JP5034922B2 - Vehicle lighting device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle lighting device that is mounted on an automobile and controls the direction of vehicle lighting according to a driver's attention state.

  An illuminating device (AFS: Adaptive Front-lighting System) that controls the illumination direction of vehicle illumination according to a steering wheel operation has already been commercialized. Specifically, the irradiation direction is horizontally moved in the traveling direction by a curve, for example, according to the handle operation.

In addition, many techniques for controlling the illumination direction of vehicle illumination in accordance with the situation around the vehicle have been proposed. For example, a vehicular illumination device (see, for example, Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2) that estimates an area where a pedestrian is likely to exist from an in-vehicle camera image and irradiates the area is known. Furthermore, an irradiation device that detects and detects that a cautionary object has been found in an unirradiated region (see, for example, Patent Document 3), and a vehicle illumination device that emits light in a direction in which the driver is gazing (for example, Also, a vehicle illumination device (for example, see Patent Document 5) that changes the light color and movement of a headlamp when the front is careless is known.
JP 2007-76378 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-301343 JP 2007-38877 A JP 2006-240509 A JP 2006-151287 A

  However, in the vehicle lighting device of Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2, it is not considered whether the driver confirms the irradiated region or whether it is an easily overlooked region. For this reason, there is a problem that it does not necessarily coincide with the area to be confirmed only by irradiating the area where the pedestrian may exist.

  Moreover, in the irradiation apparatus of patent document 3, and the vehicle illumination apparatus of patent document 4, there is a problem that the attention object is not necessarily the object to be seen. In the vehicle illumination apparatus of patent document 5, the object to be seen is irradiated. There is a problem that it does not.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and provides a vehicle lighting device that can naturally induce a driver's attention by irradiating an area where the driver is insufficiently confirmed. With the goal.

In order to achieve the above object, the vehicle lighting device according to claim 1, an irradiating unit that irradiates a predetermined range ahead of the host vehicle, a traveling position specifying unit that specifies a current traveling position of the host vehicle , a map information storage means for storing map information, a visual line measuring means for measuring a gaze direction of the driver, to have been running position specified by the traveling position specifying means based on the map information map information stored in the storage means For each area when the corresponding map is divided into a plurality of areas, the driver is represented by a confirmation ratio indicating the ratio actually confirmed by the driver according to the driver's line-of-sight direction measured by the line-of-sight measuring means. of the actual gaze allocation calculating means for calculating the sight line allocation, on the basis of the map information to the stored map information and the travel position specified by the travel position specifying means, said plurality of areas For the perfect line of sight allocation driver with the movement of the vehicle is represented by the importance ratio indicating the importance to look for people, the importance ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined value area as attention area lack of a note area determination means determining, on the note d each rear determined by pre Symbol attention area determination unit, by comparing the confirmation ratio and the severity ratio, the driver's line of sight allocation is insufficient includes a determining gaze allocation determination unit area, the irradiation direction of the irradiation means, and a vehicle lighting control means for controlling said irradiating means so that the direction of the insufficient area is determined by the visual axis allocation determining means Yes.

  According to the first aspect of the invention, by directing the vehicle illumination to an area where the driver's line-of-sight distribution is insufficient, the area where the driver should pay attention can be accurately and quickly transmitted.

Billing the vehicle lighting device in claim 2, wherein, in the vehicle lighting device according to claim 1, further comprising a traffic information acquiring means for acquiring traffic situation around the specified running position by the traveling position specifying means, the attention area The determining means obtains the ideal line-of-sight distribution based on the map information stored in the map information, the travel position specified by the travel position specifying means, and the traffic situation acquired by the traffic information acquiring means. The area having the importance ratio equal to or higher than the predetermined value is determined as the attention area .

  According to the invention described in claim 2, an area where the driver's line-of-sight distribution is insufficient is more accurately determined based on the line-of-sight distribution that takes into consideration not only the static traffic environment but also the dynamic traffic situation. be able to.

  As described above, according to the present invention, when there is a lack of confirmation of an area where the driver should pay attention to the line of sight, the driver's attention can be naturally increased by directing the vehicle lighting to the area of insufficient confirmation. The effect that it can guide to is obtained.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following embodiment, It is applicable also to what changed the design within the range described in the claim.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the vehicle lighting device according to the first embodiment. The vehicle lighting device includes a travel position specifying unit 11, a gaze measuring unit 12, a map DB 13, a gaze distribution calculating unit 14, a caution area determining unit 15, a gaze distribution determining unit 16, a vehicle lighting control unit 17, And an irradiation unit 18.

  The traveling position specifying unit 11 corresponds to a GPS sensor mounted on the vehicle, and thereby specifies the current position of the host vehicle.

  The line-of-sight measurement unit 12 measures the driver's line of sight. In this embodiment, a so-called camera type eye tracker is used. A camera for capturing a face image is installed or built in above the windshield, on the dashboard, on the steering column, in the rearview mirror, or the like. The line-of-sight measurement unit 12 captures the driver's face image with one or more cameras, detects facial feature parts such as eyes and nose by image processing, and measures the line-of-sight direction from the positional information and the position of the feature part. To do.

  The map DB 13 is a map provided in the car navigation device, and electronically holds map information including road shapes (for example, linearity, curvature, intersection, etc.). FIG. 2 shows a format example of map information held in the map DB 13. As shown in FIG. 2, for example, an intersection map is based on information such as lanes and sidewalks if the map information to be held is a detailed city map or the like. Divided into multiple areas based on the angle. FIG. 2 shows an example of an area in the case of a signalized intersection, and the periphery of the intersection is divided into areas (1) to (15) (illustrated by circled numbers in the drawing, the same applies hereinafter). As for the area information, detailed area information defined in advance may be stored together with the map, or an intersection in the traveling direction may be roughly calculated by calculation according to the vehicle position.

  The line-of-sight distribution calculation unit 14 develops the driver's line of sight measured by the line-of-sight measurement unit 12 on the map of the map DB 13 corresponding to the traveling position of the host vehicle identified by the traveling position identifying unit 11, and Calculates how much the area on the road corresponding to which area on the map is actually viewed, and the line-of-sight distribution for each area.

  The line-of-sight distribution calculation unit 14 determines the confirmation area for each 0.1 second frame within the time from approach to approach to entry to the right turn at the time of turning right at the intersection. The confirmation ratio is calculated, and this confirmation ratio is set as the line-of-sight distribution of each area.

  For the confirmation area, the line-of-sight distribution calculation unit 14 acquires line-of-sight vector information from the line-of-sight measurement unit 12, and determines an area that intersects the line-of-sight vector from the vehicle position as the confirmation area. For example, the inner product of the line-of-sight vector and the vector from the vehicle position to the center coordinates of each area (areas (1) to (15) in FIG. 2) is calculated, and the area having the maximum value is set as the confirmation area. The confirmation ratio of each area is calculated by equation (1).

Area X confirmation ratio = Number of frames for which area X has been confirmed / total number of frames (1)
FIG. 3 shows an image of the confirmation ratio of each area calculated in this way. In the figure, each area is painted according to the height of the confirmation ratio. However, it is not necessary to actually hold the image information as shown in FIG.

  The caution area determination unit 15 determines the area on the road corresponding to which area on the map of the map DB 13 should be directed at the travel position specified by the travel position specification unit 11, that is, the caution area is determined. To do. In this embodiment, the attention area is obtained as follows.

  For example, when turning right at the intersection shown in FIG. 2, the importance of each area is determined according to the following rules. It is assumed that the vehicle turns right by the route setting of the car navigation device or the signal from the direction indicator.

・ Increase the importance of area (1) (2) (3) (4) (13) (14)
・ Increase the importance of areas (3), (4), (6), (12), (13), and (15) with traffic that crosses the path
・ Increase the importance of areas (3), (12), (13), and (15) that may be pedestrians in particular
・ If there are multiple oncoming lanes (if information is available), increase the importance of area (6) by 1
According to this rule, the cumulative importance of each area is obtained as follows.

(1) = 1, (2) = 1, (3) = 3, ... (14) = 1, (15) = 2
Based on this cumulative importance, the importance ratio of each area is calculated by equation (2).

Area X importance ratio = Area X importance / Total importance of all areas (2)
The importance ratio calculated in this way is used as a criterion for determining safety confirmation as an ideal line-of-sight distribution in each area. FIG. 4 shows an image of the importance ratio of each area. In the figure, each area is painted according to the importance ratio. However, it is not necessary to actually hold the image information as shown in FIG.

  The importance ratio is not a fixed value for each area around a specific intersection. As the vehicle moves, the value changes depending on the relationship with the traveling position of the vehicle. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing that the importance ratio (ideal line-of-sight distribution) of each area varies depending on the position of the vehicle. In FIG. 5, when the vehicle 50 turns to the right when the vehicle 50 approaches the intersection and makes a right turn, the importance ratio of each area is expressed in four stages.

  In FIG. 5A, the own vehicle 50 is located near the intersection, and the importance ratio is high in the oncoming lane (6). FIG. 5B is when the own vehicle 50 enters the intersection, and the importance ratio is high for (7) traffic lights. In FIG. 6C, the own vehicle 50 is located near the center of the intersection, and the importance ratio is high in (5) the pedestrian crossing at the back of the intersection, (6) the opposite lane, and (15) the sidewalk at the right back. In FIG. 4D, the own vehicle 50 is turning right at the intersection, and the importance ratio is high in (15) the right sidewalk and (14) the right side roadway.

In this way, since the importance ratios of the surrounding areas that change for each vehicle position are obtained, it is possible to know which area the driver should see as the vehicle moves. FIG. 6 is a table showing that the importance of each area varies depending on the vehicle position. The caution area determination unit 15 determines an area having an importance ratio for each area determined in this way as being a predetermined value or more as a caution area.

  The line-of-sight distribution determination unit 16 compares the actual driver's line-of-sight distribution at the traveling position with the attention area determined by the attention area determination unit 15 to determine an area where the driver's line-of-sight distribution is insufficient.

  The line-of-sight distribution determination unit 16 determines whether the line-of-sight distribution to the attention area is excessive or insufficient as follows. First, the difference or ratio between the confirmation ratio and the importance ratio is calculated for each attention area. For example, when calculating the difference, “importance ratio−confirmation ratio” is obtained. If this difference is positive and greater than or equal to a predetermined value, it is determined that the attention area is insufficiently confirmed.

  The vehicle illumination control unit 17 controls the irradiation direction of the irradiation unit 18 in the direction of the caution area determined by the line-of-sight distribution determination unit 16 that the driver's confirmation is insufficient.

  The irradiation unit 18 is a headlamp or an auxiliary lamp, and irradiates light in a direction controlled by the vehicle illumination control unit 17.

  FIG. 7 considers the operation of the vehicle lighting device in the present embodiment, taking as an example the case where the host vehicle 50 makes a right turn at a signalized intersection.

  In such a situation, an oncoming vehicle 51 in the center of the intersection often pays attention to a crossing pedestrian 52 and a bicycle (especially those coming from the right after a right turn), leading to an accident. The cause of this is thought to be insufficient confirmation of the driver, although the headlamp light may not reach the destination of the vehicle 50. This is clearly caused by the same accident even during the daytime, even if sufficient illumination is ensured by road lighting or the like, if it is overlooked. In such a case, it is difficult to convey the position and direction to the driver even if information is presented by an in-vehicle warning.

  The vehicle lighting device according to the present embodiment determines a caution area that the driver should be aware of based on the travel position of the host vehicle 50 identified by the travel position identifying unit 11 and the map information stored in the map DB 13. To do. When the line-of-sight distribution determination unit 17 determines that the line-of-sight distribution of the attention area calculated by the line-of-sight distribution calculation unit 14 is insufficient, the vehicle illumination control unit 17 emits the direction of the attention area. The irradiation unit is controlled.

  In FIG. 7, the pedestrian crossing at the right turn when the vehicle 50 makes a right turn is set as an area where the driver should be careful, and if it is determined that the driver's line-of-sight allocation to this area is insufficient, the front In addition to the normal range of irradiation 53 by the lamp, control is performed so as to perform irradiation 54 of the line-of-sight distribution insufficient range.

  As described above, the vehicle lighting device according to the first embodiment calculates the area to be noted and the driver's line-of-sight distribution for each travel position, and the driver's confirmation is insufficient in the area to be noted. By illuminating the area, the driver's attention can be alerted.

<Second Embodiment>
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the vehicle lighting device according to the second embodiment. Unlike the first embodiment, the traffic situation acquisition unit 19 is further provided, and the attention area determination unit 15 derives an ideal line-of-sight distribution in consideration of information acquired by the traffic situation acquisition unit 19.

  The traffic condition acquisition unit 19 acquires at least one or more of the following information that cannot be obtained only from the map information, for example.

・ Signal color (green, yellow, red, arrow, etc.)
-Presence / absence of vehicle, position, speed, type (right turn, straight, left turn), number, etc.- Presence / absence of vehicle, position, speed, etc. Speed, etc. ・ Presence / absence of crossing vehicles, position, speed, etc. ・ Presence / absence of pedestrians, position, speed, number of people, etc. Past accident occurrences in the vicinity (accident type, number of cases, damage situation, etc.)
The traffic condition acquisition unit 19 may acquire this information using a sensor (optical type, radio wave type, etc.) mounted on the vehicle, road-to-vehicle communication, vehicle-to-vehicle communication, communication with a data center, etc. May be obtained by

  The caution area determination unit 15 calculates the importance ratio of each area in consideration of not only the map information stored in the map DB 13 as in the first embodiment but also the traffic situation acquired by the traffic situation acquisition unit 19. calculate.

  The attention area determination unit 15 calculates the importance of each area when making a right turn at the signalized intersection shown in FIG. 9 based on the following rules. Making a right turn is known in the route setting of the car navigation device.

  First, as in the first embodiment, the importance of each area (1) to (15) is determined based on the map information.

・ Increase the importance of area (1) (2) (3) (4) (13) (14)
・ Increase the importance of areas (3), (4), (6), (12), (13), and (15) with traffic that crosses the path
・ Increase the importance of areas (3), (12), (13), and (15) that may be pedestrians in particular
・ If there are multiple oncoming lanes (if information is available), increase the importance of area (6) by 1
In addition to this, the importance of each area is determined based on the traffic situation acquired by the traffic situation acquisition unit 19.

・ If the color of the signal is a right turn arrow, increase the importance of (7) by 1
・ If there is an oncoming vehicle, increase the importance of (6) by 1
・ If there is an intersection from the right, increase the importance of (14) by +1
・ If there is a pedestrian trying to cross, the importance of (12) (15) is +1
Based on the importance determined in this way, the importance ratio of each area is calculated by the above equation (2). FIG. 9 shows an image of the importance ratio of each area obtained in this way. The caution area determination unit 15 determines an area having the degree of importance for each area thus determined as a caution area.

  For example, in the situation of the signalized intersection shown in FIG. 7, the vehicle lighting device according to the present embodiment determines the area as a caution area when there is a pedestrian 52 that crosses the crossing report of the right turn. When it is determined that the driver's line-of-sight distribution to the area is insufficient, control is performed so that the line-of-sight distribution insufficient range 54 is irradiated separately from the normal range irradiation 53 by the headlamp.

  As described above, the vehicle lighting device according to the second embodiment determines not only the map information but also the traffic situation, and determines a caution area where the driver should pay attention to each traveling position. As a result, it is possible to obtain an attention area that takes into account not only the static traffic environment but also dynamic traffic conditions.

It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the vehicle illuminating device which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a format of the map information which map DB hold | maintains. It is a figure which shows the image of the confirmation ratio of each area. It is a figure which shows the image of the importance ratio of each area which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows that the importance ratio of each area changes with the own vehicle positions. It is a table | surface which shows that the importance of each area changes with the own vehicle positions. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the vehicle illuminating device in a signalized intersection. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the vehicle illuminating device which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the image of the importance ratio of each area which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

11 Traveling Position Specifying Unit 12 Gaze Measuring Unit 13 Map DB
14 Gaze allocation calculation unit 15 Caution area determination unit 16 Gaze allocation determination unit 17 Vehicle illumination control unit 18 Irradiation unit 19 Traffic condition acquisition unit

Claims (2)

Irradiating means for irradiating a predetermined range in front of the host vehicle;
Traveling position specifying means for specifying the current traveling position of the host vehicle ;
Map information storage means for storing map information;
Gaze measurement means for measuring the gaze direction of the driver;
Measured by the line-of-sight measuring means for each area when the map corresponding to the travel position specified by the travel position specifying means based on the map information stored in the map information storage means is divided into a plurality of areas. Line-of- sight distribution calculating means for calculating the actual line- of- sight distribution of the driver represented by the confirmation ratio indicating the ratio actually confirmed by the driver according to the line-of-sight direction of the driver ;
Based on the map information stored in the map information and the travel position specified by the travel position specifying means, the importance indicating the importance that the driver should see with the movement of the vehicle for each of the plurality of areas An attention area determination means for determining an ideal line-of-sight distribution represented by a degree ratio, and determining an area of which the importance ratio is equal to or greater than a predetermined value as a attention area;
Caution d each rear determined by pre Symbol attention area determination unit, by comparing the confirmation ratio and the severity ratio determines sight line allocation determining means shortage area in which the driver's line of sight allocation is insufficient When,
Irradiation direction of the irradiation means, and a vehicle lighting control means for controlling said irradiating means so that the direction of the determined missing area by the visual axis allocation determining means,
A vehicle lighting device comprising: Further comprising a traffic information acquiring means for acquiring traffic situation around the specified running position by the travel position specifying means,
The attention area determination means, wherein on the basis of the traffic conditions acquired by the the specified travel position traffic information acquiring section by the traveling position specifying means and stored map information in the map information, the ideal line of sight The vehicle lighting device according to claim 1 , wherein an allocation is obtained and an area in which the importance ratio is equal to or greater than the predetermined value is determined as a caution area .

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