Operation state judgement method and system

• US 8,552,851 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2009
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Nakamura, Nobutatsu, Kida, Kouji
• Primary Examiner(s): Tweel, Jr., John A
• Application Number:
  US12/991,781
• Publication Number:
  US 20110057784A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,615 Days
• Field of Search: 340/439, 340/575, 340/576, 340/436, 340/438, 701/25, 701/33.4
• US Class Current: 340/439
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/08 Interaction between the driver and the control system
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes

Abstract

A vehicle state determination unit receives vehicle data from a vehicle sensor and position data from a position sensor with a certain frequency. A mode selection unit selects a driving operation mode on the basis of the data received from the vehicle state determination unit and passes the data to a data comparison unit. The data comparison unit reads out model data of the driving operation mode specified by the mode selection unit, from a model data storage unit, compares data received from the vehicle state determination unit and the model data, and passes the comparison result to a driving state determination unit. The driving state determination unit statistically processes the comparison result received from the data comparison unit and passes the result of the determination to a warning display unit.

Claims

1. A driving state determination method comprising steps of:

detecting sensor data including vehicle data and position data, the vehicle data including at least the current speed and the current acceleration of an automobile to be determined, the position data indicating the current position of the automobile;

determining the vehicle state of the automobile on the basis of the sensor data;

selecting one driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state determined in the determining step, from a plurality of driving operation modes; and

comparing the sensor data and model data of the selected driving operation mode among model data held in a holding unit that holds model data for each of the driving operation modes; and

determining the driving state on the basis of the comparison result obtained in the comparing step,

wherein the step of determining the vehicle state of the automobile includes;

calculating a degree of normal driving or abnormal driving of the driver of the automobile to be determined; and

displaying the calculated degree.

2. A driving state determination method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining the driving state further includes the steps of:

quantifying the degree of similarity of the driving state of the automobile and the model data of the driving operation mode; and

displaying the quantified degree of similarity.

3. The driving state determination method according to claim 1, further including a distance determination step to determine whether the automobile is running and the travel distance is within the range between a predetermined start distance and a predetermined end distance, on the basis of the sensor data, wherein

the step of selecting selects a start operation as the driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, if the distance determination step determines that the automobile is running and the travel distance is within the range.

4. The driving state determination method according to claim 1, further including a follow-up driving determination step to determine whether the automobile is running and, within a predetermined forward vehicle-to-vehicle distance from the automobile to be determined, another automobile is running, on the basis of the sensor data, wherein

the step of selecting selects a follow-up operation as the driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, if the follow-up driving determination step determines that the automobile is running and the another automobile is running.

5. The driving state determination method according to claim 1, further including a stop determination step to determine whether the automobile is stopped, on the basis of the sensor data;

wherein

the step of selecting selects a stop operation based on the sensor data in a running state within a predetermined distance from the current stop position of the automobile, as the driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, if the stop determination step determines that the automobile is stopped.

6. The driving state determination method according to claim 1, further including a step of updating and storing the model data of the driving operation mode read out from a model data distribution medium that stores model data of the driving operation mode as an index of the driving method, in a holding unit.

7. The driving state determination method according to claim 1, further including a step of reading out the desired model data of the driving operation mode from a holding unit and storing the read-out model data in a model data distribution medium.

8. A driving state determination system comprising:

a sensor to detect sensor data including vehicle data and position data, the vehicle data including at least the current speed and the current acceleration of an automobile to be determined, the position data indicating the current position of the automobile to be determined;

a vehicle state determination unit to determine a vehicle state of the automobile to be determined, on the basis of the sensor data;

a selection unit to select one driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state determined by the vehicle state determination unit, from a plurality of driving operation modes;

a holding unit to hold model data of each of the driving operation modes;

a comparison unit to compare the sensor data and model data of the selected driving operation mode; and

a driving state determination unit to determine the driving state on the basis of the comparison result by the comparing unit, wherein the driving state determination unit calculates the degree of normal driving or abnormal driving of the driver of the automobile to be determined on the basis of the comparison result by the comparison unit and displays the calculated result on the display unit.

9. The driving state determination system according to claim 8, wherein the driving state determination unit further quantifies a degree of similarity between the driving state of the automobile and model data of the driving operation mode on the comparison result by the comparison unit, and displays the quantified result on a display unit.

10. The driving state determination system according to claim 8, wherein the vehicle state determination unit determines whether the automobile is running and the travel distance is within the range between a predetermined start distance and a predetermined end distance;

and wherein

the selection unit selects a start operation as the driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, if the distance determination unit determines that the automobile is running and the travel distance is within the range.

11. The driving state determination system according to claim 8, further including a follow-up driving determination unit to determine whether the automobile is running and another automobile is running within a predetermined forward vehicle-to-vehicle distance from the automobile to be determined, on the basis of the sensor data, wherein

the selection unit selects a follow-up operation as the driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state if the follow-up driving determination unit determines that the automobile is running and the another automobile is running.

12. The driving state determination system according to claim 8, further including a stop determination unit to determine whether the automobile is stopped, on the basis of the sensor data, wherein

the selection unit selects a stop operation based on the sensor data in a running state within a predetermined distance from the current stop position of the automobile, as the driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, if the stop determination unit determines that the automobile is stopped.

13. The driving state determination system according to claim 8, further including:

a model data distribution medium to store model data of the driving operation mode as an index of the driving method; and

a writing unit to update and store the model data of the driving operation mode read out from the model data distribution medium, in the holding unit.

14. The driving state determination system according to claim 8, further including:

a reading unit to read out a desired model data of the driving operation mode from the holding unit; and

a writing unit to store the model data of the desired driving operation mode read out from the holding unit, in a model data distribution medium.

15. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium that is tangibly coded by a computer program operating on a computer, the program making the computer execute processing of:

detecting sensor data including vehicle data and position data, the vehicle data including at least the current speed and the current acceleration of the automobile to be determined, the position data indicating the current position of the automobile to be determined;

determining the vehicle state of the automobile to be determined, on the basis of the sensor data;

selecting one driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, on the basis of data of the vehicle state determined by the vehicle state determination processing, from a plurality of driving operation modes;

comparing the sensor data and model data of the selected driving operation mode among model data held in a holding unit that holds model data for each of the driving operation modes; and

determining the driving state on the basis of the comparison result obtained in the comparison processing,

wherein the step of determining the vehicle state of the automobile includes;

calculating a degree of normal driving or abnormal driving of the driver of the automobile to be determined; and

displaying the calculated degree.

16. The recording medium according to claim 15, wherein the processing of determining the driving state further includes processing of:

quantifying the degree of similarity between the driving state of the automobile and the driving operation mode; and

displaying the quantified degree of similarity.

17. The recording medium according to claim 15, making the computer further execute distance determination processing of determining whether the automobile is running and the travel distance is within the range between a predetermined start distance and a predetermined end distance, on the basis of the sensor data, wherein

the processing of selecting selects a start operation as a driving mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, if the distance determination processing determines that the automobile is running and the travel distance is within the range.

18. The recording medium according to claim 15, making the computer further execute follow-up driving determination processing of determining whether the automobile is running and another automobile is running within a predetermined forward vehicle-to-vehicle distance from the automobile to be determined, on the basis of the sensor data, wherein

the processing of selecting selects a follow-up operation as a driving mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, if the follow-up driving determination processing determines that the automobile is running and another automobile is running.

19. The recording medium according to claim 15, making the computer further execute stop determination processing of determining whether the automobile is stopped, on the basis of the sensor data, wherein

the processing of selecting selects a stop operation based on the sensor data in a running state within a predetermined distance from the current stop position of the automobile, as a driving operation mode that corresponds to the vehicle state, if the stop determination processing determines that the automobile is stopped.

20. The recording medium according to claim 15, making the computer further execute processing of updating and storing model data of the driving operation mode read out from a model data distribution medium that stores model data of the driving operation mode as an index of the driving method, in the holding unit.

21. The recording medium according to claim 15, making the computer further execute processing of reading out a desired model data of the driving operation mode from the holding unit and storing the model data in the model data distribution medium.