Driving characteristics diagnosis device, driving characteristics diagnosis system, driving characteristics diagnosis method, information output device, and information output method

• US 9,707,971 B2
• Filed: 05/22/2015
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kiyama, Noboru, Takahashi, Toshimitsu, Osafune, Tatsuaki, Izumi, Yoshifumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cuong H
• Application Number:
  US14/720,033
• Publication Number:
  US 20160101785A1
• Time in Patent Office: 788 Days
• Field of Search: 701 1, 701 314, 701521, 701301, 705 11, 705 1466, 455 99, 340439
• 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: B60W 2040/0818 Inactivity or incapacity of driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2040/0872 Driver physiology
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/105 Longitudinal acceleration
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/125 Lateral acceleration
• 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 2540/26 Incapacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/00 Input parameters relating to objects
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/801 Lateral distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/804 Relative longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2555/60 Traffic rules, e.g. speed limits or right of way
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles

Abstract

A driving characteristics diagnosis device, includes: an information acquisition unit that acquires information relating to the operational state of a vehicle; a dangerous driving detection processing unit that detects dangerous driving by a user of the vehicle on the basis of information acquired by the information acquisition unit; a cause estimation processing unit that estimates a cause of the dangerous driving; a driving characteristics diagnosis processing unit that performs diagnosis of driving characteristics for the user on the basis of a result of detection of the dangerous driving by the dangerous driving detection processing unit and the cause of the dangerous driving estimated by the cause estimation processing unit; and a diagnosis result output unit that outputs the result of the diagnosis of driving characteristics diagnosed by the driving characteristics diagnosis processing unit.

Claims

1. A driving characteristics diagnosis device having a hardware processor, comprising:

an information acquisition unit that acquires information relating to an operational state of an automobile;

a driving detection processing unit that detects a predefined manner of driving by a user of the automobile on the basis of information acquired by the information acquisition unit;

a cause estimation processing unit that estimates a cause of the predefined manner of driving by performing (i) a first decision processing to determine the cause based on a presence or an absence of a first driving factor originating in the user, and (ii) a second decision processing to determine the cause based on a presence or an absence of a second driving factor originating in an external cause external to the user;

a driving characteristics diagnosis processing unit that performs diagnosis of driving characteristics for the user on the basis of a result of detection of the predefined manner of driving by the driving detection processing unit and the cause of the predefined manner of driving estimated by the cause estimation processing unit; and

a diagnosis result output unit that outputs the result of the diagnosis of driving characteristics diagnosed by the driving characteristics diagnosis processing unit,

wherein the second decision processing comprises at least one of a processing of making a decision as to whether another automobile has unreasonably intruded in front of the automobile, a processing of making a decision as to whether another automobile in front of the automobile has performed an abrupt deceleration, a processing of making a decision as to whether something has jumped out in front of the automobile, a processing of making a decision as to whether a forward field of view from the automobile is poor, or a processing of making a decision as to whether a congestion is occurring at a ground point where the automobile is traveling.

2. The driving characteristics diagnosis device according to claim 1, wherein

the result of the driving characteristics diagnosis include information specifying the date, the time, and the location at which the predefined manner of driving was detected, information specifying the details of the predefined manner of driving, and information specifying the cause of the predefined manner of driving.

3. The driving characteristics diagnosis device according to claim 2, wherein

the result of the driving characteristics diagnosis further includes information specifying driving advice to the user in relation to the predefined manner of driving.

4. The driving characteristics diagnosis device according to claim 1, wherein

the cause estimation processing unit estimates the cause of the predefined manner of driving on the basis of at least one of:

information that has been acquired in relation to the automobile;

weather information corresponding to a traveling position of the automobile;

map information corresponding to the traveling position of the automobile; and

road traffic information corresponding to the traveling position of the automobile.

6. The driving characteristics diagnosis device of claim 1, wherein

the first decision processing comprises at least one of a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed heedless driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed inattentive driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has observed an appropriate inter-vehicular distance between the automobile and another automobile in front, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has been conversing while driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has operated a device while driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has abruptly changed the automobile between road lanes, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed driving over a long time interval, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed impatient driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed distracted driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user is tired, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed drowsy driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has committed a traffic violation, a processing of making a decision as to whether the automobile has changed road lane contrary to the intention of the user, or a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed checking while turning.

7. The driving characteristics diagnosis device according to claim 1, further comprising a blame ratio calculation unit that calculates a blame ratio to be attributed to the user for the predefined manner of driving;

and

wherein the result of diagnosis of the driving characteristics further includes information specifying the blame ratio calculated by the blame ratio calculation unit.

8. The driving characteristics diagnosis device according to claim 7, wherein:

the cause estimation processing unit estimates the cause of the predefined manner of driving on the basis of predetermined conditions that are set for each driving factor; and

the blame ratio calculation unit calculates the blame ratio for the user or the external cause influence rate for each driving factor, and calculates an overall blame ratio to be attributed to the user on the basis of the blame ratios and the influence rates that have thus been calculated.

9. A driving characteristics diagnosis system comprising:

the driving characteristics diagnosis device according to claim 1, and

a terminal device that is connected to the driving characteristics diagnosis device, wherein;

the driving characteristics diagnosis device receives information related to the operational state of the automobile from the terminal device, and transmits to the terminal device the result of the diagnosis of driving characteristics for the user outputted from the diagnosis result output unit; and

the terminal device comprises;

a communication unit that transmits information related to the operational state of the automobile to the driving characteristics diagnosis device, and receives the result of the diagnosis of driving characteristics for the user from the driving characteristics diagnosis device; and

a diagnosis result display processing unit that performs display processing for displaying the result of the diagnosis of driving characteristics that have been received by the communication unit.

5. A system comprising:

a storage device; and

a hardware processor coupled to the storage device, the hardware processor configured to;

acquire information relating to an operational state of an automobile;

detect a predefined manner of driving by a user of the automobile based on the acquired information;

estimate a cause of the predefined manner of driving by performing (i) a first decision processing to determine the cause based on a presence or an absence of a first driving factor originating in the user, and (ii) a second decision processing to determine the cause based on a presence or an absence of a second driving factor originating in an external cause external to the user;

perform diagnosis of driving characteristics for the user on the basis of a result of detection of the predefined manner of driving and the cause of the predefined manner of driving; and

output a result of the diagnosis of driving characteristics after performing the diagnosis of driving characteristics for the user,

wherein the second decision processing comprises at least one of a processing of making a decision as to whether another automobile has unreasonably intruded in front of the automobile, a processing of making a decision as to whether another automobile in front of the automobile has performed an abrupt deceleration, a processing of making a decision as to whether something has jumped out in front of the automobile, a processing of making a decision as to whether a forward field of view from the automobile is poor, or a processing of making a decision as to whether a congestion is occurring at a ground point where the automobile is traveling.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein the first decision processing comprises at least one of a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed heedless driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed inattentive driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has observed an appropriate inter-vehicular distance between the automobile and another automobile in front, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has been conversing while driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has operated a device while driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has abruptly changed the automobile between road lanes, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed driving over a long time interval, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed impatient driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed distracted driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user is tired, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed drowsy driving, a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has committed a traffic violation, a processing of making a decision as to whether the automobile has changed road lane contrary to the intention of the user, or a processing of making a decision as to whether the user has performed checking while turning.