Pedestrian device and traffic safety assistance method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022262236-A1
Application number	US-202017610864-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 18, 2020
Priority date	May 20, 2019
Publication date	Aug 18, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention relates to a pedestrian device and a traffic safety assistance method which can effectively and properly support pedestrian's safety confirmation by utilizing vehicle-to-pedestrian communications and an AR device. A pedestrian device of the present invention includes: an ITS communication device 21 (pedestrian-vehicle communication device) configured to perform vehicle-to-pedestrian communications with an in-vehicle terminal 2; a processor 32 configured to determine if there is a risk of collision based on information transmitted to and received from the in-vehicle device, and control provision of an alert to a user of the pedestrian device; and an AR display 26 for displaying a virtual object overlaid on a real space which can be seen by the user, wherein the processor controls display of the virtual object (virtual terminal) on the AR display as an alert operation to provide an alert to the user.

First claim

1 . A pedestrian device comprising:
a pedestrian-vehicle communication device for exchanging information with an in-vehicle device mounted in a vehicle via vehicle-to-pedestrian communications; an AR display for displaying a virtual object(s) overlaid on a real space which can be seen by a user of the pedestrian device; and a processor configured to: determine if there is a risk of collision with the vehicle based on the information transmitted to and received from the in-vehicle device; and when determining that there is a risk of collision, control display of the virtual object(s) on the AR display as an alert operation to provide an alert to the user.

2 . The pedestrian device according to claim 1 , further comprising a field-of-view camera for capturing the user's field of view,
wherein the processor is configured to: detect a palm and a fingertip of the user from an image captured by the field-of-view camera; display a virtual terminal as the virtual object at a position of the user's palm; and detect the user's screen operation on the virtual terminal based on positions of the fingertip of the user, and control a screen displayed on the virtual terminal in response to the screen operation.

3 . The pedestrian device according to claim 2 , further comprising a line-of-sight camera for capturing an eyeball of the user,
wherein the processor is configured to: acquire position data of a point of regard of the user from an image captured by the line-of-sight camera; determine whether or not the user is looking at the virtual terminal based on the position data of the point of regard; when determining that there is a risk of collision and that the user is looking at the visual terminal, performs the alert operation to provide an alert to the user.

4 . The pedestrian device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to, when determining that there is a risk of collision, predict a collision point where the collision is predicted to occur, and display a mark image representing the collision point as the virtual object.

5 . The pedestrian device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to, when determining that there is a risk of collision, predict a collision scene and display simulated images of a pedestrian and a vehicle included in the collision scene as the virtual objects.

6 . The pedestrian device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to display at least one of a mark image and a simulated image representing a position of a vehicle having a risk of collision as the virtual object(s).

7 . The pedestrian device according to claim 1 , wherein, when detecting that the user has gotten in a vehicle as a driver, the processor transitions to an in-vehicle terminal mode and controls the display of the virtual object(s) so as to support safe driving of the driver.

8 . The pedestrian device according to claim 7 , wherein the pedestrian-vehicle communication device is configured to receive information on a direction of line of sight of s nearby pedestrian from a pedestrian device carried by the nearby pedestrian, and
wherein the processor is configured to display an image representing the direction of the line of sight of the nearby pedestrian as the virtual object based on the information on the direction of the line of sight of the nearby pedestrian.

9 . The pedestrian device according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is configured to display at least one of a mark image and a simulated image representing a position of a pedestrian having a risk of collision as the virtual object(s).

10 . The pedestrian device according to claim 1 , wherein the pedestrian-vehicle communication device is configured to receive information on a direction of line of sight of a driver of a nearby vehicle from the in-vehicle device mounted therein, and
wherein the processor is configured to display an image representing the direction of the line of sight of the nearby driver as the virtual object based on the information on the direction of the line of sight of the nearby driver.

11 . A traffic safety assistance method for exchanging information between a pedestrian device and an in-vehicle device to support safety of a pedestrian and a vehicle, wherein the pedestrian device determines if there is a risk of collision between the vehicle and the pedestrian based on information transmitted to and received from the in-vehicle device, and
when determining that there is a risk of collision, the pedestrian device controls display of a virtual object on an AR display, wherein the AR display displays the virtual object overlaid on a real space which can be seen by a user of the pedestrian device.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ueno Tsuyoshi
• Sugahara Masahito
• Muramatsu Shintaro
• Okubo Yoshiyuki

Classifications

• G08G1/163

  involving continuous checking · CPC title

• G08G1/005 Primary

  including pedestrian guidance indicator · CPC title

• G02B2027/0167

  Emergency system, e.g. to prevent injuries · CPC title

• G02B27/0101

  characterised by optical features (G02B27/0172 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G02B2027/0141

  characterised by the informative content of the display · CPC title