IP Library Granted Patent US 12676013
Granted Patent B2
US 12676013 · App. 19/075,293 · Granted Jul 7, 2026

Driver monitoring device and monitoring program

Inventor: Yoshihiro Takahashi (Shizuoka, JP)
Assignee: Yazaki Corporation
G06V20/597G06V40/168H04N23/611
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12676013
App. No.
19/075,293
Granted
Jul 7, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A driver monitoring device includes: a camera (1) configured to capture an image of a driver of a vehicle and surroundings of the driver; a camera (2) having a narrow image capturing range and configured to capture an image of a feature of a face of the driver; a control unit configured to control image capturing timings of the cameras; and a determination unit configured to determine whether the driver is performing an operation unrelated to driving based on the acquired images. When an inattention of the driver is detected based on the image input from the camera (2) in a state in which an input from the camera (1) is stopped, the determination unit starts acquiring the image from the camera (1) and determines whether a detection target or a posture of the driver to be detected is included in the image captured by the camera (1).

Claims (13)

1 . A driver monitoring device comprising:

a first image capturing unit configured to be capable of capturing an image of a driver of a vehicle and surroundings of the driver;

a second image capturing unit having an image capturing field of view range narrower than an image capturing field of view range of the first image capturing unit and configured to be capable of capturing an image of a feature appearing on a face of the driver;

a control unit configured to control image capturing timings of the first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit; and

a determination unit configured to determine whether the driver is performing an operation unrelated to a driving operation based on the images acquired from the first image capturing unit and the second image capturing unit, wherein:

the control unit is configured to, responsive to the determination unit detecting that the driver is inattentive based on the image input from the second image capturing unit in a state in which an input from the first image capturing unit is stopped, cause the first image capturing unit to start acquiring the image, and

the determination unit is configured to, after the control unit causes the first image capturing unit to start acquiring the image responsive to detecting that the driver is inattentive based on the image input from the second image capturing unit in a state in which an input from the first image capturing unit is stopped, determine whether a detection target or a posture of the driver to be detected is included in the image acquired from the first image capturing unit.

2 . The driver monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein

the determination unit detects a mobile terminal present in a region in a vicinity of the driver based on the image captured by the first image capturing unit.

3 . The driver monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein

the determination unit detects at least one of an orientation of the face and a direction of a line of sight of the driver based on the image captured by the second image capturing unit.

4 . The driver monitoring device according to claim 1 , wherein

the determination unit detects at least one of an orientation of the face and a direction of a line of sight of the driver based on the image captured by the second image capturing unit, and determines that the driver is inattentive when the detected orientation of the face or direction of the line of sight is within a range of an inattention condition for a certain time or more.