SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REDUCING BOREDOM WHILE DRIVING

• US 20080291032A1
• Filed: 05/23/2007
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Motor Corporation
• Original Assignee: Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Incorporated (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Kalik, Steven F., Prokhorov, Danil V., Varri, Chenna K.R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,982,620 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/576
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/785 on or in relation to the windshield or windows
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/066 actuating a signalling device B60K28/063 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/60 Instruments characterised by their location or relative disposition in or on vehicles arrangements of lighting devices on dashboards B60Q3/10
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0827 due to sleepiness
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/22 Psychological state; Stress level or workload
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/18172 Preventing, or responsive to skidding of wheels
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/04 Monitoring the functioning of the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/08 Interaction between the driver and the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/0015 Arrangements for entertainment or communications, e.g. radio, television
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 11/00155 Individual entertainment or communication system remote controls therefor, located in or connected to seat components, e.g. to seat back or arm rest
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention include systems and methods for reducing driver boredom for the driver of a vehicle particularly for vehicle environments such as straight roads and lack of traffic that are likely to induce boredom. An example system includes an electronic circuit such as a computer, a vehicle environment monitor, a driver interface, and a driver stimulation device such as a semitransparent display.

Claims

1. An apparatus for reducing driver boredom in a driver of a vehicle, the vehicle having a vehicle environment, the apparatus comprising:

a vehicle environment monitor, operable to provide environment data representative of the vehicle environment, the vehicle environment monitor including a traffic sensor operable to sense other vehicles in the vehicle environment;

an electronic circuit, receiving the environment data from the vehicle environment monitor, and operable to determine if there is a likelihood of driver boredom from the environment data,

an absence of other vehicles in the vehicle environment for a predetermined time period being indicative of a likelihood of driver boredom;

a driver stimulation device, operable to provide psychological stimulation to the driver if there is a likelihood of driver boredom.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further including a driver interface operable to query the driver and receive a response,

the driver being queried if here is a likelihood of driver boredom,

the driver stimulation device operating if the response indicates driver boredom.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, the driver interface including a speech synthesizer and a microphone, the electronic circuit using a voice recognition algorithm to determine the response.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, the environment data including vehicle operation data.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, the vehicle operation data being selected from a group consisting of throttle position data, steering input data, cruise control status, and brake operation data.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, substantially constant vehicle operation data over a predetermined time period being indicative of a likelihood of driver boredom.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the driver having a field of view, the driver stimulation device including a visual display within the field of view.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the visual display is semitransparent, the driver viewing the vehicle environment through the visual display.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the visual display is a projection display.

10. An apparatus for reducing driver boredom in a driver of a vehicle, the vehicle having a vehicle environment, the driver having a field of view, the apparatus comprising:

a vehicle environment monitor, operable to provide environment data representative of the vehicle environment;

an electronic circuit, receiving the environment data from the vehicle environment monitor, and operable to determine if there is a likelihood of driver boredom from the environment data, the electronic circuit,

a driver stimulation device operable to provide psychological stimulation to the driver if there is a likelihood of driver boredom,

the driver stimulation device including a visual display within the field of view of the driver, the psychological stimulation including one or more images displayed on the visual display.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a wireless receiver, the wireless receiver operable to receive image data, the image data being displayed to the driver as an image on the visual display when there is a likelihood of driver boredom.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the visual display is substantially transparent when no image is displayed on the visual display,

the driver viewing the field of view exterior to the vehicle through the display.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more images are superimposed on the field of view by the display.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more images include a false color representation of the field of view or a night vision image of the field of view.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, further including a driver interface, the visual display and driver interface being used to engage the driver in game playing.

16. A process for reducing driver boredom of a driver of a vehicle, the vehicle having a vehicle environment, the process comprising:

monitoring the vehicle environment;

determining if there is a likelihood of driver boredom from the vehicle environment;

querying the driver to determine if driver boredom exists;

providing psychological stimulation to the driver if driver boredom exists, so as to reduce the driver boredom.

17. The process of claim 16, wherein monitoring the vehicle environment includes detecting other vehicles in the vehicle environment.

18. The process of claim 16, wherein psychological stimulation includes displaying images to the driver.