Driving evaluation system and server

• US 20060200277A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 09/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Taki, Masayuki, Yoshida, Ichiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,010,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/05 the view from a vehicle being simulated G09B9/052, G09B9/058 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 9/052 characterised by provision for recording or measuring trainee's performance devices for psychotechnics, e.g. for vehicle drivers A61B5/16, A61B5/18

Abstract

Travel information of a target vehicle is stored in time sequence and, on the basis of the travel information and pre-stored travel information of a professional driver'"'"'s vehicle, a travel position of the target vehicle and a travel position of the professional driver'"'"'s vehicle are displayed in animation. In such a manner, the driver can visually recognize the travel positions of the displayed target vehicle and the reference vehicle and understand how much the target vehicle is deviated from the ideal travel position.

Claims

1. A driving evaluation apparatus comprising:

an input information storing unit that stores, as input information, entered travel information of a target vehicle in time sequence based an instruction;

a reference information storing unit that stores travel information of a reference vehicle in time sequence;

a display unit that includes a plurality of pixels and displays information in accordance with states of the pixels; and

a control unit that

outputs a start instruction and an end instruction of entry of the travel information to the input information storing unit and,

displays travel positions of the target vehicle and the reference vehicle in time sequence on the display unit, based on the input information stored in the input information storing unit and the reference information stored in the reference information storing unit, to allow a user to compare the travel positions.

2. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the input information storing unit further stores driving operation information of a driver of the target vehicle entered as the input information in time sequence,

the reference information storing unit further stores driving operation information of a driver of the reference vehicle as the reference information in time sequence, and

when the travel positions of the vehicles are displayed on the display unit, the control unit also displays the driving operations of the drivers corresponding to the travel positions of the vehicles on the display unit based on the driving operation information stored in the input information storing unit and the driving operation information stored in the reference information storing unit.

3. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the control unit simultaneously displays superimposable vehicle models corresponding to the target vehicle and the reference vehicle in positions in the display unit according to the travel positions.

4. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising

a superimposing-degree information accepting unit for accepting information on a superimposing degree of each of the vehicle models from the user, wherein

the control unit displays each of the vehicle models on the display unit based on the information on the superimposing degree received by the superimposing-degree information accepting unit.

5. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the control unit changes a display color of the vehicle model of the target vehicle in accordance with a steering operation start timing of the driver of the target vehicle with respect to a steering operation start timing of the driver of the reference vehicle.

6. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the control unit changes a display color of the vehicle model of the target vehicle in accordance with an acceleration/deceleration start timing of the driver of the target vehicle with respect to an acceleration/deceleration start timing of the driver of the reference vehicle.

7. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the control unit changes a display color of the vehicle model of the target vehicle based on whether the travel position of the target vehicle is on a right side or a left side in a travel direction with respect to a travel locus of the reference vehicle.

8. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising

a viewpoint position information accepting unit for accepting viewpoint position information of a viewpoint position in virtual three-dimensional display from the user, wherein

the control unit displays the vehicle model displayed on the display unit by a virtual three-dimensional method using, as a viewpoint, a viewpoint position corresponding to the viewpoint position information accepted by the viewpoint position information accepting unit.

9. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 8, wherein

the viewpoint position information accepting unit selectively accepts the viewpoint position information corresponding to a viewpoint position of a driver of a vehicle following the target vehicle.

10. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

a unit in a time base control for pixel states in the display unit is a frame,

the apparatus further comprises a rewrite information accepting unit for accepting information on speed of rewriting frames in the display unit and a rewriting direction on a time base from the user, and

the control unit controls a display frame to be displayed on the display unit based on the information accepted by the rewrite information accepting unit.

11. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a position information obtaining unit for obtaining position information for specifying a present position of the target vehicle, wherein

based on the position information obtained by the position information obtaining unit, the control unit outputs the start instruction when the target vehicle reaches a start point of a predetermined section and outputs the end instruction when the target vehicle reaches an end point of the predetermined section

12. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

a section information storing unit for storing a plurality of pieces of information of the predetermined section used when the control unit determines the start instruction and the end instruction; and

a specific information accepting unit for accepting specific information for specifying information in the plurality of pieces of information of the predetermined section stored in the section information storing unit from the driver of the target vehicle, wherein

the control unit uses a section corresponding to the specific information accepted by the specific information accepting unit as the predetermined section used when the start instruction and the end instruction are determined.

13. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a communication unit for performing communication with a server,

wherein based on the input information stored in the input information storing unit and the reference information stored in the reference information storing unit, the control unit evaluates competency of the driver of the target vehicle and transmits an evaluation result together with information specifying the target vehicle or information specifying the driver of the target vehicle to the server via the communication unit.

14. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 13, wherein

the control unit receives ranking information based on the evaluation result from the server via the communication unit and displays information on the display unit.

21. A server comprising:

a server-side communication unit that performs communication with the driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 14;

a competency evaluation result holding unit that holds a list of competency evaluation results of drivers; and

a server-side control unit that

adds a competency evaluation result of a driver, which is received via the server-side communication unit to the competency evaluation result holding unit,

determines a rank to which the received evaluation result corresponds, and

transmits a determination result as ranking information to the driving evaluation apparatus via the server-side communication unit.

15. A driving evaluation apparatus comprising:

an input image storing unit that stores, as input images, entered front images of a target vehicle in time sequence based on an instruction;

a reference image storing unit that stores, as reference images, front images of a reference vehicle in time sequence;

a display unit that includes a plurality of pixels and displays information in accordance with states of the pixels; and

a control unit that

outputs a start instruction and an end instruction of entry of the front image to the input image storing unit and

displays the input images stored in the input image storing unit and the reference images stored in the reference image storing unit in time sequence on the display unit, to allow a user to compare the images.

16. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

the input image storing unit further stores driving operation images of a driver of the target vehicle as the input images in time sequence,

the reference image storing unit further stores driving operation images of a driver of the reference vehicle as the reference images in time sequence, and

when front images of the vehicles are displayed on the display unit, the control unit also displays the driving operation image stored in the input image storing unit and the driving operation image stored in the reference image storing unit on the display unit so as to be associated with the front image of each of the vehicles.

17. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

the control unit corrects the front image of the reference vehicle so that a horizon position of the front image of the target vehicle and that of the front image of the reference image coincide with each other, and displays resultant images on the display unit.

18. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 15, wherein

a unit in a time base control for pixel states in the display unit is a frame,

the apparatus further comprises a rewrite information accepting unit for accepting information on speed of rewriting frames in the display unit and a rewriting direction on a time base from the user, and

the control unit controls a display frame to be displayed on the display unit based on the information accepted by the rewrite information accepting unit.

19. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising

a position information obtaining unit for obtaining position information for specifying a present position of the target vehicle, wherein

based on the position information obtained by the position information obtaining unit, the control unit outputs the start instruction when the target vehicle reaches a start point of a predetermined section and outputs the end instruction when the target vehicle reaches an end point of the predetermined section.

20. The driving evaluation apparatus according to claim 19, further comprising:

a section information storing unit for storing a plurality of pieces of information of the predetermined section used when the control unit determines the start instruction and the end instruction; and

a specific information accepting unit for accepting specific information for specifying information in the plurality of pieces of information of the predetermined section stored in the section information storing unit from the driver of the target vehicle, wherein

the control unit uses a section corresponding to the specific information accepted by the specific information accepting unit as the predetermined section used when the start instruction and the end instruction are determined.