Occupant detection system, alarm system, brake system and vehicle

Abstract

In order to provide an occupant detection system (100) to be installed in a vehicle, provided with a technology which is effective for precisely detecting whether or not the attention of a driver is diminished, the occupant detection system (100) of the present invention comprises a 3D camera (112), an information extracting section (152) for extracting information about the head and hand(s) of a driver based on three-dimensional images taken by the 3D camera (112), a detection processing section (154) for detecting whether or not the positions or movement of the head and hand(s) of the driver are in predetermined specified states based on the information extracted by the information extracting section (152), an integration processing section (156) which, when at least either the driver's head or the driver's hand(s) is out of the specified state, adds up time in which the head or hand(s) is not in the specified state, and a determination processing section (158) which, based on the time added up by the integration processing section (156), determines that the driver's attention is diminished when the time added up exceeds a preset reference value and determines that the driver's attention is not diminished when the time added up is equal to or less than the preset reference value.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to vehicle occupant detection technology, and in particular to the construction technology of an occupant detection system for detecting information related to a driver on a vehicle seat. Background technique [0002] Conventionally, various techniques are known for detecting information on an object seated on a vehicle seat using an imaging unit such as a camera. For example, in the following patent document 1, a structure of a detection device is disclosed: a camera capable of capturing a two-dimensional image of an object is placed in front of a vehicle occupant, and the position of the occupant seated on the vehicle seat is detected by the camera. . [0003] Patent Document 1: JP-A-2003-294855 [0004] However, in the case where the driver moves away from the usual position on the vehicle seat, falls asleep, or is inattentive, it is conceivable that the driver's concentration is decreased to cause sluggishness in sub...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

In a structure in which a camera captures a two-dimensional image of a vehicle occupant as in the detection device described in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to detect whether the driver's concentration has decreased with high accuracy for the following reasons

That is, when the color difference between the background and the driver, or the color difference between the skin and the clothing is small, it is difficult to reliably detect the driver's head and hands.

In addition, when the driver is photographed from the front of the vehicle to detect the head and hands, it is difficult to determine the front and rear positions of these parts.

For example, when detecting the driver's head position, it is difficult to determine the front-rear relationship between the driver's head position in the forward leaning state and the driver's head position in the normal sitting state

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