JPH06156262A - Accident preventive and safety device of car - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To issue alarm at its early stage of an abnormality in the event of any failed state in accordance with the change in the condition of a driver, for example when a car uses a driving-asleep alarming device. CONSTITUTION:In a driving-asleep alarming system 20, a signal from a steering sensor 21 is fed to a driving-asleep sensing logic part 22, and if judgement based upon the steering pattern is such that the car is in driving asleep, an alarm device 23 is actuated. A judging part 16 for the degree of correspondence to the operation judges the corresponding operating situation by a driving operation sensing part according to the change in the inter-car distance determined by a surrounding environment measuring device 10 and a condition change sensing part 12. The logic part 22 changes its sensing logic in compliance with the judging result whether normal or failed given from the judging part 16, reduces the sensitivity in sensing the driving asleep when the driver' condition is normal so that useless malalarming is precluded, and raises the sensitivity when the driver is out of normal condition so that alarming about driving sleep is issued at its early stages.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle preventive safety device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional preventive safety device of this type, for example, there is a drowsy driving warning device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-153627. This is because when the steering-free state is continued for a predetermined time or more and steering is performed at a larger angle than a certain angle, and when a predetermined drowsiness pattern subsequent thereto is detected, it is determined to be a dozing state and the alarm means is activated. It was done like this.

[0003]

However, in such a preventive safety device of the related art, in order to avoid complication to the driver due to erroneous detection, the operation which is apparently inappropriate or the risk to a considerable extent occurs. It was still inadequate in that it would not detect a warning condition if it did not occur. Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention grasps a change in a driver's state in a dozing driving alarm device or other safety-corresponding control means, and changes the control level in accordance with the driver's state to achieve earlier Alternatively, it is another object of the present invention to provide a preventive safety device for a vehicle in which higher and more accurate safety measures can be taken.

[0004]

Therefore, the present invention is based on FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the environmental condition change detecting means 1 for detecting a change in the traveling environmental condition of the vehicle, the driver reaction detecting means 2 for detecting the reaction of the driver, and signals from the both means are used to detect the environmental condition. It has a driver's state judging means 3 for judging an abnormal state of the driver from the degree of the driver's reaction to a change, and a safety corresponding control means 4, and the safety corresponding control means 4 has the driver's state judging means 3 Based on the output of, the control level is variable.

[0005]

The function of judging the driver's condition is provided, and the abnormal condition of the driver is judged from the degree of the driver's reaction to the change in the environmental condition, and the control level of the safety-compliant control means is changed. The response control means operates at a level that does not cause erroneous detection, and when the driver is in an abnormal state, the control level is changed to give an early warning or other safety response measures.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 shows a first example in which the present invention is applied to a dozing alarm.
An example of is shown. A surrounding environment measuring device 10 including an inter-vehicle distance / obstacle sensor 11 and a state change detecting unit 12 for detecting a change in the distance to a vehicle ahead or an obstacle measured by the surrounding environment measuring device 10 are provided. Further, a driving operation detection unit 13 including an accelerator operation detection sensor 14 and a brake operation sensor 15 is provided, and outputs of the state change detection unit 12, the accelerator operation detection sensor 14, and the brake operation sensor 15 are provided to the operation correspondence degree determination unit 16. Is entered.

In the drowsiness alarm system 20, the signal from the steering sensor 21 is detected by the drowsiness detection logic unit 2.
2, the steering pattern is compared with the reference pattern, and when it is determined that the vehicle is in a dozing state, a driving output is output to the alarm device 23. Here, in the operation correspondence degree determination unit 16,
It determines whether the driver is normal or abnormal from the accelerator or brake operation status corresponding to the change in the inter-vehicle distance or the distance to the obstacle, and outputs the determination result to the doze detection logic unit 22. The doze detection logic unit 22 changes the reference pattern, which is the detection logic, in accordance with the judgment result from the operation correspondence degree judgment unit 16 indicating whether the operation is normal or abnormal.

FIG. 3 shows a layout outline of the embodiment,
The state change detection unit and the operation degree determination unit are configured by the CPU 30. FIG. 4 shows a flow of determining the degree of correspondence of an operation in the embodiment, and partially includes a logic change in the doze detection logic unit. First, in step 101, the inter-vehicle distance between the host vehicle and the vehicle in front or the distance to the front obstacle is measured by the surrounding environment measuring device 10 including the inter-vehicle distance / obstacle sensor. And step 102
Then, the state change detection unit 12 detects the state of change in the measurement distance.

When the change is recognized in step 102, the process proceeds to step 103, and the value of the inter-vehicle distance when the change is started is set as the inter-vehicle distance initial value D0. Next, in step 104, the timer counter is reset to n = 0 in the operation degree-of-correspondence judging section 16, and in step 105, time counting is started by n = n + 1.
Then, in step 106, the current inter-vehicle distance is set in D1, and in step 107, the amount of change in inter-vehicle distance is compared with a predetermined value set in advance.

When the change amount D0-D1 is larger than the predetermined value, the routine proceeds to step 108, where D0 is updated to the value of D1. Thereafter, in step 109, signals from the accelerator operation detection sensor 14 and the brake operation sensor 15 are read, and it is checked whether or not the accelerator or brake operation is performed. Until the accelerator or the brake is operated according to the change in the measured distance, the clocking of the counter is continued, and if the operation changes the accelerator opening or the brake, step 11
The process proceeds to 0 and the time counting of the timer counter is stopped.

At step 111, the counter value is compared with a predetermined set value, and when the counter value is larger than the set value, it is judged that the driver is in an abnormal state because the response to the change in the surrounding environment of the vehicle is delayed. It In this case, in step 112, the detection logic is increased in the drowsiness detection logic section. This allows
When the steering pattern slightly deviates from the average pattern of the normal person, the doze alarm system promptly gives an alarm.

When the counter value is equal to or smaller than the set value in step 111, it is determined that the driver is in a normal state, and it is assumed that the driver is consciously steering the vehicle.
Then, the sensitivity of the drowsiness detection logic unit 22 is lowered. This prevents unnecessary false alarms from being issued. On the other hand, in the comparison of step 107, if the change amount D0-D1 of the inter-vehicle distance is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the timer counter is cleared in step 114, and step 1
Return to 01.

According to this embodiment, when the driver's response to a change in the environment is normal, the sensitivity of drowsy driving detection is lowered, which prevents unnecessary false alarms from being issued. , When the driver is in an abnormal state, the sensitivity is increased and an early dozing alarm is given.

In the above embodiment, in order to detect the change in the environmental condition of the vehicle, the surrounding environment measuring device 10 including the inter-vehicle distance / obstacle sensor 11 and the distance to the preceding vehicle or the obstacle measured by the surrounding environment measuring device 10 are detected. Although the state change detection unit 12 that detects a change is used, as the ambient environment measuring device 10, the white line detection sensor 17, the lateral distance sensor 17 ′ of the road, the road gradient sensor 18, and the vehicle speed sensor 1 are also used.
9 or the like can be used.

For example, the road gradient sensor 18 and the vehicle speed sensor 1
When 9 is used, the vehicle speed and the road gradient are measured in step 121 as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
Then, in step 122, the change in the gradient and the change in vehicle speed due to the change in the gradient are checked. Here, if a change in vehicle speed due to a change in slope is recognized, the vehicle speed value at the time of starting the change is set as the vehicle speed initial value V0 in step 123. Then, in step 124, the timer counter is reset and counting is started. In step 129, it is checked whether or not the accelerator opening is increased to further increase the engine output when the vehicle enters an uphill road, and whether or not the brake is depressed to increase the vehicle speed on the downhill. The other steps are similar to those shown in FIG.

When the white line detecting sensor 17 or the lateral distance sensor 17 'is used as the ambient environment measuring device 10, the steering operation detecting sensor 32 is included in the driving operation detecting section 13 so that, for example, the vehicle approaches the road guardrail. Even when the steering wheel operation is not performed and the correction operation is not performed or the correction operation is delayed, the detection target can be set in the same manner as above.

The white line detection sensor 17, specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, detects the front line of the vehicle and the center line of the road ahead by processing the image signal of the camera 35 for photographing the front of the vehicle. And an image processing device 36 that calculates the interval between these white lines. Then, the signal of the blinker switch 37 is used to obtain reference information for determining the degree of correspondence of the operation.

The flow of determining the degree of correspondence of the operation in this case is shown in FIG. First, in step 141, the state of the blinker switch 37 is read, and in step 142, it is checked whether or not a blinker switch signal indicating a conscious course change is output. When there is no blinker switch signal at step 142, the routine proceeds to step 143, where it is checked whether the distance between the white line and the vehicle has changed and has become smaller than a preset predetermined value. If it is smaller, the routine proceeds to step 144, where the value of the distance from the white line when the change is started is set as the white line distance initial value L0.

Next, at step 145, the operation counter determining unit 16 resets the timer counter to n = 0, and at step 146, n = n + 1 starts time measurement. Then, in step 147, the current white line distance is set in L1, and in step 148, the change amount of the white line distance is compared with a predetermined value set in advance. When the change amount L0-L1 is larger than the predetermined value, the routine proceeds to step 149, where L0 is updated to the value of L1.

Thereafter, in step 150, the signal from the steering operation detecting sensor is read and it is checked whether or not the correction operation in the direction away from the white line has been performed. Until the steering wheel is operated corresponding to the change in the white line distance, the clocking of the counter is continued,
When the operation is performed, the process proceeds to step 151, and the time counting of the timer counter is stopped. Other steps 152-155
Is the same as steps 111 to 114 in FIG.
In this case, the steering sensor in the drowsiness warning system may also serve as the steering operation detection sensor. The flow is similar when a lateral distance sensor is used.

Next, FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment applied to the collision prevention. In order to detect a change in the environmental condition of the vehicle, in addition to the ambient environment measuring device 10, a disturbance detection unit 38 including a steering reverse input sensor 39 is provided. As the ambient environment measuring device 10, the vehicle distance
The obstacle sensor 11, the white line detection sensor 17, the lateral distance sensor 17 ′, the road gradient sensor 18, the vehicle speed sensor 19 and the like are used. In order to detect the reaction of the driver, a driving operation detection unit 43 including an accelerator operation detection sensor 14, a brake operation sensor 15, a steering operation detection sensor 32, and a steering steering angle sensor 44 is provided and connected to the ambient environment measuring device 10. The outputs of the state change detection unit 12, the disturbance detection unit 38, and the driving operation detection unit 43 that have been selected are input to the operation correspondence degree determination unit 46.

In the rear-end collision prevention system 50, signals from the vehicle speed sensor 59 and the headway distance sensor 51 are input to the rear-end collision prevention logic section 52, compared with a reference pattern indicating the relationship between the headway distance as a logic and the traveling speed, and approached. When it is determined that there is a risk of a drive output to the alarm device 53, or when an emergency is required, the automatic brake drive device 5
4 is activated.

Here, in the operation correspondence degree judging section 46,
Similar to the previous embodiment, it is determined whether the driver is normal or abnormal according to the degree of correspondence of the accelerator operation, the brake operation, or the steering operation with respect to the change in the surrounding environment detected by the surrounding environment measuring device 10, and the steering wheel is a disturbance. It is also determined whether the driver is normal or abnormal depending on the steering operation state for steering against the reverse input, and the determination result is output to the rear-end collision prevention logic unit 52. The rear-end collision prevention logic unit 52 changes the alarm logic according to the result of the judgment of normality or abnormality from the operation correspondence degree judgment unit.

FIG. 9 particularly shows the layout of the steering reverse input sensor 39 and its configuration. A steering steering angle sensor 44 is provided in a steering column portion 61, and switches A and B are provided in a control valve 63 on an oil passage of a power steering unit 62. The outputs of the steering angle sensor 44 and the switches A and B are input to the disturbance discriminating unit 64, and the reverse steering input is detected by checking the satisfaction of the condition described later, and the disturbance signal is output.

Next, the detection of the reverse steering input will be described with reference to FIGS. 10 to 14 showing the power steering unit 62 and FIG. 15 showing the judgment conditions. The control valve 63 of the power steering unit includes an input port 71 connected to the oil pump 65 side, a drain port 72 connected to the oil reservoir 66, and output ports 73 connected to the left and right chambers of the power cylinder 67, respectively. 74, the connection between the ports is switched according to the axial displacement of the valve spool 75. A piston rod 68 that slides in the power cylinder 67 is connected to a steering rod.

The rod 68 of the piston has a helical gear rack 69 that meshes with a pinion 77 of a steering shaft 76 connected to the steering wheel 60, and is displaced laterally as the steering shaft rotates. At this time, the steering shaft 76 receives an axial force due to the reaction force of the meshing teeth with the rack 69, and the valve spool 75 connected to the steering shaft 76 is displaced in the axial direction. As a result, the ports are switched, and the power cylinder 67 operates during steering to give an auxiliary steering force (assist force).

The control valve 63 is further provided with upper and lower reaction plungers 79 and 80 which are urged in the direction away from each other by a spring 78 along the valve spool 75. The reaction plungers 79 and 80 cooperate with plates 81 and 82 attached to both ends of the valve spool 75 to hold the valve spool 75 in the neutral position when no steering force is applied.
When a steering force is applied, it abuts on the valve spool 75 which is displaced together with the steering shaft 76 and is displaced against the spring biasing force. The switches A and B are provided so as to be turned on / off by the displacement of the reaction plunger 79 or 80.

FIG. 10 shows the steering wheel 60 when the driver is not operating the steering wheel.
It shows the case where there is no disturbance to. At this time, the hydraulic pressure from the oil pump 65 flows through the control valve 63 in the direction of the arrow, and the hydraulic pressures of the power cylinders 67 are balanced in the horizontal direction in the figure. The switches A and B are pushed by the reaction plungers 79 and 80, and both switches are closed.

In FIG. 11, the driver operates the steering wheel 6
The case where 0 is steered to the right is shown. At this time, the rotation of the steering shaft 76 is transmitted from the pinion 77 to the rack 69, and the movement of the rack 69 steers the wheels. At the same time, this pinion 77 and rack 69
As a result, the thrust force in the upper direction in the drawing is generated due to the engagement of the above, and the restoring force of the reaction plunger 80 is overcome, and the valve spool 75 is moved upward. This valve spool 7
The oil passage is switched by the displacement of 5, and the power cylinder 67
From, an assist force from the right to the left in the figure (= right steering direction) acts. Reaction plunger 8 at this time
A displacement of 0 turns switch B off.

FIG. 12 shows a case where the driver steers the steering wheel 60 to the left, and the switch A is turned off by the operation in the direction opposite to that of FIG. FIG.
Shows a case where a disturbance that pushes the rack 69 from the left to the right enters the steering system due to unevenness of the road surface or the like. This disturbance causes the steering wheel 60 to rotate to the left.
The force pushing the rack 69 from the left to the right in the figure is transmitted from the rack to the pinion 77 and rotates the steering shaft 76 to the left. At the same time, due to the engagement of the pinion 77 and the rack 69, an upward thrust force is generated to overcome the restoring force of the reaction plunger 80.
The valve spool 75 is displaced upward. Due to this displacement of the valve spool, the oil passage is switched, and a force from the right to the left in the drawing is generated in the power cylinder 67 to prevent the rack 69 from moving due to a disturbance. The switch B is turned off by the displacement of the reaction plunger 80 at this time.

FIG. 14 shows the case where the rack 69 is pushed from the right to the left by the disturbance, that is, the steering wheel 60 is rotated to the right, and the switch A is turned off by the operation in the opposite direction to that of FIG. . In addition to steering by the driver, the steering wheel 6 when subjected to disturbance
The rotation direction of 0 is detected by the steering angle sensor 44.

From the above, the presence or absence of disturbance, the rotating direction of the steering wheel, the relationship between the states of the switches, and the like are shown in FIG. That is, even when the steering wheel 60 rotates in the same right direction, the switch A is turned on and the switch B is turned off when the driver makes a positive input, and the switch A is made when the driver makes a reverse input.
The switch is turned off and the switch B is turned on, and the states of the switches A and B are reversed. Therefore, in the disturbance determining unit 64, it is determined from the mutual relationship between the rotation direction of the steering wheel 60 and the switches A and B whether the driver has a positive input or a disturbance has a reverse input.

Although the rack and pinion type power steering has been described, the same applies to the recirculating ball type power steering. In the case of the rack-and-pinion type power steering, as is clear from FIG. 15, it is possible to determine whether the input is a normal input or a reverse input due to a disturbance, based on the mutual relationship between the switches A and B and the moving direction of the rack. The steering steering angle sensor 44 can also be used as the steering operation detection sensor 32 used for detecting the reaction of the driver.

FIG. 16 shows a flow of determining the degree of correspondence of an operation to a disturbance especially in this embodiment, and partly includes a logic change in the rear-end collision prevention logic section. First, in step 161, the disturbance determination unit 64 reads and monitors the steering rotation direction and the states of the switches A and B, and in step 162, it is checked whether or not there is a disturbance input to the vehicle. When a disturbance input is recognized in step 162, the process proceeds to step 163, in the operation correspondence degree determining unit 46, the timer counter is reset to n = 0, and in step 164, time counting is started by n = n + 1.

Then, in step 165, the signal from the steering operation detecting sensor is read and it is checked whether or not the steering correction operation is performed. If the correction operation is recognized, the process proceeds to step 166, and the time counting of the timer counter is stopped. In step 167, the counter value is compared with a predetermined set value, and when the counter value is larger than the set value, it is determined that the response to the disturbance to the vehicle is delayed and the driver is in an abnormal state. In this case, in step 168, the rear-end collision prevention logic unit 52 uses the detection logic with increased sensitivity. As a result, the vehicle speed sensor 59 and the inter-vehicle distance sensor 51
When a slight movement in the direction of the rear-end collision appears from the signal of, the alarm is issued early, and the operation timing of the automatic brake drive device 54 is advanced.

When the counter value is equal to or less than the set value in step 167, it is determined that the driver is driving in a normal state, and the process proceeds to step 169, where the sensitivity in the rear-end collision prevention logic unit 52 is lowered. This prevents unnecessary false alarms from being issued.

In this embodiment, the steering reverse input sensor is used for the disturbance detection.
The lateral G sensor 83, the yaw rate gyro sensor 84, the lateral wind sensor 85, the roll sensor 86, or the like is used. It may be checked in accordance with the above step 145 that the correction operation such as the steering operation or the accelerator operation is performed according to each disturbance.

FIG. 17 shows the overall construction of the third embodiment applied to the driving assist system. In this embodiment, an alarm is issued for a lateral change of the vehicle such as deviation from the driving lane, the driver's condition is judged from the driving operation condition, and the automatic driving mode is set when necessary. The vehicle includes an arithmetic processing unit 91, a storage unit 92, and an interface circuit 9.
A control computer 90 including 3, 94 is mounted, a predetermined arithmetic processing is executed based on a signal from each sensor to be described later, and a predetermined actuator is drive-controlled according to the calculation result.

The control computer 90 includes a vehicle speed sensor 96 for detecting the traveling speed of the vehicle, a direction sensor 97 for detecting the direction in which the vehicle is heading, an obstacle sensor 98 for detecting an obstacle in front of the vehicle, an accelerator sensor 99, Turn signal switch 100, and steering angle sensor 10
1 is connected and signals from these sensors are read into the control computer 90 via the interface circuit 93. The control computer 90 also includes a drive circuit 102 for the steering actuator 102.
a, drive circuit 10 for throttle actuator 103
3a, drive circuit 10 for brake actuator 104
An alarm lamp 105 composed of 4a and an LED is connected via an interface circuit 94.

The steering actuator 102 is provided with an electric motor and is connected to the vehicle steering system so that the steering angle can be adjusted. Throttle actuator 103
Is equipped with a stepping motor connected to an engine throttle valve, and the amount of fuel supplied to the engine can be adjusted. The brake actuator 104 includes a piston or the like for adjusting the pressure of the master cylinder of the brake system, and adjusts the braking force. Control computer 9
A command signal is output from 0 to the drive circuit 102a to control the steering angle of the vehicle, and a command signal is output to the drive circuit 103a or the drive circuit 104a to control the vehicle speed.

The vehicle is further provided with a television camera 106 for photographing the front of the vehicle. The image data from the television camera 106 is input to the image processing device 107, and white lines or yellow lines as a road guide line drawn on the road surface are extracted from the captured image. These are represented below by the white line. The data processed and extracted by the image processing device 107 is transferred to the control computer 90 via the transfer device 108 that operates in response to a command signal from the control computer 90. In addition, the control computer 9
The storage device 92 of 0 stores travel route information such as the travel route length, route width, number of lanes, intersection shape or route network, and travel route information including a starting point, a destination point and a passing point of the vehicle. A program for processing executed by the arithmetic processing unit 91 is stored, and various numerical values obtained in the course of arithmetic processing are also stored.

18 and 19 show a white line extraction image (a) and its white line information (b) for a straight road and a curved road processed by the image processing apparatus 107, respectively. The white line information is sent to the control computer 90 as position information (X, Y) and tangent angle information θ. The control computer 90 determines the road shape based on the changes in the values of X and θ. On a curved road, setting the reference point to a farther point P ′ facilitates road shape prediction. In this embodiment, the state of the driver is judged by the reaction of the driver to the deviation from the lane which is grasped from the positional relationship between the white line and the vehicle.

The flow of lane departure detection is shown in the flow chart of FIG. First, in steps 171, 172, a signal from the steering angle sensor 101 is read and the steering angle data is stored in the storage device 92. Next, in steps 173 and 174, the signal from the accelerator sensor 99 is read, and the data of the accelerator operation amount is stored in the storage device 92.

In steps 175 and 176,
In the white line extraction image, the distance X from the reference point at a predetermined reference point P position to the white line is calculated and stored. Here, as X, XL and XR are set corresponding to the white line SL and the center line SR of the road shoulder. Next, in step 177, the amount of change in the distance X from the previous sampling to the current sampling is calculated, and in step 178, it is checked whether the distance X monotonically increases or decreases for a predetermined time.

If it is changing monotonically, step 17
Then, the process proceeds to step 9, and it is checked whether or not the amount of change obtained in the previous step 177 is a predetermined value or more. As shown in FIG. 21, the predetermined value M1 is set to a relatively low value as a function of the traveling speed of the vehicle when the vehicle speed is high, so that the abnormal state can be extracted early. When the amount of change is equal to or larger than the predetermined value M1, the routine proceeds to step 180, where it is checked whether there is a blinker switch signal. When there is no blinker switch signal and the intention to change the course is not recognized, in the following steps 181, 182, the steering steering and accelerator operation amounts within a predetermined time are checked, and if they are smaller than the predetermined amounts M2, M3, respectively, step 183 At 1, a flag 1 indicating that a warning is required is set.

FIG. 22 shows a flow chart of the warning and the automatic running based on the above warning flag. When the flag 1 is set, the counter is started in step 188 via steps 185-187. Then, in step 189, the alarm lamp 105 blinks,
In steps 193, 194, and 195, it is sequentially checked whether or not a brake operation, a steering operation exceeding a predetermined amount, and an accelerator operation have been performed. While there is no operation,
The above is repeated.

When the counter value reaches the predetermined value M4, the process proceeds from step 187 to step 190, the counter is reset, the flag 2 is set in step 191, and the alarm lamp 105 is changed from blinking to lit state in step 192. Become. After that, similarly to the above, the process proceeds to steps 193, 194, and 195 in sequence. If any of the braking operation, the steering operation exceeding the predetermined amount, or the accelerator operation is performed, step 19 is performed.
Proceed to step 6, the alarm lamp 105 is turned off, and step 1
At 97, flag 1, flag 2, and counter are cleared.

On the other hand, even after the alarm lamp 105 is turned on, the brake operation is performed, the steering operation exceeds the predetermined amount,
When neither the accelerator operation nor the accelerator operation is performed, the flag 2 is already set in the next cycle, and therefore, the routine proceeds from step 186 to step 198 to enter the automatic traveling mode. In the automatic driving mode, since the driver does not respond appropriately to the departure from the traveling lane, the control computer 90 issues a control command to drive and control a required predetermined actuator.

Even after entering the automatic driving mode, step 1
At 93, 194, and 195, accelerator and brake operations and steering steering are watched, and if there is a driver's action, the automatic traveling mode is canceled through steps 196 and 197, and normal manual traveling is resumed. Steps 171-183, 185, 186, 1
87 to 189 and 192, 198 correspond to safety-corresponding control means for issuing a warning against deviation from the driving lane and enabling automatic driving mode. Of these, step 175
183 to 183 also serve as environmental state change detecting means, steps 193 to 195 constitute driver reaction detecting means, and steps 187 and 190 to 191 constitute driver state determining means.

As a result, when a driver's assisting device, which has been used for a conventional manual switch or merely a warning and the original role has not been fully exerted, tends to deviate from the lane due to a drowsiness or a peek. There is an effect that the control is switched to autonomous control by the vehicle according to the traveling state of the vehicle and the state of the driver, and the effectiveness of the auxiliary device is particularly enhanced. In addition, the warning lamp blinks for a predetermined period before shifting to the automatic driving mode, and if there is an appropriate corrective operation during that period, the driver can continue driving, so that the driver suddenly enters the automatic driving mode. It has the advantage that it does not give a feeling of strangeness.

[0051]

As described above, the present invention is provided with the environmental condition change detecting means and the driver reaction detecting means, and judges the driver's condition from the degree of the driver's reaction to the change in the environmental condition.
When the driver's condition is abnormal, the control level of the safety-compliant control means is changed, so it is normally detected by the threshold value set to a high level, etc., so as not to cause false detection in the safety-compliant control means. The abnormal state of the driver is not detected separately, and the control level of the safety response control means is changed accordingly to give an early warning, or a higher degree of safety response is provided by an auxiliary device etc. according to the abnormal state of the driver. It has the effect that measures will be taken.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

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

FIG. 3 is a layout diagram of an example.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of determining the degree of correspondence of an operation in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for determining a degree of correspondence of an operation when using a road gradient sensor.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a white line detection sensor.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for determining the degree of correspondence of an operation when using the white line detection sensor.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of a steering reverse input sensor.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a power steering unit.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a power steering unit.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a power steering unit.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a power steering unit.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a power steering unit.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a condition for determining a disturbance.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart for determining the degree of correspondence of an operation in the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a white line extracted image by the image processing apparatus and white line information thereof.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a white line extracted image by the image processing apparatus and white line information thereof.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing the flow of lane departure detection.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing an example of a threshold value of white line distance change used for lane departure detection.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing the flow of an alarm and automatic traveling.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Environmental State Change Detection Means 2 Driver Reaction Detection Means 3 Driver State Judgment Means 4 Safety Corresponding Control Means 10 Surrounding Environment Measuring Device 11 Inter-Vehicle Distance / Obstacle Sensor 12 State Change Detection Unit 13 Driving Operation Detection Unit 14 Accelerator Operation Detection Sensor 15 Brake operation sensor 16 Operation correspondence degree determination unit 17 White line detection sensor 17 'Lateral distance sensor 18 Road slope sensor 19 Vehicle speed sensor 20 Doze alarm system 21 Steering sensor 22 Doze detection logic unit 23 Alarm device 30 CPU 32 Steering operation detection Sensor 35 Camera 36 Image processing device 37 Turn signal switch 38 Disturbance detection unit 39 Steering reverse input sensor 43 Driving operation detection unit 44 Steering angle sensor 46 Operation correspondence degree determination unit 50 Rear-end collision prevention system 51 Inter-vehicle distance sensor 52 Collision prevention logic part 53 Alarm device 54 Automatic brake drive device 59 Vehicle speed sensor 60 Steering wheel 61 Column part 62 Power steering unit 63 Control valve 64 Disturbance determination part 65 Oil pump 66 Oil reservoir 67 Power cylinder 68 Piston rod 69 Rack 71 Input port 72 Drain port 73, 74 Output port 75 Valve spool 76 Steering shaft 77 Pinion 78 Spring 79, 80 Reaction plunger 81, 82 Plate 83 Side G sensor 84 Yawrate gyro sensor 85 Side wind sensor 86 Roll sensor 90 Control computer 91 Processing unit 92 Memory Device 93, 94 Interface circuit 96 Vehicle speed sensor 97 Direction sensor 98 Obstacle sensor 99 Accelerator Sa 100 turn signal switch 101 steering angle sensor 102 a steering actuator 102a driving circuit 103 throttle actuator 103a driving circuit 104 brake actuator 104a driving circuit 105 alarm lamp 106 television camera 107 image processing apparatus 108 transfer device A, B switch

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An environmental condition change detecting means for detecting a change in a traveling environmental condition of a vehicle, a driver reaction detecting means for detecting a reaction of a driver, and a signal from the both means to respond to a change in the environmental condition. It has a driver's state judging means for judging an abnormal state of the driver from the degree of reaction of the driver, and a safety corresponding control means, and the safety corresponding control means is based on the output of the driver's state judging means. A preventive safety device for a vehicle, characterized in that the control level is variable. 2. The preventive safety device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the safety-corresponding control means includes an alarm means, and the control level is an alarm level. 3. The preventive safety device for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the safety-corresponding control means includes a driving operation assisting means, and the control level is whether or not the assisting means is driven. 4. The preventive safety device for a vehicle according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the environmental condition change detecting means detects a change in the environmental condition of the vehicle. 5. The preventive safety device for a vehicle according to claim 4, wherein the environmental condition of the vehicle is an inter-vehicle distance, a distance between the road white line and the vehicle, or a road gradient. 6. The preventive safety device for a vehicle according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the environmental condition change detecting means detects a disturbance with respect to the vehicle. 7. The preventive safety device for a vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the disturbance is a reverse steering input. 8. The driver reaction detection means includes a steering operation detection sensor, an accelerator operation detection sensor, or a brake operation sensor.
The preventive safety device for a vehicle according to 2, 3, 4 or 5. 9. The preventive safety device for a vehicle according to claim 6, wherein the driver reaction detecting means includes a steering angle sensor.