CELLULAR PHONE CAMERA FOR DRIVER STATE ESTIMATION

• US 20140347458A1
• Filed: 05/23/2013
• Published: 11/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Tijerina, Louis, Kochhar, Dev Singh, Talamonti, Walter Joseph
• Application Number:
  US13/900,593
• Publication Number:
  US 20140347458A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/77
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/223 Posture, e.g. hand, foot, or seat position, turned or inclined
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0053 from vehicle to occupant
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 60/0059 Estimation of the risk associated with autonomous or manual driving, e.g. situation too complex, sensor failure or driver incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/103 Static body considered as a whole, e.g. static pedestrian or occupant recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A method of monitoring a driver of a vehicle includes positioning a cellular telephone within a vehicle such that a camera of the cellular telephone views a driver'"'"'s head, executing application software on the cellular telephone to capture images of the head using the camera, categorizing a pose of the head from the captured images, and affecting at least one safety system of the vehicle based on the categorization.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a driver of a vehicle, comprising:

positioning a cellular telephone within a vehicle such that a camera of the cellular telephone views a driver'"'"'s head;

executing application software on the cellular telephone to capture images of the head using the camera;

categorizing a pose of the head from the captured images; and

affecting at least one safety system of the vehicle based on the categorization.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wirelessly sending the images of the head to the vehicle; and

categorizing the pose of the head using an algorithm that is executed within a computer of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wirelessly sending the images of the head to a system that is external to the vehicle; and

categorizing the pose of the head using an algorithm that is executed within a computer that is external to the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the computer that is external to the vehicle is a cloud network of one or more computers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein affecting the at least one safety system comprises altering at least one of an airbag setting, a sensor configuration of the vehicle, and a warning system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the warning system comprises one of an audio signal or a visual signal within the vehicle, and an autodial feature to call for assistance using the cellular telephone.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein affecting the at least one safety system comprises altering the vehicle from an autonomous operation to an active human driver operation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein positioning the cellular telephone comprises positioning the cellular telephone within a holder on a dashboard of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the cellular telephone includes the camera having a lens on a first face of the cellular telephone that is positioned toward the head of the driver, and at least one of a keypad and display on a second face of the cellular telephone that is opposite the first face.

10. A vehicle, comprising:

a holder for a cellphone, wherein;

when the cellphone is placed in the holder, a camera within the cellphone is directed toward a driver head region; and

the cellphone includes a software application programmed to;

capture images of the driver head region with the camera;

send the images to a computing device; and

wherein the computing device is programmed to;

categorize a head pose using the captured images; and

send commands to a safety system of the vehicle to affect operation of the safety system based on the categorization.

11. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the cellphone includes a lens of the camera on a first face of the cellphone that is directed toward the head of the driver, and at least one of a keypad and display on a second face of the cellphone that is opposite the first face.

12. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the computing device is located external to the vehicle.

13. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the vehicle is configured to operate autonomously and without a human driver, and wherein the commands sent to the safety system include removing operation of the vehicle from autonomous operation such that control of the vehicle is returned to the human driver.

14. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the safety system comprises at least one of an airbag setting, a sensor configuration of the vehicle, and a warning system.

15. The vehicle of claim 10, wherein the cellphone includes the camera having a lens on a first face of the cellular telephone that is positioned toward the driver head region, and at least one of a keypad and display on a second face of the cellular telephone that is opposite the first face.

16. A system for monitoring a driver of a vehicle, comprising:

a holder;

a computing device;

a cellphone positioned in the holder, the cellphone having a camera and application software that is programmed to;

obtain images of a head of the driver of the vehicle; and

send the images to the computing device;

wherein the computing device is programmed to;

categorize a pose of the head from the images; and

affect at least one safety system of the vehicle based on the categorization.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the computing device is positioned within the vehicle, and the at least one safety system of the vehicle is at least one of an airbag setting, a sensor configuration of the vehicle, and a warning system.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the computing device is positioned external to the vehicle, and the at least one safety system of the vehicle is at least one of an airbag setting, a sensor configuration of the vehicle, and a warning system.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the computer is a cloud network of one or more computers.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the cellphone is positioned within the holder on a dashboard of the vehicle, and wherein the cellular telephone includes the camera having a lens on a first face of the cellular telephone that is positioned toward the head of the driver, and at least one of a keypad and display on a second face of the cellular telephone that is opposite the first face.