Vehicle driver state determination apparatus
AssigneeDenso Corporation
InventorsHiroshi Morimoto, Ayako Tsunoda, Kaneyoshi Ueda
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle driver state determination apparatus in a vehicle is provided as follows. A specific notification is issued from a driving assistance apparatus in response to an occurrence of a specific event; the specific notification urges the driver to perform a predetermined driving operation. A reaction time is measured from when the specific notification is issued to when the predetermined driving operation is performed by the driver, to evaluate a state relating to a driving ability of the driver.
Claims17
A vehicle driver state determination apparatus provided in a vehicle including a driving assistance apparatus, the vehicle driver state determination apparatus determining a state of a driver of the vehicle, comprising:
- a determination device configured to determine that a specific notification is issued to the driver from the driving assistance apparatus in response to an occurrence of a specific event, the specific notification urging the driver to perform a predetermined driving operation;
- a time measurement device configured to measure a reaction time from when the specific notification is issued to when the predetermined driving operation is performed by the driver, to provide a time measurement result;
- and
- an evaluation device configured to evaluate a state relating to a driving ability of the driver from the time measurement result.
A vehicle driver state determination apparatus provided in a vehicle, comprising:
- at least one control circuit connected with a driving assistance apparatus via a communication link, the at least one control circuit being configured
- to determine that a specific notification is issued to the driver from the driving assistance apparatus at least visually or audibly or tactually by using an in-vehicle output device in response to an occurrence of a specific event during driving of the vehicle, the specific notification urging the driver to perform a predetermined driving operation to drive the vehicle,
- to measure, in response to determining that the specific notification is issued, a reaction time from when the specific notification is issued to when the predetermined driving operation is performed by the driver to operate either a brake or an accelerator,
- to provide the measured reaction time as a time measurement result to evaluate a state relating to a driving ability of the driver,
- to determine whether the measured reaction time is equal to or greater than a threshold value, and
- to alert the driver that the driver is in a state where the driving ability of the driver is reduced, in response to determining that the measured reaction time is equal to or greater than the threshold value.
A vehicle driver state determination apparatus provided in a vehicle, comprising:
- at least one control circuit connected with a driving assistance apparatus via a communication link, the at least one control circuit being configured
- to determine that a specific notification is issued to the driver from the driving assistance apparatus at least visually, audibly, or tactually by using an in-vehicle output device, in response to an occurrence of a specific event, the specific notification urging the driver to perform a predetermined driving operation,
- to measure, in response to determining that the specific notification is issued, a reaction time from when the specific notification is issued to when the predetermined driving operation is performed by the driver to operate either a brake or an accelerator, and
- to provide a time measurement result to evaluate a state relating to a driving ability of the driver, wherein:
- the at least one control circuit is further configured
- to determine that a preceding vehicle start notification is issued as the specific notification from the driving assistance apparatus that is under an execution of the adaptive cruise control function, the preceding vehicle start notification indicating that a preceding vehicle has started after the preceding vehicle stopped and the vehicle then stopped by following the preceding vehicle,
- to measure the reaction time to when a starting operation of starting the vehicle is performed as the predetermined driving operation by the driver, and
- to determine a reaction delay of the driver in response to the time measurement result of the reaction time being equal to or greater than a threshold value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.