Granted Patent B2

US 12,639,961 · App. 18/222,214 · Granted May 26, 2026

Inventors: Masataka Sano (Tokyo-to, JP); Koichiro Yamauchi (Tokyo-to, JP)

Assignees: TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA; AISIN CORPORATION

G06V20/597G06V40/161

Abstract

Claims (22)

1 . A careless driving determination apparatus mounted on a vehicle, the careless driving determination apparatus comprising:

a driver monitor camera installed in the vehicle in front of a seat of a driver of the vehicle and configured to capture a face image of a face of the driver of the vehicle;

a memory configured to store the face image captured by the driver monitor camera during a predetermined time period; and

one or more processors configured to:

acquire a plurality of the face images captured during the predetermined time period;

execute an image-recognition process to determine, for each of the face images captured during the predetermined time period, whether the face image shows a first status in which the driver wears a wearing object that interferes with face or gaze detection or a second status in which the driver does not wear the wearing object, the wearing object covering a part of the face of the driver;

calculate, based on the plurality of face images, a distribution range of angles of face directions or angles of gaze directions of the driver onto a yaw-pitch coordinate system set relative to a body of the vehicle;

set a threshold range (i) to a first range when a majority of the face image captured during the predetermined time period have the first status indicating that the driver wears the wearing object, and (ii) to a second range that is smaller than the first range when a majority of the face images captured during the predetermined time period have the second status indicating that the driver does not wear the wearing object; and

determine that the driver is in a careless driving state when the distribution range is equal to or less than the threshold range.

2 . The careless driving determination apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein:

the threshold range is a circular range with a predetermined radius and whose center is a center of the distribution range in the yaw-pitch coordinate system; and

the predetermined radius of the first range is larger than the predetermined radius of the second range.

3 . The careless driving determination apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to:

calculate the distribution range using a face image corresponding to the first status out of the plurality of face images when the majority of the face images have the first status; and

calculate the distribution range using a face image corresponding to the second status out of the plurality of face images when the majority of the face images have the second status.

4 . The careless driving determination apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the wearing object is a mask or a pair of glasses cutting infrared radiation.

5 . A careless driving determination method comprising:

capturing a plurality of face images of a face of a driver of a vehicle in a predetermined time period using a driver monitor camera installed in the vehicle in front of a seat of the driver of the vehicle;

determining, by one or more processors executing an image-recognition process, for each of the face images captured during the predetermined time period, whether the face image shows a first status in which the driver wears a wearing object that interferes with face or gaze detection or a second status in which the driver does not wear the wearing object, the wearing object covering a part of the face of the driver;

calculating, by the one or more processors, based on the plurality of face images, a distribution range of angles of face directions or angles of gaze directions of the driver onto a yaw-pitch coordinate system set relative to a body of the vehicle;

setting, by the one or more processors, a threshold range (i) to a first range when a majority of the face images captured during the predetermined time period have the first status indicating that the driver wears the wearing object, and (ii) to a second range that is smaller than the first range when a majority of the face images captured during the predetermined time period have the second status indicating that the driver does not wear the wearing object; and

determining, by the one or more processors, that the driver is in the careless driving state when the distribution range is equal to or less than the threshold range.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (11)