JP2929927B2 - Driving information providing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a travel information providing apparatus for providing a driver of a vehicle with various travel information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There have been proposed various traveling information providing devices which provide a driver while driving a vehicle with various information on traveling or notify necessary alarms and the like to support comfortable and safe driving. However, at this time, the driver may feel annoyed depending on the situation of the driver or the content of the notification. For example, a warning of the occurrence of a blind spot due to the presence of a sharply curved portion or a shield on a road to which the user is accustomed is applied.

In order to reduce the trouble of providing unnecessary information, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-309810 discloses a conventional technique.
There is a traveling information providing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-26095. With this device, a warning of a place where an accident may occur can be omitted based on the number of times the vehicle has traveled on the place, if the road is running relatively frequently every day. In addition, the inconvenience of the driver receiving a warning on a road on which the driver is accustomed is reduced.

[0004]

By the way, for example, when using a device that warns of the presence of objects around the vehicle from the output of the ultrasonic sensor, it is necessary to recognize the presence of a pedestrian in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle and take measures such as stopping. It is awkward for the driver that the alarm is continued after the operation is performed.
However, since such a situation is not limited to occurrence at a specific traveling point, the above-described omitted technology cannot be applied as it is.

On the other hand, a method of canceling an alarm using a technique of detecting a line of sight and operating a switch is conceivable. For this purpose, for example, by using an apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-87818 that can select an operation function with a line of sight, the warning can be canceled by directing the line of sight to a warning message or a display. However, by simply detecting the gaze direction and the gaze direction, the alarm may be canceled simply while the gaze is being moved to another location, or may be canceled before the gaze is moved to the display but the content of the notification cannot be sufficiently confirmed.

In addition, even if a warning about a new danger is continuously issued, the driver may be confused with a warning that has been issued up to that time. The original significance of the information providing device may be lost. Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of such a conventional problem, and provides driving information in which, while minimizing the trouble of the driver as much as possible, appropriate information is surely notified in a situation where the driver is not aware of the situation. It is intended to provide a device.

[0007]

For this reason, the present invention according to claim 1 provides a notification information generating means 1 for generating information to be notified to a driver, and a gaze direction at which the driver is gazing.
A gaze direction detecting means 2 for determining a gaze direction to be measured, a gaze direction determining means 3 for determining a gaze direction to be watched by a driver to obtain information necessary for driving as a necessary gaze direction, and measurement of the required gaze direction A gaze frequency measuring unit 4 for determining a frequency at which the gaze directions match as a gaze frequency, a notification level adjusting unit 5 for determining a notification level of the information to be notified based on the gaze frequency, and the notification according to the notification level. And a notifying device 6 for notifying the information to be provided.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 2, the information to be notified generated by the notification information generating means 1 includes an object around the vehicle, and further detects the driving direction intended by the driver. It has a direction detecting means 8 and a vehicle speed detecting means 7 for detecting a vehicle speed, and the gaze frequency measuring means 4 calculates the gaze frequency under predetermined conditions based on the running direction and the vehicle speed.

[0009]

According to the first aspect, the frequency at which the measured gaze direction obtained by the gaze direction detecting means 2 matches the required gaze direction determined by the required gaze direction determining means 3 is determined by the gaze frequency measuring means 4. Based on the measured gaze frequency, the notification level of the information to be notified by the notification level adjusting means 5 is determined. As a result, appropriate information is reliably reported in situations where the driver is not aware, and the notification level is lowered according to the degree of recognition of the driver's notification content expected from the gaze frequency, thereby reducing annoyance. Can be reduced.

According to the second aspect, when the information to be notified by the notification information generating means includes an entity around the vehicle,
The gaze frequency measuring means 4 determines the gaze frequency under predetermined conditions based on the intended traveling direction detected by the traveling direction detection means 8 and the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection means 7, so that the behavior of the own vehicle is determined. The gaze frequency is determined within an appropriate range according to the determination, and a highly accurate notification level is determined according to the traveling state.

The required gaze direction depends on the information to be informed, for example, in the case of an obstacle such as an obstacle outside the vehicle, in addition to the direction, a room mirror, left and right rearview mirrors, a vehicle rear TV monitor, and the like. The display unit of a monitor device such as a display of the above can be combined. When measuring the gaze frequency, in addition to the vehicle speed and the intended driving direction, for example, the relative speed, relative distance, the area of the required gaze direction, or the variation of the required gaze direction per unit time, etc. This can be used to adjust the validity period of the past measurement gaze direction data.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 2 shows an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to notification of travel information including an approaching state to an object around a vehicle using an ultrasonic sensor. A control device 20 for controlling the notification device 31 is provided.
0 is a driving state sensor group 2 for obtaining driving environment information
1 is connected to an ultrasonic sensor 22, and an eye camera 23 and a directional infrared sensor 24 are connected to obtain driver information.

First, the ultrasonic sensor 22 outputs sensor detection information b containing the direction, distance and relative speed of an object around the vehicle. The traveling state sensor group 21 includes a vehicle speed sensor, a steering angle sensor, and a shift position sensor, and outputs traveling state detection data a of the vehicle speed, the steering angle, and the intended traveling direction. These running state sensors 2
1 and the ultrasonic sensor 22 are, for example,
The technology in the vehicle rear confirmation device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 41878 can be used. The running state sensor group 21 and the ultrasonic sensor 22 constitute a notification information generating unit of the present invention.

In order to determine the direction in which the driver is currently looking, the eye camera 23 obtains the driver's face reference line-of-sight direction data c, and the directional infrared sensor 24 obtains the driver's face direction data d. The control device 20 includes a contact possibility predicting unit 26, a necessary gaze direction determining unit 27, and a gaze direction detection unit 2.
8, gaze frequency measurement unit 29, and notification level adjustment unit 30
And comprises a microcomputer, a memory, an input / output interface circuit, and the like.

The contact possibility predicting section 26 is provided with the ultrasonic sensor 2
2 and the traveling state detection data a from the traveling state sensor group 21 to determine the possibility of an object around the vehicle contacting the own vehicle. Level "e" is set. The "maximum alarm level" means an alarm level to be adopted when the possibility of the contact is not recognized at all.

Further, the necessary gaze direction determining unit 27 sets a “necessary gaze direction” f to which the driver should turn his / her gaze in order to obtain information necessary for driving, based on the sensor detection information b from the ultrasonic sensor 22. I do. On the other hand, the gaze direction detection unit 28 converts the face-based gaze direction data c from the eye camera 23 into the coordinate system of the face direction data based on the face direction data d from the directional infrared sensor 24, and synthesizes the data. Thus, the absolute gaze direction that the driver is currently looking at, that is, the “measuring gaze direction” g is obtained.

Based on the required gaze direction f set by the required gaze direction determination unit 27 and the measured gaze direction g detected by the gaze direction detection unit 28, the gaze frequency measurement unit 29 determines the required gaze direction by the driver. The gaze frequency h at which the user is watching is measured. At this time, the gaze frequency measurement unit 29 sets the validity period of the measured gaze direction data using the traveling state detection data a from the traveling state sensor group 21, and measures the gaze frequency based on the data of the valid period.

The notification level adjusting unit 30 reduces the annoyance based on the maximum alarm level e set by the previous contact possibility predicting unit 26 and the current gaze frequency h measured by the gaze frequency measuring unit 29. Determine the alarm level j. Then, the notification device 31 transmits the determined alarm level j from the control circuit.
An alarm is output according to. At this time, the notification device 31 also obtains the required gaze direction f from the required gaze direction determination unit 27 and performs a visual display on the display unit at a position corresponding to the required gaze direction f, or issues a sound alarm in that direction.

FIG. 3 shows an example in which the eye camera 23 and the directional infrared sensor 24 are configured as a spectacle type module. In particular, FIG. 3A shows an external perspective view, FIG. 3B shows an internal configuration, and FIG. Is a top view of the worn state. That is, the spectacle-type module 11 is provided with the directional infrared sensor 24 on the vine portion of the frame, and the frame portion is provided with the semi-transmissive mirror 11a inclined so as to be located on the front surface of the eyeball M. An eye camera 23 is provided at the upper part.

When the driver wears the eyeglass type module 11 and drives, the directional infrared sensor 24 detects the infrared beam emitted from the infrared transmitter 12 fixed to the passenger compartment and measures the arrival direction. By doing so, the facial direction of the driver is estimated. In addition, the eye camera 23 obtains eyeball image information via the semi-transmissive mirror 11a, performs image processing, and detects the eyeball direction of the driver, thereby estimating the gaze direction based on the face. For the method of estimating the line-of-sight direction, for example, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-87818 can be used. FIG. 4 shows examples of various gaze directions during driving of the vehicle. There are a monitor display 14, a room mirror 15, a rearview mirror 16 outside the vehicle body, and a pedestrian 17 as an entity outside the vehicle. . The eye camera 23 of the spectacle type module 11 and the infrared transmitter 12 which are worn by the driver in the gaze direction
It is measured by a combination of a directional infrared sensor 24 that receives an infrared beam from the camera.

Next, the flow of the operation in the apparatus of the embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. FIG. 5 shows a main routine. First, when an object is recognized around the vehicle, in step 101, processing for setting a maximum alarm level is performed. Here, based on the detection of an object around the vehicle by the ultrasonic sensor and the determination of the possibility of contact with the own vehicle, the maximum alarm level e is set according to the importance. Next, in step 102, processing for obtaining a necessary gaze direction is performed. Here, the required gaze direction of the driver is determined based on the direction in which the entity around the vehicle exists.
Set by selecting from the directions.

Next, in step 103, the directional infrared sensor 24 and the eye camera 23 determine the driver's face direction data d and the face reference line-of-sight data c. In step 104, the measurement gaze direction is calculated from these data. g is detected. The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-101126 can be used for detecting the measurement gaze direction. Step 102 constitutes the necessary gaze direction determining means of the invention, and steps 103 and 104 constitute the gaze direction detecting means.

Next, at step 105, a gaze frequency h measuring process is performed. Here, the gaze frequency h at which the driver is looking at the required gaze direction is measured from the required gaze direction data f and the measured gaze direction data g. The gaze frequency is given by the ratio of the number of matches and the matching time. This step 1
05 constitutes the gaze frequency measuring means of the present invention.

Then, at step 106, adjustment processing of the alert level based on the gaze frequency is performed. Here, from the gaze frequency h and the maximum alarm level e set in the previous step 101, a notification alarm level j that reduces the annoyance by considering the current gaze frequency is obtained. That is, the following two types are calculated as non-gaze frequency (%) = 100−gaze frequency. [Non-gaze frequency 1] = 100− [gaze direction coincidence frequency] [non-gaze frequency 2] = 100− [gaze direction coincidence time frequency]

Then, the smaller one of [non-gaze frequency 1] and [non-gaze frequency 2] is selected and set as [non-gaze frequency].
Using this, the notification alarm level is determined by [notification alarm level] = [maximum alarm level] × [non-gaze frequency]. By adding a process to the above result, for example, discarding the non-gaze frequency less than 10 (%) to 0, it is possible to suppress an alarm when it is determined that the driver is sufficiently aware. . Step 106 constitutes the notification level adjusting means of the present invention.

When the alarm level is determined as described above, the alarm is issued by the alarm unit 31 in step 107. When the specific notification means of the notification device 31 is a warning sound such as a buzzer, the sound volume is increased as the warning level is increased, or a harsh tone is selected. When using synthesized speech for the notification means,
In addition to the above-mentioned volume and tone, the expression is changed according to the alarm level, for example, "Attention to", "Warn about", or "Urgent!

Further, when the notification means is displayed visually, the higher the alarm level, the more conspicuous the color may be.
Or it is displayed in a large size or in a prominent place. In addition, when the notification is made by the bodily sensation vibration, the higher the alarm level, the shorter the cycle or the longer the stroke. Furthermore, when the notification is made with the scent (odor), the higher the alarm level, the darker or the unpleasant odor.

Next, FIG. 6 shows a step 1 of the main routine.
The details of the setting process of the maximum alarm level at 01 are shown.
First, in step 201, the control device 20 reads the sensor detection information b of the direction, distance, and relative speed of an object around the vehicle by scanning of the ultrasonic sensor 22.
Then, in step 202, the contact possibility predicting unit 26
Then, it is checked whether or not there is an entity based on the sensor detection information b.

If there is an entity, step 2
In step 03, the traveling state detection data a of the vehicle speed, the steering angle, and the intended traveling direction is read from the traveling state sensor group 21. In the contact possibility predicting unit 26, step 20
In 4, the traveling locus of the own vehicle is calculated from the traveling direction and the steering angle in the traveling state detection data. Subsequently, in step 205, the movement trajectory of the entity from now on is estimated based on the movement trajectory of the entity up to the present.

Then, in the next step 206, the degree of approach between the traveling locus of the own vehicle and the moving locus of the existing object is checked. The degree of approach is examined from a geometric relative positional relationship in three-dimensional space coordinates obtained by adding a time axis to a two-dimensional plane. Here, the own vehicle and the object are not treated as points, but as objects each having a certain size.

After that, in step 207, as a first judgment condition for setting the maximum alarm level, the initial value of the relative distance between the host vehicle and the object is within the first specified distance L1, or the current value is up to now. It is checked whether the trajectory of the vehicle and the vehicle within the second specified distance L2 has approached within the predetermined specified time T. If the first determination condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step 208; otherwise, the process proceeds to step 211.

In step 208, as a second determination condition, the relative speed between the host vehicle and the entity is positive, that is, the vehicle is in a direction approaching each other, or the running direction of the host vehicle represented by the selected gear position. Is checked to see if it is facing the entity. When the second judgment condition is met, a strong alarm should be issued.
Proceeding to step 209, the maximum alarm level is set to 3. If the second determination condition is not satisfied, the process proceeds to step 210, where the maximum alarm level is set to 2.

On the other hand, in step 211, step 20
Similarly to 8, it is checked whether the above-mentioned second judgment condition is satisfied. If the second determination condition is satisfied, the process proceeds to step 210, where the maximum alarm level is set to 2. If the second determination condition is not satisfied, the necessity of notification is determined to be relatively low, and the routine proceeds to step 212, where the maximum alarm level = 1 is set. If there is no object in the check in step 202, the process proceeds to step 213, and the maximum alarm level is set to zero.

The specified value in the above judgment condition is at least 1
m is set as follows according to the own vehicle speed V0. That is, the prescribed distance of the relative distance initial value is L1 (m) = 3.6 × V0 (m / sec). The prescribed distance relating to the approach limit of the trajectory is also obtained by L2 = 3.6 × V0. The specified time until now is T =
It is set to 10 (sec). In addition, the absolute velocity VS of the entity can be related.

Further, depending on the situation, it is preferable to shift the alarm level in a more careful direction by handling the size of the own vehicle or the object larger than the actual size. In other words, it is preferable to increase the size of the own vehicle. (1) When the steering angle is largely fluctuating due to a large steering operation, and (2) When the absolute speed of the own vehicle is high. The situation in which it is preferable to enlarge the size of an entity includes (1) when the trajectory of the entity is frequently changing, and (2) when the absolute velocity of the entity is high.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing step 1 of the main routine.
02 shows a specific example of the necessary gaze direction setting process. The gaze direction determination unit 27 selects and divides the gaze direction of the driver into six directions of front front, left side, left rear, right behind, right rear, and right. Then, a rearview mirror and a rearview mirror are added in the required gaze directions for the left rear, the right rear, and the right rear, respectively. First, in step 301, it is checked which direction the object is from the host vehicle based on the sensor detection information b read from the ultrasonic sensor 22, and the process branches to the following steps according to the result.

That is, when the object is on the left side of the vehicle, in step 302, the required gaze direction is set to the left side. When the entity is in front of the own vehicle, in step 303, the required gaze direction is set to the front front. When the object is on the right side of your vehicle,
In step 304, the required gaze direction is set to the right. If the entity is behind and to the left of the host vehicle, in step 305, the necessary gaze directions are set to the left and left rearview mirror directions.

If the object is right behind the host vehicle, in step 306, the required gaze direction is set to the rearview mirror direction and right behind. If the object is located on the right rear side of the host vehicle, in step 307, the necessary gaze directions are set to the right rear and right rearview mirror directions. In a vehicle equipped with a rear TV monitor such as a large bus, for example, the position direction of the display unit of the monitor device is also added to the required gaze direction, and the same applies to the display unit projected into space.

FIG. 8 shows step 1 in the main routine.
5 shows the details of the gaze frequency measurement process 05. Here, in obtaining the driver's gaze frequency h from the required gaze direction data f and the measured gaze direction data g, first, in step 401, the validity period of the past measured gaze direction data is obtained for each situation. That is, (1) From the viewpoint of the own vehicle speed V0, the validity period tV0 of the gaze data is set to tV0 (sec) = 10 / V0 (m / sec) in the range of 5 ≦ tV0 ≦ 30. This aims at shortening the validity period of data and calling for frequent attention in response to a decrease in the viewing angle due to an increase in vehicle speed.

(2) From the relative speed VRS between the vehicle and the object, if the effective period tVS is VRS> O, that is, if they are in directions approaching each other, tVS = 10 (sec). At this time, tVS = 30 (sec).

(3) From the viewpoint of the relative distance LRS between the host vehicle and the object, when the effective period tLS is LRS <1 (m), tLS = 10 (sec) When LRS ≧ 1 (m) , TLS = 30 (sec).

(4) Necessary gaze direction DM viewed from the driver
(= F), the validity period tDM is
When −60 ° ≦ DM ≦ 60 °, tDM = 30 (sec) When DM is in a region other than the above, tDM = 10 (sec).

(5) From the change amount δDM of the required gaze direction DM per unit time and the own vehicle speed V0, the effective period tδ is obtained as follows, with the change reference value as Sδ. When δDM> Sδ, tδ = 10 (sec) When δDM <Sδ, tδ = 30 (sec) However, when −80 ° ≦ DM ≦ 80 °, Sδ (°) = 45−V0DM is other than the above. When the vehicle is in the area, Sδ (°) = 30−V0 This is also intended to draw the driver's attention to a large change in the direction in which the entity exists, in addition to a change in the viewing angle depending on the vehicle speed.

(6) From the required gaze direction DM and the traveling direction intended by the driver, the effective period th is set as follows. DM <| 80 ° | and the forward direction or DM
> | 100 ° | and in the reverse direction, th = 10 (sec) When the combination of DM and the intended traveling direction is other than the above, th = 30 (sec)

In step 402, the shortest one is selected from the validity periods for each situation obtained as described above and is set as a representative value. In the next step 403, the past validity period is selected. The measurement gaze direction data is deleted. In step 404, it is checked whether the required gaze direction f matches the measured gaze direction g. Here, the minimum stop time of the driver's line of sight is set to 2 seconds, and it is determined whether or not they match. Then, when they match, the matching time or the number of matches is incremented.

Finally, at step 405, the gaze frequency h is obtained from the total of the matching time or the number of matching as follows. (1) Gaze frequency based on the number of matches (%) = number of matches / (valid period / minimum stop time) (2) Gaze frequency (%) based on the match time = match time / valid period of gaze data

The present embodiment is configured as described above, and the frequency at which the driver gazes at the direction of the object related to the traveling information to be notified or the direction of the rearview mirror for visually recognizing the same, or a display for displaying the traveling information. Since the notification level is adjusted according to the frequency of gaze at the section direction, it is possible to reduce a troublesome situation in which the information already obtained by the driver is notified repeatedly and repeatedly.

The validity period of the past gaze data used for measuring the gaze frequency is determined by adding the relative speed, the relative distance, the area of the required gaze direction, or the unit time of the required gaze direction in addition to the vehicle speed and the intended traveling direction. The effective period is shortened due to situations such as a decrease in the field of view due to an increase in vehicle speed or a large change in the direction of an object outside the vehicle. Can be encouraged. On the other hand, according to the information to be notified of the required gaze direction, for example, in the case of an object such as an obstacle outside the vehicle, in addition to the direction, a room mirror, left and right rear-view mirrors, a vehicle rear TV monitor, and other displays The gaze frequency is measured in consideration of not only direct gaze in the direction of the object to which attention should be paid, but also indirect gaze, so that it is effectively bothersome. Is reduced.

[0049]

As described above, the present invention relates to a driving information providing apparatus for notifying various kinds of driving information useful for driving in a driving gaze direction actually measured by a driver and necessary gaze associated with information to be notified. Since the notification level of the information to be notified is determined based on the gaze frequency that matches the direction, appropriate information is surely notified in situations where the driver is not aware, and driving is performed based on the gaze frequency. Those that are considered to have already been recognized by the user have the effect of lowering the notification level and reducing annoyance. Also, when the gaze frequency is measured under predetermined conditions such as the validity period of data based on the vehicle speed and the intended traveling direction, the gaze frequency is calculated within an appropriate range according to the behavior of the host vehicle, and the gaze frequency outside the vehicle is calculated. The notification level of information related to an entity or the like can be determined with higher accuracy according to the traveling state.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an eyeglass-type module used for detecting a gaze direction of a driver.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing examples of various gaze directions during driving of the vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a main routine of the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating details of a maximum alarm level setting process.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a specific example of a necessary gaze direction setting process.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating details of a gaze frequency measurement process.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 notification information generating means 2 gaze direction detecting means 3 necessary gaze direction determining means 4 gaze frequency measuring means 5 notification level adjusting means 6 notification device 7 vehicle speed detecting means 8 running direction detecting means 11 eyeglass type module 11a semi-transmissive mirror 12 infrared transmitter 14 Display 15 Rearview mirror 16 Rearview mirror 17 Pedestrian 20 Control device 21 Running state sensor group 22 Ultrasonic sensor 23 Eye camera 24 Directional infrared sensor 26 Contact possibility prediction unit 27 Necessary gaze direction determination unit 28 Gaze direction detection unit 29 Gaze Frequency measurement unit 30 Notification level adjustment unit 31 Notification device a Running state detection data b Sensor detection information c Line-of-sight direction data d Face direction data e Maximum alarm level f Necessary gaze direction g Measurement gaze direction h Gaze frequency j Notification alarm level

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G08G 1/16 G08B 19/00-21/00 B60R 27/00

Claims (8)

(57) [Claims] An informing information generating means for generating information to be informed to a driver; a gaze direction detecting means for obtaining a gaze direction in which the driver is gazed as a measured gaze direction; A gaze direction to be gazed to obtain information, a required gaze direction determining means for determining a required gaze direction, a gaze frequency measurement means for determining a frequency at which the required gaze direction and the measured gaze direction match as a gaze frequency, and the gaze A travel information providing device, comprising: a notification level adjusting unit that determines a notification level of the information to be notified based on a frequency; and a notification device that notifies the information to be notified according to the notification level. 2. A notification information generating means for generating information to be notified to a driver about an entity around the vehicle, a driving direction detecting means for detecting a driving direction intended by the driver, and a vehicle speed detection for detecting a vehicle speed. Means, a gaze direction that the driver is gazing at, a gaze direction detection unit that seeks as a measurement gaze direction, and a gaze direction that the driver should gaze at to obtain information necessary for driving needs to be determined as a necessary gaze direction. A gaze direction determining unit, a gaze frequency measurement unit that determines a frequency at which the required gaze direction and the measured gaze direction match as a gaze frequency under predetermined conditions based on the traveling direction and the vehicle speed, and the gaze frequency based on the gaze frequency. Running, comprising: a notification level adjusting means for determining a notification level of information to be notified; and a notification device for notifying the information to be notified according to the notification level. Information providing device. 3. The traveling information providing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said traveling direction detecting means detects a forward direction or a backward direction based on a selected gear position of the vehicle. 4. The required gaze direction determining means determines the required gaze direction by combining a visual recognition means mounted on a vehicle in accordance with the information to be notified. The travel information providing device as described. 5. The travel information providing device according to claim 4, wherein the visual recognition means is a rearview mirror, a left and right rearview mirror, or a display unit of a monitor device. 6. The gaze frequency measuring means, wherein the number of times a coincidence state in which the required gaze direction and the measurement gaze direction continue for a predetermined time or more occurs, or a match time in which the required gaze direction and the measurement gaze direction continue for a predetermined time or more. 6. The travel information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gaze frequency is obtained based on a cumulative total or a combination thereof. 7. The gaze frequency measuring means sets the validity period of the past gaze direction data to the absolute speed of the own vehicle, the relative speed or relative distance between the own vehicle and the entity, the required gaze direction as viewed from the driver. The determination is made on the basis of an area in which is included, a required gaze direction change amount per unit time, or a combination of the intended traveling direction.
The travel information providing device according to 3, 4, 5, or 6. 8. The gaze frequency measuring means determines a criterion value of a change amount of the required gaze direction per unit time in determining a validity period of the data according to an absolute speed of the own vehicle. The travel information providing device according to claim 7, wherein