# US 11,897,484 B2 · Vehicle occupant assistance apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,897,484 B2 - Document ID: US11897484B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/356,519 - Filed: 2021-06-24 - Published: 2022-03-10 - Granted: 2024-02-13 - Earliest claimed: 2020-09-04 - Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Teiko Inoue; Mitsuyoshi Ohno - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11897484B2 ## CPC - B60W 50/0098: {Details of control systems ensuring comfort, safety or stability not otherwise provided for} - B60W 60/0013: {specially adapted for occupant comfort} - B60W 40/06: Road conditions - B60W 40/10: related to vehicle motion - B60W 50/0097: {Predicting future conditions} - B60W 50/14: Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention - B60W 2050/146: {Display means} - B60W 2420/403: Image sensing, e.g. optical camera - B60W 2540/01: Occupants other than the driver - B60W 2552/35: Road bumpiness, e.g. potholes - B60W 2720/106: Longitudinal acceleration - B60W 2720/125: Lateral acceleration - B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT ## Abstract A vehicle occupant assistance apparatus predicts acceleration occurring when a vehicle is traveling. When a make-up mode is activated, assistance information is notified before a predetermined value of the acceleration occurs, based on predicted values of the acceleration. Thus, since the assistance information is notified to an occupant before the vehicle shakes due to the predetermined value of the acceleration, assistance taking a shake of the vehicle into consideration can be rendered to the occupant who applies make-up when the vehicle is traveling. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A vehicle occupant assistance apparatus for a vehicle, comprising: an automatic driving control section that causes the vehicle to travel by automatic driving, based on a route and operation plan; an activation section that activates, during the automatic driving, a make-up mode in which an occupant is assisted in applying make-up to the occupant, and terminates the make-up mode in response to the automatic driving being finished; an acceleration prediction section that predicts acceleration occurring when the vehicle is traveling by the automatic driving, based on the route and operation plan; an identification section configured to, in a state where the make-up mode is activated during the automatic driving, identify a site to which the occupant applies make-up; and a notification section that, in the state where the make-up mode is activated during the automatic driving, notifies of assistance information for assisting the occupant in applying make-up before a predetermined value of the acceleration occurs, based on predicted values of the acceleration, wherein the activation section activates the make-up mode when a cover part of a mirror part on a sun visor provided in a vehicle cabin is opened, the notification section is configured to change the predetermined value of the acceleration, according to the site identified, wherein in response to the site to which the occupant applies make-up being identified as an eye, the notification section is configured to set the predetermined value to a first predetermined value, and in response to the site to which the occupant applies make-up being identified as a mouth, the notification section is configured to set the predetermined value to a second predetermined value, wherein the first predetermined value is smaller than the second predetermined value, the acceleration prediction section predicts accelerations in a plurality of directions occurring when the vehicle is traveling by the automatic driving, and in the state where the make-up mode is activated during the automatic driving, the notification section notifies the occupant of, among the plurality of directions, a direction in which the vehicle will shake, in response to the acceleration predicted in said direction exceeding a corresponding threshold. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined value of the acceleration is equal to or more than a first threshold value. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined value of the acceleration is a value of integral equal to or more than a second threshold value, the value of integral being within a predetermined time period for which the acceleration that is equal to or more than the first threshold value occurs. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the predetermined value of the acceleration is a synthesized value of accelerations that is equal to or more than a third threshold value, the synthesized value of accelerations being obtained by synthesizing accelerations in two or more directions among the accelerations in the plurality of directions. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the accelerations in the two or more directions are accelerations in three axial directions occurring when the vehicle is traveling, the three axial directions being directions along a vehicle-height direction, a vehicle front-rear direction, and a vehicle-width direction. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the notification section is configured to, in response to the site to which the occupant applies make-up being identified as other than the eye and the mouth, set the predetermined value to a third predetermined value greater than the first and second predetermined values. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification section configured to identify a make-up tool used by the occupant, based on a video from a camera that shoots an image of the occupant in the vehicle cabin, and identify the site to which the occupant applies make-up, based on a type of the make-up tool. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a route and operation plan configuration section configured to configure the route and operation plan for the vehicle, based on surroundings information or map information. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the direction in which the vehicle will shake is a vehicle-height direction of the vehicle, and the acceleration prediction section predicts the acceleration in the vehicle-height direction based on information related to road roughness included in the map information. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The vehicle occupant assistance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in a coordinate system comprising a first axis corresponding to a first direction among the plurality of directions, and a second axis corresponding to a second direction among the plurality of directions, the first predetermined value is on a first two-dimensional line intersecting the first and second axes correspondingly at first and second values, and the second predetermined value is on a second two-dimensional line intersecting the first and second axes correspondingly at third and fourth values, the third value greater than the first value, the fourth value greater than the second value.