State monitoring apparatus
First Claim
1. A state monitoring apparatus mounted in a vehicle to monitor a state of an occupant who is a driver of the vehicle, comprising:
- at least one light emission part that emits light to project illumination light having a wavelength including at least a near infrared wavelength to a predetermined area that is defined as an area where a face of the occupant being the driver of the vehicle is positioned in space in a compartment of the vehicle;
an image pickup part that generates a picture image by receiving light incident from the predetermined area with an image sensor having a plurality of pixels;
a state monitoring section that monitors a state of the occupant being the driver based on a result of processing the picture image generated by the image pickup part; and
an optical control part that controls light distributionto cause an intensity of light incident on each pixel included in an image pickup predetermined areato be equal to or greater than an intensity reference value that is predetermined as an intensity of light providing a picture image suitable for image processing by the state monitoring section andto cause a distribution of the intensity of light incident on each pixel included in the image pickup predetermined areato be within a predetermined first reference range,the image pickup predetermined areabeing at least a part of a light receptive surface of the image sensor in the image pickup part, andcorresponding to the predetermined area,wherein;
the predetermined area includes a center presence area where a central axis of the face of the occupant being the driver is probably positioned, whilethe image pickup predetermined area includes an area corresponding to the center presence area, in the light receptive surface; and
the optical control part controls the light distribution in the center presence area such that(i) a distribution of the intensity of the illumination light along a perpendicular direction is to be uniform, whereas(ii) a distribution of the intensity of the illumination light along a horizontal direction isto be greater to arrive at an area closer to the center presence area, andto be smaller to arrive at an area farther away from the center presence area.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an image pickup system, illumination light emitted by a light emission part is collected and reflected by an optical member and is distributed to a predetermined area. This light distribution to the predetermined area permits a constituent point farther away from the light emission part to receive illumination light having a greater intensity of light being equal to or greater than a predetermined reference value. The image pickup system thus distributing the illumination light enables the intensity of light incident on each pixel constituting an image pickup predetermined area to be equal to or greater than an intensity reference value while enabling the distribution of the intensity of light incident on each pixel constituting the image pickup predetermined area to be within a first reference range.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A state monitoring apparatus mounted in a vehicle to monitor a state of an occupant who is a driver of the vehicle, comprising:
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at least one light emission part that emits light to project illumination light having a wavelength including at least a near infrared wavelength to a predetermined area that is defined as an area where a face of the occupant being the driver of the vehicle is positioned in space in a compartment of the vehicle; an image pickup part that generates a picture image by receiving light incident from the predetermined area with an image sensor having a plurality of pixels; a state monitoring section that monitors a state of the occupant being the driver based on a result of processing the picture image generated by the image pickup part; and an optical control part that controls light distribution to cause an intensity of light incident on each pixel included in an image pickup predetermined area to be equal to or greater than an intensity reference value that is predetermined as an intensity of light providing a picture image suitable for image processing by the state monitoring section and to cause a distribution of the intensity of light incident on each pixel included in the image pickup predetermined area to be within a predetermined first reference range, the image pickup predetermined area being at least a part of a light receptive surface of the image sensor in the image pickup part, and corresponding to the predetermined area, wherein; the predetermined area includes a center presence area where a central axis of the face of the occupant being the driver is probably positioned, while the image pickup predetermined area includes an area corresponding to the center presence area, in the light receptive surface; and the optical control part controls the light distribution in the center presence area such that (i) a distribution of the intensity of the illumination light along a perpendicular direction is to be uniform, whereas (ii) a distribution of the intensity of the illumination light along a horizontal direction is to be greater to arrive at an area closer to the center presence area, and to be smaller to arrive at an area farther away from the center presence area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A state monitoring apparatus mounted in a vehicle to monitor a state of an occupant who is a driver of the vehicle, comprising:
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at least one light emission part that emits light to project illumination light having a wavelength including at least a near infrared wavelength to a predetermined area that is defined as an area where a face of the occupant being the driver of the vehicle is positioned in space in a compartment of the vehicle; an image pickup part that generates a picture image by receiving light incident from the predetermined area with an image sensor having a plurality of pixels; a state monitoring section that monitors a state of the occupant being the driver based on a result of processing the picture image generated by the image pickup part; and an optical control part that includes an incident part that collects the illumination light projected by the light emission part, and a projecting part that performs, at a projecting surface, light distribution that projects the illumination light collected by the incident part to the space in the compartment to cause an intensity of light incident on each pixel included in an image pickup predetermined area to be equal to or greater than an intensity reference value predetermined as an intensity of light providing a picture image suitable for image processing by the state monitoring section and to cause a distribution of the intensity of light incident on each pixel included in the image pickup predetermined area to be within a predetermined first reference range, the image pickup predetermined area being at least a part of a light receptive surface of the image sensor in the image pickup part and corresponding to the predetermined area, wherein the optical control part is an optical member including the projecting part that is connected to a connecting face that is a plane formed in the incident part. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. An optical member used in a state monitoring apparatus that is mounted in a vehicle and includes
at least one light emission part that emits light to project illumination light having a wavelength including a near infrared wavelength to a predetermined area defined as an area where a face of an occupant of the vehicle is positioned in space in a compartment of the vehicle, an image pickup part that generates a picture image by receiving light incident from the predetermined area with an image sensor having a plurality of pixels, and a state monitoring section that monitors a state of the occupant based on a result of processing the picture image generated by the image pickup part, the optical member comprising: -
an incident part that collects illumination light emitted projected by the light emission part; and a projecting part that performs, at a projecting surface, light distribution that projects the illumination light collected by the incident part to the space in the compartment, the projecting part being connected to a connecting face that is a plane formed in the incident part, to cause an intensity of light incident on each pixel included in an image pickup predetermined area to be equal to or greater than an intensity reference value predetermined as an intensity of light providing a picture image suitable for image processing by the state monitoring section and to cause a distribution of the intensity of light incident on each pixel included in the image pickup predetermined area to be within a predetermined first reference range, the image pickup predetermined area being at least a part of a light receptive surface of the image sensor in the image pickup part and corresponding to the predetermined area.
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Specification