JPH10146321A - Driver monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately monitor whether a mind and body condition of a driver is tired or in a dozing condition or the like by providing a judging means to judge a mind and body condition of the driver from a chaos index obtained by an organismic signal of the driver. SOLUTION: At vehicle driving time, a mechanocardiogram according to a pulsation of a heart of a driver 1 is detected from a hip part of the driver 1 by an organismic signal detecting means 3 arranged in a driver's seat 2, and an interval between the peaks is found from its mechanocardiogram, and serial data almost corresponding to a heartbeat is obtained. Next, an index on the basis of the chaos theory is found on its data in an operation means 4, and fluctuation possessed by this data is converted into a numeric value. Next, a mind and body condition of the driver 1 is judged by using a chaos index in a judging means 5, but in this case, a differential value of a change in the chaos index is found, and this is used as a reference to a judgment. A parameter to regulate an action of a driving object is changed on the basis of information on a mind and body condition of the driver 1, or an operation condition of an apparatus of the driving object is changed, and safe travel is attained.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for monitoring a physical and mental condition such as a degree of fatigue and arousal of a driver.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Monitoring a driver in a vehicle is a very important technique for preventing a traffic accident caused by a decrease in concentration due to falling asleep or fatigue. As a driver monitoring method, various biological information detection technologies have been devised so far. Detection targets in the case of directly using biological signals include those relating to circulatory system information such as electrocardiographic information and pulse (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-183439), and those relating to eye movements such as blinking and eyelid opening / closing. (1-1125
No. 03 publication). Here, circulatory system information such as electrocardiographic information is effective for more accurately estimating the mental and physical state of the driver as an index reflecting the function of the autonomic nerve.

For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-183439 discloses a technique for detecting an electrocardiogram from a steering wheel. In FIG. 7, the steering wheel 10
In 1, a pair of electrodes 102 (102a and 102b) are provided in a state separated from each other. The signal of the electrode 102 is amplified by an amplifier 103, converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter 104, and then sent to a CPU 105. Also, the CPU 105 has a ROM 106,
Interface 1 for RAM 107 and output device 108
09 via a bus.

In the above configuration, when the driver operates the steering wheel 101, the electrodes 102a and 1a
Since it comes into contact with 02b, an electrocardiographic signal is detected. The electrocardiographic signal is amplified to an appropriate level by the amplifier 103. Subsequently, the data is A / D converted by the A / D converter 104 and sent to the CPU 105. The sent data is stored in RAM1
07. CPU 105 is ROM 10
The processing is performed according to the program stored in 6. That is, the interval of the R wave, which is the wave having the highest peak than the electrocardiogram signal, is obtained, and the moving average and the variation are calculated. A judgment criterion is provided because the arousal level has a correlation with these values, and dozing is detected based on this criterion. When a drowsiness is detected, a warning is given to the driver from the output device.

On the other hand, in recent years, a non-linear processing method using chaos theory for data processing at the RR interval has attracted attention. For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 4-208136 discloses a technique for diagnosing a health condition based on whether or not a pulse wave and a heartbeat signal satisfy a condition that they are chaos. This is based on the knowledge that pulse waves and heartbeat signals obtained from healthy living bodies are chaotic. For certain data to be chaotic, conditions such as having a non-integer fractal dimension and a positive maximum Lyapunov number are generally used.

[0006]

However, the conventional driver monitoring apparatus has the following problems.

That is, the monitoring method using indicators such as electrocardiographic information and pulse rate is a method suitable for estimating the so-called mental and physical state including the awake state before the driver falls asleep. To judge whether the tendency of the heartbeat is tired due to variance or the like based only on the result of the analysis, there is a problem that the characteristics of the physical and mental state are difficult to appear.

Further, in analyzing the heartbeat, it has not been possible to simply discriminate whether the result of the analysis is the superiority of the parasympathetic nervous activity due to the recovery of the body or the superiority of the parasympathetic nervous activity when entering a doze state. There was a problem that it was not possible to detect the dozing state by analyzing the heartbeat.

Furthermore, it is difficult to constantly measure the heartbeat without imposing a burden on the driver, and there is a problem that the measurement of the heartbeat is interrupted, and as a result, biological information cannot be entered and the mental and physical condition cannot be grasped.

Similarly, even if a heart rate sensor is provided on the steering wheel to measure the heart rate, the steering wheel is not always gripped and the hand may be momentarily released. I couldn't do it.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention has a determining means for determining the mental and physical condition of a driver from a chaos index obtained from a biological signal of the driver.

In the above invention, the driver's biological signal is subjected to chaos signal processing, and the chaos index, which is the signal-processed value, is viewed over time, so that the driver's mental and physical condition is tired or asleep. Can be monitored.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention has a judging means for judging a driver's mental and physical condition from a chaos index obtained from a biological signal of a driver of an automobile.

Then, the biosignal of the driver of the car is subjected to chaos signal processing, and whether the mental and physical state of the driver is tired or asleep is monitored by checking the time lapse of the chaos index which is the signal processed value. Things.

[0015] Also, a discriminating means for discriminating whether the car is driving or not, and a judgment for judging the mental and physical condition of the driver from information of the discriminating means and a signal analysis index obtained from a biological signal of the driver. Means.

The biological signal of the driver is subjected to linear or non-linear signal processing, and the mental and physical state of the driver falls into a dozing state based on the time lapse of the signal analysis index, which is the signal processed value, and information on whether or not the driver is driving. The driver is monitored by determining whether or not there is a vehicle.

Further, the discriminating means is provided on the steering wheel, and discriminates whether the apparatus is in operation or non-operation by means of detecting whether or not the hand is in contact.

If the time during which the hand is not touching the steering wheel is longer than a predetermined time by the detecting means provided on the steering wheel, it is determined that the vehicle is not in operation, and if the detection means detects that the hand is touching the steering wheel, the driving is performed. It is identified as being inside.

A judgment means for judging the mental and physical condition of the driver from the signal analysis index obtained from the biosignal of the driver of the automobile and the time information indicating the time when the detection of the biosignal of the driver is suspended. Have

The signal is processed by the driver's biological signal, and from the analysis index obtained by the signal processing and the interruption time during which the signal analysis index could not be calculated, the value indicated by the analysis index is determined to be an index due to the driver's rest or to a doze state. It is to identify whether it is an index for entering.

In addition, a signal analysis index obtained by a continuous biological signal of the driver, estimation means for estimating the signal analysis index during the interruption of the detection of the biological signal of the driver, and a signal analysis index estimated by the estimation means. Determining means for determining the mental and physical state of the driver from the interruption time of the biological signal detection.

A signal is processed based on the driver's biological signal, an analysis index of the signal processing and an analysis index of the interruption time during which the signal analysis index could not be calculated are estimated, and the driver is determined from the estimated analysis index and the interruption time. Is determined.

The signal analysis index is used as a chaos index to perform signal processing by nonlinear signal analysis.

Further, by providing an informing means for informing the driver of information on the physical and mental state of the driver, unsafe actions such as falling asleep are monitored in advance.

[0025] Further, there is provided control means for changing a parameter defining the operation of the driving object based on the information on the mental and physical state of the driver.

[0026] Further, there is provided control means for changing the operation state of the device to be driven based on information on the physical and mental state of the driver.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a driver monitoring apparatus according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The driver 1 is sitting on a driver seat 2, and a biological signal detecting means 3 is provided inside the driver seat 2. The output of the biological signal detecting means 3 is connected to the calculating means 4. The biological signal detecting means 3 and the calculating means 4 calculate a chaos index obtained from the biological signal. The calculation means 4 is connected to the judgment means 5 for judging the mental and physical condition of the driver 1. The control unit 6 of the vehicle is controlled based on the result determined by the determination unit 5, and the driving unit 7 is driven by the output of the control unit 6. Reference numeral 8 denotes a steering wheel, and 9 denotes a brake, both of which drive the driving means 7 through the control means 6. In addition, the control means 6 changes the parameter which prescribe | regulates operation | movement of a driving target object based on the information regarding the physical and mental state of a driver, or changes the operation state of the apparatus of a driving target object.

Next, the operation will be described. The biological signal detecting means 3 detects a heart chart of the driver 1 from the buttocks of the driver 1. The cardiogram is a vibration of the body surface accompanying the pulsation of the heart, and can be easily sensed by using a high-sensitivity pressure sensor made of thin-film processed polyvinylidene fluoride or the like. By obtaining the interval between peaks from the obtained cardiogram, it is possible to obtain sequence data substantially corresponding to the heartbeat.

When this data is complemented by a spline curve or the like and treated as time-series data and subjected to frequency analysis, 1 / f
It is known that such fluctuations are observed. this is,
This suggests that the heartbeat interval data contains a non-linear component. The calculating means 4 obtains an index based on the chaos theory for the data detected by the biological signal detecting means 3, and quantifies the fluctuation of the data. Examples of the chaos index include a correlation dimension (fractal dimension) and a Lyapunov exponent. Here, the Lyapunov exponent will be described as an example.

In the calculating means 4, the heartbeat interval data is 5
It is divided into minutes. The Lyapunov exponent is determined for the cut-out 5-minute heartbeat interval series. The five minutes here are not absolute.

The procedure for obtaining the Lyapunov exponent is described below. The Lyapunov exponent is an index indicating how far adjacent points on an attractor depart over time, and indicates how difficult it is to predict the underlying data in the future. This is closely related to the initial value dependence, which is one of the characteristics of chaos. An attractor also represents an orbit of a system in an n-dimensional space. For one-dimensional data series such as heartbeat intervals, X (t1), X (t2),..., X (ti),. The following data set is prepared for embedding N-point data.

｛X (t1), X (t1 + τ),..., X (t1 + (n-1) τ)｝ ｛X (t2), X (t2 + τ),. X (t2 + (n-1) τ)｝ ・ ｛X (ti), X (ti + τ), ..., X (ti + (n-1) τ)｝ {X (tN), X (tN + τ),..., X (tN + (n-1) τ)} where the i-th point is Xin = {X (ti), X (ti + τ) ,..., X (ti + (n-1) τ)｝.

With reference to a certain point X (0) on the attractor obtained in this manner, the next point X (1) on the trajectory is orthogonal to the vector X (0) X (1), A point separated by a unit distance is defined as Y0 (0). The points when τ time has elapsed for X (0) and Y0 (0) are defined as X (τ) and Y0 (τ). The distance between X (0) and Y0 (0) is d0
(0), the distance between X (τ) and Y0 (τ) is d0 (τ). At this time, the enlargement (reduction) rate of the distance between the two points after elapse of τ time can be obtained by dividing d0 (τ) by d0 (0).

Next, a point separated by a unit distance in the same direction as X (τ) and Y0 (τ) is defined as Y1 (0). X (τ),
The point when τ time has elapsed for Y1 (0) is represented by X (2
τ) and Y1 (τ). And X (τ) and Y1 (0)
Is defined as d1 (0), and the distance between X (2τ) and Y1 (τ) is defined as d1 (τ). At this time, the enlargement (reduction) rate of the distance between the two points after elapse of τ time can be obtained by dividing d1 (τ) by d1 (0). This step is repeated, and the average of the expansion (reduction) rate of the distance obtained in each step is the Lyapunov exponent. This can be generalized as follows.

[0035]

(Equation 1)

If the embedding dimension is, for example, three, a total of three Lyapunov exponents are obtained for each dimension, and the largest one is particularly called the maximum Lyapunov exponent.

FIG. 2 shows the change of the maximum Lyapunov exponent in units of 15 minutes with respect to the heartbeat interval during driving of a healthy man. The horizontal axis is the elapsed time and the unit is minute.
It can be seen that the rhythm that the Lyapunov exponent decreases with the start of driving and increases again by taking a break is repeated. The drop is remarkable immediately after the start of operation and at the time of the first traffic jam. The heart rate is similarly plotted. There is a negative correlation between the Lyapunov index and heart rate. However, it can be seen that there is a large difference in resolution between the two indices with respect to the rate of change. For example, when resuming driving after the second break, the maximum Lyapunov number is greatly reduced, but the heart rate is only slightly increased (the units differ between the two indices). However, since the scale of each axis is taken at the same ratio, there is no problem in comparing the visual form as it is). From the above, the superiority of the present invention using the chaos index over the prior art is clear.

Next, the judging means 5 judges the mental and physical condition of the driver 1 using the chaos index obtained by the calculating means 4. The determination of the physical and mental state here means a physical and mental state such as recovery from fatigue due to driving for a long time and fatigue due to a break, and falling asleep. Heartbeat fluctuations are dominated by the autonomic nervous system, which is subject to dual control of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
When the sympathetic nervous system is activated, the heart rate rises and the living body becomes suitable for activity. When the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, the heart rate falls. In the living body, each nervous system does not act independently, but acts while having mutual afferents. This antagonistic dominance with the feedback function causes the heartbeat to behave chaotically. Therefore, when one of the nervous systems protrudes, the chaos index becomes smaller. Such a situation is caused by a stress load caused by driving.

The judging means 5 obtains a differential value of the change of the chaos index and uses this as a reference for judgment. That is, when the Lyapunov exponent decreases for a certain period of time or more (the differential value is negative), it is determined that the driver is under a stress load to the extent that he needs to take a break. The time at this time may be, for example, about 15 minutes, but may be set to an arbitrary time according to the driver.

Various criteria can be used as criteria other than the time during which the negative differential value continues. For example, a comparison with a chaos index at the start of operation, an absolute value of a differential value, or the like may be considered as a reference. The present invention does not restrict these criteria at all.

Then, safe driving can be obtained by changing the parameters defining the operation of the driving object or changing the operating state of the equipment of the driving object based on the information on the mental and physical state of the driver. .

As described above, according to the first embodiment, since the chaos index is used to determine the state of the driver, there is an effect that the determination can be performed with higher accuracy. It is particularly effective in identifying fatigue.

(Embodiment 2) Next, Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, a discriminating unit 10 for discriminating whether the vehicle is driving or not is provided in the first embodiment.
Is used to determine the state of mind and body.

It is to be noted that the identification of whether the vehicle is operating or not by the identification means 10 is performed based on the output signal of the detection means 11 installed on the handle 8 portion. Reference numeral 12 denotes a notification unit.

Next, the operation will be described. The method of obtaining the chaos index is as described in the first embodiment.
Then, the mental and physical condition of the driver 1 is determined from the calculation result obtained by the above and the identification result of the identification means 10.

The advantage of inputting the output result of the identification means 10 to the determination means 5 will be described in detail. As described above, the Lyapunov exponent decreases when the driver 1 becomes mentally and physically tired, but there are two cases where the Lyapunov exponent increases. One is that the Lyapunov exponent increases due to the recovery of physical strength after a break, and the other is that the Lyapunov exponent increases when the dominant parasympathetic nerve activity becomes dominant during driving. Therefore, the identification means 10 can determine whether the physical strength has been recovered or whether the vehicle has fallen asleep, depending on whether the vehicle is driving or not. That is,
If it is data after the non-operation time has passed by the identification means 10, it is recovery of physical strength. On the other hand, if the identification means 10 can identify that driving is continuing, and if the Lyapunov exponent increases as a result of the calculation by the calculation means 4, it means that the vehicle has entered a dozing state, and this is determined. By making the determination by the means 5 and gradually applying the brake by the driving means 7 via the control means 6, it is possible to make the vehicle stop during the drowsy driving. Alternatively, a signal that wakes the driver 1 may be sent from the control unit 6 to the notification unit 12 to generate an alarm. As is clear from the above, in the present embodiment, the mental and physical state of the driver can be monitored to determine whether or not he or she is dozing in order to prevent the driver from falling asleep.

By the way, in this embodiment, the chaos index is obtained by the calculating means 4 to determine the state of mind and body.
Even if it is not a chaos index, it is calculated by linear signal processing such as FFT, and the mental and physical state is estimated based on the movement of each frequency band. The determination means 5 may make the determination together with the information of the means 10.

In addition to the method of identifying the identification means 10 by a signal from the steering wheel 8, for example, a method of borrowing a signal from the signal processing means 3 provided in the driver's seat 2 may be used.

Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the third embodiment. The third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a timer 13 for measuring the time during which a biological signal is obtained from the biological signal detector 3 is provided.

The determination means 5 determines the state of mind and body from the information of the time counting means 13 and the result calculated by the calculation means 4.

Next, the operation will be described. The method of obtaining the chaos index is as described in the first embodiment, and the timer 13 outputs the current time. The time information is transmitted to the determination means 5. Therefore, the time during driving is measured, and if the time becomes longer and the value of the Lyapunov exponent calculated by the calculating means 4 decreases, it can be understood that fatigue is accumulating in the driver 1 and further continued. If the Lyapunov exponent rises, you know that you have fallen asleep. On the other hand, if the operation time is interrupted, the output of the biological signal is interrupted, and if the interruption time is longer than a certain value, and then the Lyapunov exponent, which is the calculation result of the calculation means 4, increases. It can be determined that the physical strength of the driver 1 has been recovered by the rest. In this way, the information when the calculation of the Lyapunov exponent is interrupted can be used by the determining means 5 as information useful for determining the physical and mental state.

In this embodiment, the same effect can be obtained by using an index based on linear signal processing or other nonlinear signal processing in addition to the chaos index.

Embodiment 4 Next, Embodiment 4 of the present invention will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the fourth embodiment. The fourth embodiment is different from the third embodiment in that the calculating means 4 and the timing means 13
Is provided with an estimating means 14 for estimating the operation result of the arithmetic means 4 during the interruption of the biological signal measurement from the above information. And
The determination means 5 determines the mental and physical condition from the information of the estimation means 14 or the result of the calculation means 4.

Note that the time keeping means 13 is the biological signal detecting means 3
Is measured, and the measured time is input to the estimating means 14.

Next, the operation will be described. The method of obtaining the chaos index is as described in the third embodiment, and the timer 13 outputs the current time. The time information is obtained by the estimation unit 14
It is transmitted to. Therefore, the time during driving is measured, and if the time becomes longer and the value of the Lyapunov exponent calculated by the calculating means 4 decreases, it can be understood that fatigue is accumulating in the driver 1 and further continued. If the Lyapunov exponent rises, you know that you have fallen asleep. On the other hand, if the operation time is interrupted,
3, the operation of the Lyapunov exponent, which is the operation result of the operation means 4, cannot be performed during the interruption time. Accordingly, the Lyapunov exponent is calculated using the value corrected from the data immediately before the interruption, whereby the Lyapunov exponent is estimated by the estimating means immediately after the restart of the operation, and the mental and physical state of the driver 1 can be determined by the determining means 5. .

The interruption of the biological measurement includes a long interruption and a short interruption. In the case of long-time interruption, the main case is when the vehicle is not driving. On the other hand, short-term interruptions can be detected by turning the steering wheel instead of always holding it when the biometric signal is detected by the steering wheel, by moving it away momentarily, or by using a pressure sensor installed in the driver's seat Corresponds to the case where the driver moves his body. In particular, such a short-term interruption of measurement is routine, and if the operation is interrupted only at that time, it becomes useless. Therefore, signal processing is performed by estimating the interruption by the estimating means 14, and the mental and physical state of the driver 1 can be determined by the determining means 5 by the signal processing.

In the first to fourth embodiments, the determination means 5
May be determined in consideration of the chaos index output from the arithmetic means 4 and the biological rhythm of daily fluctuation of the living body. That is, the biological signal analysis index obtained by the calculating means 4 is corrected by the calendar 15 or the time measuring means 13 and the determining means 5
Is determined.

The details will be described below. FIG. 3 shows the maximum Lyapunov exponent and the daily change in heart rate. The horizontal axis represents time. At this time, the subject wakes up at around 7:20 am, but the Lyapunov exponent is greatly reduced before and after that. There are two mountains in the morning and afternoon. It is said that mountains seen in the afternoon may disappear with aging. It should be noted that the heart rate also has a negative correlation with the Lyapunov exponent here, but the ratio of the fluctuation range is considerably smaller than that of the Lyapunov exponent.

By thus taking into account the fact that the baseline of the chaos index fluctuates greatly during one day, more accurate judgment can be made. In other words, in the time zone immediately after waking up, the baseline (the time during which the negative differential value continues) for determining that a break is necessary because the baseline originally tends to drop sharply is slightly relaxed, and the evening is relatively stable. In the time zone, it is necessary to tighten the criteria for judgment.

As described above, according to these embodiments, since the mental and physical state of the driver is determined based on the time information, there is an effect that the determination can be made in consideration of the biological rhythm.

[0061]

As described above, the driver monitoring apparatus of the present invention has the following effects.

Since there is provided a judgment means for judging the mental and physical condition of the driver from the chaotic index obtained from the biological signal of the driver, (1) measuring the biological information of the driver and quantifying it by the chaotic index Accordingly, the mental and physical condition of the driver can be determined with higher reliability than that of the conventional processing technology.

Further, there are provided identification means for identifying whether the vehicle is driving or non-driving, and determination means for determining the mental and physical state of the driver from the information of the identification means and a signal analysis index obtained from the biological signal of the driver. (2) It is possible to determine whether the state of mind and body obtained from the signal analysis index is recovery of physical strength after taking a break, or whether the subject has become sleepy due to continuous driving. In addition, since the identification means identifies whether the vehicle is in operation or non-operation by the detection means for detecting the hand provided on the steering wheel, (3) it is understood that the vehicle is automatically driven by operating the steering wheel. .

Since there is provided a determination means for determining the mental and physical state of the driver from the signal analysis index obtained from the biological signal of the driver and the time information due to the interruption of the detection of the biological signal of the driver, (4) interruption If the middle time is short, you can know that driving is continuing, and if you do not operate the steering wheel for a long time, you know that you are not driving. Can be determined with certainty.

Estimating means for estimating the signal analysis index obtained from the continuous biological signal of the driver, the signal analysis index during interruption of the detection of the biological signal of the driver from the signal analysis index, and the signal analysis index estimated by the estimating means And determination means for determining the mental and physical state of the driver from the interruption time of the biological signal detection. (5) Usually, the output of the signal analysis index is obtained from the analysis of continuous time series data. Although the output of the signal analysis index is extremely delayed, the output is estimated at the same speed as continuous time series data analysis because the estimation means estimates the data based on the data before the interruption and the interruption time together with the interruption time. Can be.

The signal analysis index is a chaos index, and (6) the accuracy is high.

Since the information means for notifying the driver of the information on the physical and mental state of the driver is provided, (7) dangerous actions can be prevented in the drowsy driving and the like. Also,
Since there is provided control means for changing a parameter defining the operation of the driving target based on information on the physical and mental state of the driver, (8) the level of the driving target can be set according to the driver's skill level.

Further, since the control means for changing the operation state of the device to be driven based on the information on the physical and mental state of the driver is provided, (9) the occurrence of an accident due to a decrease in the driver's attention is prevented. The driver can be protected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a driver monitoring device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing a change in a chaos index during driving.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a driver monitoring device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a driver monitoring device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a driver monitoring device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph showing the daily fluctuation of the chaos index.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a conventional driver monitoring device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 arithmetic means 5 determination means 6 control means 12 notification means 13 timekeeping means 14 estimation means

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A driver monitoring apparatus comprising: a judging means for judging a mental and physical state of a driver from a chaos index obtained from a biological signal of the driver of the automobile. 2. An identification means for identifying whether the vehicle is driving or not, and a determination for judging the mental and physical condition of the driver from information of the identification means and a signal analysis index obtained from a biological signal of the driver. Driver monitoring device comprising: 3. The driver monitoring apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the identification means is provided on the steering wheel, and the detection means for detecting whether or not the hand is in contact identifies whether the vehicle is operating or not. 4. A determination means for determining a mental and physical state of the driver from a signal analysis index obtained from a biological signal of the driver of the vehicle and time information indicating a time during which the detection of the biological signal of the driver is suspended. Driver monitoring device equipped with 5. Estimating means for estimating a signal analysis index obtained from a continuous biological signal of a driver, a signal analysis index during interruption of detection of a biological signal of the driver, and signal analysis estimated by the estimating means. A driver monitoring apparatus comprising: a determination unit configured to determine a mental and physical state of the driver based on an index and a suspension time of the biological signal detection. 6. The signal analysis index is a chaos index.
The driver monitoring device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. An informing means for informing a driver of information on the physical and mental state of the driver to the driver.
Driver monitoring device according to claim 1. 8. The driver monitoring device according to claim 1, further comprising control means for changing a parameter defining an operation of the driving target based on information on a mental and physical condition of the driver. 9. The driver monitoring apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising control means for changing an operation state of a device to be driven based on information on a mental and physical state of the driver.