Method and apparatus for judging psychosomatic condition of the driver in motor vehicle

• US 4,004,290 A
• Filed: 08/19/1975
• Issued: 01/18/1977
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/1974
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kobayashi, Kazuo, Oosumi, Yoshimasa, Sugiura, Seiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Caldwell, John W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wannisky, William M.
• Application Number:
  US05/605,961
• Time in Patent Office: 518 Days
• Field of Search: 340/279, 340/53, 180/82 R, 180/99, 235/92 MT, 235/92 GA, 235/92 CA, 128/2 S
• US Class Current: 180/272
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/063 preventing starting of vehicles

Abstract

A method and apparatus for judging the psychosomatic condition of the driver in a motor vehicle, wherein engine-lock means are provided to control the ignition system of the engine. Prior to starting of the engine, the driver must go through a stationary adjusting task which is utilized to check the driver'"'"'s mental and physical ability for maintaining a part of his body under a certain strained situation for a certain fixed time. Said ignition system of the engine cannot be made operative unless the driver passes through said stationary adjusting task.

Claims

1. An apparatus for judging the psychosomatic condition of the driver in a motor vehicle by requiring the driver to perform the stationary adjusting task of maintaining his foot pressure at a predetermined fixed level for a predetermined time interval, comprising a pedal in the driver'"'"'s compartment of the motor vehicle, a pressure sensitive detector coupled to said pedal and operative to produce an electrical signal representative of the pedal force being exerted by the driver, an indicator visible to the driver in said driver'"'"'s compartment and responsive to said signal for providing an indication of the pedal force being exerted by the driver, said indicator including a scale having a fixed indication thereon visible to the driver and representative of the predetermined fixed level of pedal force which is to be maintained by the driver, and a processing circuit including timer means defining said predetermined time interval, said processing circuit further including means for comparing the output signal of the detector with a preset fixed reference value during said predetermined time interval.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including an engine-lock circuit, and means coupling said processing circuit to said engine-lock circuit to control the activation of the motor vehicle engine in dependence upon the results of said comparison.

3. The method of judging the psychosomatic condition of the driver of an automobile by use of an apparatus comprising a foot pedal having an associated pressure detector operative to produce an electrical signal representative of the force imposed on said foot pedal, and an electrical metering device responsive to said electrical signal, said metering device having a movable pointer to indicate the foot pressure being applied to said pedal and also having a fixed index in the path of movement of the pointer, said method comprising the stationary adjusting task performed by said driver of applying foot pressure to said pedal for a predetermined time interval while the driver observes the pointer of said metering device in an effort by said driver to maintain his applied foot pressure at the predetermined fixed level designated by said fixed index throughout said predetermined time interval, and monitoring the amplitude of said electrical signal throughout said predetermined time interval to determine the extent to which said signal amplitude departs from a predetermined fixed reference level.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said monitoring step includes the steps of defining a plurality of fixed signal amplitude levels which are successively displaced from said reference level, and counting the number of times said signal amplitude passes through each of said fixed amplitude levels during said predetermined time interval.

5. An apparatus for judging the psychosomatic condition of the driver in a motor vehicle comprising in combination an engine-lock circuit;

a pedal located in the driver'"'"'s compartment of the motor vehicle;

a detector for electrically detecting a pedal effort by the driver;

an indicator in said driver'"'"'s compartment for indicating the output of said detector; and

a processing circuit for controlling said engine-lock circuit by comparing the output of said detector with a predetermined reference value, said processing circuit comprising a frequency rate measuring circuit for counting the number of times a response wave-form passes through various preselected level ranges, a calculating circuit for providing a weight to each range and for calculating values of frequency rate, and a judging circuit for comparing the output of said calculating circuit with said predetermined reference value in order to get a releasing signal for said engine-lock circuit when said output is less than said reference value.

6. A judging apparatus as recited in claim 5 wherein said detector comprises a metallic elastic ring adapted to be deformed by an external force applied thereto upon operation of said pedal;

and strain gauges respectively bonded on the outer and inner surfaces of the ring and interconnected to one another to form a bridge circuit.

7. A judging apparatus as recited in claim 6, further including an adjusting bolt mounted on said ring for adjusting the contact position between the ring and the bolt.

8. A judging apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein said pedal is the clutch pedal of the motor vehicle.

9. A judging apparatus as recited in claim 5, where said frequency rate measuring circuit comprises a range separating circuit for separating response wave-form signals obtained from the detector into a plurality of predetermined level ranges;

a pulse generating circuit having a plurality of pulse generators to convert the output pulse from the range separating circuit into a pulse having a certain fixed pulse width;

the an AND circuit having a plurality of AND gates connected with said pulse generating circuit to determine the time of a stationary adjusting task.

10. A judging apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein said range separating circuit includes a plurality of relay units operated by different voltages respectively.

11. A judging apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein said calculating circuit comprises a counting circuit having flip-flop circuits which form a binary n bit counter;

and an amplifier circuit having a different amplification factor for each flip-flop.

12. A judging apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein the frequency rate measuring circuit includes a clipper circuit.

13. A judging apparatus as recited in claim 5, wherein said calculating circuit includes an integrating circuit.