WO2014136379A1

WO2014136379A1 - Warning device

Info

Publication number: WO2014136379A1
Application number: PCT/JP2014/000618
Authority: WO
Inventors: 田中　誠
Original assignee: 株式会社デンソー
Priority date: 2013-03-06
Filing date: 2014-02-05
Publication date: 2014-09-12
Also published as: JP6115190B2; JP2014174621A

Abstract

This warning device issues a warning if a vehicle being driven by a driver wearing sunglasses approaches a tunnel (S36: YES), and thus, the driver is imparted with the awareness that he/she is wearing sunglasses before entering the tunnel. By using this warning device (1), the driver is less likely to forget to remove his/her sunglasses before entering a tunnel because of this awareness, and thus, it is possible to prevent the driver's visual field from taking on a darkness that is unsuitable for driving a vehicle when the vehicle enters a tunnel.

Description

Alarm device

Cross-reference of related applications

This disclosure is based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-44451 filed on March 6, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein.

The present disclosure relates to an alarm device that issues an alarm when a driver enters a tunnel while wearing sunglasses.

When the vehicle enters the tunnel, the driver may experience a visual discomfort due to the difference in brightness between inside and outside the tunnel.

In order to alleviate this uncomfortable feeling, the driving support device described in Patent Document 1 sets the transmittance of the windshield for a vehicle including a windshield whose transmittance can be changed, to a predetermined target value before the vehicle enters the tunnel. Dimming processing is performed to lower

In addition, when the driver wears sunglasses, this driving support device sets the target value to a higher transmittance in order to prevent the driver's field of vision in front of the driver from becoming too dark. A dimming process is performed to reduce the transmittance of the windshield.

JP 2010-18164 A

However, outside light comes in from the glass other than the windshield (for example, left and right glasses and rear glass).

For this reason, even if the above-described dimming process is performed, the driver may feel visually uncomfortable when the vehicle enters the tunnel, and if the driver wears sunglasses at that time, However, it may be dark enough to drive the vehicle.

The present disclosure is intended to provide an alarm device that can prevent a driver's field of view from becoming unsuitable for driving a vehicle when the vehicle enters a tunnel.

According to the first aspect of the present disclosure, the alarm device includes a mounting determination unit, an entry determination unit, and an alarm unit. The wearing determination means determines whether the driver of the vehicle is wearing sunglasses, and the entry determining means determines whether the vehicle enters the tunnel.

The warning means warns when the driver wears sunglasses by the wearing determination means and the vehicle is determined to enter the tunnel by the entry determining means.

According to the above configuration, when the vehicle that the driver wearing the sunglasses is driving approaches the tunnel, the alarm means issues an alarm, so the driver is conscious that he is wearing sunglasses before entering the tunnel. The

Therefore, when using the above warning device, this awareness makes it difficult for the driver to forget to remove the sunglasses before entering the tunnel, so the driver's view drives the vehicle when the vehicle enters the tunnel. It is possible to prevent darkness that is unsuitable.

According to the second aspect of the present disclosure, in the alarm device according to the first aspect, the alarm device includes an alarm determination unit that determines whether or not a predetermined alarm condition is satisfied, and the alarm unit alerts when the alarm condition is satisfied. You may make it do.

In this case, since the alarm is not issued when the alarm condition is not satisfied, the frequency of the alarm can be reduced to the case where the alarm condition is satisfied.

Therefore, if the above alarm device is used, the troublesomeness felt by the driver due to the large number of alarms can be reduced.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
It is a block diagram of an alarm device of one embodiment of this indication. It is a flowchart of the mounting | wearing determination process performed with the image processing apparatus which comprises the alarm device of one Embodiment of this indication. It is a flowchart of the alarm process performed with the navigation apparatus which comprises the alarm device of one Embodiment of this indication.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the alarm device 1 according to the present embodiment is a device including a camera 2, an image processing device 3, and a navigation device 4.

The camera 2 is a camera that images the inside of the vehicle, and is installed at a position where at least the driver can be imaged. The camera 2 is composed of, for example, a CCD camera or a CMOS camera, and image information of the captured image is output to the image processing device 3.

The image processing device 3 is a computer device including a CPU 30a, a ROM 30b, and a RAM 30c, and further includes a storage device 30d.

The ROM 30b analyzes image information input from the camera 2 and includes a program for wearing determination processing for determining whether the driver is wearing sunglasses, a program for visual line determination processing for determining the driver's line of sight, and the like. It is remembered.

The RAM 30c stores information that needs to be temporarily stored when these programs are executed.

In the storage device 30d, image data used in the wearing determination process, which is image data of an image of the driver's face wearing sunglasses (hereinafter referred to as a “comparison image”), a line-of-sight determination process, and other processes. Various data used in is stored.

The navigation device 4 includes a computer device 40 including a CPU 40a, a ROM 40b, a RAM 40c, and a storage device 40d, a current position specifying device 41, an image display device 42, an audio output device 43, an operation device 44, and the like.

In the ROM 40b, a route guidance processing program for displaying a map image with the current position displayed on the image display device 42 to provide route guidance, or a vehicle driven by a driver wearing sunglasses is about to enter the tunnel. Sometimes, an alarm processing program for alarming the driver is stored.

The RAM 40c stores information that needs to be temporarily stored when these programs are executed.

The storage device 40d stores map information used in route guidance processing, alarm processing, and various data used in other processing.

In addition to drawing data for drawing maps, map information includes route guidance processing and warnings such as road position information, tunnel position information, tunnel length information, lightness information in the tunnel, and road facility information. Various types of information necessary for executing various types of processing such as processing are included.

The current position specifying device 41 is a device that includes a GPS receiver, a gyroscope, and the like, and is a device that specifies the current position of the vehicle on which the navigation device 4 is mounted.

The image display device 42 is a device that displays various images such as a map image for route guidance and an image for operation on the liquid crystal screen in accordance with instructions from the computer device 40.

The sound output device 43 is a device that includes a speaker and outputs various sounds corresponding to various processes performed by the computer device 40.

The operation device 44 is various switches installed on the casing of the navigation device 4, a transparent touch sensor panel 44a stacked on the liquid crystal screen of the image display device 42, or the like.

When performing an operation using the touch sensor panel 44a, an operation image combining one or a plurality of command images is displayed on the liquid crystal screen. The operator can perform an operation corresponding to the command image by touching a portion of the touch sensor panel 44a where any command image is displayed.

The navigation device 4 of the present embodiment is configured to be able to perform at least an operation for instructing the start and end of alarm processing described later, using the touch sensor panel 44a. Specifically, an operation image for instructing the start or end of alarm processing is displayed on the liquid crystal screen, and when the operator touches the touch sensor panel 44a in the portion where any of the operation images is displayed, the alarm processing is performed. Can be instructed to start or end.

Next, the mounting determination process (S1) executed by the image processing apparatus 3 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the touch sensor panel 44a of the navigation device 4 is operated and an operation for instructing the start of alarm processing described later is performed, start information is output from the navigation device 4 to the image processing device 3.

Therefore, the wearing determination process (S1) is executed when start information output from the navigation device 4 is input.

First, the process of S10 is executed, and in this S10, the image captured by the camera 2 is analyzed, and the process of specifying the portion where the driver's face is imaged is executed.

Next, the process of S12 is executed, and in this S12, the driver compares the image obtained by imaging the driver's face identified in S10 with the comparison image stored in the storage device 30d, and the driver then wears sunglasses. A process for determining whether or not is mounted is executed.

If it is determined in the process of S12 that the driver is wearing sunglasses (S12: YES), then the process of S14 is executed, and if it is determined that the driver is not wearing (S12: NO) Next, the process of S15 is executed.

In S14, a process of outputting wearing information indicating that the driver is wearing sunglasses is performed on the navigation device 4, and then a process of S16 is performed.

In S15, a process of outputting non-wearing information indicating that the driver is not wearing sunglasses is performed on the navigation device 4, and then a process of S16 is performed.

In S16, when the touch sensor panel 44a of the navigation device 4 is operated and an operation for instructing the end of alarm processing described later is performed, the end information is output from the navigation device 4 to the image processing device 3. Processing for determining whether or not is input is executed.

In the process of S16, when the end information is input (S16: YES), this process is ended. When the end information is not input (S16: NO), the processes after S10 are executed again.

Next, alarm processing (S3) executed by the navigation device 4 of the present embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG. This alarm process (S3) is executed when the touch sensor panel 44a is operated and an operation for instructing the start of the alarm process is performed.

First, the process of S30 is executed. In S30, the process of outputting start information to the image processing apparatus 3 is executed. Next, the process of S32 is executed.

When S30 is executed, wearing information is output from the image processing device 3 when the driver is wearing sunglasses, and non-wearing information is output from the image processing device 3 when the driver is not wearing sunglasses. Is done.

In S32, processing for determining whether the latest information input from the image processing device 3 is mounting information or non-mounting information is executed. If the latest information is determined to be the wearing information in the process of S32 (S32: YES), that is, if the driver is wearing sunglasses, then the process of S34 is executed, and the latest information is the non-wearing information. Is determined (S32: NO), that is, if the driver is not wearing sunglasses, then the process of S42 is executed.

In S34, a process for specifying the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling from the current position information regarding the current position of the vehicle specified by the current position specifying device 41 and the map information stored in the storage device 40d, and the road A process for searching for a tunnel (more specifically, the entrance of the tunnel) located within 5 km from the current position of the vehicle is executed.

In this search, a tunnel in the traveling direction of the vehicle is searched. The traveling direction of the vehicle may be estimated by, for example, storing the current position information for a certain period of time, specifying the traveling locus of the vehicle from these pieces of information, and determining the traveling direction. You may specify.

Next, the process of S36 is executed. In S36, processing for determining whether there is a tunnel (more specifically, the entrance of the tunnel) within 3 km from the current position of the vehicle among the tunnels searched in S34 is executed. That is, in this S36, the process which determines whether a vehicle approachs a tunnel is performed.

When it is determined in S36 that there is a tunnel within a distance of 3 km from the current position of the vehicle (S36: YES), the process of S38 is executed next, and it is determined that there is no tunnel (S36: NO). Then, the process of S42 is executed.

In S38, a process for determining whether the tunnel determined to be within a distance of 3 km from the current position of the vehicle in S36 is 50 m or more is executed. If it is 50 m or more (S38: YES), then the process of S40 is performed. If it is less than 50 m (S38: NO), then the process of S42 is executed.

The map information used in this embodiment also includes tunnel length information (information about the length from the entrance to the exit of the tunnel), so in S38, using this tunnel length information, Processing to determine the length of the tunnel is executed.

When the length of the tunnel is shorter than 50 m, the light that enters the tunnel from the exit side of the tunnel causes the driver's field of view to become dark enough to drive the vehicle when the vehicle enters the tunnel. In this embodiment, no alarm is required (S40 is not executed).

In S40, using the audio output device 43, a process of outputting an audio prompting the driver to remove the sunglasses is executed. For example, it outputs a voice saying "There is a tunnel 200m in length 3km ahead. Please be careful because running with sunglasses is dangerous." At this time, an image that prompts the driver to remove the sunglasses may also be displayed on the image display device 42.

In S42, it is determined whether the touch sensor panel 44a is operated and an operation for instructing the end of the alarm processing is performed. When an operation for instructing the end of the alarm process is performed (S42: YES), the process of S44 is executed, and when an operation for instructing the end of the alarm process is not performed (S42: NO), the process after S32 is performed again. Processing is executed.

In S44, a process of outputting the end information to the image processing apparatus 3 is executed, and then this process (alarm process (S3)) ends.
(Characteristic effects of this embodiment)
According to the alarm device 1 of the present embodiment, when a vehicle driven by a driver wearing sunglasses approaches the tunnel (S36: YES), an alarm is issued (S40). Conscious of wearing sunglasses.

For this reason, when the alarm device 1 of the present embodiment is used, it becomes difficult for the driver to forget to remove the sunglasses before entering the tunnel. Therefore, when the vehicle enters the tunnel, the driver's field of view is It is possible to prevent the darkness that is not suitable for driving.

According to the alarm device 1 of the present embodiment, the alarm is not issued if the alarm condition (in this embodiment, the tunnel length is longer than 50 m) is not satisfied (S38: YES), the alarm is performed. Can be reduced even when the alarm conditions are met.

Therefore, when the alarm device 1 of the present embodiment is used, it is possible to reduce the annoyance felt by the driver due to the large number of alarms.
[Other Embodiments]
As mentioned above, although embodiment was described, it cannot be overemphasized that this indication can take various forms, without being limited to the above-mentioned embodiment.

(1) The alarm device described in the above embodiment is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this.

(2) In the above embodiment, an example in which the navigation device 4 includes one storage device 40d has been described. For example, a plurality of storage devices (a storage device that stores map information and a storage device that stores other information) Etc.) may be provided. The storage device that stores the map information may be configured by a reading device that reads the map information from a medium (for example, CD, DVD) in which the map information is stored, or may be an HDD, an SSD, or the like.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the image display device 42 has been described with respect to a device that displays various images on the liquid crystal screen, but is not limited to the liquid crystal screen.

(4) In the above embodiment, in S34, a tunnel that is "5km" ahead of the current position of the vehicle is searched, and in S36, it is determined whether there is a tunnel within "3km" from the current position of the vehicle. It is not limited to these. For example, in S34, a tunnel located within “6 km” may be searched, and in S36, it may be determined whether there is a tunnel within “2 km”.

In S36 of the above embodiment, the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the tunnel is 3 km, which is a distance for determining whether the vehicle enters the tunnel. However, this distance is changed according to the speed. May be. The distance used as the determination criterion in S36 may be any distance as long as the time for the driver's eyes to get used to the brightness after removing the sunglasses can be secured.

(5) In the above embodiment, when the tunnel length is determined to be 50 m or longer in S38, the alarm is set to be issued in S40. However, the determination criterion in S38 is limited to 50m. It is not something. The determination criterion in S38 may be a distance where the driver's field of view is less likely to be unsuitable for driving the vehicle when the vehicle enters the tunnel, and may be 60 m or 40 m. Further, depending on the shape of the tunnel, the determination criteria may be different, such as 55 m for a straight tunnel and 45 m for a curved tunnel.

(6) As the alarm condition of S38, for example, a condition that the brightness around the vehicle before entering the tunnel is brighter than a predetermined brightness may be set.

In this case, when the brightness of the surroundings of the vehicle before entering the tunnel is darker than the predetermined brightness (S38: NO), the alarm may not be performed.

When the brightness of the surroundings of the vehicle before entering the tunnel is dark to a certain extent, the driver's eyes are accustomed to the darkness. Thus, even if the driver wears sunglasses, when the vehicle enters the tunnel, the driver's field of view is less likely to be unsuitable for driving the vehicle.

Whether the surrounding brightness of the vehicle before entering the tunnel is darker than a predetermined brightness may be determined according to external weather (determined to be dark in the case of cloudy or rainy), or sunshine You may determine using a meter.

When judging by the weather, it is better not to issue an alarm if the weather is raining or cloudy. Whether or not it is raining may be determined according to the operating status of the wiper.

(7) As another alarm condition in S38, the brightness in the tunnel may be equal to or lower than a predetermined brightness. In this case, the brightness in the tunnel is determined based on the predetermined brightness. If it is bright (S38: NO), the alarm may not be performed.

This is because if the brightness inside the tunnel is dark to a certain extent, the driver may experience a sense of discomfort when the vehicle enters the tunnel even if the outside of the tunnel is dark.

(8) Each component of the present disclosure is conceptual and is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the functions of one component may be distributed to a plurality of components, or the functions of a plurality of components may be integrated into one component. Further, at least a part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be replaced with a known configuration having the same function. In addition, at least a part of the configuration of the above embodiment may be added to or replaced with the configuration of the other embodiment.

The flowchart described in this application or the process of the flowchart is composed of a plurality of sections (or referred to as steps), and each section is expressed as, for example, S100. Further, each section can be divided into a plurality of subsections, while a plurality of sections can be combined into one section. Further, each section configured in this manner can be referred to as a device, module, or means.

Claims

Wearing determination means (S1, S32) for determining whether the driver of the vehicle is wearing sunglasses;
Entry determination means (S36) for determining whether the vehicle enters the tunnel;
Alarm means (S40) for alarming when the driver wears sunglasses by the wearing determination means and the vehicle is entering the tunnel by the entry determining means;
An alarm device comprising:
The alarm device according to claim 1,
Provided with an alarm determination means (S38) for determining whether a predetermined alarm condition is satisfied,
The alarm means includes
An alarm device for alarming when the alarm condition is satisfied.
The alarm device according to claim 2,
The warning determination means includes
As the warning condition, it is determined whether the length of the tunnel through which the vehicle enters is equal to or longer than a predetermined length,
The alarm means includes
An alarm device that issues an alarm when the length of a tunnel into which a vehicle enters is greater than or equal to a predetermined length.
The alarm device according to claim 2,
The warning determination means includes
As the alarm condition, it is determined whether the brightness around the vehicle before entering the tunnel is greater than a predetermined brightness,
The alarm means includes
An alarm device that issues an alarm when the surrounding brightness of the vehicle before entering the tunnel is greater than or equal to a predetermined brightness.
The alarm device according to claim 2,
The warning determination means includes
As the warning condition, determine whether the weather is rainy or cloudy,
The alarm means includes
An alarm device that does not issue an alarm when the weather is rainy or cloudy.
The alarm device according to claim 2,
The warning determination means includes
As the alarm condition, it is determined whether the brightness in the tunnel is less than a predetermined brightness,
The alarm means includes
An alarm device that issues an alarm when the brightness in the tunnel is less than or equal to a predetermined brightness.
The alarm device according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The entry determination means includes
An alarm device that determines that a vehicle enters a tunnel when the tunnel is located within a predetermined distance from the vehicle.
The alarm device according to claim 7,
The entry determination means includes
An alarm device that determines that a vehicle enters a tunnel when a tunnel located within a predetermined distance from the vehicle is provided at the end of a road on which the vehicle is traveling.
The alarm device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The mounting device is
It is determined whether or not wearing information indicating that the driver of the vehicle is wearing sunglasses has been input (S32).
The alarm means includes
An alarm device that warns when it is determined that the mounting information is input by the mounting determination means and the vehicle is determined to enter the tunnel by the entry determination means.