APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING VEHICLE BASED ON DEGREE OF FATIGUE

• US 20180297603A1
• Filed: 11/06/2017
• Published: 10/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Inventors: JUN, Sung Hwan
• Granted Patent: US 10,160,456 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02405 Determining heart rate variability
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/318 Heart-related electrical modalities, e.g. electrocardiography [ECG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/347 Detecting the frequency distribution of signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/352 Detecting R peaks, e.g. for synchronising diagnostic apparatus; Estimating R-R interval
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/389 Electromyography [EMG]
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6893 Cars
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7267 involving training the classification device
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/746 Alarms related to a physiological condition, e.g. details of setting alarm thresholds or avoiding false alarms alarms per se G08B
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 28/02 responsive to conditions relating to the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0827 due to sleepiness
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/221 Physiology, e.g. weight, heartbeat, health or special needs
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/229 Attention level, e.g. attentive to driving, reading or sleeping
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/802 Longitudinal distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2710/0605 : Throttle position
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2754/30 : Longitudinal distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/14 : Adaptive cruise control
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/08 : related to drivers or passengers
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/085 : Changing the parameters of the control units, e.g. changing limit values, working points by control input
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 : Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 : Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 : for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an apparatus and a method for controlling a vehicle based on a degree of fatigue of a driver. The apparatus includes: a fatigue degree learning device configured to learn a degree of initial fatigue of the driver based on biometric information of the driver received from a sensor; a fatigue degree monitoring device configured to, when learning the degree of initial fatigue of the driver is completed and driving of a vehicle is started, monitor the degree of fatigue of the driver by receiving the biometric information of the driver from the sensor, and output a control signal corresponding to the degree of fatigue of the driver, and a driving controller configured to control the driving of the vehicle based on the control signal.

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling a vehicle based on a degree of fatigue of a driver, the apparatus comprising:

a fatigue degree learning device configured to learn a degree of initial fatigue of the driver based on biometric information of the driver received from a sensor;

a fatigue degree monitoring device that, when learning the degree of initial fatigue of the driver is completed and driving of a vehicle is started, is configured to;

monitor the degree of fatigue of the driver based on the biometric information of the driver received from the sensor; and

output a control signal corresponding to the degree of fatigue of the driver; and

a driving controller configured to control the driving of the vehicle based on the control signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fatigue degree learning device is configured to learn the degree of initial fatigue of the driver based on the biometric information of the driver received during a preset learning period for the degree of initial fatigue of the driver.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the fatigue degree learning device is configured to:

analyze a heart rate variability (HRV) from the biometric information based on a frequency range; and

learn the degree of initial fatigue of the driver based on first log values for a low frequency (LF) and a high frequency (HF) during the preset learning period for the degree of initial fatigue of the driver.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the fatigue degree monitoring device is configured to:

analyze a heart rate variability (HRV) from the biometric information received during a preset monitoring period for the degree of fatigue of the driver when the vehicle travels based on the frequency range; and

detect a degree of current fatigue of the driver based on second log values for the LF and the HF during the preset monitoring period for the degree of fatigue of the driver.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the fatigue degree monitoring device is configured to identify an increment of the degree of fatigue of the driver based on reduction ratios of the second log values for the LF and the HF with reference to the first log values for the LF and the HF.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the fatigue degree monitoring device is configured to:

output a first control signal corresponding to a first degree of fatigue when it is identified that the second log values for the LF and the HF decrease by not less than a first reference value and less than a second reference value; and

output a second control signal corresponding to a second degree of fatigue when it is identified that the second log values for the LF and the HF decrease by not less than the second reference value.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the driving controller is configured to output a warning alarm based on the first control signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the driving controller is configured to control a vehicle-to-vehicle distance of the vehicle based on the second control signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the driving controller is configured to interrupt a data of an accelerator position sensor of the vehicle from being transferred to a throttle valve when a distance between the vehicle and a preceding vehicle is less than a preset distance.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the driving controller is configured to activate a lane departure warning system (LDWS) and a lane keeping assist system (LKAS) based on the second control signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the driving controller is configured to check a setting of a smart cruise control (SCC) system of the vehicle when the fatigue degree monitoring device outputs the control signal.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the driving controller is configured to:

control the driving of the vehicle based on the control signal when the SCC system is set to be off; and

output a warning alarm based on the control signal when the SCC system is set to be on.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the biometric information comprises at least one of an electrocardiogram (ECG), an electroencephalogram (EEG), or an electromyograph (EMG).

14. A method for controlling a vehicle based on a degree of fatigue of a driver, the method comprising:

learning a degree of initial fatigue of the driver based on biometric information of the driver received from a sensor;

when learning the degree of initial fatigue of the driver is completed and driving of a vehicle is started, monitoring the degree of fatigue of the driver based on the biometric information of the driver received from the sensor;

outputting a control signal corresponding to the degree of fatigue of the driver; and

controlling the driving of the vehicle based on the control signal.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein learning the degree of initial fatigue of the driver comprises:

analyzing a heart rate variability (HRV) from the biometric information received during a preset learning period for the degree of initial fatigue of the driver based on a frequency range; and

learning the degree of initial fatigue of the driver based on first log values for a low frequency (LF) and a high frequency (HF) during the preset learning period for the degree of the initial fatigue of the driver.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein monitoring the degree of fatigue of the driver comprises:

analyzing a heart rate variability (HRV) from the biometric information received during a preset monitoring period for the degree of fatigue of the driver when the vehicle travels based on the frequency range;

calculating second log values for the LF and the HF during the preset monitoring period for the degree of fatigue of the driver; and

identifying an increment of the degree of fatigue of the driver based on reduction ratios of the second log values for the LF and the HF with reference to the first log values for the LF and the HF.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein outputting the control signal comprises:

when it is identified that the second log values for the LF and the HF decrease by not less than a first reference value and less than a second reference value, outputting a first control signal by determining that the degree of fatigue reaches a first degree of fatigue; and

when it is identified that the second log values for the LF and the HF decrease by not less than a second reference value, outputting a second control signal by determining that the degree of fatigue reaches a second degree of fatigue.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the control of the driving of the vehicle comprises:

outputting a warning alarm based on the first control signal.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the control of the driving of the vehicle comprises:

controlling a vehicle-to-vehicle distance of the vehicle based on the second control signal; and

activating a lane departure warning system (LDWS) and a lane keeping assist system (LKAS) of the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the control of the driving of the vehicle comprises:

checking a setting of a smart cruise control (SCC) system of the vehicle;

when the SCC system is set to be off, controlling the driving of the vehicle based on the control signal; and

when the SCC system is set to be on, outputting a warning alarm based on the control signal.