Advanced seatbelt interlock using video recognition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9365186-B2
Application number	US-201414461423-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 17, 2014
Priority date	Aug 17, 2014
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

Computing devices, methods, and systems for locking vehicle operations when an occupant is not wearing a correctly positioned seatbelt are disclosed. One example method for locking vehicle operations includes identifying an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant; determining whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model; and locking one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt. Example implementations include using depth-sensing cameras, rendering a three-dimensional model representing the occupant position and the seatbelt position, and comparing the three-dimensional model and the reference model. Examples of vehicle operations that may be locked include ignition operations, gear shift operations, and autonomous driving operations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device for a vehicle, comprising:
one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device; and
a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
identify an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;
determine whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways; and
lock one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the information relating to the occupant and the seatbelt are received from one or more optical sensors associated with the vehicle.

3. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the one or more optical sensors are cameras.

4. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein the one or more optical sensors are depth-sensing cameras.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to render a three-dimensional model representing the occupant position and the seatbelt position.

6. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein the determining whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt is based at least in part on a comparison of the three-dimensional model and the reference model.

7. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein at least one of the three-dimensional model and the reference model comprise skeletal joint relationship information.

8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the reference model is received by the computing device from a remote source.

9. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more vehicle operations include at least one of an ignition operation and a gear shift operation.

10. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to issue a warning before locking the one or more vehicle operations.

11. A computing device for a vehicle, comprising:
one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device; and
a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
identify an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;
determine whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including at least one of: one or more skeletal models, one or more seatbelt models, or one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways; and
lock one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt, the one or more vehicle operations including an autonomous driving operation.

12. A computing device for a vehicle, comprising:
one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device; and
a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
identify an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;
determine whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including at least one of: one or more skeletal models, one or more seatbelt models, or one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways;
lock one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt; and
issue one or more commands to one or more vehicle systems to autonomously divert the vehicle to a safe location.

13. A computer-implemented method for a vehicle, comprising:
identifying an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;
determining whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways; and
locking one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the information relating to the occupant and the seatbelt is received from one or more optical sensors associated with the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the one or more optical sensors are depth-sensing cameras.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising rendering a three-dimensional model representing the occupant position and the seatbelt position.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the determination whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt is based at least in part on a comparison of the three-dimensional model and the reference model.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein at least one of the three-dimensional model and the reference model comprise skeletal joint relationship information.

19. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more vehicle operations includes at least one of an ignition operation, a gear shift operation, and an autonomous driving operation.

20. A system comprising:
one or more optical sensors associated with a vehicle;
a computing device in communication with the one or more optical sensors, the computing device comprising one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device and a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to:
identify an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information received from the one or more optical sensors relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;
determine whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways; and
lock one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt.

Assignees

• Toyota Eng & Mfg North America

Inventors

• Gulash Emery Charles

Classifications

• B60R22/48 Primary

  Control systems, alarms, or interlock systems, for the correct application of the belt or harness · CPC title

• B60R2022/4891

  preventing use of the vehicle when the seatbelt is not fastened · CPC title

• G05D1/0055

  with safety arrangements · CPC title

• B60R2022/485

  for sensing belt anchor position, belt orientation, or the like · CPC title

• G06T17/20

  Finite element generation, e.g. wire-frame surface description, {tesselation} · CPC title