioral feature amount linked to the content being reproduced. Then, the content associated with the action feature amount having the highest matching degree with the read action feature amount is selected as the next reproduction content to be reproduced next.

After the end of step S2, the control unit 35 determines whether or not a reproduction end operation has been received from the user (step S3). This determination may be made, for example, by determining whether or not a content playback end operation has been received from the user through the touch pad 19B or the like.

If it is determined in step S3 that the reproduction end operation has been accepted (step S3: YES), the routine R7 ends.

When it is determined in step S3 that the reproduction end operation has not been accepted (step S3: NO), the control unit 35 determines whether the content currently being reproduced has ended (step S4). In step S4, if it is determined that the currently reproduced content has not ended (step S4: NO), the control unit 35 executes step S4 again.

If it is determined in step S4 that the currently reproduced content has ended (step S4: YES), the control unit 35 reproduces the next content selected in step S2 (step S5). After completing step S5, the control unit 35 executes step S2 again.

According to the excitement level adjustment device 10 described in the first embodiment, it is possible to effectively adjust the excitement level of the driver, thereby assisting the driver in driving.

The configuration, routine, data format, etc. of the excitement level adjustment device 10 in the above-described embodiment are merely examples, and can be appropriately selected or changed according to the application.

10 excitement level adjustment device 31 system bus 33 mass storage device 35 control unit

Claims (1)

a feature quantity acquisition unit that detects a feature quantity related to the behavior of the driver of the mobile object;
A travel control information acquisition unit that acquires travel control information that is information about the travel control state of the moving body when the feature amount is detected;
An excitement level determination device, comprising: an excitement level determination unit that determines an excitement level of the passenger based on the feature amount and the travel control information.

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