DISTRACTION ESTIMATOR

• US 20080154438A1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Corporation
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kalik, Steven F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,880,621 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators

Abstract

Improved apparatus and methods for determining the attention demands on a person are described. An example approach comprises obtaining sensor data representative of the person'"'"'s environment, detecting sensory objects within the sensor data, and clustering together sensory objects (for example, objects having correlated properties) so as to determine an output number of attention-demanding objects, the output number typically being less than the number of sensory objects in the sensor. An example apparatus may be used to determine the attention demands on a vehicle operator.

Claims

1. An apparatus for estimating the attention demand on a person, the apparatus comprising:

a sensor providing sensor data;

an analyzer, the analyzer operable to detect sensory objects within the sensor data;

an adaptive filter, the adaptive filter operable to cluster together sensory objects detected within the sensor data into an output number of attention-demanding objects,

the output number of attention-demanding objects providing an estimate of the attention demands on the person.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a comparator,

the comparator operable to compare the output number of attention-demanding objects with an attention capacity of the person.

3. The apparatus of claim 1,

the apparatus comprising a plurality of sensors, each sensor having an associated analyzer and associated adaptive filter,

the apparatus further comprising a multimodal adaptive filter operable to cluster objects between sensor data from different sensors.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the adaptive filter is operable to cluster two or more sensory objects having a correlated property,

the correlated property being selected from a group consisting of position, velocity, and acceleration.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the analyzer and the adaptive filter are provided by a computer.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the adaptive filter is provided by an artificial intelligence system.

7. An apparatus for estimating the attention demand on an operator of a vehicle, the vehicle having a vehicle environment, the apparatus comprising:

a plurality of sensors;

a plurality of adaptive filters, each adaptive filter operable to receive sensor data from one of the plurality of sensors, each adaptive filter being operable to determine clustered objects within the sensor data using data correlations within the sensor data;

a multimodal adaptive filter, operable to detect inter-sensor correlations between clustered objects from different sensor data, and to determine an output number of attention-demanding objects using the inter-sensor correlations,

the output number of attention-demanding objects providing an estimate of the attention demands on the driver.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the plurality of sensors includes one or more sensors selected from the group of sensors consisting of a visual sensor and an auditory sensor.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the plurality of sensors includes a visual sensor operable to provide visual sensor data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus further comprises an image analyzer, the image analyzer detecting visual sensory objects within the visual sensor data, the visual sensory objects being located within the vehicle environment.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the adaptive filter associated with the visual sensor is operable to cluster visual sensory objects having at least one correlated property.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising an auditory sensor operable to provide auditory sensor data,

the multimodal adaptive filter being operable to cluster auditory sensory objects within the auditory sensor data with visual sensory objects within the visual sensory data.

13. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising an electronic switch operable to disable an electronic device within the vehicle when the output number of attention-demanding objects exceeds a threshold value,

the electronic device being selected from a group of devices consisting of an infotainment device, a telephone, a navigation device, and a gauge.

14. A method of assisting the driver of a vehicle, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of sensors, each sensor providing sensor data;

detecting a first number of sensory objects within the sensor data provided by the plurality of sensors;

clustering sensory objects having at least one correlated sensory object property;

providing an output number of clustered sensory objects, the output number being an estimate of the attention demand on the driver, the output number being less than or equal to the first number,

the estimate of attention demand on the driver being used to assist the driver of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising comparing the output number with an attention capacity of the driver,

driver assistance being provided if the output number is greater than the attention capacity of the driver.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein driver assistance includes disablement of an electronic device within the vehicle.