Driving support device and driving support method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016152182-A1
Application number	US-201514881638-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 13, 2015
Priority date	Nov 28, 2014
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A driving support device for supporting driving of a vehicle by a driver, includes: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to: determine a danger level indicating a level of danger regarding a target object, based on at least one of a relative velocity of the target object with respect to the vehicle and a relative distance between the vehicle and the target object, determine, based on information of a trajectory of a line of sight of the driver, an evaluation value indicating a first probability at which the driver becomes aware of the target object, and determine, based on the danger level and the evaluation value, a form of notifying the driver of the target object.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A driving support device for supporting driving of a vehicle by a driver, comprising:
a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
determine a danger level indicating a level of danger regarding a target object, based on at least one of a relative velocity of the target object with respect to the vehicle and a relative distance between the vehicle and the target object,
determine, based on information of a trajectory of a line of sight of the driver, an evaluation value indicating a first probability at which the driver becomes aware of the target object, and
determine, based on the danger level and the evaluation value, a form of notifying the driver of the target object.

2 . The driving support device according to claim 1 , wherein the target object is another vehicle.

3 . The driving support device according to claim 2 , wherein the another vehicle travels on a rear side of the vehicle.

4 . The driving support device according to claim 3 , further comprising:
a first camera configured to acquire a first video image of a region located on the rear side of the vehicle; and a display configured to display the first video image.

5 . The driving support device according to claim 4 , wherein the display highlights the another vehicle on the first video image according to the form.

6 . The driving support device according to claim 5 , wherein, as the danger level is higher and the evaluation value is lower, the display highlights the another vehicle on the first video image more strongly.

7 . The driving support device according to claim 5 , further comprising
a second camera configured to acquire a second video image capturing eyes of the driver, wherein the information of the trajectory is generated based on the second video image.

8 . The driving support device according to claim 7 , wherein the evaluation value is related to a frequency at which the driver places the line of sight on the display.

9 . The driving support device according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to update the evaluation value to another evaluation value indicating a second probability at which the driver becomes aware of the another vehicle and is higher than the first probability when the driver is determined to have looked at the display within a certain time period after the display highlighted the another vehicle.

10 . The driving support device according to claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to:
determine, as the danger level, a first level from among a plurality of first levels based on at least one of the relative velocity and the relative distance, determine, as the evaluation value, a second level from among a plurality of second levels based on the trajectory of the line of sight, and control the form of notifying the driver based on the first level and the second level.

11 . The driving support device according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to maintain a level of highlighting the another vehicle based on the first level and the second level.

12 . The driving support device according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to change the level of highlighting the another vehicle in a stepwise manner based on the first level and the second level.

13 . The driving support device according to claim 3 , wherein
the danger level is a higher one of a first danger level band a second danger level, the first danger level is based on a collision margin time obtained by dividing the relative distance by the relative velocity, and the second danger level is based on the relative distance.

14 . The driving support device according to claim 4 , wherein the processor is configured to:
detect the another vehicle from the first video image, and calculate the evaluation value when a time period from the time when the another vehicle is detected to the time when the another vehicle overtakes the vehicle is longer than a threshold.

15 . The driving support device according to claim 3 , further comprising
a sensor configured to detect illuminance of a region surrounding the vehicle, wherein the evaluation value is determined based on the illuminance.

16 . A driving support method, executed by a computer, for supporting driving of a vehicle by a driver, the driving support method comprising:
determining a danger level indicating a level of danger regarding a target object, based on at least one of a relative velocity of the target object with respect to the vehicle and a relative distance between the vehicle and the target object; determining, based on information of a trajectory of a line of sight of the driver, an evaluation value indicating a first probability at which the driver becomes aware of the target object; and determining, based on the danger level and the evaluation value, a form of notifying the driver of the target object.

17 . A non-transitory storage medium storing a driving support program for supporting driving of a vehicle by a driver, which causes a computer to execute a procedure, the procedure comprising:
determining a danger level indicating a level of danger regarding a target object, based on at least one of a relative velocity of the target object with respect to the vehicle and a relative distance between the vehicle and the target object; determining, based on information of a trajectory of a line of sight of the driver, an evaluation value indicating a first probability at which the driver becomes aware of the target object; and determining, based on the danger level and the evaluation value, a form of notifying the driver of the target object.

Assignees

• Fujitsu Ltd

Inventors

• Aoki Yasuhiro
• Mizutani Masami

Classifications

• B60W50/14 Primary

  Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention · CPC title

• G08G1/166

  for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes · CPC title

• B60W30/0956

  the prediction being responsive to traffic or environmental parameters · CPC title

• B60W2540/221

  Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs · CPC title

• B60Q9/008 Primary

  for anti-collision purposes · CPC title