Information processing apparatus, recording medium, and information processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11904879-B2
Application number	US-202117148723-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 14, 2021
Priority date	Jan 16, 2020
Publication date	Feb 20, 2024
Grant date	Feb 20, 2024

Abstract

An information processing apparatus is mounted on a vehicle. The information processing apparatus includes a control unit that is configured to determine whether or not a driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously, and perform, when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously, a first control process of determining output of a machine mounted on the vehicle to be performed at a second value that is smaller than a first value in a normal state, the first value determined according to first information based on a stroke amount of an accelerator pedal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus to be mounted on a vehicle, the information processing apparatus comprising:
a controller configured to:
determine whether or not a driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously, and
perform, when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously, a first control process of determining a second value of output of a machine mounted on the vehicle according to first information based on a first stroke amount of an accelerator pedal and outputting the second value to the machine to cause the machine to output at the second value, wherein
the second value of the output of the machine is smaller than a first value of the output of the machine that is determined according to the first information based on the first stroke amount of the accelerator pedal when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is not driving dangerously,
the second value of the output of the machine and the first value of the output of the machine both correspond to the same first stroke amount,
in the first control process, the controller acquires position information on the vehicle, determines a road where the vehicle is traveling is an expressway or a local road based on the position information, and determines the second value of the output of the machine in such a way that the second value of the output of the machine is greater in a case where the road where the vehicle is traveling is the expressway than in a case where the road where the vehicle is traveling is the local road, and
in the first control process, when the driver treads the accelerator pedal by the first stroke amount and the output of the machine is the second value, the controller causes audio data of sound that is generated by the output of the machine at the second value to be output from a speaker provided in the vehicle at a volume that is the same as when the driver treads the accelerator pedal by the first stroke amount and the output of the machine is the first value.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller determines the second value of the output of the machine in such a way that the second value of the output of the machine is smaller in a case where a width of the road where the vehicle is traveling is smaller than a predetermined value than in a case where the width of the road where the vehicle is traveling is equal to or greater than the predetermined value.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller causes the first control process to stop, when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is not driving dangerously continuously for a predetermined period of time.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller starts the first control process when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously continuously for a predetermined period of time.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to determine the second value of the output of the machine by multiplying the first value of the output of the machine by a coefficient selected from a plurality of coefficients based upon the position information of the vehicle.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to, in the first control process, provide vibrations to the driver in the same manner as if the output is being performed at the first value.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with a program for causing a computer that is mounted on a vehicle to:
determine whether or not a driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously, and
perform, when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously, a first control process of determining a second value of output of a machine mounted on the vehicle according to first information based on a first stroke amount of an accelerator pedal and outputting the second value to the machine to cause the machine to output at the second value, wherein
the second value of the output of the machine is smaller than a first value of the output of the machine that is determined according to the first information based on the first stroke amount of the accelerator pedal when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is not driving dangerously,
the second value of the output of the machine and the first value of the output of the machine both correspond to the same first stroke amount,
in the first control process, the computer is caused to acquire position information on the vehicle, determine a road where the vehicle is traveling is an expressway or a local road based on the position information, and determine the second value of the output of the machine in such a way that the second value of the output of the machine is greater in a case where the road where the vehicle is traveling is the expressway than in a case where the road where the vehicle is traveling is the local road, and
in the first control process, when the driver treads the accelerator pedal by the first stroke amount and the output of the machine is the second value, the computer is caused to output audio data of sound that is generated by the output of the machine at the second value from a speaker provided in the vehicle at a volume that is the same as when the driver treads the accelerator pedal by the first stroke amount and the output of the machine is the first value.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with the program according to claim 7 , wherein the computer is caused to determine the second value of the output of the machine in such a way that the second value of the output of the machine is smaller in a case where a width of the road where the vehicle is traveling is smaller than a predetermined value than in a case where the width of the road where the vehicle is traveling is equal to or greater than the predetermined value.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with the program according to claim 7 , wherein the computer is caused to stop the first control process when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is not driving dangerously continuously for a predetermined period of time.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with the program according to claim 7 , wherein the computer is caused to start the first control process when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously continuously for a predetermined period of time.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with the program according to claim 7 , wherein the computer is caused to determine the second value of the output of the machine by multiplying the first value of the output of the machine by a coefficient selected from a plurality of coefficients based upon the position information of the vehicle.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recorded with the program according to claim 7 , wherein the computer is caused to, in the first control process, provide vibrations to the driver in the same manner as if the output is being performed at the first value.

13. An information processing method to be performed by an information processing apparatus that is mounted on a vehicle, the information processing method comprising:
determining whether or not a driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously, and
performing, when it is determined that the driver of the vehicle is driving dangerously, a first control process of determining a second val

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Uenoyama Naoki
• Yamane Josuke
• Gotoh Hikaru
• Fukunaga Takumi
• Sakurada Shin
• Kaneko Soutaro
• Minagawa Rio

Classifications

• B60W50/12 Primary

  Limiting control by the driver depending on vehicle state, e.g. interlocking means for the control input for preventing unsafe operation · CPC title

• B60W30/08

  Active safety systems} predicting or avoiding probable or impending collision {or attempting to minimise its consequences · CPC title

• B60W40/09 Primary

  Driving style or behaviour · CPC title

• B60W2540/106

  Rate of change · CPC title

• B60K31/00 Primary

  Vehicle fittings, acting on a single sub-unit only, for automatically controlling vehicle speed, i.e. preventing speed from exceeding an arbitrarily established velocity or maintaining speed at a particular velocity, as selected by the vehicle operator · CPC title