System and method for controlling vehicle based on condition of driver

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019135291-A1
Application number	US-201816180468-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 5, 2018
Priority date	Nov 3, 2017
Publication date	May 9, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system and method for controlling a vehicle based on a driver status are disclosed. The vehicle control system includes various sensing devices (including a camera, a vehicle dynamics sensor, a vehicle around view monitoring (AVM) camera, a periphery surveillance sensor, and a navigation device) and an electronic control unit (ECU). The ECU may analyze a driver status through the driver's face and pupils recognized by output signals of the sensing devices. If the driver has no intention to drive the vehicle, the ECU may control the vehicle to stop on a road shoulder, resulting in guarantee of safer driving.

First claim

1 . A method for controlling a vehicle comprising:
recognizing driver monitoring information by acquiring images of driver's face and pupils through a driver surveillance camera; analyzing a driver status using the recognized driver monitoring information; and if the analyzed driver status is considered abnormal and the driver has no intention to drive the vehicle, controlling the vehicle to move toward the road shoulder as well as to stop on the road shoulder.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the controlling the vehicle to move toward the road shoulder as well as to stop on the road shoulder includes:
if the analyzed driver status is considered abnormal, warning the driver of careless driving; if the driver has no intention to drive the vehicle irrespective of the warning of careless driving, determining whether the vehicle is able to move toward the road shoulder; and controlling the vehicle to move toward and stop on the road shoulder when the vehicle is able to move toward the road shoulder, and controlling deceleration and stoppage of the vehicle when the vehicle is unable to move toward the road shoulder.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the controlling the vehicle to move toward and stop on the road shoulder includes:
detecting the presence or absence of a shoulder in which the vehicle is able to enter; determining whether a current position of the vehicle is a lane nearest to the detected shoulder; determining whether a lane of the shoulder has a sufficiently large width in which the vehicle is able to stop on the shoulder; detecting the presence or absence of a peripheral vehicle traveling on the shoulder; if the peripheral vehicle traveling on the shoulder is not detected, calculating a vehicle stop point on the shoulder; and allowing the vehicle to move toward the calculated stop point of the shoulder, and allowing the vehicle to stop on the calculated stop point of the shoulder.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the controlling the vehicle to move toward and stop on the road shoulder further includes:
if the current position of the vehicle does not indicate a lane nearest to the shoulder, allowing the vehicle to move from a current lane to the lane nearest to the shoulder.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the detecting the presence or absence of the shoulder in which the vehicle is able to enter includes:
upon receiving information about the presence of a shoulder in a forward region of the vehicle, information about horizontal/vertical distances from the vehicle to a start point of the shoulder, or information about horizontal/vertical distances from the vehicle to an end point of the shoulder from a navigation device, detecting the shoulder based on the received information; or if a right solid lane and a road edge of a next lane are recognized through a vehicle around view monitoring (AVM) camera, detecting the shoulder based on the recognized information.

6 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the determining whether the current position of the vehicle is the lane nearest to the shoulder includes:
receiving a horizontal distance from the vehicle to a start point of the shoulder from a navigation device; and if the received horizontal distance from the vehicle to the start point of the shoulder is equal to or shorter than a predetermined distance, determining that the current position of the vehicle is the lane nearest to the shoulder.

7 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the allowing the vehicle to move from the current lane to the lane nearest to the shoulder includes:
recognizing information about objects located in backward and peripheral regions of the vehicle through a vehicle dynamics sensor, a vehicle around view monitoring (AVM) camera, and a periphery surveillance sensor, and determining whether lane change of the vehicle is available based on the recognized information; and if lane change of the vehicle is available, allowing the vehicle to move from the current lane to the lane nearest to the shoulder.

8 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the calculating the vehicle stop point on the shoulder includes:
calculating the vehicle stop point on the shoulder using a distance from the vehicle to an end point of the shoulder or using an end point of a road edge.

9 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
turning on an emergency light; or transmitting vehicle information, driver information, and driver status information to a central control center, and thus requesting an ambulance or police from the central control center.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
if the analyzed driver status is considered normal, analyzing driver's pupils, and controlling the vehicle based on movement of the driver's pupils.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the analyzing the driver's pupils includes:
performing zero calibration on an image of the driver's pupils; filtering out meaningless movement irrelevant to vehicle control from among movements of the driver's pupils; and detecting movement of the driver's pupils requesting vehicle control from among the movements of the driver's pupils.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the performing the zero calibration on the image of the driver's pupils includes:
when the driver gazes at a left lane with respect to a current lane, storing position information of the driver's pupils captured by a camera; when the driver looks forward in the current lane, storing position information of the driver's pupils captured by the camera; and when the driver gazes at a right lane with respect to the current lane, storing position information of the driver's pupils captured by the camera.

13 . The method according to claims 11 , wherein the filtering out the meaningless movement of the driver's pupils includes:
transmitting current gaze position information of the driver to a vehicle around view monitoring (AVM) camera; detecting the presence or absence of any object within regions gazed at by the driver using the vehicle AVM camera; and if the detected object does not indicate a vehicle lane or road, determining movement of the driver's pupils to be meaningless movement.

14 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the detecting the movement of the driver's pupils requesting vehicle control includes:
if movement of the driver's pupils is not identical to meaningless movement, if a vehicle lane is detected in regions gazed at by the driver, and if the driver gazes at a vehicle lane region in which the vehicle is scheduled to enter, for a predetermined time, determining occurrence of movement of the driver's pupils requesting vehicle control; or if dilation of the driver's pupils occurs, determining occurrence of movement of the driver's pupils requesting vehicle control.

Assignees

• Mando Corp

Inventors

• Sim Sang Kyun

Classifications

• B60W2540/221

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

• A61B5/165

  Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety · CPC title

• A61B5/1112

  Global tracking of patients, e.g. by using GPS · CPC title

• A61B5/1122

  of movement trajectories · CPC title

• B60W30/143

  Speed control (B60W30/16 takes precedence) · CPC title