Drive sense adjusting apparatus and drive sense adjusting method

• US 20060022808A1
• Filed: 07/28/2005
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Uenuma, Kenya, Iwao, Keijiro, Ito, Mitsuhito, Nakashima, Hiroto, Sunda, Takashi, Shimizu, Youji, Hatano, Yoshikazu, Matsushita, Akihiro, Okada, Katsunori
• Granted Patent: US 7,815,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/425.500
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/00 Optical viewing arrangements; Real-time viewing arrangements for drivers or passengers using optical image capturing systems, e.g. cameras or video systems specially adapted for use in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A control unit presents a visual stimulus onto a film adhered on an inner surface of a windscreen glass of a vehicle, and controls the visual stimulus so as to allow a driver to perceive the visual stimulus approaching the driver or receding therefrom in response to detection results of a driving environment detection unit, a vehicle status detection unit and a driver status detection unit. In such a way, visually induced vection can be produced for the driver by the visual stimulus. Accordingly, a drive sense of the driver can be adjusted in response to a vehicle state quantity, a driving environment and a driver state.

Claims

1. A drive sense adjusting apparatus for adjusting a drive sense of a driver, the drive sense adjusting apparatus being provided in a vehicle, comprising:

a visual stimulus presentation unit provided in a vision of the driver;

a driving environment detection unit for detecting a driving environment outside the vehicle;

a vehicle status detection unit for detecting a state quantity of the vehicle;

a driver status detection unit for detecting a drive state of the driver; and

a control unit for presenting a visual stimulus to the visual stimulus presentation unit, and for controlling the visual stimulus to allow the driver to perceive the visual stimulus approaching the driver or receding therefrom in response to at least one detection result of the driving environment detection unit, the vehicle status detection unit and the driver status detection unit.

2. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit assumes at least one virtual spot in the vision of the driver, and controls the visual stimulus to allow the driver to perceive the visual stimulus approaching the driver or receding therefrom from the virtual spot.

3. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the control unit estimates a focus of expansion, and assumes, as a virtual spot, the estimated focus of expansion or a spot in a vicinity thereof.

4. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the control unit defines a virtual plane vertical to a straight line connecting an eyeball position of the driver and the virtual spot to each other, divides the virtual plane into plural regions, and controls the visual stimulus to be projected on at least one of the plural regions when the visual stimulus presented to the visual stimulus presentation unit is projected on the virtual plane.

5. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein, when the control unit sets a circular or square region with an intersection of the straight line connecting the eyeball position of the driver and the virtual spot to each other and the virtual plane taken as a center, and projects the visual stimulus presented to the visual stimulus presentation unit on the virtual plane, the control unit controls so that the visual stimulus cannot be projected within the set circular or square region or a transmittance of the visual stimulus in the set circular or square region can become higher than a transmittance of the visual stimulus in other regions.

6. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein, when the control unit divides the virtual plane into two regions in a horizontal direction, and projects the visual stimulus presented to the visual stimulus presentation unit on the virtual plane, the control unit controls the visual stimulus to be projected only on a lower region thus divided.

7. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein, when the control unit radially divides the virtual plane with a vehicle heading direction taken as a center, and projects the visual stimulus presented to the visual stimulus presentation unit on the virtual plane, the control unit controls the visual stimulus, in response to a running condition, to be projected on at least one of the regions radially divided.

8. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit varies, uniformly or step by step, at least one of a brightness, contrast, color, density and opacity of the visual stimulus in response to a distance from the virtual spot.

9. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit includes unit that detects light quantities outside the vehicle and inside a cabin, and varies at least one of the brightness, contrast, color, density and opacity of the visual stimulus uniformly or step by step in response to the light quantities outside the vehicle and inside the cabin.

10. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit determines whether or not there is a lurch of the vehicle for a fixed time based on the detection result of the vehicle status detection unit, and when the lurch of the vehicle exists, presents the visual stimulus from the virtual point fixed to a global coordinate system.

11. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit determines whether or not the heading direction of the vehicle is obscure for the driver based on the detection result of the driving environment detection unit, and when the heading direction of the vehicle is obscure for the driver, presents the visual stimulus.

12. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the control unit determines whether or not a degree of arousal of the driver is low or whether or not the driver is looking aside while driving based on the detection result of the driver status detection unit, and when the degree of arousal of the driver is low or when the driver is looking aside while driving, presents the visual stimulus.

13. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein, in response to an angle variation of a vector of acceleration about an axis of the vehicle heading direction, the acceleration being applied to the driver or the vehicle, the control unit rotationally displaces the visual stimulus about an axis of a sight of the driver and in the same direction as a direction of an angle variation of the vector of acceleration.

14. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein the control unit moves the virtual spot in a left or right direction and a lower direction by a distance proportional to a steering angle of the vehicle.

15. A drive sense adjusting method for adjusting a drive sense of a driver, the drive sense adjusting method being provided in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

detecting a driving environment outside the vehicle;

detecting a state quantity of the vehicle;

detecting a drive state of the driver; and

presenting a visual stimulus, and controlling the visual stimulus to allow the driver to perceive the visual stimulus approaching the driver or receding therefrom in response to at least one of the detected driving environment, vehicle status and driver status.

16. A drive sense adjusting apparatus for adjusting a drive sense of a driver, the drive sense adjusting apparatus being provided in a vehicle, comprising:

a visual stimulus presentation unit for presenting a visual stimulus onto a display screen, the visual stimulus presentation unit being provided in a vision of the driver; and

an imaging unit for imaging a video outside of the vehicle, the imaging unit being disposed on a vertical plane including a straight line connecting an eyeball position of the driver and a center portion of the display screen to each other or at a position where the straight line and an optical axis substantially coincide with each other,

wherein the visual stimulus presentation unit presents the video outside of the vehicle as the visual stimulus onto the display screen, the video being imaged by the imaging unit.

17. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein the visual stimulus presentation unit and the imaging unit are arranged or image processing is performed for the video outside the vehicle so that at least one of a position and size of a perceived object and at least one of a position and size of an object included in the video outside the vehicle can be made to substantially coincide with each other at an upper end portion of the visual stimulus presentation unit or at an end portion thereof near a central vision when the driver gazes a heading direction, the perceived object being perceived by the driver when it is assumed that the driver views an environment outside the vehicle through the vehicle by a single-eye gaze or a both-eye periphery viewing through a frame under the same disposition condition as a condition for the visual stimulus presentation unit and having the same size as a size of the visual stimulus presentation unit.

18. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein the visual stimulus presentation unit and the imaging unit are arranged or image processing is performed for the video outside the vehicle so that a pair of a right end at a vertical center of a left-eye vision and a left end at a vertical center of a right-eye vision and a horizontal angle of view at a vertical center of the video outside the image can be made to substantially coincide with each other, the right end and the left end being when it is assumed that the driver views an environment outside the vehicle through the vehicle by a both-eye gaze through a frame under the same disposition condition as a condition for the visual stimulus presentation unit and having the same size as a size of the visual stimulus presentation unit.

19. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

determination unit that determines whether or not the driver is gazing the visual stimulus presentation unit; and

switching unit that switches information to be presented by the visual stimulus presentation unit between the video outside the vehicle and information different from the video outside the vehicle in response to a determination result by the determination unit.

20. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

an image processing unit for presenting, as the visual stimulus, a portion changed with time or a portion where a variation of a contrast is large in the video outside the vehicle, not presenting a portion where a spatial frequency is high in the video outside the vehicle, or changing a focus of the imaging unit or the visual stimulus presentation unit.

21. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

a vehicle behavior detection unit for detecting an inclination angle of the vehicle with respect to a road; and

a rotation unit for rotating the imaging unit about the optical axis in response to the inclination angle detected by the vehicle behavior detection unit so that a horizontal line in a road coordinate system in the video outside the vehicle and a horizontal line in an actual road coordinate system can be made approximately parallel to each other.

22. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising:

a lightness detection unit for detecting lightness of the environment outside the vehicle, the environment being imaged by the imaging unit; and

a lightness adjusting unit for adjusting lightness of the video outside the image in response to the lightness detected by the lightness detection unit.

23. A drive sense adjusting apparatus for adjusting a drive sense of a driver, the drive sense adjusting apparatus being provided in a vehicle, comprising:

a visual stimulus presentation unit for presenting a visual stimulus onto a display screen, the visual stimulus presentation unit being provided in a vision of the driver; and

a visual stimulus creation unit for creating the visual stimulus presented by the visual stimulus presentation unit,

wherein the visual stimulus creation unit creates a visual stimulus equivalent to a road optical flow accompanied with a vehicle motion corresponding to a sight direction of the driver to the visual stimulus presentation unit.

24. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising:

a vehicle state detection unit for detecting a state quantity of the vehicle,

wherein the visual stimulus creation unit defines a virtual spot infinitely far in a vehicle heading direction, defines at least one virtual line extending from the virtual spot toward a vehicle direction on a space connecting the visual stimulus presentation unit and an eyeball position of the driver to each other, and creates a visual stimulus moving continuously while keeping a direction spatially perpendicular to the virtual line and in response to a detection result of the vehicle state detection unit.

25. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 24,

wherein the visual stimulus creation unit defines two virtual lines, defines a display line spatially perpendicular to the two virtual lines, and creates, as the visual stimulus, an information line parallel to the display line and moving continuously between the two virtual lines in response to the detection result of the vehicle state detection unit.

26. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 23,

wherein the visual stimulus creation unit imparts a geometric perspective to the visual stimulus.

27. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising:

a vehicle state detection unit for detecting a state quantity of the vehicle,

wherein the visual stimulus creation unit moves the virtual spot in at least one direction of a crosswise direction or a vertical direction with respect to the vehicle heading direction in response to a vehicle posture detected by the vehicle state detection unit.

28. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 23,

wherein the visual stimulus creation unit presents, as the visual stimulus, two components different from each other, a moving speed and at least one of display brightness and color, and when the two components are superimposed on each other, changes at least one of the display brightness and display color of the superimposed components to an intermediate brightness or color.

29. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 28, further comprising:

a proper speed calculation unit for calculating a proper running speed of the vehicle,

wherein the visual stimulus creation unit synchronizes a moving speed of one of the two components with the proper speed calculated by the proper speed calculation unit, and synchronizes the other component with a heading speed of the vehicle.

30. The drive sense adjusting apparatus according to claim 23, further comprising:

a vehicle-outside illuminance measurement unit for detecting an illuminance outside of the vehicle,

wherein the visual stimulus creation unit adjusts a brightness of the entire visual stimulus presented to the visual stimulus presentation unit.