SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RECOGNIZING AND ANALYZING EMOTIONAL STATES OF A VEHICLE OPERATOR

• US 20180126999A1
• Filed: 11/07/2016
• Published: 05/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Corp.
• Original Assignee: Honeywell International Inc.
• Inventors: Selvaraj, JeevananthaRaja, Janakiraman, Kirupakar, Vikraman, Rajesh, Jagannathan, Muralidharan
• Granted Patent: US 10,293,830 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/06 responsive to incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms

Abstract

A system is disclosed for reducing the likelihood of vehicle accidents, particularly accidents involving large commercial vehicles, such as aircraft. The system includes one or more wearable electronic devices worn by a vehicle operator, such as a pilot. Physiological emotional data is measured by the wearable device(s) and transmitted to a computing cloud or other computing device for analysis and comparison with a predictive model for indicating the emotional state of the operator. When an unsafe emotional state is detected, an alarm notification is generated and transmitted to an appropriate group of users for resolution.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a vehicle configured to be operated by one or more operators;

one or more sensors configured to measure physiological emotional data indicating an emotional state of the operator(s) during operation of the vehicle;

a transceiver in communication with the sensor(s) and configured to transmit the physiological emotional data to a computing cloud or other computing device;

an analysis module in communication with the transceiver and the computing cloud or other computing device, the analysis module being configured to receive the physiological emotional data, compare it against one or more preexisting patterns, and generate an alarm if a selected condition is satisfied; and

a control station comprising a dashboard showing the emotional states of a plurality of operators using the system at a given time.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle comprises an aircraft and the operators include a pilot and a co-pilot.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more wearable electronic devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the physiological emotional data comprises skin conductance, electromyography data, finger temperature, cardiovascular activity, blood volume pulse, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse transit time, pulse volume amplitude, or other measurable indicator.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the emotional state of the operator(s) comprises one or more of the following states:

fearful, frustrated, relaxed, joyful, or excited.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the emotional state of the operator(s) comprises drunkenness or sleepiness.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the preexisting patterns are stored in the computing cloud or other computing device and comprise physiological emotional data regarding a plurality of operators using the system over time.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the preexisting patterns are updated periodically as physiological emotional data is collected from a plurality of operators.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the analysis module is configured to compute a relaxation score using a classification method, support vector machine, or Fisher'"'"'s linear discriminant.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the alarm may be selected from a group of alarms of differing severities, including a countdown to crash indicator and a man down indicator.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the alarm comprises one or more visual elements, audio elements, or haptic elements.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the alarm is broadcast to a plurality of users, together with information about the emotional state of the operator(s).

7. (canceled)

14. A method comprising:

measuring physiological emotional data indicating an emotional state of one or more operators of a vehicle during operation of the vehicle;

transmitting the physiological emotional data to a computing cloud or other computing device;

comparing the physiological emotional data against one or more preexisting patterns in the computing cloud or other computing device;

analyzing the physiological emotional data by monitoring a dashboard at a control station, the dashboard showing the emotional states of a plurality of operators simultaneously operating vehicles at a given time; and

generating an alarm if comparing the physiological emotional data against one or more preexisting patterns results in a selected condition being satisfied.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the vehicle comprises an aircraft and the operators include a pilot and a co-pilot.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein measuring physiological emotional data is performed by one or more wearable electronic devices worn by the vehicle operator(s).

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the physiological emotional data comprises skin conductance, electromyography data, finger temperature, cardiovascular activity, blood volume pulse, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse transit time, pulse volume amplitude, or other measurable indicator.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the emotional state of the operator(s) comprises one or more of the following states:

fearful, frustrated, relaxed, joyful, or excited.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the preexisting patterns are updated periodically as physiological emotional data is collected from a plurality of operators.

20. A system comprising:

one or more vehicles, each vehicle being configured to be operated by one or more operators, each operator having a wearable electronic device with sensors capable of monitoring physiological data indicating an emotional state of the operator during operation of the vehicle;

a control station in communication with the vehicle(s) via a communication module, the control station comprising a dashboard configured to show the emotional states of a plurality of operators operating the vehicle(s);

a computing cloud or other computing device in communication with the control station and having a cloud node located on-board the vehicle,

wherein the computing cloud is configured to collect emotional score data from a plurality of vehicle operators and compile an emotional score database over time, the database being configured to generate predictive models for unsafe emotional states,

wherein the control station is configured to generate a suitable alarm signal when an unsafe emotional state is detected.