JP2913542B2 - Inter-vehicle distance monitoring device for congestion - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention aims at improving usability, economy and safety of a traffic congestion look-ahead device for monitoring the start of a preceding vehicle in place of a driver during traffic congestion.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a traffic congestion watch is operating, the driver's behavior is divided into two parts. First, when performing a task other than driving, such as reading a book, second, put a head on a headrest and close eyes. To rest. In the first case, the alarm at the time of starting the preceding vehicle is bothersome and uncomfortable unless the sound is low in volume and short time. It is necessary to keep the alarm at loud and until it wakes up. As a countermeasure, a means for gradually increasing the volume without using a snooze function of an alarm clock and performing an automatic reset operation by a manual reset operation or a start operation of the own vehicle is known. However, if such a snooze function is used, in the first case, if the start operation is delayed even by a small amount, the volume increases as if it is aggressively, and in spite of that, in the second case, If the volume gradually increases while intermittently sounding, it takes too much time to wake up and start, and the preceding car may go farther away and end up disturbing the following car, furthermore However, it is also dangerous if the following vehicle tries to overtake one another one after another. In other words, when using a congestion look-ahead device, in the case of a system in which an alarm starts with a low volume sound at first, the first alarm is heard, and the eyes of the user are worried that there is a possibility that the start operation may be significantly delayed. I can't relax enough. On the other hand, as a sensor to detect the start of the preceding vehicle, the active radar system that emits ultrasonic waves etc. from the own vehicle is difficult to remove interference between radars in an environment where many vehicles face each other like a car, Since it is difficult to take environmental measures at the time of snowfall or the like, an image processing method is advantageous as an inter-vehicle distance measuring device. However, for that purpose, a device having a complicated function equivalent to that of a distance measuring device of an automatic focusing camera, such as an automatic exposure correcting device, is required. But it is expensive,
For drivers who only occasionally encounter traffic jams, such as vacationing and returning home, it was uneconomical to equip them exclusively.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the traffic congestion look-ahead device, and provides an inexpensive, high-security alarm device and a device with high environmental reliability at low cost. It is.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems A stopped driver's head leans against a headrest or the driver closes his / her eyelids, leading to sleep, or a decrease in pulse or respiratory rate. When a biological signal indicating sleep is detected, a long-term warning is issued at a higher volume from the beginning when the preceding vehicle starts, compared to when it is not detected. Also,
In both the first and second cases, since the driver does not need a camera, a signal output device for a congestion lookout is added to the driver, and the driver is diverted to the congestion lookout device in a time sharing manner.

[0005] In order to detect an act leading to sleep, a load detector is provided on the front of the headrest in the driver's seat or on a portion attached to the seat back to detect that the driver's head is leaning. If the starting of the preceding vehicle is detected in the state where the leaning is detected, a long-term warning is issued from the beginning at a higher volume and the alarm is reset when the leaning is eliminated.

[0006] By adding the above means, the first
In the case of the above, it is not necessary to reset the alarm by receiving the start information of the own vehicle such as the rotation pulse of the wheel, as in the conventional system, since the alarm can be done in a short period of time. Such a device other than the control device of an automobile can be easily diverted only when necessary.

Although the method described in the above paragraph can be used practically, since the eyes may be open only by leaning on the head, the driver's face is monitored using an infrared camera or the like, and the closing of the eyelids is detected. In some cases. At this time, the color of the human skin appears to be lean because the color of the blood in the body is seen through, and therefore, if the surface temperature of the skin is measured optically, it is within a relatively narrow range. is there. However, since the absolute value varies depending on the outside temperature, etc., it is necessary to have the computer search for the temperature category having the maximum area within the range of human skin temperature from the image of the infrared camera facing the face. Depending on
The face can be easily detected. On the other hand, the eyes have a low optical temperature, so that the eyes can be easily detected. When the eyelids are closed, this part changes to skin temperature, and the area of the low-temperature part is lost, so that closing the eyelids can be easily detected. In addition, since the air that is higher than the skin temperature is emitted intermittently from the nose, the respiratory rate can be detected by all means, and the pulse can be detected by the pressure sensor embedded in the sheet. It is known. Therefore, if such information is processed through a fuzzy matrix or the like, a finer grain can be determined.

[0008]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above, it is possible to provide an alarm device which is not incongruous, has high safety, and a device which has high environmental reliability at low cost.

[0009]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of a traffic congestion watch device according to the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the front of a lens of an automatic focusing video camera. The body of the camera, not shown, connected behind 1 is mounted on the upper surface of the instrument panel immediately after the windshield of the vehicle or suspended from the ceiling, and the lens 1 is used to wipe the wiper of the front window. Through the pay area, it is installed in a direction that looks at the rear of the front car that is less than a few meters away from the car, and the zoom device is adjusted to an image that allows the automatic focus adjustment device to accurately capture the distance to the front car Have been. Reference numeral 2 denotes an outer cylinder of the lens, which is rotated around the central axis 3 of the lens by an angle corresponding to the focal length by an automatic focusing device (not shown), and the counterclockwise direction is a direction in which the focal length is longer. Indicates a state where the focal length is infinite. Reference numeral 4 denotes a band fastened to the outer periphery of the lens 2 with screws 5, and reference numeral 6a denotes a fan-shaped screen coupled to 4,
The position a corresponds to the focal length infinity. Reference numeral 7 denotes a known transmission type photo sensor. When the focal length is infinite as shown in the figure, the optical axis 8 is blocked by the screen 6a and is in an opaque state, and the output 9 of the sensor 7 is low. In state.

The angular position of the screen 6a is set so that the optical axis 8 is always in the opaque state when the distance between the front vehicle and the own vehicle is in the running state, that is, when the distance is approximately 3 meters or more.

A screen 6b indicated by a broken line waits for a signal,
Or the case where the preceding vehicle stopped due to traffic congestion and the driver adjusted his own vehicle to a distance of about 2 meters or less and stopped.
Since the optical axis 8 is in the transmitting state, the output 9 becomes high, and the pilot lamp 10 is turned on to notify the driver that the guard device is in a standby state.

When the congestion is resolved and the preceding vehicle starts moving and the inter-vehicle distance increases, the screen starts to rotate counterclockwise from the position 6b toward the position 6a, and the inter-vehicle distance becomes approximately 2.
If it exceeds about 5 meters, the optical axis becomes opaque again, and the output 9 changes to low. At this time, the falling edge trigger circuit 11 detects the moment, and causes the pulse generation circuit 12 to output a pulse output of about 2 seconds to 13;
Activate the low volume chime 14 only for the duration of the pulse.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a driver's seat, 16 denotes a headrest connected to the driver, 17 denotes a pillow cover of the present invention, and a sealed air bag 18 is connected to the inside of the pillow cover in the traveling direction, and a photograph is provided below the airbag. A tube 19 similar to that used for air release of the machine is connected, and the other end of 19 is a pressure relay 20.
Is joined to.

Accordingly, the pulse output at the time of starting the preceding vehicle is
The air bag 18 is also supplied to the coil 23 of the relay 22 via the diode 21. Therefore, if the driver is resting with his / her head resting on the pillow cover 17 at that moment, the air bag 18 is pressurized. , 19, the contact 24 of the relay 20 is closed, the coil 23 is energized, the self-locking contact 25 is closed, and the power of the power source 26 is
The coils 23 and 14 are supplied to a bell 28 having a higher volume than that of the bell 14.

When the resting driver notices the sound of the bell and lifts his head off the pillowcase, the contact 24 opens and the bell stops. At this time, since the pulse has already been completed, the bell will not ring again even if the head is put on the pillow cover thereafter.

In this embodiment, a conventional camera and a conventional car have been shown to be retrofitted without modification, but some cameras do not rotate the outer cylinder 2 during automatic focus adjustment. In some cases, an equivalent signal is obtained from inside the camera. There is also a camera that automatically turns off the power switch if recording is not performed for a certain period of time. In this case, a traffic congestion watch mode is provided as part of the recording mode, and a timer for automatically turning off the power is activated. Stop. In many cases, the automatic focus adjustment device operates only when the shutter is pressed halfway, and in this case, it is necessary to set a dedicated mode. In any case, it is difficult to cope with the traffic jam time with the built-in battery, and the built-in battery is consumed during the traffic jam so that it will not be over-discharged when used as an original portable camera Therefore, when used for the purpose of the present invention, there is also a case where the power supply of the car is supplied from the insertion port of the cigar lighter, in this case,
Depending on the power supply from the car, the mode may be automatically switched to the congestion look-ahead mode.Instead of using the cigarette lighter's slot, a dedicated connector is used. Get vehicle information such as
It may be used for part of the judgment. In some cases, instead of the bag 18, a load cell 29 is provided on the support portion of the headrest above the backrest of the seat to detect a backward tilt load applied to the headrest. In this case, Bell 2
8 is operated by an AND gate with a signal from the pulse generator 12, so that the bell does not operate even if the sensor 29 malfunctions due to vibration during running, etc., so that the load cell 29 is a simple one using conductive rubber or the like. May be something. When the contact 24 is controlled by the output of the sensor 29, a timer is inserted between the contact and the contact 24 is closed only when the driver continuously applies a load to the headrest for about 1 minute or more. There is also.

[0018]

As described above, the present invention is configured as described above, so that there is no uncomfortable feeling and a high safety alarm device.
A device with high environmental reliability can be provided at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a device of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2. Outer cylinders 6a and 6b of the lens of the automatic focusing camera, light shielding screen 7, photo sensor 8, optical axis 11, edge trigger circuit 14 for judging the start of the front vehicle 14, low volume chime 16, head restraint (commonly called headrest) ) 17, pillowcase 18, air bag 20, pressure relay 22, self-locking relay 28, bell

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ identification symbol FI H04N 5/225 H04N 7/18 J 7/18 G02B 7/11 K (58) Investigated field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) ) G03B 15/00 B60K 28/06 G02B 7/28 G08B 21/00 H04N 5/225 H04N 7/18

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An automobile is stopped at a traffic light or in a traffic jam,
An image processing method that monitors the departure of the preceding vehicle on behalf of the driver and notifies the driver when the preceding vehicle has started.
Image processing is mainly performed by using external light
Automatic exposure correction system.
Camera lens immediately after the front window
Through the wipe area of the windshield
It is mounted so that the rear side is photographed.
The driver's head leans on the Dorstraint 16
18 or 29 or the driver detects the eyelid
Not shown red to detect that the act of closing
It has an outside line camera, and the above-mentioned traffic congestion watch device detects traffic congestion
When the driver is in the
Action to give a load to 16 or close the eyelids and take a rest
If the preceding vehicle starts moving while driving, a loud bell sound is generated for the alarm, and the driver stops the operation.
If this occurs, the bell sound will take precedence over the operation of starting the car.
A device to stop the occurrence of
As means for detecting whether the driver's eyelids are open or closed,
Set the image of Mera in the area of the driver's face,
Temperature range with the largest area in the temperature range of human skin
The computer automatically searches for the
Cut out the outline of the face and select the area where the eyelids should be
Identify and find the low temperature part of the shape corresponding to the eye
Is detected, it is determined that the driver has the eyelids open.
A traffic congestion watch device to refuse. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said camera has a function as a normal automatic focusing video camera or a still camera.
Place .