Vehicle control system and vehicle control method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11414052-B2
Application number	US-202117329495-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 25, 2021
Priority date	May 27, 2020
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

The present invention includes: a vehicle exterior image acquisition unit acquiring a vehicle exterior image being an image of an external surrounding of a vehicle; a vehicle interior image acquisition unit acquiring a vehicle interior image being an image of an interior of the vehicle; a person recognition unit respectively recognizing, based on the vehicle exterior and interior images, motions of a person outside the vehicle and a person in the vehicle; and a door control unit controlling a state of a door of the vehicle, wherein, if a person outside the vehicle approaching the vehicle has been recognized based on a recognition result of the person recognition unit, the door control unit executes an opening operation on the door if it has been determined that the person in the vehicle has performed a specific motion determined in advance regarding the approaching person outside the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle control system comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor:
acquires a vehicle exterior image obtained by capturing any one of a front area, a right area, a left area, and a rear area of a vehicle;
acquires a vehicle interior image, which is an image of an interior of the vehicle;
respectively recognizes, based on the vehicle exterior image and the vehicle interior image, motions of a person outside the vehicle and a person in the vehicle; and
controls a state of a door of the vehicle,
wherein,
a facial image of a registered user registered as a user of the vehicle is recorded in advance in the memory,
the processor
for each person in the vehicle, compares the facial image of the registered user recorded in the memory with the face of the person in the in-vehicle image to determine whether or not each person in the vehicle is the registered user,
recognizes a motion of a person outside the vehicle and the registered user in the vehicle from the vehicle exterior image and the vehicle interior image, and when it is determined based on a recognition result that the registered user in the vehicle and the approaching person outside the vehicle performed a specific motion determined in advance toward each other, executes an opening operation on the door closest to the approaching person outside the vehicle.

2. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein the specific motion is to keep directing one's face or gaze toward a subject person for a predetermined period of time or longer.

3. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein the specific motion is a specific facial expression being formed or a specific gesture being performed with respect to a subject person.

4. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein the processor sends a specific notification to the registered user of the vehicle if the person in the vehicle who has performed the specific motion with the approaching person outside the vehicle as a subject person is not the registered user, and executes the opening operation on the door when the registered user has returned an affirmative instruction with respect to the specific notification.

5. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 ,
wherein, if unit the processor has recognized a plurality of the approaching persons outside the vehicle, the processor sends a notification including facial images of the recognized plurality of approaching persons outside the vehicle to the registered user, and executes the opening operation on the door when the registered user has returned an affirmative instruction with respect to the notification.

6. The vehicle control system according to claim 5 , wherein, among the recognized plurality of approaching persons outside the vehicle, the processor does not include in the notification a facial image of a subject person of the specific motion of the person in the vehicle.

7. The vehicle control system according to claim 1 , wherein the opening operation is an automatic operation of opening the door, or an operation of setting the door to be openable from outside the vehicle.

8. A vehicle control method executed by a computer performing vehicle control, the method comprising the steps of:
acquiring a vehicle exterior image, which is an image obtained by capturing any one of a front area, a right area, a left area, and a rear area of a vehicle;
acquiring a vehicle interior image, which is an image of an interior of the vehicle;
respectively recognizing, based on the vehicle exterior image and the vehicle interior image, motions of a person outside the vehicle and a person in the vehicle;
controlling a state of a door of the vehicle;
recording a facial image of a registered user registered as a user of the vehicle in advance;
for each person in the vehicle, determining whether or not each person in the vehicle is the registered user by comparing the facial image of the registered user recorded with the face of the person in the in-vehicle image;
recognizing a motion of a person outside the vehicle and the registered user in the vehicle from the from the vehicle exterior image and the vehicle interior image, and when it is determined based on a recognition result that the registered user in the vehicle and the approaching person outside the vehicle performed a specific motion determined in advance toward each other, executing an opening operation of the door closest to the approaching person outside the vehicle.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Morosawa Ryo
• Liu Haisong
• Nakajima Akira
• Okuma Kenji
• Maruyama Hiroaki
• Matsuo Yoshikazu
• Higashi Shuto
• Yamaguchi Fumiaki

Classifications

• G06V40/20

  Movements or behaviour, e.g. gesture recognition (recognition of facial expressions G06V40/16) · CPC title

• B60R25/31 Primary

  of human presence inside or outside the vehicle · CPC title

• B60R25/1001 Primary

  Alarm systems associated with another car fitting or mechanism, e.g. door lock or knob, pedals (features related to the general power supply B60R25/1018) · CPC title

• G06V20/597

  Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness · CPC title

• G06V40/174

  Facial expression recognition · CPC title