JP4186749B2 - Armpit judging device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a side-by-side determination device that determines whether or not a driver driving a vehicle is looking aside.

As shown in [Patent Document 1], an apparatus for determining whether or not a driver of a vehicle is looking aside has been developed. The device described in [Patent Document 1] determines whether the driver is looking aside from the direction of the driver's face and the steering angle. The device described in [Patent Document 1] aims to improve the accuracy of the aside look determination regardless of the individual differences of the driver by changing the determination reference value according to the driving state.
JP-A-8-207617

  However, since the driver usually steers while watching the front path of the travel path on which the vehicle being driven is traveling, the place where the curve curvature of the front path changes (when a curve changes from a straight line to a curve, When moving from a curve with a different curvature to when moving from a curve to a straight line, the steering angle is different. For this reason, since the device described in [Patent Document 1] does not take into account changes in the travel route in the vehicle traveling direction, sufficient determination accuracy cannot be obtained only from the driver's face direction and steering angle. There was a need for further improvements. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an aside look determination device that can realize excellent determination accuracy.

The armpit determination device according to the present invention detects a front path of a traveling path on which a vehicle is traveling based on an image acquisition unit that acquires a situation in the vehicle traveling direction as a front image and a front image acquired by the image acquisition unit. A forward travel path detection means, a gaze area setting means for setting a gaze area to be watched by the driver on the front image based on the forward path of the travel path detected by the forward travel path detection means, and the driver's face And detecting the direction of the driver from the detected face direction, the gaze direction detecting means for setting the gaze direction of the driver on the front image, the gaze area set by the gaze area setting means, and the gaze direction detecting means. based on the gaze direction, provided with inattentive determining means for determining whether the driver is looking aside, the vehicle speed detecting means for detecting a running speed of the vehicle, fixation region setting means, vehicle speed detection Based on the vehicle traveling direction distance determined according to the vehicle speed detected by the means, and the lateral predetermined distance determined according to the curve radius and the traveling path width of the traveling path detected by the traveling path detection means, When the vehicle speed is high, the gaze region setting means determines the vehicle traveling direction distance so that it is longer than when the vehicle speed is low, and the curve radius of the travel path is When the distance is small, the predetermined distance in the lateral direction is determined so that the distance from the inside of the curve is shorter than when the curve radius of the traveling road is large .

Inattention determining apparatus according to the present invention, an image obtaining unit for obtaining the status of the vehicle traveling direction as a forward image, based on the forward image acquired by the image acquisition unit, detects a forward route of the road on which the vehicle is traveling Based on the forward path of the travel path detected by the forward travel path detection means, gaze area setting means for setting a gaze area to be watched by the driver on the front image, and The direction of the face is detected, and the gaze direction detecting means for setting the driver's gaze direction on the front image from the detected face direction, the gaze area set by the gaze area setting means, and the gaze direction detecting means are detected. on the basis of the gaze direction, and a inattentive determining means for determining whether the driver is looking aside, gaze direction detecting means, the relationship between the head movement and eye movement of the driver, luck The gaze stable viewing angle is set on the front image as a range where the person can gaze without difficulty, and the armpit judging means drives when the gaze area is within the range determined by the gaze direction and the gaze stable viewing angle. It is characterized by determining that the person is looking aside .

Inattention determining apparatus according to the present invention, an image obtaining unit for obtaining the status of the vehicle traveling direction as a forward image, based on the forward image acquired by the image acquiring unit detects the forward path of the road on which the vehicle is traveling A forward travel path detection means, a gaze area setting means for setting a gaze area to be watched by the driver on the front image based on the forward path of the travel path detected by the forward travel path detection means, and the driver's face Detecting the direction of the vehicle and setting the gaze direction of the driver on the front image from the detected face direction; and detecting an object in the vehicle traveling direction, and detecting the position of the object on the front image Based on the object position setting means to be set, the gaze area set by the gaze area setting means, the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detecting means, and the object position set by the object position setting means There are a inattentive determining means for determining whether the driver is unnecessary inattentive, and the relative speed detecting means for detecting the relative speed between the vehicle and the object, the object detected by the object position setting means And a risk level detection unit that detects a risk level of the object based on the type of the object and the relative speed detected by the relative speed detection unit. The position of the object having the highest risk level among the risk levels detected by the risk level detection means is used as the object position used for the side-by-side determination.

The apparatus further includes object mass detection means for estimating or detecting the mass of the object based on the determined type of the object, and the risk detection means includes the relative speed detected by the relative speed detection means and the object. based on the detected object mass by mass detection unit, preferably you to detect the risk relative to the object.

According to the side-by- side determination device of the present invention, a gaze area is set based on the forward path in the vehicle traveling direction, and it is determined whether the side is looking aside based on the gaze area and the direction of the driver's face. , It is possible to improve the accuracy of looking aside. Furthermore, since the gaze area can be set in front as the vehicle speed is slower and the gaze area can be set farther as the vehicle speed is faster, the gaze area can be set with high accuracy according to a realistic driver model. In addition, the gaze area can be set inside the curve as the curve radius of the road is tight, and the gaze area can be set in the center of the road as the curve radius of the road is loose. The gaze area can be set with high accuracy. As a result, it is possible to make a side look determination based on the gaze area set with high accuracy, and to improve the determination accuracy.

  Note that the term “aside look” here means that when a region to be watched is set based on the forward path of the vehicle, this region is not viewed. While driving, there are other objects to be watched besides the forward route (for example, traffic signs, room mirrors, meters, etc.). Viewing these objects does not immediately lead to dangerous driving. In the present invention, it can be determined that looking at these objects is also an aside. Further, the front image is not necessarily displayed as an image on a display device such as a monitor, and may be handled as image data.

According to the side-by- side determination device of the present invention, a gaze area is set based on the forward path in the vehicle traveling direction, and it is determined whether the side is looking aside based on the gaze area and the direction of the driver's face. , It is possible to improve the accuracy of looking aside. Furthermore, the determination accuracy is improved because the gaze stable viewing angle set based on the relationship between the driver's head movement and eye movement and the gaze direction that is the driver's head direction is determined. Can do.

According to the side-by- side determination device of the present invention, a gaze area is set based on the forward path in the vehicle traveling direction, and it is determined whether the side is looking aside based on the gaze area and the direction of the driver's face. , It is possible to improve the accuracy of looking aside. Furthermore, at this time, by looking at an object existing on the forward path and in the vicinity thereof, it is possible to more realistically perform the side-by-side determination by determining whether or not the person is looking aside.

  As described above, there is a side look that can be said to be a side look necessary when looking at an object that needs to be seen other than the forward route, that is, a side look. For example, in addition to the above, pedestrians in the vicinity of the forward route need to pay attention to their behavior to ensure safety, and watching such a pedestrian (looking aside a pedestrian) I can say that. By detecting (determining) unnecessary side effects other than such necessary side effects, it is possible to make the side effect determination more practical.

Moreover, according to the side-by-side determination device of the present invention, the degree of danger is detected (set) for each object, and the above-mentioned side-by-side determination is performed based on this, thereby further improving the accuracy of actual side-by-side determination. Can do.

  An embodiment of the aside look determination device of the present invention will be described below. First, a first embodiment of the side-by-side determination device of the present invention will be described. The armpit judging device of this embodiment is mounted on a vehicle, and its configuration diagram is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the side-by-side determination device according to the present embodiment is composed of various sensors connected to a control unit 1 that controls side-by-side determination. The control unit 1 is an electronic control unit including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. Connected to the control unit 1 is a front camera 2 that acquires the situation in the vehicle traveling direction as image data. The front camera 2 of the present embodiment is a CCD camera attached to the rear side of the rearview mirror or the top surface of the instrument panel, and acquires an image in the vehicle traveling direction as a front image. That is, the front camera 2 functions as an image acquisition unit.

  The acquired front image may be displayed on a monitor or the like installed in the passenger compartment, or may be only handled as image data in the control unit 1 without being displayed by a display device such as a monitor. . The control unit 1 detects the forward path of the travel path on which the vehicle is traveling based on the forward image acquired by the front camera 2. Here, the white line etc. which divide the lane on an image are detected, and the condition of a front route is detected based on this. That is, the control unit 1 functions as a forward travel route detection unit that detects a forward route based on the forward image.

  Further, the control unit 1 sets, on the image, an area (gaze area) that the driver should watch when the vehicle travels on the forward path from now on. Although this setting method will be described later in detail, the control unit 1 also functions as a gaze area setting unit that sets the gaze area on the front image.

  The control unit 1 also detects objects (pedestrians, other vehicles, etc.) located on the front path or in the vicinity of the front path and their positions based on the front image acquired by the front camera 2. What the object is is determined from the form of the object on the image. A forward millimeter wave radar 3 is also connected to the control unit 1. The front millimeter wave radar 3 is attached to the center portion of the front grille, and radiates millimeter waves in front of the vehicle, and receives radio waves returned from the irradiated millimeter waves upon the object. Thereby, the position of the object existing in the vehicle traveling direction and the relative speed of the object with respect to the vehicle can be detected. Although the present embodiment has been described based on a millimeter wave radar, the present invention is not limited to a millimeter wave, and a laser may be used.

  The detection result of the millimeter wave radar 3 in front is processed in the control unit 1 and used for specifying the position of the object on the above-described front image. That is, here, the control unit 1 coordinates both detection results of the front camera 2 and the front millimeter wave radar 3 to set the position of the object existing in the vehicle traveling direction on the front image. Is functioning as Here, the distance may be detected by performing stereo viewing with the front camera, or the distance may be detected by complementing both with the radar detection result. Further, since the relative speed of the object with respect to the vehicle is also detected from the detection result of the front millimeter wave radar 3, the control unit 1 and the front millimeter wave radar 3 also function as a relative speed detection means.

  Furthermore, a driver face camera 4 that reflects the driver's face is also connected to the control unit 1. The driver face camera 4 is installed on the front side of the driver's seat in the passenger compartment, and acquires the driver's face as an image. The acquired image is processed as image data in the control unit 1, and the direction of the driver's face is detected. The face orientation is detected based on the position of the face outline, eyebrows, eyes, and nose (nose hole). The control unit 1 sets the direction in which the driver is gazing on the front image based on the detected face orientation. That is, the control unit 1 and the driver's face camera 4 function as gaze direction detecting means.

  Furthermore, the control unit 1 includes a vehicle speed sensor 5 for detecting the vehicle speed of the vehicle, a winker switch 6 for detecting the operating state of the winker, a steering angle sensor 7 for detecting the steering amount, and a buzzer sound at the time of looking aside. An alarm buzzer 8 is also connected. Hereinafter, the look-ahead determination control by the look-ahead determination apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described. A flowchart of this control is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing the state of the vehicle / driver's face, the forward route, and the like at the time of looking aside. Here, a case where the forward travel path is a right curve will be described as an example.

  First, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2, first, the front camera 2 acquires the situation in front of the vehicle 9 as an image (step 200). In this image, the situation of the traveling road ahead of the vehicle 9 is shown, and the situation of the traveling road is determined based on the white lines on both sides of the traveling road as described above (step 205). The situation ahead of the travel path is a curve, whether it is a curve, a right curve or a left curve, and its curvature radius R is calculated by image processing.

  Next, information about the vehicle is detected (step 210). The information related to the vehicle 9 mentioned here includes the vehicle speed V calculated by the vehicle speed sensor 5, the operating state of the winker switch 6, the steering angle detected by the steering angle sensor 7, and the like. Here, a right curve without branching is described as an example. However, when a plurality of branching roads (intersections, etc.) are recognized, the turn signal switch 6 for specifying the target road is selected. The operation status and the detection result of the steering angle sensor 7 can also be used.

  Next, a gaze area is calculated and set on the above-described front image (step 215). The gaze region is a point A in FIG. Here, for convenience, the coordinate axes are set with reference to the vehicle 9 (FIG. 3 shows two axes in plan view among these coordinate axes). One of the coordinate axes coincides with the front of the vehicle 9. The point A is in the direction of the angle γ from the coordinate axis coinciding with the front of the vehicle body. The gaze area may be set as a point in this way, or may be set as an area having a certain range. Here, the point A is located on the traveling road surface and is determined by L and d in the figure. L indicates how far forward the vehicle 9 is, and d indicates the distance in the lateral direction from one side of the traveling road (here, the inside of the curve). Note that the gaze area may be determined based on the distance in the road width direction from both sides of the travel path, instead of being determined based on only one side as in the above-described d.

Here, L is obtained based on the following equation (I) as a function of the vehicle speed V.
L = a × V + b [a and b are constants] (I)
The vehicle speed V is detected by the vehicle speed sensor 5. Since the driver tries to turn the steering without delay by capturing the curvature change of the forward driving path, such a formula is used as an example to match the front driver as the speed is slow and the realistic driver model as looking far away To set L.

On the other hand, d is obtained from the following equation (II) as a function of the curve radius R and the travel path width W, for example.
d = (W / 2)-(K / R) [K is a constant] (II)
The curve radius R and the travel path width W are obtained by image processing (in this case, based on the white line) from the front image acquired by the front camera. Here, when the forward travel path is a straight line, by setting R → ∞ in the above formula, d = W / 2, and d indicates the center of the travel path.

  The driver tries to catch as much as possible in order to capture the change of curvature in the case of a straight line, and in the case of a curve, so that the line of sight moves from the center of the road to the inside of the curve as the curve radius R becomes tight. Become. This is represented by, for example, formula (II). Thus, the point A determined by L and d is set as a gaze area on the above-described front image. Since the gaze area is set, in order to calculate the gaze direction as the direction in which the driver is gazing, first, an image showing the driver's face is obtained by the driver's face camera 4 (step 220), and the driver Is determined by image processing (step 225).

  The driver's face direction is calculated from the face components (such as eyebrows and eyes) as described above. In FIG. 3, the direction inclined by the angle α from the coordinate axis indicating the vehicle front direction is the gaze direction. This gaze direction is set on the above-described front image. Here, the gaze stable viewing angle β is applied to the gaze direction. The gaze stable viewing angle β means that when the head direction is at a certain angle, the range of ± (β / 2) to the left and right around the head direction is reasonable due to the relationship between head movement and eye movement. It is set as a range where gaze is possible.

  Then, based on the gaze area and the gaze direction obtained as described above, it is determined whether or not the person is looking aside (step 230). Here, on the front image, the gaze region (region / direction to be viewed by the driver) by the point A indicated by the angle γ in FIG. 3 is determined by the gaze direction (head direction of driving) and the gaze stable viewing angle. Aside look is judged by whether or not it is within the range. If it is within the range, it is determined that it is not looking aside. A driver does not look at an object only by eye movement, but often involves head movement when looking at a certain object. Therefore, in this manner, the side-view is determined based on the head direction (gaze direction) and the gaze stable viewing angle β.

  If each angle in FIG. 3 is described, it is assumed that it is not an aside if α− (β / 2) ≦ γ ≦ α + (β / 2). If it is determined that the person is not looking aside, a counter to be described later is reset (step 250), and the control of this flowchart is temporarily exited. On the other hand, if it is determined that the person is looking aside, the counter for counting how long the aside state is continued (step 235), and the incremented counter value is a predetermined value (for example, 1 It is determined whether or not (˜2 seconds) has been exceeded (step 240).

  If the counter value exceeds the specified value, the lookout has continued for a certain amount of time, and it is determined that the lookout is not a glance at anything other than the gaze direction (signal, room mirror, etc.) Warning processing for warning is performed (step 245). In the present embodiment, a warning is given by sounding the alarm buzzer 8. The warning may be something that appeals to the sight other than that that appeals to hearing, or a combination of both. Alternatively, the front window shield may be formed as a head-up display on the surface of the vehicle compartment side, and the gaze area that should be originally viewed may be indicated on the head-up display. After the warning process is performed, the counter is reset (step 250), and the control of this flowchart is temporarily exited.

  According to the present embodiment, the aside look determination is performed by reflecting the state of the forward path of the vehicle 9, so the accuracy of the aside look determination can be improved. In addition, since information such as the vehicle speed is also reflected when setting and determining the gaze area and the gaze direction, the determination accuracy can be further improved.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, an aside look is determined in consideration of an object (pedestrian or other vehicle) on the front path or in the vicinity of the front path. Since the configuration of the apparatus is the same as that of the first embodiment described above, a detailed description thereof is omitted here. Flow charts of the control of this embodiment are shown in FIGS. FIG. 7 shows a diagram corresponding to FIG. 3 of the present embodiment. Here again, a case where the forward travel path is a right curve will be described as an example.

  In the present embodiment, the side-by-side determination control calculates the degree of danger for each object with respect to the control in the first embodiment described above. Is added to the control to determine. Specifically, in the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 4 to 6, the part shown in FIG. 5 (step 500 to step 535) is added to the control of the first embodiment.

  First, Step 400 to Step 425 shown in FIG. 4 correspond to Step 200 to Step 225 in the flowchart of FIG. 2 of the first embodiment, and detailed description thereof is omitted here. Next, after step 425, as shown in FIG. 5, the front image is subjected to image processing to determine whether or not there is an object likely to be associated with traveling in front of the vehicle 9 (step 500). The object likely to be related to traveling is a pedestrian 10, other vehicles 11 and 12 (which may enter the traveling route of the own vehicle 9), or a motorcycle (such as an automobile or a motorcycle).

  In the present embodiment, an object is grasped based on the image processing of the front image acquired by the front camera 2 and the detection result by the front millimeter wave radar 3. Depending on the forward millimeter wave radar 3, the relative speed of the objects 10, 11, 12 with respect to the own vehicle 9 can also be detected. At this time, it is also possible to exclude other vehicles on the opposite lane and other vehicles running in parallel in a plurality of lanes based on the image processing of the front image and the detection result by the front millimeter wave radar 3. If it is determined in step 500 that there is no object to be controlled on the front image, the process proceeds to step 600 in FIG.

  Steps 600 to 620 in FIG. 6 are substantially the same as steps 230 to 250 in the flowchart of FIG. 2, so detailed description of step 600 and subsequent steps is omitted here. Note that not only the counter but also a sub-counter described later is reset only for step 620. This will be described in detail later.

  On the other hand, if there is an object to be controlled (pedestrian 10, other vehicles 11, 12, etc. in FIG. 7) at step 500, that is, if step 500 is affirmed, then each object is dangerous. The degree is calculated (step 505). In this embodiment, the degree of risk is calculated based on the distance to the object, the relative speed between the host vehicle 9 and the object, and the mass of the object. As for the mass of the object, whether it is a pedestrian or a vehicle (or a motorcycle) is determined by image processing, and the representative mass in each case is applied. For vehicles and the like, several representative masses may be prepared depending on the size and the like.

  After calculating the risk level, it is determined whether the object having the highest risk level among the objects to be controlled is within the gaze safety viewing angle described above (step 510). If the object having the highest risk is not within the gaze safety viewing angle, it is determined whether the risk of the object exceeds a predetermined risk (step 515). This predetermined value is set as a threshold at which the object must be viewed. That is, if the degree of danger does not exceed the predetermined value, it can be said that it is not necessary to visually (recognize) (the degree of necessity is low).

  In step 515, if the risk level of the object with the highest risk level exceeds a predetermined value, the driver is not aware of the high risk level object, that is, the object is not within the gaze safety viewing angle. It can be judged. In this case, a guidance warning process is performed in which the driver moves his / her line of sight to the object (step 520). As the line-of-sight guidance alarm processing, display on a windshield with a buzzer, a lamp, or a head-up display can be considered. It is conceivable that the buzzer has a plurality of buzzers arranged around the front windshield and blows a sound located in the direction of the object to be watched. The same applies to the lamp, and it is conceivable that a plurality of lamps (LEDs, etc.) are arranged around the front windshield, and the lamp positioned in the direction of the object to be watched is turned on or blinked. You may use a buzzer and a lamp together.

  After the line-of-sight guidance warning process in step 520, the process returns to step 200 and the same control is executed again. If the driver's line of sight is guided at the next determination and an object with a high degree of danger is to be watched, step 510 is affirmed. In step 515, when the risk level of the object having the highest risk level does not exceed the predetermined value, it is not necessary to visually recognize (recognize) the object as described above (the necessity level is low). The routine proceeds to step 600 in order to perform a normal look-ahead determination that determines whether or not the user is looking at the gaze area set on the route.

  Next, the case where step 510 is affirmed will be described. The case where step 510 is denied, that is, the case where the driver does not see the object with the highest risk (not in the field of view = out of the gaze stable viewing angle) has already been described. Here, a case where step 510 is affirmed and the driver is looking at an object with the highest degree of danger (at least in the field of view = within the gaze stable viewing angle) will be described. In this case, following step 510, it is determined whether or not the gaze area determined from the front image is within the above-described gaze safety viewing angle in addition to the high-risk object (step 525).

  If step 525 is negative, that is, as shown in FIG. 7, the object of maximum risk (here, another vehicle 11) is being viewed, but the gaze area (point A indicated by angle γ) Is not in view, the sub-counter is incremented. Although the direction of the angle α in FIG. 7 is different from that in FIG. 3, how to obtain the sign of the angle is appropriately processed at the time of calculation. If only the situation of the forward route is taken into consideration, the gaze area (point A) should be looked at originally, but if step 525 is denied in this way, there is an object with a high degree of danger, and this is being seen. That is, it can be determined that the situation is a necessary look aside. Such an aside can be said to be more effective for a short time.

  Therefore, in this case, a sub-counter for counting the necessary time for looking aside is incremented (step 530). Then, following step 530, it is determined whether or not the sub-counter exceeds a predetermined value (step 535). If this sub-counter is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value, that is, if step 535 is denied, since a necessary look aside, a warning is not given even if a look aside and the process returns to step 400.

  On the other hand, if step 535 is affirmed and it can be determined that the time is too long even if an object with a high degree of danger is being viewed, it is determined that the necessary look aside has already been exceeded and the unnecessary look aside has been continued. In order to increment the counter for determining whether or not, the process proceeds to step 605 in FIG. After step 605, it is determined whether or not to give an aside warning based on the counter value described above (step 610). If necessary, a warning is given to the driver (step 615), and the counter / sub-counter is reset. Then, the flowcharts of FIGS.

  If step 525 is affirmed, it is determined that both the object with the highest risk and the gaze area are within the gaze safety viewing angle, that is, it can be said that both are within the field of view. Reset the sub-counter and exit the flowcharts of FIGS. In the present embodiment, the case where step 610 is affirmed is an unnecessary side effect. On the other hand, when the user is not looking at the gaze area determined from the forward route, that is, when looking aside, step 535 is a necessary looking aside if step 535 is denied. In this way, a side look is determined in consideration of an object (pedestrian or other vehicle) on the front route or in the vicinity of the front route (determining whether a side look is unnecessary by considering a necessary look aside). Thus, it is possible to perform a more practical and accurate side-by-side determination.

  In the description here, the explanation is based on the plan view as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 7, but the vertical direction (the depression angle [elevation angle] of the face direction) is the distance from the target point. I think that it will be decided. At this time, the same idea as the above-described gaze stable viewing angle is also applied in the vertical direction. The specific values of the gaze stable viewing angle are said to be about 30 to 45 ° on the left and right (60 ° <β <90 °), about 20 to 30 ° on the upper side, and about 25 to 45 ° on the lower side. Yes. Since the visual field range becomes narrower as the vehicle speed increases, the gaze stable viewing angle β may be treated as a function of the speed V.

  The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the gaze area is set as a point (area represented by), and the gaze is determined by setting a gaze stable viewing angle having a certain range with respect to the gaze direction. On the contrary, the gaze area is set as an area having a certain range, the gaze direction is set as a point (direction), and a side look is determined by whether or not the gaze direction is within the gaze area. Also good. Further, when processing the front image, the image processing may be performed based on a still image at a certain point in time, but the image processing may be performed in consideration of the passage of time (continuous still image or moving image). It goes without saying that it is good. Further, a space (tertiary space) as shown in FIGS. 3 and 7 may be handled as a front image.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of embodiment of the looking-aside determination apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart of control by the armpit determination apparatus of 1st embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the condition at the time of control in 1st embodiment of the armpit determination apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart (first half part) of the control by the look-ahead determination apparatus of 2nd embodiment. It is a flowchart (intermediate part) of control by the look-ahead determination apparatus of 2nd embodiment. It is a flowchart (second half part) of the control by the armpit determination apparatus of 2nd embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows the condition at the time of control in 2nd embodiment of the armpit determination apparatus of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control unit (front traveling path detection means: gaze area setting means: armpit determination means: object position setting means: mass detection means), 2 ... front camera (image acquisition means), 3 ... millimeter wave radar, 3 ... forward millimeter Wave radar (relative speed detection means), 4 ... driver face camera (gaze direction detection means), 5 ... vehicle speed sensor (vehicle speed detection means), 6 ... turn signal switch, 7 ... steering angle sensor, 8 ... JP, Heihei, 8 ... Alarm buzzer, 9 ... own vehicle, 10 ... pedestrian (object), 11, 12 ... other vehicle (object).

Claims (4)

Image acquisition means for acquiring a vehicle traveling direction situation as a front image;
Based on the front image acquired by the image acquisition means, a forward travel path detection means for detecting a forward path of a travel path on which the vehicle is traveling,
Gaze area setting means for setting a gaze area on which the driver should gaze on the front image based on the front path of the travel path detected by the front travel path detection means;
Gaze direction detecting means for detecting the direction of the driver's face and setting the gaze direction of the driver on the front image from the detected face direction;
Based on the gaze area set by the gaze area setting means and the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detection means, the side aside determination means determines whether or not the driver is looking aside .
Vehicle speed detecting means for detecting the traveling speed of the vehicle ,
The gaze area setting means is based on a vehicle traveling direction distance determined according to the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle speed detection means, and a curve radius and a travel path width of the travel path detected by the travel path detection means. Based on the determined lateral predetermined distance, the gaze area is set,
The gaze area setting means is
When the vehicle speed is fast, the vehicle traveling direction distance is determined to be longer than when the vehicle speed is slow,
When the curve radius of the travel path is small, the predetermined distance in the lateral direction is determined so that the distance from the inside of the curve is shorter than when the curve radius of the travel path is large. To look aside. Image acquisition means for acquiring a vehicle traveling direction situation as a front image;
Based on the front image acquired by the image acquisition means, a forward travel path detection means for detecting a forward path of a travel path on which the vehicle is traveling,
Gaze area setting means for setting a gaze area on which the driver should gaze on the front image based on the front path of the travel path detected by the front travel path detection means;
Gaze direction detecting means for detecting the direction of the driver's face and setting the gaze direction of the driver on the front image from the detected face direction;
A gaze area set by the gaze area setting means, and a side look determination means for judging whether the driver is looking aside based on the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detection means ,
The gaze direction detection means sets a gaze stable viewing angle on the front image as a range in which the driver can gaze without difficulty from the relationship between the driver's head movement and eye movement,
The aside look determination device, wherein the driver determines that the driver is looking aside when the gaze area is within a range determined by the gaze direction and the gaze stable viewing angle. . Image acquisition means for acquiring a vehicle traveling direction situation as a front image;
Based on the front image acquired by the image acquisition means, a forward travel path detection means for detecting a forward path of a travel path on which the vehicle is traveling,
Gaze area setting means for setting a gaze area on which the driver should gaze on the front image based on the front path of the travel path detected by the front travel path detection means;
Gaze direction detecting means for detecting the direction of the driver's face and setting the gaze direction of the driver on the front image from the detected face direction;
Object position setting means for detecting an object in the vehicle traveling direction and setting the position of the object on the front image;
Based on the gaze area set by the gaze area setting means, the gaze direction detected by the gaze direction detection means, and the object position set by the object position setting means, the driver takes an unnecessary look aside. and inattentiveness determination means for determining whether or not to have,
A relative speed detecting means for detecting a relative speed between the vehicle and the object;
Risk level detection for determining the type of the object detected by the object position setting means and detecting the risk level for the object based on the type of the object and the relative speed detected by the relative speed detection means Means, and
The looking-aside determination device, wherein the looking-aside determination unit uses the position of the object having the highest risk level among the risk levels detected by the risk level detection unit as the object position used for the side-track determination. Further comprising object mass detection means for estimating or detecting the mass of the object based on the determined type of the object;
The risk detection means, the relative speed detected by the relative speed detecting means, and, on the basis of the object mass is detected by the object mass detection unit, according to claim 3 that detect the risk for said object Aside-look determination device.

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