Apparatus and method for determining an attention requirement level of a driver of a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11242070-B2
Application number	US-201916677840-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 8, 2019
Priority date	Nov 8, 2018
Publication date	Feb 8, 2022
Grant date	Feb 8, 2022

Abstract

An apparatus ( 100 ) for determining an attention requirement level of a driver of a vehicle is provided, which comprises a first signal processing unit ( 101 ), a second signal processing unit ( 104 ), a third signal processing unit ( 107 ), a fourth signal processing unit ( 110 ), and an attention requirement determination unit ( 113 ), connected to the first, second, third and fourth signal processing unit ( 101, 104, 107, 110 ) and configured to determine an attention requirement level ( 114 ) as a function of current values of the first, second, third and fourth attention requirement parameters ( 103, 106, 109, 112 ). In addition, a vehicle ( 200 ) having such an apparatus ( 100 ) and an operating method ( 300 ) for the apparatus ( 100 ) are provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus ( 100 ) for determining an attention requirement level of a driver of a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
a first signal processing unit ( 101 ) configured to receive and process traffic situation-related first input signals ( 102 ) and to provide a traffic situation-related first attention requirement parameter ( 103 );
a second signal processing unit ( 104 ) configured to receive and process environmental condition-related second input signals ( 105 ) and to provide an environmental condition-related second attention requirement parameter ( 106 );
a third signal processing unit ( 107 ) configured to receive and process vehicle status-related third input signals ( 108 ) and to provide a vehicle status-related third attention requirement parameter ( 109 );
a fourth signal processing unit ( 110 ) configured to receive and process travel route-related fourth input signals ( 111 ) and to provide a travel route-related fourth attention requirement parameter ( 112 ), wherein the travel route-related fourth input signals ( 111 ) comprise at least information about a travel history; and
an attention requirement determination unit ( 113 ) connected to the first, second, third, and fourth signal processing units ( 101 , 104 , 107 , 110 ) and configured to determine the attention requirement level ( 114 ) as a function of current values of the first, second, third, and fourth attention requirement parameters ( 103 , 106 , 109 , 112 ).

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first, second, third, and fourth signal processing units ( 101 , 104 , 107 , 110 ) each comprise at least one sensor unit ( 115 , 116 , 117 , 118 ) configured to receive the corresponding first, second, third, or fourth input signals ( 102 , 105 , 108 , 111 ) and which is connected in each case to an associated first, second, third, and fourth evaluation unit ( 119 , 120 , 121 , 122 ) to provide respectively associated first, second, third, or fourth evaluation signals ( 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 ).

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the first, second, third, and fourth signal processing units ( 101 , 104 , 107 , 110 ) each respectively have a first, a second, a third, and a fourth metric transformation unit ( 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 ) configured to provide the associated first, second, third, or fourth attention requirement parameters ( 103 , 106 , 109 , 112 ).

4. The apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the first, second, third, and fourth metric transformation units ( 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 ) are each configured to perform transformations of the first, second, third, or fourth evaluation signals ( 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 ) into a common value range.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the first, second, third, and fourth metric transformation units ( 127 , 128 , 129 , 130 ) are each configured to apply a sigmoid transfer function to the transformation of the first, second, third, or fourth evaluation signals ( 123 , 124 , 125 , 126 ) into the value range.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one sensor unit ( 115 ) for receiving the associated first input signals ( 102 ) is designed to collect traffic situation-related information in an environment around the vehicle.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein the at least one sensor unit ( 115 ) for receiving the associated first input signals ( 102 ) comprises at least one of the following: a camera sensor, a laser sensor, a lidar sensor, a radar sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and/or a wireless interface for receiving information about other road users via V2X communication link.

8. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one sensor unit ( 116 ) for receiving the associated second input signals ( 105 ) is designed to collect environmental conditions in an environment around the vehicle.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the environmental conditions comprise at least one of the following: visibility conditions, brightness, time of day, weather conditions, and/or geographical conditions.

10. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one sensor unit ( 117 ) for receiving the associated third input signals ( 108 ) is designed to collect vehicle status information of the vehicle.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the vehicle status information comprise at least one of the following; vehicle speed, vehicle acceleration, steering angle, and/or activation states of driver assistance systems.

12. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one sensor unit ( 118 ) for receiving the associated fourth input signals ( 111 ) is designed to collect travel route-related information of the vehicle.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , wherein the travel route-related fourth input signals ( 111 ) further comprises at least one of the following: distance traveled, travel time to date, and/or speed profile.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the attention requirement determination unit ( 113 ) is configured to determine the attention requirement level ( 114 ) by averaging current values of the first, second, third, and fourth attention requirement parameters ( 103 , 106 , 109 , 112 ).

15. A vehicle ( 200 ), comprising the apparatus of claim 1 .

16. The vehicle according to claim 15 , further comprising
an attention increasing device ( 201 ) connected to the apparatus ( 100 ) for determining the attention requirement level ( 114 ) and configured to:
stimulate an attention of the driver of the vehicle ( 200 ) as a function of the determined attention requirement level ( 114 ), wherein an amount of stimulation is determined based on the determined attention requirement level ( 114 ), and
direct the attention of the driver towards controlling the vehicle ( 200 ).

17. A method ( 300 ) for determining an attention requirement level of a driver of a vehicle, the method comprising:
receiving ( 302 ) and processing ( 303 ) traffic situation-related first input signals and providing ( 304 ) a traffic situation-related first attention requirement parameter;
receiving ( 305 ) and processing ( 306 ) environmental condition-related second input signals and providing ( 307 ) an environmental condition-related second attention requirement parameter;
receiving ( 308 ) and processing ( 309 ) vehicle status-related third input signals and providing ( 310 ) a vehicle status-related third attention requirement parameter;
receiving ( 311 ) and processing ( 312 ) travel route-related fourth input signals and providing ( 313 ) a travel route-related fourth attention requirement parameter, wherein the travel route-related fourth input signals comprise at least information about a travel history; and
determining ( 314 ) an attention requirement level as a function of current values of the first, second, third, and fourth attention requirement parameters.

18. The method according to claim 17 , further comprising stimulating ( 315 ), with an attention raising device, an attention of the driver of the vehicle as a function of the determined attention requirement level, wherein an amount of stimulation is determined based on the determined attention requirement level.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Stefan Frederic

Classifications

• B60W2555/20

  Ambient conditions, e.g. wind or rain · CPC title

• B60W2554/00

  Input parameters relating to objects · CPC title

• B60W40/10

  related to vehicle motion · CPC title

• H04W4/38

  for collecting sensor information · CPC title

• B60W2554/406

  Traffic density · CPC title