Vehicle operator impairment detection system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9811993-B2
Application number	US-201615137449-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 25, 2016
Priority date	Apr 23, 2015
Publication date	Nov 7, 2017
Grant date	Nov 7, 2017

Abstract

An operator impairment detection system comprising a wearable mobile device including a frame for supporting the wearable mobile device on an operator's face, an accelerometer for sensing acceleration of the wearable mobile device, a proximity sensor configured to be aimed at an eye area of the operator when the operator is wearing the wearable mobile device for sensing the operator's eye closing and opening, and a processor configured to receive acceleration vector data and proximity vector data and run an application for determining when the operator's head nods or rotates and when the operator's eye blinks and for determining when the nod, rotation, and/or blink or combination of nods, rotations, and/or blinks constitutes an operator impairment event, the processor being configured to instruct the wearable mobile device to alert the operator when an impairment event is detected.

First claim

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following:

1. A system for detecting impairment of a vehicle operator, the system comprising:
a wearable mobile device including:
a frame for supporting the wearable mobile device on the operator's head;
a power source for powering electronic components of the wearable mobile device;
an accelerometer for sensing acceleration of the wearable mobile device and for generating acceleration vector data; and
a processor configured to receive acceleration vector data from the accelerometer and to determine impaired operator events based on such acceleration vector data,
wherein the processor is configured to instruct the wearable mobile device to generate an alert when an impaired operator event is detected, and
wherein the processor is further configured to receive inputs from the operator for altering parameters used in determining whether an impaired operator event constitutes actual operator impairment.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the accelerometer is configured to detect acceleration in a first direction corresponding to the operator's head rotating or moving horizontally, acceleration in a second direction corresponding to the operator's head nodding, and acceleration in a third direction corresponding to the operator's head moving forwards and backwards.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to detect a head nod as a series of stationary states and transitional up and down states between the stationary states.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to detect a head rotation as a series of stationary states, and transitional left and transitional right states between the stationary states.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to generate Hidden Markov Models to indirectly detect head rotations and head nods.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the processor is configured to generate a first Hidden Markov Model for detecting head rotations and a second Hidden Markov Model for detecting head nods.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether detected impaired operator events warrant generating an alert for warning the operator of the actual operator impairment.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate time stamps indicating times at which impaired operator events occur.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a transceiver, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit accelerometer vector data and the time stamps corresponding to the impaired operator events to a remote server over a wireless network via the transceiver.

10. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a transceiver, wherein the processor is further configured to generate an impairment notification and transmit the notification to the remote server over the wireless network for alerting an administrator that the operator may be operating the vehicle while impaired.

11. A system for detecting impairment of a vehicle operator, the system comprising:
a wearable mobile device including:
a frame for supporting the wearable mobile device on the operator's head;
a power source for powering electronic components of the wearable mobile device;
a proximity sensor configured to be directed at an eye area of the operator when the operator is wearing the wearable mobile device and to generate proximity vector data corresponding to the operator's eye closing and opening; and
a processor configured to receive proximity vector data from the proximity sensor and to determine impaired operator events based on such proximity vector data,
wherein the processor is configured to instruct the wearable mobile device to generate an alert when an impairment event is detected, and
wherein the processor is further configured to receive inputs from the operator for altering parameters used in determining whether an impaired operator event or collection of impaired operator events constitutes actual operator impairment.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is configured to generate a Hidden Markov Model to indirectly detect eye blinks.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether detected impaired operator events warrant generating an alert for warning the operator of the actual operator impairment based on a predetermined factor.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to determine a frequency of eye blinks over a predetermined threshold to constitute the actual operator impairment.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate time stamps indicating times at which impaired operator events occur.

16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising a transceiver, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit proximity vector data and the time stamps corresponding to the impaired operator events to a remote server over a wireless network via the transceiver.

17. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a transceiver, wherein the processor is further configured to generate an impairment notification and transmit the notification to the remote server over the wireless network for alerting an administrator that the operator may be operating the vehicle while impaired.

Assignees

• Univ Wichita State

Inventors

• He Jibo
• Ren Zhiquan

Classifications

• G06F1/1694

  the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer · CPC title

• G06F1/163

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · CPC title

• G08B21/0446

  worn on the body to detect changes of posture, e.g. a fall, inclination, acceleration, gait · CPC title

• G08B21/0423

  detecting deviation from an expected pattern of behaviour or schedule · CPC title

• G08B21/0476

  Cameras to detect unsafe condition, e.g. video cameras · CPC title