Apparatus and method for providing safe driving information

• US 9,576,489 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2015
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: Park, Hye Sun, Yoon, Chang Rak, Kim, Kyong Ho
• Primary Examiner(s): Trivedi, Atul
• Application Number:
  US14/598,733
• Publication Number:
  US 20150206431A1
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/177 Augmented reality
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/178 Warnings
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/179 Distances to obstacles or vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/186 Displaying information according to relevancy
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/334 Projection means
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/1529 Head-up displays
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/177 Augmented reality
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/178 Warnings
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/179 Distances to obstacles or vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/186 Displaying Information according to relevancy
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/193 for improving awareness
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/194 by directing line of sight
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/334 Projection means
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/00 Safety devices for propulsion-unit control, specially adapted for, or arranged in, vehicles, e.g. preventing fuel supply or ignition in the event of potentially dangerous conditions for electrically-propelled vehicles B60L3/00; road vehicle drive control systems for purposes not related to the control of a particular sub-unit B60W30/00; drive control systems specially adapted for autonomous road vehicles B60W60/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/23 Head-up displays [HUD] optical aspects of head-up displays G02B27/01
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/285 for improving awareness by directing driver's gaze direction or eye points
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/29 Instruments characterised by the way in which information is handled, e.g. showing information on plural displays or prioritising information according to driving conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 : Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/04 : Traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 : related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 : having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages

Abstract

Provided are an apparatus and method for providing safe driving information. The method includes building a database including group information obtained by grouping driving environment information and driving situation information according to attributes of the driving environment information and the driving situation information, and provision forms and provision timings of safe driving information determined according to conditions in groups; collecting driving environment information, driving situation information, obstacle information, and information on a driver'"'"'s line of sight in real time; determining a provision form and a provision timing of safe driving information based on the collected information and the database; and providing the safe driving information according to the determined provision form and timing.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing safe driving information, the apparatus comprising:

an information collecting module including circuitry configured to collect driving environment information and driving situation information of a vehicle, obstacle information, and information on a driver'"'"'s line of sight from sensors, and process the collected information;

a database unit configured to store provision forms and provision timings of previously set safe driving information according to groups formed by grouping driving environment information and driving situation information by attribute and driving environment conditions and driving situation conditions in the groups;

a determination module including circuitry configured to determine a provision form and a provision timing of safe driving information during a travel based on the driving environment information, the driving situation information, the obstacle information, and the information on the driver'"'"'s line of sight obtained from the information collecting module and the provision forms and the provision timings stored in the database unit; and

an information providing module including circuitry configured to control a display unit to provide the safe driving information according to the determined provision form and timing of the safe driving information;

wherein the database unit stores a provision form and a provision timing of safe driving information determined through a test according to the conditions in the group information based on analysis results of recognition easiness, information understanding, information concentration, and safe driving performance of the driver.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the information collecting module collects the driving environment information and the driving situation information of the vehicle, the obstacle information, and the information on the driver'"'"'s line of sight from an environment recognition device including at least one of a temperature sensor, a rain sensor, and an illumination sensor, a surrounding situation recognition device including at least one of a speed sensor, a steering angle sensor, a brake pressure sensor, a diagnosis sensor, and a navigation sensor, an obstacle recognition device including at least one of a radar, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a vision sensor, and a device for recognizing a driver'"'"'s line of sight including at least one of an eye tracker and a vision sensor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the database unit stores the driving environment information, group information obtained by grouping the driving environment information according to attributes of the driving environment information, and provision forms and provision timings of safe driving information according to the conditions in the group information.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determination module determines the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information through at least one of a simple comparison and evaluation of provision forms and provision timings between comparison groups, a simple comparison and evaluation of safety weights between comparison groups, and a detailed comparison and evaluation of safety weights between comparison groups based on the driving environment information, the driving situation information, and the provision forms and the provision timings stored in the database unit according to the conditions in the groups.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein, when provision forms and provision timings according to conditions of groups are identical, the determination module determines the identical provision form and timing as the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein, when provision forms and provision timings according to conditions of groups are different, the determination module determines the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information according to a result of the simple comparison and evaluation of safety weights between comparison groups.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein, when the result of the simple comparison and evaluation of safety weights between comparison groups indicates that weights for the conditions of the groups are identical, the determination module determines an enhanced provision form and provision timing of the safe driving information by combining provision forms and provision timings for the conditions of the evaluation-target groups through the detailed comparison and evaluation of safety weights between comparison groups.

8. A method of providing safe driving information, the method comprising:

building a database including group information obtained by grouping driving environment information and driving situation information according to attributes of the driving environment information and the driving situation information, and provision forms and provision timings of safe driving information determined according to conditions in groups;

collecting driving environment information, driving situation information, obstacle information, and information on a driver'"'"'s line of sight in real time;

determining a provision form and a provision timing of safe driving information based on the collected information and the database; and

providing the safe driving information according to the determined provision form and timing;

wherein the determining of the provision form and the provision timing includes determining the provision form and the provision timing through at least one test according to the conditions in the groups based on analysis results of recognition easiness, information understanding, information concentration, and safe driving performance of the driver.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the building of the database includes:

setting criteria for grouping the driving environment information, the driving situation information and the obstacle information;

setting tasks to be performed in the at least one test;

setting test environments for determining group-specific optimal provision forms and timings;

conducting the at least one test; and

analyzing a result of the at least one test.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining of the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information includes:

comparing initial values of group-specific provision forms and provision timings based on at least one of the driving environment information and the driving situation information and the provision forms and the provision timings of safe driving information stored in the database; and

determining the initial values as the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information when the compared initial values are identical.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining of the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information further includes, when the compared initial values are different, determining group-specific safety weights, and determining initial values of a group having a higher safety weight according to a determination result as the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining of the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information further includes, when the determined group-specific safety weights are identical, determining the provision form and the provision timing of the safe driving information through weight enhancement between comparison groups.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the providing of the safe driving information includes matching an augmented reality head-up display (AR-HUD) in a vehicle to the driver'"'"'s line of sight based on the information on the driver'"'"'s line of sight, and providing the safe driving information.