ADVANCED SEATBELT INTERLOCK USING VIDEO RECOGNITION

• US 20160046261A1
• Filed: 08/17/2014
• Published: 02/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Gulash, Emery Charles
• Granted Patent: US 9,365,186 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/485 for sensing belt anchor position, belt orientation, or the like
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2022/4891 preventing use of the vehicle when the seatbelt is not fastened
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 22/48 Control systems, alarms, or interlock systems, for the correct application of the belt or harness
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0055 with safety arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/20 Finite element generation, e.g. wire-frame surface description, tesselation

Abstract

Computing devices, methods, and systems for locking vehicle operations when an occupant is not wearing a correctly positioned seatbelt are disclosed. One example method for locking vehicle operations includes identifying an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant; determining whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model; and locking one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt. Example implementations include using depth-sensing cameras, rendering a three-dimensional model representing the occupant position and the seatbelt position, and comparing the three-dimensional model and the reference model. Examples of vehicle operations that may be locked include ignition operations, gear shift operations, and autonomous driving operations.

Claims

1. A computing device for a vehicle, comprising:

one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device; and

a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to;

identify an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;

determine whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways; and

lock one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the information relating to the occupant and the seatbelt are received from one or more optical sensors associated with the vehicle.

3. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the one or more optical sensors are cameras.

4. The computing device of claim 2, wherein the one or more optical sensors are depth-sensing cameras.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to render a three-dimensional model representing the occupant position and the seatbelt position.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the determining whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt is based at least in part on a comparison of the three-dimensional model and the reference model.

7. The computing device of claim 5, wherein at least one of the three-dimensional model and the reference model comprise skeletal joint relationship information.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the reference model is received by the computing device from a remote source.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more vehicle operations include at least one of an ignition operation and a gear shift operation.

12. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to issue a warning before locking the one or more vehicle operations.

10. A computing device for a vehicle, comprising:

one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device; and

a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to;

identify an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;

determine whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including at least one of;

one or more skeletal models, one or more seatbelt models, or one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways; and

lock one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt, the one or more vehicle operations including an autonomous driving operation.

11. A computing device for a vehicle, comprising:

one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device; and

a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to;

identify an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;

determine whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including at least one of;

one or more skeletal models, one or more seatbelt models, or one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways;

lock one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt; and

issue one or more commands to one or more vehicle systems to autonomously divert the vehicle to a safe location.

13. A computer-implemented method for a vehicle, comprising:

identifying an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;

determining whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways; and

locking one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the information relating to the occupant and the seatbelt is received from one or more optical sensors associated with the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more optical sensors are depth-sensing cameras.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising rendering a three-dimensional model representing the occupant position and the seatbelt position.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the determination whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt is based at least in part on a comparison of the three-dimensional model and the reference model.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of the three-dimensional model and the reference model comprise skeletal joint relationship information.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more vehicle operations includes at least one of an ignition operation, a gear shift operation, and an autonomous driving operation.

20. A system comprising:

one or more optical sensors associated with a vehicle;

a computing device in communication with the one or more optical sensors, the computing device comprising one or more processors for controlling the operations of the computing device and a memory for storing data and program instructions used by the one or more processors, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to;

identify an occupant position and a seatbelt position based on information received from the one or more optical sensors relating to an occupant of the vehicle and a seatbelt associated with the occupant;

determine whether the occupant is correctly wearing the seatbelt based at least in part on the occupant position, the seatbelt position, and a reference model including one or more skeletal models wearing seatbelts in correct and incorrect ways; and

lock one or more vehicle operations if the occupant is not correctly wearing the seatbelt.