Information providing system and information providing method

• US 20030043045A1
• Filed: 08/07/2002
• Published: 03/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Inventors: Yasushi, Mitsuo, Yanagidaira, Masatoshi
• Granted Patent: US 6,870,478 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/576
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2021/0027 by the hearing sense
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2021/0083 especially for waking up
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 21/00 Other devices or methods to cause a change in the state of consciousness; Devices for producing or ending sleep by mechanical, optical, or acoustical means, e.g. for hypnosis
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2230/06 Heartbeat rate only
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/63 for local operation
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/30 for calculating health indices; for individual health risk assessment

Abstract

An information providing system which provides desired information to a driver who drives a vehicle, is provided with: a biomedical information acquisition device which acquires biomedical information of the driver; an on-road driving strain calculating device which calculates on-road driving strain by analyzing road information of a particular segment in a traveling direction of the vehicle; and a driver condition predicting device which predicts physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment by using the acquired biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain.

Claims

1. An information providing system which provides desired information to a driver who drives a vehicle, comprising:

a biomedical information acquisition device which acquires biomedical information of the driver;

an on-road driving strain calculating device which calculates on-road driving strain by analyzing road information of a particular segment in a traveling direction of the vehicle; and

a driver condition predicting device which predicts physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment by using the acquired biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain.

2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the driver condition predicting device further judges whether to provide the desired information to the driver based on the predicted physiological condition of the driver.

3. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein before or just after the vehicle starts, the driver condition predicting device predicts the physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment by using the acquired biomedical information at the present time and the calculated on-road driving strain with respect to the road to be traveled.

4. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein when the vehicle is running, the driver condition predicting device predicts the physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment by using the acquired biomedical information at a particular time point during a period from a start of driving to the present time, the acquired biomedical information at the present time, and calculated on-road driving strain with respect to the road to be traveled.

5. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the driver condition predicting device predicts the physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment further by using the driver'"'"'s unique information stored in a database.

6. The information providing system according to claim 5, wherein the driver condition predicting device stores a relationship between the acquired biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain in a database as the driver'"'"'s unique information.

7. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising a correction signal input device which inputs a correction signal for correcting deviation between the predicted driver'"'"'s physiological condition and subjective physiological condition of the driver,

wherein when the correction signal is input, the driver condition predicting device corrects the deviation between the predicted physiological condition of the driver and the subjective physiological condition of the driver.

8. The information providing system according to claim 7, wherein when the deviation is corrected, the driver condition predicting device reflects the deviation information in the driver'"'"'s unique information stored in the database.

9. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising a navigation guidance device which guides the vehicle along its route,

wherein the on-road driving strain calculating device selects the particular segment in the traveling direction by using map information obtained from the navigation guidance device.

10. The information providing system according to claim 9, wherein the on-road driving strain calculating device selects the particular segment in the traveling direction based on the driver'"'"'s driving history related to the map information.

11. The information providing system according to claim 9, wherein the on-road driving strain calculating device searches for a route to a destination specified by the driver and selects the particular segment in the traveling direction based on the search result.

12. The information providing system according to claim 11, wherein:

the on-road driving strain calculating device searches for a plurality of routes to the destination specified by the driver, selects the particular segment in the traveling direction in each of the routes, and calculates on-road driving strain by analyzing road information of the particular segment; and

the driver condition predicting device predicts the physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment in each of the routes by using the acquired biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain and determines a route which will cause less adverse effect on driving from among the plurality of routes based on the result of the prediction.

13. The information providing system according to claim 12, wherein the driver condition predicting device provides to the driver the determined route which will cause less adverse effect on driving.

14. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the on-road driving strain calculating device calculates on-road driving strain by analyzing the road information in consideration of weather in the particular segment.

15. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the on-road driving strain calculating device calculates on-road driving strain by analyzing the road information in consideration of time in the particular segment.

16. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the biomedical information includes heart rate, respiration, fluctuations in heartbeat, nictitation, and complexion.

17. An information providing method which provides desired information to a driver who drives a vehicle, comprising:

a step of acquiring biomedical information of the driver;

a step of calculating on-road driving strain by analyzing road information of a particular segment in a traveling direction of the vehicle; and

a driver condition predicting step of predicting physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment by using the acquired biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain.

18. The information providing method according to claim 17, wherein the driver condition predicting step further includes judging whether to provide the desired information to the driver based on the predicted physiological condition of the driver.

19. An information providing method which provides desired information to a driver who drives a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

acquiring biomedical information of the driver;

searching for a plurality of routes to a destination specified by the driver and calculating on-road driving strain in each of the routes by analyzing road information of a particular segment in a traveling direction of the vehicle; and

predicting physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment in each of the routes by using the acquired biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain and determining a route which will cause less adverse effect on driving from among the plurality of routes based on the result of the prediction.

20. An information recorded medium wherein an information providing program for providing desired information to a driver who drives a vehicle, is recorded so as to be read by a computer, the program makes the computer function as:

a biomedical information acquisition device which acquires biomedical information of the driver;

an on-road driving strain calculating device which calculates on-road driving strain by analyzing road information of a particular segment in a traveling direction of the vehicle; and

a driver condition predicting device which predicts physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment by using the acquired biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain.

21. The information providing program according to claim 20, wherein the driver condition predicting device further judges whether to provide the desired information to the driver based on the predicted physiological condition of the driver.

22. The information providing program according to claim 20, wherein the driver condition predicting device predicts the physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment further by using the driver'"'"'s unique information stored in a database.

23. The information providing program according to claim 20, wherein when a correction signal for correcting the deviation between the driver'"'"'s physiological conditions predicted by the driver condition predicting device and subjective physiological conditions of the driver is input, the driver condition predicting device corrects the deviation between the predicted physiological condition of the driver and the subjective physiological condition of the driver.

24. An information recorded medium wherein an information providing program for providing desired information to a driver who drives a vehicle, is recorded so as to be read by a computer, the program makes the computer function as:

a biomedical information acquisition device which acquires biomedical information of the driver;

an on-road driving strain calculating device which searches for a plurality of routes to a destination specified by the driver and calculates on-road driving strain in each of the routes by analyzing road information of a particular segment in a traveling direction of the vehicle; and

a driver condition predicting device which predicts the physiological conditions of the driver in the particular segment in each of the routes by using the acquired biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain and determines a route which will cause less adverse effect on driving from among the plurality of routes based on the results of the prediction.

25. An information providing system which has a server apparatus installed at a fixed location and a terminal apparatus mounted on a vehicle and capable of communicating with the server apparatus via a mobile communications network and which provides desired information to a driver who drives the vehicle,

wherein the terminal apparatus comprises:

a biomedical information acquisition device which acquires biomedical information of the driver; and

a transmitting device which transmits the acquired biomedical information to the server apparatus via the mobile communications network, and

the server apparatus comprises;

a receiving device which receives the biomedical information transmitted from the terminal apparatus;

an on-road driving strain calculating device which calculates on-road driving strain by analyzing road information of a particular segment in the traveling direction of the vehicle; and

a driver condition predicting device which predicts physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment by using the received biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain.

26. A server apparatus comprising:

a receiving device which receives biomedical information of a driver transmitted from a terminal apparatus mounted on a vehicle via a mobile communications network;

an on-road driving strain calculating device which calculates on-road driving strain by analyzing road information of a particular segment in a traveling direction of the vehicle; and

a driver condition predicting device which predicts physiological condition of the driver in the particular segment by using the received biomedical information and the calculated on-road driving strain.

27. A terminal apparatus mounted on a vehicle, comprising:

a biomedical information acquisition device which acquires biomedical information of a driver;

a transmitting device which transmits the acquired biomedical information to a server apparatus via a mobile communications network;

a receiving device which receives information about predicted physiological condition of the driver transmitted from the server apparatus via the mobile communications network; and

an information providing device which provides the desired information to the driver based on the received information about the physiological condition.