JP4581839B2 - Vehicle anti-theft device, driver determination method in vehicle anti-theft device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle antitheft device, and more particularly to a driver authentication method that permits driving of a vehicle.

  Conventionally, various technologies have been proposed as devices for preventing vehicle theft. For example, Patent Documents 1 and 2 register a travelable range in advance, and Patent Document 3 discloses a technique for limiting a travel range and a time zone by registering a travelable time zone in advance.

  There is also a technique in which an authentication system is mounted on the vehicle and the operator of the vehicle is authenticated to determine whether the vehicle can be driven (for example, Patent Document 4). In this technique, an operator's face is photographed and registered in the storage unit in advance, and unlocking of the door and starting of the engine are permitted only when the face captured by the in-vehicle camera is registered in the storage unit. Usually, since the owner of the vehicle is the driver, the face image of the owner is registered in the storage unit in advance.

JP 2003-112604 A JP-A-8-77471 JP 2003-327087 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-43016

  However, the person who can be the driver of the vehicle is not always the only owner. For example, when the owner has a living person such as a family, the family can also be a driver. In addition, a dealer may drive between a home and a repair shop for vehicle maintenance such as vehicle inspection. Alternatively, when traveling with a friend, the friend may be driving on behalf. Certainly, there is no problem if face images of all persons who can be drivers are obtained in advance and registered in the storage unit. However, in practice, it is not always possible to obtain a face image of a dealer's person in charge or to pick up a vehicle. Moreover, it is troublesome to obtain a face image of a person who becomes a driver and register it in the storage unit every time driving is permitted.

In other words, when determining whether or not driving is possible after authenticating the driver, in the past, a limited determination was made not to allow driving by those who were not registered in advance, so the family members could not It was extremely troublesome to deal with temporary driving such as shopping or taking over the vehicle by a dealer. If the situation is such that the face image cannot be registered in the storage unit, even if the owner himself permits driving the vehicle, the device itself will not allow driving by anyone other than the registrant. There was a problem that I could not even do.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle theft prevention device and a vehicle theft that can alleviate restrictions on persons who can drive while preventing theft of the vehicle. It is in providing the driver | operator determination method in a prevention apparatus.

In order to achieve the above object, the vehicle antitheft device according to the present invention includes a destination input means for inputting a destination, a destination storage means for storing a destination inputted in advance, and driving permitted. Registered in the face image storage means for storing the face image of the person who has been taken, the image pickup means for picking up the face of the person who gets in the driver's seat, the face image picked up by the image pickup means, and the face image storage means Driver authentication means for performing driver authentication by comparing the face image with the driver, and when the person who gets on the driver's seat by the driver authentication means is determined to be permitted to drive Anti-theft control means for permitting driving, and the anti-theft control means allows a person who gets in the driver's seat to input a destination when the person who gets in the driver's seat is not a person who is allowed to drive. , The entered destination is the destination If that were registered in the storage unit and permits the operation of the vehicle as a conditional driver operation is allowed for the person who rides on the driver's seat to the entered destination.

Further, from the input location information of the destination, range specifying means for specifying a travelable range from the current location to the destination in cooperation with the car navigation device, and when the driver is a conditional driver, It has a travel control means for controlling the travel of the vehicle by the positional relationship between the travelable range specified by the range specifying means and the current travel position.

The driver determination method in the vehicle antitheft device according to the present invention is a method for determining whether or not the vehicle can be driven by authenticating the driver before the vehicle starts running. A driver who performs driver authentication by comparing an imaging step for imaging a person's face, a face image captured by the imaging step, and a face image of a person who is permitted to drive in advance an authentication step, the person who rides on the driver's seat by the driver authentication step, when it is determined not to be a person driving is permitted, by inputting a destination to those who rides on the driver's seat, which is the input the operation of the vehicle as a conditional driver operation is allowed for the person who rides on the driver's seat to the entered destination if consistent with the destination the destination is previously registered Characterized in that it comprises a step of variable.

  According to the present invention, even if a person who is not permitted to drive because no face image is registered, the driver is permitted if the pre-registered information as the destination can be correctly input before the start of traveling. Since it was made to do, the restriction | limiting of the person who can drive can be eased, maintaining a theft prevention effect.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle antitheft device according to the present invention. The vehicle anti-theft device in this embodiment is composed of a CCD camera 2, an external storage device 4, and an anti-theft control device 6 to which these devices are connected, and is an electronic control device that is standard equipment for vehicle travel control. (ECU) 8 and a car navigation device 10 that is mounted on the vehicle as standard or optional. The CCD camera 2 is an image pickup means for picking up an image of a person who gets in the driver's seat. The external storage device 4 stores various information, which will be described later in detail.

  The anti-theft control device 6 forming the main part of the present embodiment is realized by an electronic control unit (ECU) mounted on the vehicle for anti-theft. The anti-theft control device 6 has a car navigation interface (IF) unit 12 and an ECU-IF unit 14, and the control signals and the car navigation device 10 and the electronic control device 8 are respectively transmitted via the interface units 12 and 14. Exchange information. The control unit 16 performs overall control of the antitheft control device 6, but the operation control unit 18, the current position acquisition unit 20, the display control unit 22, and the destination input unit 24 are car navigation systems under the control of the control unit 16. It communicates with the car navigation apparatus 10 via the IF unit 12. Among these, the operation control unit 18 performs operation control of the car navigation device 10 such as activation of the car navigation system. The current position acquisition unit 20 acquires the current position of the vehicle from the car navigation device 10. The display control unit 22 performs display control of a liquid crystal screen (not shown) of the car navigation device 10. The destination input unit 24 acquires a destination input from the liquid crystal screen by the driver from the car navigation device 10. The antitheft control device 6 further includes a travelable range specifying unit 26 and a destination setting processing unit 28. The travelable range specifying unit 26 specifies a range (travelable range) in which travel of the vehicle is permitted when the vehicle is moved from the current location to the destination when the destination is input by the driver. The destination setting processing unit 28 sets and registers in the destination storage unit 42 a destination that is recognized as a destination of the vehicle by a person whose face image is not registered.

  The control unit 16 includes a driver authentication unit 30 and a travel control unit 32. The driver authentication unit 30 performs driver authentication by comparing the face image captured by the imaging unit 2 with the face image registered in the face image storage unit 44. The traveling control unit 32 instructs the electronic control device 8 to perform traveling control of the vehicle by transmitting a predetermined control signal.

  The external storage device 4 includes a destination storage unit 42, a face image storage unit 44, and a travelable range storage unit 46. In the destination storage unit 42, as described above, the destination used when the destination setting processing unit 28 determines whether or not to permit driving of the person who gets on the driver's seat is registered in advance. In the face image storage unit 44, face images of persons permitted to drive are registered in advance. The travelable range storage unit 46 temporarily stores the travelable range specified by the travelable range specifying unit 26.

  The components 8 to 32 included in the antitheft control device 6 are hardware including a program for realizing the processing functions of the components 8 to 32 and an antitheft electronic control device for realizing the antitheft control device 6. This is realized through cooperative operation with resources.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. First, it will be described from a pre-process for performing a process for allowing a person who gets in the driver's seat to drive, that is, an environment setting.

  First, in the present embodiment, it is necessary to register the destination and the face image in advance in the destination storage unit 42 and the face image storage unit 44, respectively. The destination is position information for specifying the destination (destination) of the vehicle used for the determination of permitting a person who is not permitted to drive the vehicle in the process described later. A specific method of using this information will be described later, but those who are permitted to register, such as vehicle owners, will drive information registered in the destination storage unit 42 by those who do not have face images registered. It is necessary to go ahead. In the present embodiment, the car navigation device 10 is effectively used. That is, the destination setting processing unit 28 can display the map information on the liquid crystal screen of the car navigation device 10 by a predetermined registration operation by the vehicle owner or the like, and register the destination by designating the location on the map. To. In this way, the destination is registered, but on the contrary, the destination that is currently registered is displayed by a predetermined deletion recording operation, and the destination that has become unnecessary is deleted by selecting from among the destinations. It can be so. The destination can be deleted not only manually, but also by setting time information such as elapsed time or date and time together with the destination at the time of registration so that it can be automatically deleted when the set time is reached. Good.

  On the other hand, the face information is a captured image of the face of a person who is permitted to drive, and is generated from imaging data using the camera 2 or another camera. Regarding a specific method of generating face information, a conventional existing technique can be used, and since it is not the gist of the present invention, description thereof is omitted. However, information registration in the face image storage unit 44 is performed by, for example, face information Update processing means for performing registration, deletion, etc. is installed in the anti-theft control device 6 so that face images can be appropriately registered in the face image storage unit 44, or face information is received from a connected external device. What is necessary is just to comprise so that it can copy to the memory | storage part 44. FIG.

  The operation of the anti-theft control device 6 in the present embodiment after the above environment setting is described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, the anti-theft control device 6 is activated by the electronic control device 8 when the person who gets in the driver's seat of the vehicle turns on the ignition using a key to drive the vehicle. In this embodiment, if the person who sits in the driver's seat of the vehicle and drives the vehicle is defined as “driver”, the person sitting in the driver's seat has not yet been permitted to drive at this point. , I decided to express "the person who got in the driver's seat".

  After the activation, the control unit 16 causes the imaging unit 2 to image the face of the person who gets in the driver's seat of the vehicle (step 101). The driver authentication unit 30 in the control unit 16 inputs an image captured by the image capturing unit 2 and extracts a face image of the person who gets on the driver's seat from the input image. Then, the extracted face image is compared with one or more face images registered in the face image storage unit 44 (step 102). Here, if a face image that matches the face image obtained from the captured image is registered in the face image storage unit 44, the driver authentication unit 30 determines that the person who gets in the driver's seat is permitted to drive. Determination is made and an instruction (control signal) for accepting the engine start operation by the driver is transmitted to the electronic control unit 8 (steps 103 and 104). As a result, a start-on operation by the driver generally performed by turning the key after the ignition is turned on is accepted, and the engine is started. In driving by a person who has registered the face image (hereinafter referred to as the “person” by representing the owner of the vehicle), normal free running without any limitation becomes possible.

  On the other hand, if the face image that matches the face image obtained from the captured image is not registered in the face image storage unit 44, the control unit 16 causes the operation control unit 18 to activate the car navigation device 10 (steps 103 and 105). . Then, the map information is displayed on the display control unit 22 so that the person who gets in the driver's seat inputs and designates the destination (step 106). In addition, what is necessary is just to utilize the interface which the car navigation apparatus 10 has as a user interface which inputs a destination. When the destination input unit 24 inputs a destination designated by a person who gets on the driver's seat (step 107), the control unit 16 searches the destination storage unit 42 with the input destination. If the destination coincident with the inputted destination is not registered, the control unit 16 determines that the vehicle driving by the person who gets on the driver's seat is not permitted, and the display control unit 22 displays, for example, “Destination”. A message indicating that driving is not permitted is displayed on the liquid crystal screen of the car navigation device 10 (steps 108 and 109). Thus, the person who does not know the destination is not the person who is permitted to drive the vehicle, that is, the vehicle by the person who has boarded the driver's seat after judging that the operation to the vehicle may be stolen. Deny operation on.

  On the other hand, if a destination that matches the input destination is registered, vehicle driving by a person who gets in the driver's seat is permitted. In other words, the control unit 16 transmits an instruction (control signal) for accepting the engine start operation by the driver to the electronic control unit 8 (steps 108 and 110). As a result, a start-on operation by the driver generally performed by turning the key after the ignition is turned on is accepted, and the engine is started.

  In other words, the driver may not be the person himself, but knows the destination registered by the person in advance, so he thinks that the driver is permitted to drive to the destination specified by the person be able to. In the present embodiment, even a person whose face image is not registered in this way can be allowed to drive under the condition that the destination is reached. In the following description, a person who is permitted to drive because the input destination is registered is referred to as a “conditional driver” in order to distinguish the person from whom the face image is registered. .

  When the driving by the conditional driver is permitted, the travelable range specifying unit 26 determines the car navigation from the current position acquired from the car navigation device 10 by the current position acquiring unit 20 and the input position information of each destination. A region in which the traveling by the conditional driver is permitted in cooperation with the device 10, that is, a travelable range is set (step 111).

  As described above, the conditional driver can drive the vehicle. However, unlike the vehicle driving by the person himself / herself, the driving is performed under a certain limit. Hereinafter, the operation in the present embodiment when the vehicle is driven by a conditional driver will be described using the flowchart shown in FIG.

  The traveling control unit 32 in the control unit 16 causes the current position acquisition unit 20 to periodically acquire the current position of the vehicle from the car navigation device 10 while the vehicle is traveling (step 201). Then, it is determined whether or not the acquired current position is within the travelable range (step 202). If it is within the travelable range, the travel is continued as it is. In addition, you may make it display on a screen so that a driving | running | working possible range is known on the liquid crystal screen of the car navigation apparatus 10. On the other hand, when the acquired current position is out of the travelable range, the travel control unit 32 instructs the operation control unit 18 or the display control unit 22 to be out of the travelable range and to return to the range. Is output using the car navigation device 10 (step 203). Specifically, it is performed by displaying a message on a liquid crystal screen or outputting a message from a speaker.

  While traveling outside the travelable range, the travel control unit 32 acquires the current position of the vehicle in the same manner as described above (step 204), and determines whether the acquired current position is within the travelable range (step 204). 205) If the travel position returns to within the travelable range, the original state is restored. On the other hand, when the acquired current position does not return to the travelable range even after a predetermined time has elapsed since the current position has deviated from the travelable range (step 206), the travel control unit 32 uses the communication function (not shown) to Alternatively, the police station or the like is notified by telephone or the like (step 207), and a control signal having the following instruction content is sent to the electronic control unit 8 to limit the vehicle travel (step 208).

  For example, depending on the specifications of the vehicle, while considering safe driving, it is insensitive to the accelerator pedal depressing operation, limiting acceleration, stopping the engine within a predetermined time, or moving to a safe place Or prompt. In this way, the travel to the place other than the destination is prevented by restricting the travel of the vehicle. Currently, traffic information can be obtained, and the vehicle itself can control the driving without depending on the driving operation by the driver. You may make it perform the forced return etc. to the possible range.

  As described above, the travelable range is set based on the positional relationship between the travel start point of the vehicle and the destination, and the driver normally needs to travel outside the travelable range. Absent. Therefore, if user authentication was performed before the start of travel to prevent theft, but the vehicle traveled out of the travelable range and did not return to the travelable range after a predetermined time, the vehicle was stolen in some way. In view of the above, it was decided to limit the vehicle stoppage as described above. Thereby, theft of the vehicle can be prevented more reliably.

  Since the travelable range is set based on the positional relationship between the travel start point of the vehicle and the destination, it is considered that the travel route is almost determined. Accordingly, the travelable range may be set more strictly by setting a single route or several patterns of routes as the travelable range.

  As described above, other people may want to permit driving to the minimum necessary location (ie, destination) such as taking over for vehicle inspection. Anyone other than the person who has been able to correctly input the pre-registered information for the person in question can be allowed to drive, so the restrictions on those who can drive while maintaining the anti-theft effect will be eased. be able to. In this embodiment, the destination is input as information for user authentication. For example, when using authentication information such as a password or password, authentication information must be communicated in advance to a person who becomes a conditional driver, but in this embodiment, it should be a conditional driver. If you are a person, you must enter a known destination.

It is the block block diagram which showed one Embodiment of the vehicle antitheft device which concerns on this invention. It is the flowchart which showed operation | movement of the antitheft control apparatus in this Embodiment after the environment setting to a vehicle was made. It is the flowchart which showed the operation | movement in this Embodiment at the time of vehicle driving | running | working by a conditional driver.

Explanation of symbols

  2 imaging unit (camera), 4 external storage device, 6 anti-theft control device (ECU), 8 electronic control unit (ECU), 10 car navigation device, 12 car navigation IF unit, 14 ECU-IF unit, 16 control unit, 18 Operation control unit, 20 Current position acquisition unit, 22 Display control unit, 24 Destination input unit, 26 Travelable range specifying unit, 28 Destination setting processing unit, 30 Driver authentication unit, 32 Travel control unit, 42 Destination Storage unit, 44 face image storage unit, 46 travelable range storage unit.

Claims (3)

A destination input means for inputting a destination;
Destination storage means for storing a destination input in advance;
Face image storage means for storing a face image of a person permitted to drive;
Imaging means for imaging the face of a person who gets in the driver's seat;
Driver authentication means for performing driver authentication by comparing the face image captured by the imaging means and the face image registered in the face image storage means;
Anti-theft control means for permitting driving of the vehicle when it is determined that the person who gets in the driver's seat by the driver authentication means is permitted to drive;
Have
The anti-theft control means is
When the person who gets in the driver's seat is not a person who is permitted to drive, the person who gets in the driver's seat inputs the destination, and the inputted destination is registered in the destination storage means The vehicle anti-theft device, wherein the vehicle driver is permitted to drive the vehicle as a conditional driver who is permitted to drive to the inputted destination . The vehicle antitheft device according to claim 1,
A range specifying means for specifying a travelable range from the current location to the destination in cooperation with the car navigation device from the input location information of the destination ,
When the driver is a conditional driver, travel control means for controlling the travel of the vehicle by the positional relationship between the travelable range specified by the range specifying means and the current travel position;
A vehicle antitheft device characterized by comprising: In the driving propriety determination method in the vehicle anti-theft device for determining propriety of driving by authenticating the driver before the start of traveling of the vehicle,
An imaging step of imaging the face of the person who gets in the driver's seat;
A driver authentication step for performing driver authentication by comparing the face image captured in the imaging step with a face image of a person who is permitted to drive in advance, and
A person who rides on the driver's seat by the driver authentication step, when it is determined not to be a person driving is permitted, by inputting a destination to those who rides on the driver seat, the input destination in advance Permitting driving of the vehicle as a conditional driver permitted to drive to the inputted destination if the passenger matches the registered destination; and
A driver determination method in a vehicle antitheft device, comprising:

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