Apparatus and method for detecting driver status

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9682711-B2
Application number	US-201514599230-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 16, 2015
Priority date	Jul 23, 2014
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

An apparatus for detecting a driver status may include an information acquisition unit acquiring driver's vehicle driving information, driver's vehicle operation information, and driver status information, a calculation unit calculating a driving load indicated by converting a factor obstructing safe driving into a numerical value, based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit, a comparison unit between the driving load calculated by the calculation unit and a preset load margin, and a warning unit warning the driver when the comparison unit determines that the calculated driving load exceeds the preset load margin.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for controlling a vehicle based on detecting a driver status, the apparatus comprising:
an information acquisition unit configured to acquire driver status information that comprises signals indicative of heart conditions of a driver while the driver is driving the vehicle; and
at least one processor configured to perform at least one predetermined processing of the signals and further configured to determine whether the driver is in an abnormal condition at least based on results of the at least one predetermined processing of the signals;
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to perform an emergency control routine for a forced stop of the vehicle via a steering control, a transmission control and a brake control against the driver's control of the vehicle when it is determined that the driver is in an abnormal condition while driving,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine a driver status utilizing the driver's brainwave information from an EEG sensor,
wherein determining the driver status comprises computing a brainwave load using the following equation:

W
EED

=

φ
×

α
⁢

⁢
wave

β
⁢

⁢
wave

wherein W EED =brainwave load,
φ=preset brainwave load weighting,
α wave=mean frequency of α wave extracted for a unit time, and
β wave=mean frequency of β wave extracted for a unit time.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising:
a calculation unit configured to calculate a driving load by converting a factor obstructing safe driving into a numerical value, based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit;
a comparison unit configured to compare between the driving load calculated by the calculation unit and a preset load margin;
a warning unit configured to provide a warning to the driver when the comparison unit determines that the calculated driving load exceeds the preset load margin; and
the information acquisition unit further comprising a vehicle driving information acquisition portion, a vehicle operation information acquisition portion, and a driver status information acquisition portion,
wherein the at least one processor further configured to perform the emergency control routine for a forced stop of the vehicle without the warning from the warning unit.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the vehicle driving information acquisition portion comprises one or more of an accelerator pedal operation sensor, a brake pedal operation sensor, a steering wheel operation sensor, a multifunctional switch operation sensor, a clutch pedal operation sensor, and a transmission operation sensor, in order to acquire information generated when the driver drives a vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the vehicle operation information acquisition portion comprises one or more of an air conditioning device switch operation sensor and an AVN (audio/video/navigation) switch operation sensor, in order to acquire information generated when the driver operates a vehicle.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the driver status information acquisition portion comprises one or more of a microphone, a driver observation camera, an ECG (electrocardiogram) sensor, an EEG (electroencephalogram) sensor, and a PPG (photoplethysmography) sensor, in order to acquire information according to a driver status during driving of a vehicle.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the warning unit comprises one or more of a warning sound output device, a driving load display device, and a vehicle control device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the signals of heart condition are from at least one of an ECG sensor and a PPG sensor.

8. A method of controlling a vehicle based on detecting a driver status, comprising:
acquiring, using a sensor, driver's status information while the vehicle is being driven by a driver, the driver status information comprising signals indicative of heart conditions of the driver while the driver is driving the vehicle;
performing, using at least one processor, at least one predetermined processing of the signals and determining whether the driver is in an abnormal condition at least based on results of the at least one predetermined processing of the signals;
when it is determined that the driver is in an abnormal condition while driving, performing, using the at least one processor, an emergency control routine for a forced stop of the vehicle via a steering control, a transmission control and a brake control against the driver's control of the vehicle; and
determining, using the at least one processor, a driver status utilizing the driver's brainwave information from an EEG sensor,
wherein determining the driver status comprises computing a brainwave load using the following equation:

W
EED

=

φ
×

α
⁢

⁢
wave

β
⁢

⁢
wave

wherein W EED =brainwave load,
φ=preset brainwave load weighting,
α wave=mean frequency of α wave extracted for a unit time, and
β wave=mean frequency of β wave extracted for a unit time.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
calculating a driving load by converting a factor obstructing safe driving into a numerical value, based on the acquired information;
comparing the calculated driving load with a preset load margin; and
warning the driver when the driving load of the driver exceeds the preset load margin,
wherein acquiring further comprises acquiring vehicle driving information, and acquiring vehicle operation information,
wherein, when it is determined that the driver is in an abnormal condition, the emergency control routine for a forced stop of the vehicle is performed before calculating, comparing and warning.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the driving information comprises one or more of accelerator pedal operation information, brake pedal operation information, steering wheel operation information, and multifunctional switch operation information which are generated when the driver drives a vehicle.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle operation information comprises one or more of AVN operation information and air conditioning device operation information which are generated when the driver operates a vehicle.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the driver's status information further comprises one or more of driver's voice information, driver's forward

Assignees

• Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Sang-Gwon

Classifications

• B60W40/09

  Driving style or behaviour · CPC title

• A61B5/163

  by tracking eye movement, gaze, or pupil change · CPC title

• A61B5/0205

  Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition · CPC title

• B60W2050/143

  Alarm means · CPC title

• A61B5/18

  for vehicle drivers {or machine operators} · CPC title