Psychological state estimation device

• US 9,050,045 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2008
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Mori, Hiroki
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Sam
• Assistant Examiner(s): HULL, JAMES B
• Application Number:
  US12/525,466
• Publication Number:
  US 20100009326A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,652 Days
• Field of Search: 434/236
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/021 Measuring pressure in heart or blood vessels A61B5/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/441 Skin evaluation, e.g. for skin disorder diagnosis

Abstract

Disclosed is a psychological state estimation device for estimating the psychological state of a subject. A psychological state estimation device for estimating the psychological state of a subject includes bioinformation acquiring means for acquiring bioinformation of the subject, perception response acquiring means for acquiring the perception response of the subject to an external event, influence degree acquiring means for acquiring the degree of influence on a change in the psychological state of the subject on the basis of the acquired perception response, and estimating means for estimating the psychological state of the subject on the basis of the bioinformation and the degree of influence on the change in the psychological state.

Claims

1. A psychological state estimation device for estimating the psychological state of a subject, comprising:

bioinformation acquiring means for acquiring skin potential, heart rate and blood pressure as bioinformation of the subject;

perception response acquiring means for acquiring a perception response, which is a response of a subject to a perception of an external event when receiving an external event having a possible impact on the psychological state of the subject, on the basis of the skin potential and heart rate;

influence degree acquiring means for acquiring the degree of influence on a change in the psychological state of the subject on the basis of the perception response acquired by the perception response acquiring means; and

estimating means for estimating the psychological state of the subject on the basis of the bioinformation acquired by the bioinformation acquiring means and the influence degree acquired by the influence degree acquiring means,

wherein the perception response acquiring means adopts a time at which the external event is received as a start point to set an interval in which bioinformation for determining the perception response is to be extracted, and with respect to the skin potential and heart rate, extracts a skin potential and heart rate, respectively, within the interval starting from the time, to set a no response as the perception response when the skin potential within the interval is less than a reference potential, to set an orienting response as the perception response when the skin potential within the interval is equal to or greater than the reference potential and the heart rate within the interval is less than a reference heart rate, and to set a defensive response as the perception response when the skin potential within the interval is equal to or greater than the reference potential and the heart rate within the interval is equal to or greater than the reference heart rate,

wherein the influence degree acquiring means sets the degree of influence on the change in the psychological state depending on the external event and a perception response coefficient depending on the perception response of either the no response, the orienting response or the defensive response acquired by the perception response acquiring means, and acquires the degree of influence on the basis of the degree of influence on the change in the psychological state depending on the external event with the perception response coefficient, and

wherein the estimating means;

refers to an evaluation table to set a frustration level corresponding to a heart rate range and a blood pressure range by extracting a heart rate of a preset interval from the heart rate to judge a value range of the heart rate of the interval on the basis of preset thresholds, and extracting a blood pressure of a preset interval from the blood pressure to judge a value range of the blood pressure of the interval on the basis of preset thresholds,

when the degree of influence is 0, sets the frustration level to a final frustration level, and

when the degree of influence is greater than 0, incorporates the degree of influence into the frustration level to calculate the final frustration level.

2. The psychological state estimation device according to claim 1,

wherein, when the perception response acquiring means finds that the subject shows a defensive response, the influence degree acquiring means increases the degree of influence on the change in the psychological state of the subject more than when the subject does not show the defensive response.