VEHICLE-MOUNTED DEVICE IDENTIFYING APPARATUS

• US 20130063596A1
• Filed: 09/06/2012
• Published: 03/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Ueda, Shinsuke, Takahashi, Akio
• Granted Patent: US 8,953,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/11 Instrument graphical user interfaces or menu aspects
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/149 Instrument input by detecting viewing direction not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/186 Displaying information according to relevancy
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/1868 according to driving situations
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/21 using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/11 Graphical user interfaces or menu aspects
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/149 Input by detecting viewing direction
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/186 Displaying Information according to relevancy
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/1868 according to driving situations
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/193 for improving awareness
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/21 using cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/10 Input arrangements, i.e. from user to vehicle, associated with vehicle functions or specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/29 Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/02 electric constitutive elements
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2420/403 Image sensing, e.g. optical camera
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/59 inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions

Abstract

If an iris or a pupil is detected as being positioned in a right area, a vehicle-mounted device identifier of a vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus identifies a vehicle-mounted device group, which is disposed in an area that is on the right side of an area that is identified based on a facial direction detected by a facial direction detector. If the iris or the pupil is detected as being positioned in a left area, the vehicle-mounted device identifier identifies a vehicle-mounted device group, which is disposed in an area that is on the left side of an area that is identified based on the facial direction. If the iris or the pupil is detected as being positioned in a central area, the vehicle-mounted device identifier identifies a vehicle-mounted device group, which is disposed in an area that is identified based on the facial direction.

Claims

1. A vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus comprising:

a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices mounted on a vehicle;

an image capturing unit mounted on the vehicle for capturing an image including a passenger in the vehicle;

a facial direction detecting unit for detecting a direction of a face (hereinafter referred to as a “

facial direction”

) of the passenger in a widthwise direction of the vehicle based on the image captured by the image capturing unit;

an eyeball direction detecting unit for detecting a direction of an eyeball (hereinafter referred to as an “

eyeball direction”

) of the passenger in the widthwise direction of the vehicle based on the image captured by the image capturing unit; and

a vehicle-mounted device identifying unit for identifying one of the vehicle-mounted devices based on the facial direction detected by the facial direction detecting unit, wherein;

the vehicle-mounted devices are arranged along the widthwise direction and are divided into a plurality of vehicle-mounted device groups assigned to respective areas along the widthwise direction;

the eyeball direction detecting unit recognizes an outer corner and an inner corner, and an iris or a pupil of the eye of the passenger from the image, divides the eye into a right area, a left area, and a central area between the outer corner and the inner corner, and detects whether the iris or the pupil is positioned in the right area, the left area, or the central area;

the vehicle-mounted device identifying unit identifies one of the vehicle-mounted devices, which is disposed in one of the areas that is on the right side of one of the areas that is identified based on the facial direction detected by the facial direction detecting unit, if the eyeball direction detecting unit detects that the iris or the pupil is positioned in the right area;

the vehicle-mounted device identifying unit identifies one of the vehicle-mounted devices, which is disposed in one of the areas that is on the left side of one of the areas that is identified based on the facial direction detected by the facial direction detecting unit, if the eyeball direction detecting unit detects that the iris or the pupil is positioned in the left area; and

the vehicle-mounted device identifying unit identifies one of the vehicle-mounted devices, which is disposed in one of the areas that is identified based on the facial direction detected by the facial direction detecting unit, if the eyeball direction detecting unit detects that the iris or the pupil is positioned in the central area.

2. The vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-mounted device identifying unit identifies one of the vehicle-mounted devices, which is disposed in one of the areas that is identified based on the facial direction detected by the facial direction detecting unit, if the iris or the pupil is positioned in the right area and the face is directed to the left from a frontal direction, and if the iris or the pupil is positioned in the left area and the face is directed to the right from the frontal direction.

3. The vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle-mounted device identifying unit identifies one of the vehicle-mounted devices, which is disposed in one of the areas that is identified based on the facial direction detected by the facial direction detecting unit, if the image capturing unit does not detect the eyeball.

4. The vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the facial direction detecting unit detects the facial direction when the facial direction remains unchanged for a first prescribed time;

the eyeball direction detecting unit detects the eyeball direction when the iris or the pupil is positioned in one area for a second prescribed time; and

the first prescribed time is shorter than the second prescribed time.

5. The vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the facial direction detecting unit detects the facial direction when the facial direction remains unchanged for a first prescribed time;

the eyeball direction detecting unit detects the eyeball direction when the iris or the pupil is positioned in one area for a second prescribed time; and

the first prescribed time is longer than the second prescribed time.

6. A vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus comprising:

a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices arranged along a widthwise direction of a vehicle;

an image capturing unit mounted on the vehicle for capturing an image including a passenger in the vehicle;

a facial direction detector for detecting a direction of a face (hereinafter referred to as a “

facial direction”

) of the passenger in a widthwise direction of the vehicle based on the image;

an eyeball direction detector for detecting a direction of an eyeball (hereinafter referred to as an “

eyeball direction”

) of the passenger with respect to the face of the passenger in the widthwise direction of the vehicle based on the image; and

a vehicle-mounted device identifier for identifying an operation target from the vehicle-mounted devices based on the facial direction and the eyeball direction, wherein;

the vehicle-mounted device identifier identifies the operation target from one or more of the vehicle-mounted devices, which are on the right side of one of the vehicle-mounted devices that is positioned in the facial direction, if the eyeball direction is rightward of a first position that is on the right side of a frontal direction of the face of the passenger as viewed from an observer of the face;

the vehicle-mounted device identifier identifies the operation target from one or more of the vehicle-mounted devices, which are on the left side of one of the vehicle-mounted devices that is positioned in the facial direction, if the eyeball direction is leftward of a second position that is on the left side of the frontal direction of the face of the passenger as viewed from the observer of the face; and

the vehicle-mounted device identifier identifies the operation target from one or more of the vehicle-mounted devices, which are positioned in the facial direction, if the eyeball direction lies between the first position and the second position as viewed from the observer of the face.

7. The vehicle-mounted device identifying apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the vehicle-mounted device identifier identifies the operation target from one or more of the vehicle-mounted devices, which are positioned in the facial direction, if the eyeball direction is rightward of the first position as viewed from the observer of the face and the face is directed to the left from the frontal direction, or if the eyeball direction is leftward of the second position as viewed from the observer of the face and the face is directed to the right from the frontal direction.