Driver attention evaluation

• US 9,845,097 B2
• Filed: 08/12/2015
• Issued: 12/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Prakah-Asante, Kwaku O., Yang, Hsin-hsiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US14/824,465
• Publication Number:
  US 20170043781A1
• Time in Patent Office: 860 Days
• Field of Search: 340438, 340576
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 related to drivers or passengers

Abstract

A driver evaluation system for a vehicle generates for display a parameter indicative of a driver'"'"'s level of attention to driving the vehicle for a temporal period based on a complement of a weighted average of a plurality of counts. Some of the counts represent a number of interaction events between the driver and an infotainment system in the vehicle during the temporal period.

Claims

1. A driver evaluation system for a vehicle comprising:

a controller programmed to generate for display a parameter indicative of a driver'"'"'s level of attention to driving the vehicle for a sliding window time period based on a complement of a weighted average of a plurality of counts at least some of which represent a number of interaction events between the driver and an infotainment system in the vehicle during the time period.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to link the parameter with geographic coordinates traversed by the vehicle during the time period, and in response to a driver attention request including the geographic coordinates, output the parameter.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to accumulate one of the counts such that, in response to occurrence of an interaction event, the one of the counts being greater than zero, and a count timer exceeding a predefined time limit, the count timer is decreased according to a difference between the count timer and a quotient of the predefined time limit and the one of the counts.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further programmed to record a value of the parameter for time periods defining a drive cycle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the counts represents a number of look-away events from a road during the time period.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the look-away events are based on an eye gaze direction or head pose of the driver.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the infotainment system is a cell phone, an instrument panel cluster, or a center stack console.

8. A driver evaluation method comprising:

by a controller,

accumulating a driver inattention event count such that, in response to occurrence of an inattention event and a count timer exceeding a limit, the count timer is decreased according to a difference between the count timer and a quotient of the limit and the count, and

displaying a driver attention state value that is based on a complement of a weighted average that includes the count.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising linking the driver attention state value with geographic coordinates, and in response to a driver attention request including the geographic coordinates, outputting the driver attention state value.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising recording the driver attention state value for each of a plurality of time periods defining a drive cycle, and upon completion of the drive cycle, displaying an average of at least some of the driver attention state values.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising wirelessly transmitting the driver attention state value off-board.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the driver inattention event count represents a number of look-away events from a road for a time period.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the look-away events are based on an eye gaze direction or head pose of a driver.

14. A vehicle comprising:

an interface; and

one or more controllers programmed to,

in response to a driver attention request, generate for display via the interface a parameter indicative of a driver'"'"'s level of attention to driving the vehicle for a selected time period based on a complement of a weighted average, having a value between zero and one, of a plurality of counts at least some of which represent a number of interaction events between the driver and an infotainment system in the vehicle during the selected time period, and

accumulate one of the counts such that, in response to occurrence of an interaction event, the one of the counts being greater than zero, and a value of a count timer exceeding a predefined time limit, the value is decreased according to a difference between the count timer and a quotient of the predefined time limit and the one of the counts.

15. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein the selected time period defines a drive cycle.

16. The vehicle of claim 14, wherein at least one of the counts represents a number of look-away events from a road during the selected time period.

17. The vehicle of claim 16, wherein the look-away events are based on an eye gaze direction or head pose of the driver.