Drive control apparatus, drive control method, drive control program, and recording medium

• US 8,160,772 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2006
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Inventors: Ito, Kohei, Fujita, Ryujiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Ilan, Ruth
• Assistant Examiner(s): Freedman, Laura
• Application Number:
  US12/442,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20100094502A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,028 Days
• Field of Search: 180/271, 180/272, 180/274, 180/279, 180282-284, 280/734, 280/735, 340901-905, 340435-438, 340/440, 340/441, 340/449, 340/500, 340/501, 340/540, 340/669, 340/670, 340/6.1, 700/11, 700/12, 700/17, 700/83, 700/258, 700/259, 701/36, 701/45, 701/207, 701/300, 701/301, 701/408, 702/141, 702/142
• US Class Current: 701/36
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/20 Direction indicator values
• 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: G08G 1/096725 where the received information generates an automatic action on the vehicle control
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09675 where a selection from the received information takes place in the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096791 where the origin of the information is another vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/167 Driving aids for lane monitoring, lane changing, e.g. blind spot detection

Abstract

A drive control apparatus (100) uses a calculating unit (103) to calculate a danger index indicative of the possibility of occurrence of a dangerous event for a mobile body based on information of the mobile body acquired by an information acquiring unit (101). A notifying unit (104) notifies a passenger of the possibility of occurrence of a dangerous event for the mobile body. A control unit (106) controls a driving unit (102) to stop the drive if a determining unit (105) determines that the danger index is greater than a predetermined value.

Claims

1. A drive control apparatus comprising:

a driving unit that presents information to a passenger in a mobile body, wherein the driving unit drives a sensor mounted on the mobile body;

an information acquiring unit that acquires information concerning the mobile body;

a calculating unit that, based on the information acquired by the information acquiring unit, calculates a danger index indicative of a possibility of occurrence of a dangerous event for the mobile body;

a determining unit that determines whether the danger index calculated by the calculating unit is greater than a given value; and

a control unit that controls the driving unit based on a calculation result calculated by the calculating unit, wherein

the control unit terminates driving of the sensor by the driving unit when the determining unit determines the danger index to be greater than the given value.

2. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notifying unit that notifies the passenger of the possibility of occurrence of a dangerous event for the mobile body, based on the calculation result calculated by the calculating unit.

3. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving unit drives the information acquiring unit.

4. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information acquiring unit acquires image information indicative of surroundings of the mobile body.

5. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit resumes the driving of the sensor by the driving unit when the determining unit determines that the danger index has returned to a value less than the given value.

6. The drive control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving unit drives, in a yaw direction and a pitch direction, the sensor mounted on the mobile body.

7. A drive control method comprising:

driving a sensor mounted on a mobile body;

acquiring information concerning the mobile body;

calculating, based on the information acquired at the acquiring, a danger index indicative of a possibility of occurrence of a dangerous event for the mobile body;

determining whether the danger index calculated at the calculating is greater than a given value; and

controlling, based on a calculation result calculated at the calculating, a driving unit that presents information to a passenger on the mobile body, wherein

the controlling further includes terminating driving of the sensor by the driving unit when at the determining, the danger index is determined to be greater than the given value.

8. A computer-readable recording medium storing therein a driving control program that causes a computer to execute:

driving a sensor mounted on a mobile body;

acquiring information concerning the mobile body;

calculating, based on the information acquired at the acquiring, a danger index indicative of a possibility of occurrence of a dangerous event for the mobile body;

determining whether the danger index calculated at the calculating is greater than a given value; and

controlling, based on a calculation result calculated at the calculating, a driving unit that presents information to a passenger on the mobile body, wherein

the controlling further includes terminating driving of the sensor by the driving unit when at the determining, the danger index is determined to be greater than the given value.