Reproduction controlling system for mobile unit, reproduction controlling method for mobile unit, reproduction controlling program for mobile unit, and recording medium recording reproduction controlling program

• US 20040044291A1
• Filed: 08/28/2003
• Published: 03/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Inventors: Yasushi, Mitsuo, Yanagidaira, Masatoshi
• Granted Patent: US 7,526,333 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/509
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators

Abstract

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an system which can detects degradation in a driving mental state of a driver, that is, sleepiness, fatigue, fret, and so on during driving of a vehicle and notifies the driver of the degradation to encourage safe driving and can reproduce sound such as music matching the taste of the user such as a driver while maintaining awakening of the driver of a mobile unit.

The reproduction controlling system for a mobile unit, is provided with a system controlling reproducing device for reproducing a piece of sound data stored in a database during traveling of the mobile unit, a driving information acquiring device for acquiring driving information indicating a driving state of the mobile unit, the driving information including at least heartbeat variation information, an audio component information acquiring device for analyzing an audio component included in the sound data and acquiring audio component information, a judging device for judging mental and physical states of the driver based on the acquired driving information, a selecting device for selecting the sound data to be reproduced; and a control device for controlling the reproducing device to reproduce the selected sound data.

Claims

1. A reproduction controlling system for a mobile unit, comprising:

a system controlling reproducing device for reproducing a piece of sound data from a plurality of pieces of sound data stored in a database during traveling of the mobile unit,

a driving information acquiring device for acquiring driving information indicating a driving state of the mobile unit, the driving information including at least heartbeat variation information indicating a variation in heartbeat of a driver who drives the mobile unit,

an audio component information acquiring device for analyzing an audio component included in the sound data and acquiring audio component information indicating the audio component of the analyzed sound data,

a judging device for judging mental and physical states of a driver based on the acquired driving information,

a selecting device for selecting the sound data to be reproduced based on the acquired audio component information relative to the judged mental and physical states of the driver; and

a control device for controlling the reproducing device to reproduce the selected sound data.

2. The reproduction controlling system for the mobile unit according to claim 1, when the reproducing device starts reproduction of the sound data or is performing reproduction of the sound data,

and the judging device judges that the driver is in the predetermined mental and physical states,

the selecting device comprises:

a discriminating device for discriminating whether or not the audio component of reproduced data has a component of the judged mental and physical states based on the audio component information relative to the judged mental and physical states, regarding the reproduced data indicating sound data to be reproduced or sound data being reproduced,

a data selecting device for selecting sound data different from the reproduced data as sound data to be reproduced by the reproducing device when the discriminating device judges that the audio component of the reproduced data has a component of the mental and physical states, and

the control device controls the reproducing device to reproduce the selected sound data.

3. The reproduction controlling system for the mobile unit according to claim 1, wherein the judging device judges at least one of the mental and physical states of fatigue, sleepiness, and tension of the driver based on the driving information acquired by the driving information acquiring device.

4. The reproduction controlling system for the mobile unit according to claim 1, wherein the driving information acquiring device acquires traveling information as the driving information together with the heartbeat variation information, the traveling information indicating a traveling state of the mobile unit.

5. The reproduction controlling system for the mobile unit according to claim 4, wherein the driving information acquiring device acquires at least one of a speed of the mobile unit, a traveling road where the mobile unit travels, and a turning angle indicating a direction of the mobile unit relative to a traveling direction of the mobile unit, as mobile unit information.

6. The reproduction controlling system for the mobile unit according to claim 1, wherein the driving information acquiring device acquires at least one of heart rate data indicating data of a heart rate of the driver and heartbeat fluctuation data indicating data of a fluctuation in heartbeat, as the heartbeat variation information.

7. The reproduction controlling system for the mobile unit according to claim 1, wherein the audio component information acquiring device analyzes at least one of sound components of a rhythm pattern, a tempo, a beat, sound image localization, a sound pressure level, and a fundamental note of the sound as sound component information of the sound data, and acquires the analyzed sound component.

8. A reproduction controlling method for a mobile unit comprising:

a controlling reproducing process of reproducing a piece of sound data from a plurality of pieces of sound data stored in a database during traveling of the mobile unit,

a driving information acquiring process of acquiring driving information indicating a driving state of the mobile unit, the driving information including at least heartbeat variation information indicating a variation in heartbeat of a driver who drives the mobile unit,

an audio component information acquiring process of analyzing an audio component included in the sound data and acquiring audio component information indicating the audio component of the analyzed sound data,

a judging process of judging mental and physical states of the driver based on the acquired driving information,

a selecting process of selecting the sound data to be reproduced based on the acquired audio component information relative to the judged mental and physical states of the driver, and

a controlling process of controlling the reproducing device to reproduce the selected sound data.

9. The reproduction controlling method for the mobile unit according to claim 8, when the reproducing device starts reproduction of the sound data or is performing reproduction of the sound data,

and it is judged that the driver is in the predetermined mental and physical states in the judging process,

the selecting process comprises:

a discriminating process of discriminating whether or not the audio component of reproduced data has a component of the judged mental and physical states based on the audio component information relative to the judged mental and physical states, regarding the reproduced data indicating sound data to be reproduced or sound data being reproduced,

a data selecting process of selecting sound data different from the reproduced data as sound data to be reproduced by the reproducing device when a discriminating process judges that the audio component of the reproduced data has a component of the mental and physical states, and

in the controlling process, the reproducing device is controlled to reproduce the selected sound data.

10. The reproduction controlling method for the mobile unit according to claim 8, wherein in the judging process, at least one of the mental and physical states of fatigue, sleepiness, and tension of the driver is judged based on the driving information acquired in the driving information acquiring process.

11. The reproduction controlling method for the mobile unit according to claim 8, wherein in the driving information acquiring process, mobile unit information is acquired as the driving information together with the heartbeat variation information, the mobile unit information indicating a traveling state of the mobile unit.

12. The reproduction controlling method for the mobile unit according to claim 8, wherein in the driving information acquiring process, at least one of heart rate data indicating data of a heart rate of the driver and heartbeat fluctuation data indicating data of a fluctuation in heartbeat is acquired as the heartbeat variation information.

13. A reproduction controlling computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave for a mobile unit,

the computer data signal is caused to serve as:

an driving information acquiring device for acquiring driving information indicating a driving state of the mobile unit, the driving information including at least heartbeat variation information indicating a variation in heartbeat of a driver who drives the mobile unit,

an audio component information acquiring device which analyzes an audio component included in the sound data and acquires audio component information indicating the audio component of the analyzed sound data,

a judging device for judging mental and physical states of the driver based on the acquired driving information,

a selecting device for selecting the sound data to be reproduced based on the acquired audio component information relative to the judged mental and physical states of the driver; and

a control device for controlling the reproducing device to reproduce the selected sound data.

14. The reproduction controlling computer data signal for the mobile unit according to claim 13, when the reproducing device starts reproduction of the sound data or is performing reproduction of the sound data,

and the computer judges that the driver is in the predetermined mental and physical states,

the computer data signal is caused to serve as:

a discriminating device for discriminating whether or not the audio component of reproduced data has a component of the judged mental and physical states based on the audio component information relative to the judged mental and physical states, regarding the reproduced data indicating sound data to be reproduced or sound data being reproduced,

a data selecting device for selecting sound data different from the reproduced data as sound data to be reproduced by the reproducing device when the discriminating device judges that the audio component of the reproduced data has a component of the mental and physical states, and

the control device for controlling the reproducing device to reproduce the selected sound data.

15. The reproduction controlling computer data signal for the mobile unit according to claim 13, wherein the computer data signal is caused to serve as:

the judging device for judging at least one of the mental and physical states of fatigue, sleepiness, and tension of the driver based on the driving information acquired by the computer.

16. The reproduction controlling computer data signal for the mobile unit according to claim 13, wherein the computer data signal is caused to serve as:

the driving information acquiring device for acquiring mobile unit information as the driving information together with the heartbeat variation information, the mobile unit information indicating a traveling state of the mobile unit.

17. The reproduction controlling computer data signal for the mobile unit according to claims 13, wherein the computer data signal is caused to serve as:

the driving information acquiring device for acquiring at least one of heart rate data indicating data of a heart rate of the driver and heartbeat fluctuation data indicating data of a fluctuation in heartbeat, as the heartbeat variation information.

18. A recording medium, wherein a reproduction controlling program for a mobile unit according to claim 13 is recorded so as to be read by a computer.