Vehicle interior monitoring apparatus, vehicle interior monitoring method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2024257628-A1
Application number	US-202118565593-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 4, 2021
Priority date	Jun 4, 2021
Publication date	Aug 1, 2024
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle interior monitoring apparatus ( 10 ) includes an acquisition unit ( 110 ), a detection unit ( 120 ), and a notification processing unit ( 130 ). The acquisition unit ( 110 ) repeatedly acquires, after a power source of a vehicle is turned off and a door of the vehicle is opened and closed at least once, sensor data indicating a result of detection by a sensor of which a detection range is an interior of the vehicle. The detection unit ( 120 ) performs, by using the sensor data, detection processing of a living body existing in the interior, each time the acquisition unit ( 110 ) acquires the sensor data. The notification processing unit ( 130 ) performs monitoring on an environment of the interior when a living body existing in the interior is detected, and performs notification for a pre-registered terminal ( 40 ) when the environment meets a first criterion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A vehicle interior monitoring apparatus, comprising:
at least one memory configured to store instructions; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising: repeatedly acquiring, after a power source of a vehicle is turned off and a door of the vehicle is opened and closed at least once, sensor data indicating a result of detection by a sensor of which a detection range is an interior of the vehicle; performing, by using the sensor data, detection processing of a living body existing in the interior, each time the sensor data is acquired; and performing monitoring on an environment of the interior when a living body existing in the interior is detected, and performing predetermined notification for a pre-registered terminal when the environment meets a first criterion.

2 . The vehicle interior monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the sensor includes an imaging apparatus.

3 . The vehicle interior monitoring apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the sensor further includes at least one of a millimetric wave sensor, an infrared sensor, a temperature sensor, and a vibration sensor.

4 . The vehicle interior monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the operations further comprise stooping the detection processing after a living body existing in the interior is detected until a door of the vehicle is opened.

5 . The vehicle interior monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the environment includes temperature.

6 . The vehicle interior monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise,
when the environment exceeds the first criterion, causing an output apparatus installed in the vehicle to perform predetermined output.

7 . The vehicle interior monitoring apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the living body includes at least one of a person and an animal.

8 . The vehicle interior monitoring apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise
estimating age of a person when the living body is the person, and performing the notification when the age meets a second criterion.

9 . A vehicle interior monitoring method executed by a computer, the vehicle interior monitoring method comprising:
acquisition processing of repeatedly acquiring, after a power source of a vehicle is turned off and a door of the vehicle is opened and closed at least once, sensor data indicating a result of detection by a sensor of which a detection range is an interior of the vehicle; detection processing of performing, by using the sensor data, detection on a living body existing in the interior, each time the sensor data is acquired; and notification processing of performing monitoring on an environment of the interior when a living body existing in the interior is detected, and performing predetermined notification for a pre-registered terminal when the environment meets a first criterion.

10 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a program for causing a computer to perform operations, the operations comprising:
repeatedly acquiring, after a power source of a vehicle is turned off and a door of the vehicle is opened and closed at least once, sensor data indicating a result of detection by a sensor of which a detection range is an interior of the vehicle; performing, by using the sensor data, detection processing of a living body existing in the interior, each time the sensor data is acquired; and performing monitoring on an environment of the interior when a living body existing in the interior is detected, and performing predetermined notification for a pre-registered terminal when the environment meets a first criterion.

Assignees

• Nec Corp

Inventors

• Kawamura Toshiaki
• Watanabe Yoshihiro
• Suzuki Yuichi

Classifications

• G08B21/24

  Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms · CPC title

• G08B21/182

  Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold · CPC title

• G06V40/178

  estimating age from face image; using age information for improving recognition · CPC title

• G06V20/59

  inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions · CPC title

• G08B25/005

  Alarm destination chosen according to a hierarchy of available destinations, e.g. if hospital does not answer send to police station · CPC title