JP3465590B2 - Vehicle driving support device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly run a vehicle without deviating the vehicle from a driving lane, in a vehicle running aiding device for controlling the vehicle when a driver falls asleep or looks aside at driving. SOLUTION: A vehicle is provided with a white line recognizing camera 18 for monitoring white lines laid on both the ends of a driving lane and a sight line/blinking recognizing camera for monitoring the sight line and blinking of a driver driving his (or her) own vehicle. If the closed state of driver's eyes is continued for a prescribed time when the driver's own vehicle approaches less than a prescribed distance from the white line, a steering actuator 22 is driven so that the driver's own vehicle runs on the center of the driving lane and an alarm 24 is driven. If driver's eyes are turned to a direction exceeding a prescribed range when the driver's own vehicle approaches less than the prescribed distance from the white line, the alarm 24 is driven to call driver's attention.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle travel support device, and more particularly to a vehicle travel support device suitable as a device for controlling a vehicle during a driver's dozing driving or looking aside.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-2555.
As disclosed in No. 14, there is known a device that recognizes the position of the vehicle on the traveling lane and controls the steering device based on the recognition result. When the vehicle deviates from the traveling lane, the conventional device described above generates a steering force to return the vehicle to the center of the traveling lane. Therefore, according to the above conventional device, it is possible to safely drive the vehicle without deviating from the traveling lane.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional device,
When the driver changes the traveling lane while operating the turn signal, the control for avoiding the above deviation is not performed. On the other hand, when the driver changes the traveling lane without operating the turn signal indicator, the above control is performed. When the driver intentionally changes the traveling lane and a steering force for returning the vehicle to the center of the traveling lane is generated, the steering control may be executed against the driver's intention.

Therefore, in the above conventional apparatus, when the vehicle deviates from the traveling lane due to the driver's carelessness such as the driver drowsy driving or looking aside, the vehicle travels. On the other hand, when the driver intentionally changes the traveling lane without operating the turn signal, the vehicle cannot be appropriately controlled.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and the driver drowsily or looks aside, and
An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle travel support device that allows a vehicle to travel safely when the vehicle deviates from a travel lane.

[0006]

The above-mentioned object is defined in claim 1.
The position detection means for detecting the position of the own vehicle in the vehicle width direction in the traveling lane, and whether the own vehicle exists in a predetermined range of the traveling lane based on the detection result of the position detection means. Range determination means for determining whether or not,
A dozing determination means for determining whether or not the driver driving the own vehicle is in a dozing state; a side-looking determination means for determining whether or not the driver driving the own vehicle is in a side-looking state; Is determined to be dozing, and
The one which the vehicle is controlled steering <br/> of the vehicle if it is judged to be in the predetermined range, the driver is inattentive shape
Is determined to be in
When it is determined that the vehicle exists, the steering control of the own vehicle is performed.
If there is no steering control means, and if it is determined that the driver is in the inattentive state and that the host vehicle is within a predetermined range, an alarm that drives an alarm means to alert the driver and control means, is achieved by the vehicle travel support device characterized by obtaining Bei a.

In the present invention, the position of the vehicle in the vehicle width direction in the traveling lane is detected. When the driver's vehicle is located in a predetermined range of the driving lane while the driver is driving in a dozing state, steering of the driver's vehicle is controlled so that the driver's vehicle travels in the center of the driving lane. In addition, when the driver's vehicle is in the predetermined range of the traveling lane under the condition that the driver is looking aside , steering control of the driver's vehicle is not performed.
On the other hand, the warning means alerts the driver.
Therefore, according to the present invention, when the driver's dozing driving causes the vehicle to deviate from the traveling lane, the vehicle is steered to properly drive the vehicle without deviating from the traveling lane. In addition to being able to drive inside the vehicle, it can alert the driver when the vehicle is about to deviate from the driving lane due to the driver's inattentive driving, so that the driver can know the traveling status of the vehicle. Therefore, safe driving of the vehicle can be ensured. In the present invention, the "predetermined range of the traveling lane" is a range in which the vehicle is prohibited from traveling when the driver is in a dozing state, and is appropriately changed according to the width of the traveling lane.

The above-mentioned object is as described in claim 2.
The vehicle travel support device according to claim 1, wherein the alarm control unit determines that the driver is in a dozing state,
Even when it is determined that the host vehicle is present in a predetermined range, the warning means is driven, which is achieved by the vehicle travel support device.

[0009]

[0010]

According to the present invention, when the driver's vehicle is in a dozing state and the vehicle is located within a predetermined range of the driving lane, the warning means alerts the driver and the vehicle is driven in the driving lane. The steering of the host vehicle is controlled so that the vehicle runs inside. In addition, when the driver's vehicle is in the predetermined range of the driving lane when the driver is driving in the sideways state,
The warning means calls the driver's attention. Therefore,
ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to drive an own vehicle appropriately in a driving lane, without deviating from a driving lane. In these cases, as described in claim 3,
The vehicle travel support device according to claim 1 or 2,
The inattentive determination means is such that the driver's eye opening direction is the vehicle traveling direction.
Is a predetermined angle or more, the driver is looking aside.
It may be determined that.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a vehicle travel support device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle travel support device of the present embodiment is an electronic control unit (hereinafter referred to as ECU
10). The vehicle travel support device of this embodiment is controlled by the ECU 10. The ECU 10 is a device mainly composed of a microcomputer.

A vehicle speed sensor 12, a winker detector 14, and a steering angle sensor 16 are connected to the ECU 10. The vehicle speed sensor 12 generates a pulse signal at a cycle corresponding to the vehicle speed. The ECU 10 detects the vehicle speed of the vehicle based on the output signal of the vehicle speed sensor 12. The winker detector 14 generates an on / off signal of a winker operated by a driver. The ECU 10 grasps the state of the blinker based on the output signal of the blinker detector 14. The steering angle sensor 16 generates a signal according to the steering angle of the steering wheel. The ECU 10 detects the steering angle of the steering wheel based on the output signal of the steering angle sensor 16.

A white line recognition camera 18 is connected to the ECU 10. The white line recognition cameras 18 are attached to, for example, outer mirrors provided on both sides of the vehicle body. The white line recognition camera 18 is a CCD (charge coupled device).
It captures the travel lane in which the vehicle travels. The ECU 10 recognizes the positions of the white lines provided at both ends of the traveling lane based on the image information of the white line recognition camera 18. An infrared projector is attached to the outer mirror. The infrared projector is provided so that the white line recognition camera 18 can reliably capture the traveling lane even when the vehicle travels at night.

A camera 20 for recognizing a line of sight / blinking is connected to the ECU 10. Camera 20 for gaze / blink recognition
Is attached to, for example, an inner mirror provided inside the vehicle. The gaze / blink recognition camera 20 is a CC
It is configured by D and photographs the face of the driver who drives the vehicle. The ECU 10 is a camera 20 for gaze / blink recognition.
The open / closed state and direction of the driver's eyes are recognized based on the image information. An infrared projector is attached to the inner mirror, like the outer mirror. This infrared projector is provided so that the gaze / blink recognition camera 20 can reliably capture the driver's face even when the vehicle travels at night.

A steering actuator 22 and an alarm device 24 are connected to the ECU 10. The steering actuator 22 is a device for steering the steering wheel. The alarm device 24 is a device for giving a driver attention. The ECU 10 drives the steering actuator 22 and the alarm device 24 based on the signals input as described above according to the logic described later. This alerts the driver and steers the vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a situation in which a vehicle 26 equipped with the vehicle travel assistance device of this embodiment travels in a travel lane. The traveling lane on which the vehicle 26 travels has various curvatures and various lane widths.
White lines 30 are generally provided at both ends of the driving lane. The driver 28 who drives the vehicle 26 steers the steering wheel in accordance with such a traveling lane to appropriately drive the vehicle 26 within the traveling lane, that is, between the white lines 30.

By the way, the driver 28 is asleep while driving,
Alternatively, there is a case where the driver looks aside. In this case, vehicle 2
When 6 deviates from the inside of the white line 30, the driver 28
Cannot be driven safely. In order to safely drive the vehicle 26 when the driver 28 is in a dozing state, it is important to avoid the vehicle 26 from deviating promptly when the vehicle 26 attempts to depart from the traveling lane. When the driver 28 is looking aside, the vehicle 26
In order to drive the vehicle safely, it is important to inform the driver 28 of the departure of the vehicle 26 when the vehicle 26 attempts to depart from the traveling lane.

When the vehicle 26 deviates from the traveling lane,
Drive across the white line 30. Therefore, if the relative positional relationship of the vehicle 26 with respect to the white line 30 is grasped and the vehicle 26 is controlled according to the positional relationship, the vehicle 26
The vehicle 26 without entering the adjacent lane.
It is possible to secure safe driving. The system of this embodiment is characterized in that it realizes the above functions.

In this embodiment, the white line recognition camera 18 is mounted as described above. White line recognition camera 18
Is attached to any of the outer mirrors provided on both sides of the vehicle body. The position of the white line 30 on the traveling lane is monitored based on the image captured by the white line recognition camera 18. That is, the relative position of the vehicle 26 with respect to the white line 30 on the right side of the vehicle body and the relative position of the vehicle 26 with respect to the white line 30 on the left side of the vehicle body are both grasped. Accordingly, in this embodiment, the distance between the white lines 30 and the white line 30, that is,
The width of the traveling lane is known, and the position of the vehicle 26 in the traveling lane is known.

The white line 30 is generally provided in a dotted line in the driving lane. Therefore, by using the white line recognition camera 18, the white line 30 on the driving lane is
May not be recognized. In this embodiment, the ECU 10 has a function of estimating the position of the white line 30. Specifically, the ECU 10 stores the locus of the white line 30 from before the predetermined time, and when the white line 30 is no longer recognized, the ECU 10 stores the white line 30 based on the locus of the white line 30 and the output signal of the steering angle sensor 16. Estimate the position where 30 should be. As a result, in this embodiment, the relative positional relationship between the vehicle 26 and the white line 30 is always known.

Further, in this embodiment, as described above, the line-of-sight / blink recognition camera 20 is mounted. The driver 2 based on the image captured by the gaze / blink recognition camera 20.
The eye open / closed state of 8 and the direction when the eyes are open are monitored. As a result, it can be determined that the driver 28 is in the awake state when the eyes are open, while the driver 28 is in the dozing state when the eyes are closed. Further, when the eye opening direction is less than the predetermined angle from the traveling direction of the vehicle 26,
When the driver is driving in the traveling direction of the vehicle, on the other hand, when the eye opening direction is a predetermined angle or more from the traveling direction of the vehicle 26, the driver 28 may determine that the driver is in the side-looking state. it can. As a result, it becomes possible to recognize whether the driver 28 is in the dozing state or the inattentive state.

As described above, the device of this embodiment is provided with the steering actuator 22 and the alarm device 24. In the present embodiment, when the driver 28 is in a dozing state and the relative positional relationship between the vehicle 26 and the white line 30 is less than or equal to a predetermined value, that is, the vehicle 26 is approaching the white line 30, the steering actuator 22 and The alarm device 24 is driven. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the vehicle 26 approaches the white line 30 due to the driver 28 drowsy driving, the driver 28 can be alerted and the vehicle 26 can be steered to the center of the traveling lane. .

In the present embodiment, the alarm device 24 is driven when the driver 28 is looking aside and the vehicle 26 is approaching the white line 30. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, when the vehicle 26 approaches the white line 30 due to the driver 28 looking aside, the driver 28 can be made aware of the traveling condition of the vehicle 26. Therefore, according to the present embodiment, safe traveling of the vehicle 26 can be ensured.

In the present embodiment, when the vehicle 26 approaches the white line 30 due to the driver 28 looking aside,
The steering actuator 22 is not controlled.
This is to prevent the steering actuator 22 from being driven when the driver 28 performs rearward confirmation (looking aside) in order to change the lane of the vehicle 26, and when the driver 28 recognizes that the driver is in a looking aside state. This is because

The contents of the processing executed in the vehicle travel support device of the present embodiment in order to realize the above functions will be described below. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example of a control routine that is executed by the ECU 10 of the vehicle travel assistance device according to the present embodiment to grasp the state of the driver's 28 line of sight and blink. The routine shown in FIG. 3 is a timed interrupt routine that is activated every predetermined time. When the routine shown in FIG. 3 is started, the process of step 40 is first executed.

In step 40, the line-of-sight and blink state of the driver 28 are detected based on the output signal of the line-of-sight / blink recognition camera 20. In step 41, based on the state detected in step 40, the driver 28
It is determined whether or not is open. As a result, when it is determined that the driver 28 has not opened his eyes, the process of step 42 is executed next.

In step 42, it is determined whether or not the time when the driver 28 is not open, that is, the time when the driver 28 is closed is longer than a predetermined time. ECU1
0 calculates the elapsed time from the time when the driver's 28 eyes closed. Here, the predetermined time is a time that is empirically obtained as the time when the driver is in a state of having his eyes closed due to dozing. As a result, when it is determined that the eye-closing time of the driver 28 is longer than the predetermined time, the process of step 44 is executed next. On the other hand, when it is determined that the driver's 28 eye-closing time is not longer than the predetermined time,
Next, the process of step 46 is executed.

At step 44, the process of turning on the dozing driving flag is performed. The dozing driving flag is a flag for displaying a state in which the driver 28 is driving the vehicle 26 in a dozing state. When the processing of this step 44 is completed, the routine of this time is completed. In step 46, a process of turning off the dozing driving flag is performed. When the processing of this step 46 is completed, the processing of this time is completed.

If it is determined in step 41 that the driver 28 has the eyes open, then step 48 is performed.
The process of is executed. In step 48, it is determined whether or not the line of sight of the driver 28 is outside the predetermined range under the condition that the driver 28 has his eyes open. The predetermined range is set to be smaller as the speed of the vehicle 26 is higher, and is larger as the speed of the vehicle 26 is lower. Also,
The direction of this predetermined range is set according to the steering angle direction. As a result, if it is determined that the line of sight of the driver 28 is in a direction outside the predetermined range, then step 50 is performed.
The process of is executed. On the other hand, if it is determined that the line of sight of the driver 28 does not face a direction outside the predetermined range, that is, if it is within the predetermined range, then step 5
Process 2 is executed.

In step 50, the process of turning on the inattentive driving flag is performed. The inattentive driving flag is a flag for displaying a state in which the driver 28 is driving the vehicle 26 in an inattentive state. When the processing of this step 50 is completed, this routine is completed. In step 52, a process of turning off the inattentive driving flag is performed.
When the process of this step 52 ends, the process of this time ends.

According to the above process, when the driver 28 is in the eye-closed state for more than the predetermined time, the dozing driving flag can be surely turned on. Further, according to the above processing, when the driver 28 is in the eye-opened state and the line of sight of the driver 28 is in the direction beyond the predetermined range, the inattentive driving flag is surely turned on. You can

FIG. 4 is a diagram for realizing the function of appropriately controlling the traveling of the vehicle 26 when the driver 28 is performing a dozing driving and when the driver 28 is performing a look-aside driving. The flowchart of an example of the main routine performed by ECU10 of the vehicle travel assistance apparatus which is an Example is shown. The routine shown in FIG. 4 is a routine that is repeatedly started each time the processing is completed. When the routine shown in FIG. 4 is started, the process of step 60 is first executed. Note that the routine shown in FIG. 4 is not executed when the winker is in the operating state. This is because the driver 28 may approach the white line 30 in order to change the traveling lane of the vehicle 26, and in this case, the vehicle 26 is prevented from being controlled.

In step 60, the white line recognition camera 18
The position (X) of the vehicle 26 in the vehicle width direction with respect to the white line 30 is detected based on the output signal of the vehicle. At step 62, it is judged if the position X of the vehicle 26 in the vehicle width direction with respect to the white line 30 is less than or equal to a predetermined distance (X0) from the white line 30. The predetermined distance X0 is set so as to be variable according to the distance between the white lines 30 provided at both ends of the traveling lane. Specifically, the predetermined distance X0 is the white line 30
It becomes larger as the distance between them becomes larger, and becomes smaller as the distance between the white lines 30 becomes smaller. As a result, when it is determined that the above conditions are not satisfied, the routine of this time is ended. On the other hand, if it is determined that the above conditions are established, then the processing of step 64 is executed.

In step 64, it is judged whether or not the dozing driving flag is in the ON state based on the result obtained by executing the routine shown in FIG. As a result, when it is determined that the dozing driving flag is in the on state, the process of step 66 is executed next. In step 66, a steering command is supplied to the steering actuator 22 so that the host vehicle 26 travels in the center of the travel lane.

At step 68, an alarm command is supplied to the alarm device 24 in order to inform the driver that the host vehicle 26 is out of the driving lane. When the processing of this step 68 is executed, the processing of this time is ended. If it is determined in step 64 that the doze driving flag is not on, then step 7
The process of 0 is executed.

In step 70, it is judged whether or not the inattentive driving flag is on, based on the result obtained by executing the routine shown in FIG. As a result, when it is determined that the inattentive operation flag is in the on state, the routine of this time is ended after the processing of step 68 is executed. According to the above process, when the driver 28 drowsily drives, the steering command and the alarm command are issued to alert the driver 28 and
The vehicle 26 can be steered to the center of the driving lane. In addition, when the driver 28 issues an alarm command when the driver looks aside, the driver 28 can be made aware of the traveling condition of the vehicle 26. Therefore, according to the device of the present embodiment, the vehicle 26 is not deviated from the traveling lane,
It is possible to ensure safe traveling of the vehicle 26.

In the above embodiment, the alarm device 24
Corresponds to the “warning means” described in the claims , and the ECU 10 detects the position of the vehicle 26 in the vehicle width direction with respect to the white line 30 based on the output signal of the white line recognition camera 18 . "position detecting means" according the claims is "range determination means" recited in the claims by performing the process in step 62 is, the claims by performing the process at step 64 < The "drowsiness determining means" described in the claims executes the processing in step 70, and the "inattentive determination means" described in the claims executes the processing in step 66. By executing the processing of step 68, the " steering control means" in (1) realizes the "alarm control means" recited in the claims .

[0039]

As described above, according to the first and third aspects of the present invention, the vehicle is steered when the vehicle is about to depart from the traveling lane when the driver is driving while falling asleep. It is possible to secure safe driving of
While the driver is looking aside, the vehicle steering control is not performed when the vehicle attempts to depart from the driving lane.
In can alert the driver, it is possible to ensure the safety running of the vehicle. According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the vehicle is about to depart from the traveling lane under the condition that the driver is dozing and driving, the vehicle is steered and the driver is warned. It is possible to ensure safe driving of the vehicle.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when the vehicle is about to depart from the driving lane under the condition that the driver is dozing or looking aside, it is possible to ensure safe driving of the vehicle.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a vehicle travel support device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically illustrating a situation in which a vehicle equipped with a vehicle travel assistance device that is an embodiment of the present invention travels in a travel lane.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an example of a control routine executed to process the state of the eyes of the driver in the vehicle travel assistance device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example of a main routine executed in the vehicle travel support device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Electronic control unit (ECU) 18 White line recognition camera 20 Eye / blink recognition camera 22 Steering actuator 24 alarm 26 vehicles 28 driver 30 white line

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Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A position detecting means for detecting a position of a vehicle in a vehicle width direction within a traveling lane, and whether the vehicle is within a predetermined range of the traveling lane based on a detection result of the position detecting means. Range determining means for determining whether or not, a dozing determination means for determining whether or not the driver driving the own vehicle is in a dozing state, and whether or not the driver driving the own vehicle is in a sideways state and inattentive determining means for determining, the driver is determined to be drowsy state, and, while the vehicle is controlled steering of the vehicle if it is judged to be in the predetermined range, the driver Is looking aside
It is determined that there is, and the own vehicle is within the predetermined range
If it is determined that the host vehicle is not steered, it is determined that the driver is in a side-looking state, and the host vehicle is in a predetermined range. And a warning control means for driving a warning means so as to call the driver's attention. 2. The vehicle travel support device according to claim 1, wherein the alarm control unit determines that the driver is in a dozing state and that the host vehicle is within a predetermined range. Also, a vehicle travel support device characterized by driving the alarm means. 3. The vehicle travel support device according to claim 1, wherein the inattentiveness determining means determines that the driver is in the inattentive state when the driver's eye opening direction is a predetermined angle or more from the vehicle traveling direction. A vehicle travel support device, characterized in that