JPH06169994A - Device for warning against doze - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To furnish inexpensively device for warning against doze which enables sure prevention of a doze. CONSTITUTION:This device for warning against doze is equipped with waking means 3 and 4 which are driven to give a stimulus to the body, a detecting means 6 which detects a tilting state of the head, and delivers a dozing state detection signal when the tilt of the head is in a prescribed state and a driving means which drives the waking means 3 and 4 in response to an input of the dozing state detection signal from the detecting means 6, and is provided with a cap-shaped fitting part 7 which is fitted to the head and to which the waking means 3 and 4, the detecting means 6 and the driving means are fitted integrally.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a drowsiness warning device for preventing drowsiness during long-distance driving of an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art How to awaken drowsiness caused by tiredness of driving an automobile or the like for a long time to prevent a drowsy driving is very important from the viewpoint of safe driving. In order to prevent such drowsy driving, it is common to stop the car somewhere and interrupt the driving to take a rest, or to awaken drowsiness by chewing a stimulant such as chewing gum. It is often experienced, but in any case, it is hard to say that safe driving can be sufficiently achieved by preventing drowsiness driving, which is often experienced on a daily basis, until the drowsiness is definitely detected. is there.

Further, unlike such prevention of drowsy driving, the potential difference between the inner side of the finger and the outer side of the arm is small when the consciousness is in the drowsiness state and when the consciousness is in the awake state. Focusing on the scientific fact that
A doze is designed so that safe driving can be achieved by attaching electrodes to each part and alerting the driver with a warning buzzer when the potential difference between the electrodes becomes a potential difference when it is a dozing driving or a state close to it. Driving warning devices have also been developed.

[0004]

However, in such a drowsiness driving warning device, since the potential difference itself when the consciousness is between the drowsiness state and the awakening state is extremely minute, the minute potential difference is accurately detected. To measure
A high-precision measuring device is required, and it is necessary to process the measured potential difference with a complicated calculation method using a microcomputer, etc. However, it is unrealistic from an economical point of view to equip each driver with the warning device, which is not very popular. Not not.

Further, it is very troublesome to attach the above-mentioned electrodes to the arms and fingers before driving, and there is also a problem that it is difficult to prevent drowsiness.

Therefore, the present invention provides a drowsiness warning device having a simple and inexpensive structure that can be generally spread and capable of surely and easily detecting whether or not the vehicle is in a drowsiness driving state. Has an aim.

[0007]

In order to achieve such an object, in the present invention, the awakening means for driving and stimulating the body and the tilted state of the head are detected to tilt the head. Is a predetermined state when detecting a doze state detection signal, and a drive means that drives the awakening means in response to the input of the doze state detection signal from the detecting means, Configured.

[0008]

According to the above construction, the head tilt detecting means detects that the head is tilted due to drowsiness, so that the occurrence of drowsiness can be reliably detected by the head tilt detecting means.
The awakening means gives a stimulus to the body based on the drowsiness detection signal generated by the head tilt detecting means, so that drowsiness is surely awakened.

Further, since the head inclination detecting means for detecting drowsiness only detects the inclination, it can be manufactured at a relatively low cost.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an external view of a drowsiness warning device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram thereof. This drowsiness warning device 1 includes a body portion 2, a vibration portion 3, a speaker portion 4,
The pressure switch 5 and the head inclination detection sensor 6 are provided, and these are integrally attached to the hat-shaped mounting portion 7. Specifically, the speaker unit 4 and the vibrating unit 3 are attached to both sides of the hat-shaped mounting unit 7, and the head inclination detection sensor 6 is attached to the occipital region of the hat-shaped mounting unit 7 at the back head contact portion. There is. The mounting positions of the main body 2 and the pressure switch 5 are not particularly limited, and are arranged between the head inclination detection sensor 6 and the speaker 4 in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 2, the main body portion 2 includes a control portion 1
0, an audio signal generating section 11 and a power source section 12. The voice signal generator 11 supplies the warning voice signal V to the speaker unit 4 based on the warning voice command signal S ₁ issued from the controller 10, and is composed of an artificial voice generator. The power supply unit 12 is composed of a small battery. The driving means in the claims is the control unit 10.
And a voice signal generator 11 and a power supply 12.

The vibrating section 3 is composed of a piezoelectric body and an eccentric mini-motor. Further, the vibrating section 3 is adapted to directly contact the head, and physical vibration is applied to the head based on the warning vibration command signal S ₂ issued from the control section 10. The speaker unit 4 is arranged at a position that is in contact with or close to the ear, and outputs a warning sound to the outside by the warning sound signal V generated by the sound signal generation unit 11. The pressure switch 5 is arranged at a position where the head comes into contact with the user, and the user is asleep on the head.
The mounting detection signal S ₃ is transmitted to the control unit 10 by detecting that the mounting has been performed.

The head tilt sensor 6 detects that the user's head is tilted (mainly forward tilt) to detect the drowsiness detection signal S.
₄ is transmitted to the control unit 10, which is shown in FIG.
It is configured as shown in. That is, in the head inclination detection sensor 1, about half of the viscous conductive liquid 21 (for example, mercury) is injected into the sealed box 20, and the sealed box 20 is constantly in contact with the conductive liquid 21. The electrodes 22 and 23 are arranged at positions where they come into contact with the conductive liquid only when the sealed box 20 is tilted. Then, a voltage is applied to these electrodes 22 and 23 in advance. Then, while the sealed box 20 maintains the horizontal state, no current flows between the electrodes 22 and 23, but when the sealed box 20 tilts, the electrode flows between the electrodes 22 and 23. become. The head tilt detection sensor 6 detects this current to detect the tilt of the head (for example, forward tilt). During driving, the head is tilted for a certain time or more except for dozing. Therefore, if such tilting of the head is detected, dozing can be detected. The head inclination detection sensor that detects drowsiness in this way transmits a drowsiness / sleepiness detection signal S ₄ to the control unit 10.

It should be noted that the head tilt detecting sensor 6 having such a structure may malfunction due to a temporary head tilt posture or vibration that is not a drowsiness. Therefore, in the head inclination detection sensor 6, a conductive liquid 21 having an appropriate viscosity is used so that the electrodes 22 and 23 do not come into contact with the conductive liquid 21 unless the inclined posture is continued for a certain time. I have to. Therefore, it does not malfunction due to a temporary head tilting posture or vibration.

In addition, as the head inclination detecting sensor 6, as shown in FIG. 4, a transmission / reception type optical sensor 31 is attached to a mounting member 30 which is hung from the back head side of the hat-shaped mounting portion 7.
The optical sensor 31 detects that the head is tilted forward and the distance between the optical sensor 31 and the back of the head is increased,
The drowsiness detection signal S ₄ may be transmitted to the control unit 10.

Next, the operation of the doze warning device will be described. In this example, the operation when driving a car will be described. First,
Before starting driving, the driver wears the dozing warning device 1 on his head. Wear this drowsiness warning device 1
Since it is attached to the hat-shaped mounting portion 7, it can be easily performed. When wearing the doze warning device 1,
And a pressure switch 5 detects the attachment and sends the wearing detection signal S ₃ to the control unit 10, a control unit 10 which has received the wearing detection signal S ₃ is to turn on the main power. The driver starts driving in this state. When the driving time becomes long and the driver becomes drowsiness, the head tilt detection sensor 6 detects that the head tilts (mainly tilts in the front-back direction) according to the drowsiness, The drowsiness detection signal S ₄ is transmitted to the control unit 10. Upon receiving the drowsiness detection signal S ₄ , the control unit 10 transmits the warning vibration command signal S ₂ to the vibrating unit 3 and also sends the warning voice command signal S ₁ to the sound signal generating unit 11. Then, the vibrating unit 3 that has received the warning vibration command signal S ₂ vibrates to give a physical stimulus to the driver's head to promote awakening. Also, the warning voice command signal S
_The voice signal generation unit 11 that receives ₁ transmits a warning voice signal V, which is the basis of a warning voice such as "wake up, wake up", to the speaker unit 4, and the speaker unit that receives the warning voice signal V Reference numeral 4 produces the warning sound as described above for a predetermined time (1 to 5 minutes), and prompts the driver to awaken. At this time, the volume and vibration of the warning voice and vibration increase with time, and the awakening action becomes more reliable.

The drowsiness warning device 1 also has a wake-up function for urging the driver to wake up at regular intervals. It is structured as follows. That is, when the driver turns on the wake-up function selection switch (not shown) at the start of driving, the pressure switch 5 detects that the driver wears the dozing warning device 1 and the wearing detection signal S ₃
Is transmitted to the control unit 10, the control unit 10 activates the built-in timer unit to start measuring the operating time. Then, 30 minutes after the start of operation → 30 minutes after the start → 15 minutes after the start → 15 minutes after the start →
, And so on, the doze warning operation is performed via the speaker unit 4 and the vibrating unit 3 every predetermined time.

The drowsiness prevention operation performed every predetermined time is as follows. While the driving time is relatively short, a warning voice "Wake up, wake up" is uttered from the speaker unit 4, and at the same time, the vibrating unit 3 is vibrated to give physical stimulation to the head. When the driving time becomes long, a warning voice "Move to a place where you can pause immediately and rest for 30 minutes" is uttered from the speaker unit 4, and at the same time, the vibrating unit 3 is vibrated to physically Give a mechanical vibration. The volume and vibration at this time are made larger than those at to enhance the alertness.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, the occurrence of drowsiness is reliably detected by the head tilt detecting means, and the awakening means physically detects the drowsiness based on the drowsiness detection signal emitted by the head tilt detecting means. By giving a stimulus or a voice stimulus to the body to awaken drowsiness, it has become possible to wake up certainly.

Further, since the head inclination detecting means for detecting the drowsiness only detects the inclination, it can be manufactured at a relatively low cost. Therefore, the economic burden that was an obstacle to personally using such a drowsiness warning device could be minimized.

Further, if such a drowsiness warning device is integrally attached to the hat-shaped mounting portion, it becomes easy to wear the drowsiness warning device on the body, so that it becomes possible to easily prevent the drowsiness.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an external shape of a drowsiness prevention device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram of a doze prevention device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the structure of a head inclination detection sensor.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the head inclination detection sensor.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Drowsiness warning device 3 Vibration part 4 Speaker part 6 Head inclination detection sensor 7 Hat-shaped attachment part 10 Control part

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A wake-up means for driving and stimulating a body, a detecting means for detecting a tilted state of a head, and a drowsing state detection signal when the tilted state of the head is in a predetermined state, A drowsiness warning device comprising: drive means for driving the awakening means in response to an input of a drowsiness state detection signal from the detection means. 2. A hat-shaped mounting portion to be mounted on the head, wherein the detection means, the awakening means, and the driving means are integrally attached to the hat-shaped mounting portion. Drowsiness warning device.