IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,688,185
Granted Patent B2
US 11,688,185 · App. 17/683,414 · Granted Jun 27, 2023

Consciousness state determination system and autonomous driving apparatus

Inventor: Takeshi Matsumura (Toyota, JP)
Assignee: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
G06V20/597B60W40/08B60W40/105B60W50/14G06V40/161G06V40/18H04W4/027H04W4/12B60W2040/0827B60W2050/143B60W2050/146B60W2420/42B60W2540/225B60W2540/229
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,688,185
App. No.
17/683,414
Granted
Jun 27, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

A consciousness state determination system comprises a first image-taking section which is mounted on a vehicle and takes images of a driver of the vehicle, an electronic control unit which executes a consciousness state determination process of determining whether the driver is conscious, based on a first image corresponding to the image of the driver taken by the first image-taking section, and a mobile terminal carried by the driver. The electronic control unit is configured to determine whether the driver is conscious, based on terminal-side information corresponding to information acquired by the mobile terminal when a predetermined condition that a reliability level of a determination result obtained from the consciousness state determination process is presumably low, becomes satisfied.

Claims (31)

1. A consciousness state determination system, comprising:

a first image-taking section which is mounted on a vehicle and takes images of a driver of the vehicle;

an electronic control unit which executes a consciousness state determination process of determining whether the driver is conscious, based on a first image corresponding to the image of the driver taken by the first image-taking section; and

a mobile terminal carried by the driver,

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine whether the driver is conscious, based on terminal-side information corresponding to information acquired by the mobile terminal when a predetermined condition that a reliability level of a determination result obtained from the consciousness state determination process is presumably low, becomes satisfied.

2. The consciousness state determination system as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein the mobile terminal includes a second image-taking section which takes images of the driver,

wherein the terminal-side information includes a second image corresponding to the image of the driver taken by the second image-taking section, and

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine whether the driver is conscious by executing the consciousness state determination process to the second image when the predetermined condition is satisfied.

3. The consciousness state determination system as set forth in claim 2 , wherein the mobile terminal is configured to notify the driver of whether a face of the driver is included in the second image.

4. The consciousness state determination system as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein the mobile terminal is configured to detect operation information corresponding to information on operations to the mobile terminal carried by the driver,

wherein the terminal-side information includes the operation information, and

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine whether the driver is conscious, based on the operation information when the predetermined condition is satisfied.

5. The consciousness state determination system as set forth in claim 4 , wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine whether the driver is conscious, based on a time period of not detecting any operations to the mobile terminal carried out by the driver.

6. The consciousness state determination system as set forth in claim 5 ,

wherein the mobile terminal is configured to at least detect information on a first operation and information on a second operation which is more complex than the first operation as the operation information,

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to:

determine that the driver is unconscious when the time period of not detecting any operations to the mobile terminal carried out by the driver becomes longer than a first time period threshold after the electronic control unit detects the first operation; and

determine that the driver is unconscious when the time period of not detecting any operations to the mobile terminal carried out by the driver becomes longer than a second time period threshold after the electronic control unit detects the second operation, and

wherein the second time period threshold is greater than the first time period threshold.

7. The consciousness state determination system as set forth in claim 1 ,

wherein the consciousness state determination system comprises a first acceleration sensor which is mounted on the vehicle and acquires information on an acceleration of the vehicle as a first acceleration information,

wherein the mobile terminal includes a second acceleration sensor which acquires information on an acceleration of the mobile terminal as a second acceleration information,

wherein the terminal-side information includes the second acceleration information, and

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine whether the driver is conscious, based on the first acceleration information and the second acceleration information when the predetermined condition becomes satisfied.

8. An autonomous driving apparatus which is mounted on a vehicle and executes an autonomous driving control of autonomously carrying out driving maneuverings of the vehicle,

the autonomous driving apparatus comprising:

an image-taking section which takes images of a driver of the vehicle; and

an electronic control unit which executes a consciousness state determination process of determining whether the driver is conscious, based on a driver image corresponding to the image of the driver taken by the image-taking section while the electronic control unit executes the autonomous driving control,

wherein the electronic control unit is configured to determine whether the driver is conscious, based on terminal-side information corresponding to information acquired from a mobile terminal when a predetermined condition that a reliability level of a determination result obtained from the consciousness state determination process is presumably low, becomes satisfied.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 1, 2022
From: MATSUMURA, TAKESHI
To: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Reel/Frame 059128/0818 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP 2021-046754 · Mar 22, 2021 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220301323A1 · Sep 22, 2022