Abandonment warning device, abandonment warning system, and abandonment warning method

Abstract

Provided is an occupant-left-unattended warning device comprising: a transmission / reception unit (11) which controls transmission by a sensor that transmits an electromagnetic wave in a cabin and which receives a reception signal based on a reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor; an occupant attribute estimation unit (12) that uses a first method to estimate, on the basis of the received reception signal, whether an occupant detected in the cabin is an occupant requiring a warning, determines whether the occupant can be confirmed to be an occupant requiring the warning, and outputs a result of the determination as a determination result; a supplemental determination unit (13) that, when the occupant cannot be confirmed to be an occupant requiring the warning, uses a second method different from the first method to supplementarily determines whether the occupant is an occupant requiring the warning and outputs a result of the supplemental determination as a supplemental determination result; a warning necessity determination unit (14) that determines the necessity of an occupant-left-unattended warning on the basis of the determination result or the supplemental determination result; and a warning output control unit (15) that controls a vehicle outside output device to issue a predetermined warning when the occupant-left-unattended warning is determined to be necessary.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an abandoned vehicle warning technology. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, accidents or incidents caused by passengers, such as small children, left inside the vehicle and unable to open or close the vehicle doors have become a social problem. To solve this problem, measures are being taken to detect passengers left inside the vehicle and, if necessary, to output an alarm outside the vehicle.

[0003] A conventional technology for detecting whether an occupant has been left behind in the vehicle cabin and outputting an alarm is, for example, the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1. Patent Document 1 describes a system that determines whether or not there is an infant in the vehicle cabin, and if so, whether or not the infant is in danger, based on information obtained from multiple sensors, such as an infrared and ultrasonic sensor that detects whether or not there is an infant in the vehicle cabin, a sensor that detects the infant's crying, and a temperature sensor that measures the temperature inside the vehicle cabin, and issues an alarm if the infant is in danger. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2000-185609 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The technology described in Patent Document 1 judges whether an in-vehicle occupant needs an abandoned vehicle alarm based on information acquired from multiple sensors, and judges whether an abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary. However, there is a problem in that the necessity of an abandoned vehicle alarm may be erroneously judged. For example, an adult who does not need an alarm may be erroneously judged to be a child. In this case, an unnecessary alarm is output. Conversely, an infant who needs an alarm may be erroneously judged to be an adult. In this case, a necessary alarm is not issued.

[0006] The present disclosure was made in response to the recognition of such a problem, and aims to provide an abandonment warning technology that can reduce erroneous abandonment warning judgments. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] An abandoned vehicle warning device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes a transceiver unit that controls the transmission of a sensor that transmits electromagnetic waves into a vehicle interior and receives a received signal based on the reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor, an occupant attribute estimation unit that estimates whether an occupant detected in the vehicle interior is an occupant who requires an alarm using a first method based on the received signal, determines whether the occupant can be confirmed as an occupant who requires an alarm, and outputs the result of the determination as a determination result, a supplementary determination unit that, if it cannot be confirmed that the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm, makes a supplementary determination as to whether the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm using a second method different from the first method, and outputs the result of the supplementary determination as a supplementary determination result, an alarm necessity determination unit that determines whether an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the determination result or the supplementary determination result, and an alarm output control unit that controls an external output device to issue a predetermined warning when it is determined that the abandoned vehicle warning is necessary. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the abandonment warning device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, erroneous determination of an abandonment warning can be suppressed. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an abandonment alarm device and an abandonment alarm system; [Figure 2A] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an abandoned vehicle alarm device. [Figure 2B] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an abandoned vehicle alarm device. [Diagram 3] 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the abandonment alarm device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that components with the same or similar reference numerals in the drawings have the same or similar configurations or functions, and redundant descriptions of such components will be omitted.

[0011] Embodiment 1 <Configuration> The abandoned vehicle warning device 1 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the abandoned vehicle warning device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. As an example, as shown in Fig. 1, the abandoned vehicle warning device 1 includes a transmitting / receiving unit 11, an occupant attribute estimating unit 12, a refill determining unit 13, a warning necessity determining unit 14, and a warning output control unit 15.

[0012] The sensor 2 is connected to the transmitting / receiving unit 11. Furthermore, the in-vehicle input device 3 and the in-vehicle output device 4 are connected to the replenishment determination unit 13. Furthermore, the outside-vehicle output device 5 is connected to the alarm output control unit 15. With this configuration, the abandonment alarm device 1, the sensor 2, the in-vehicle input device 3, the in-vehicle output device 4, and the outside-vehicle output device 5 collectively constitute an abandonment alarm system mounted on the vehicle A.

[0013] As another example, some or all of the components of the abandoned warning device 1, the occupant attribute estimation unit 12, the supplement determination unit 13, the warning necessity determination unit 14, and the warning output control unit 15, may be provided outside the vehicle A. For example, the function of the abandoned warning device 1 may be realized by a server device 6 located outside the vehicle A. In this case, as an example, the server device 6 receives the electromagnetic wave reception result of the transceiver unit 11 and the input result from the in-vehicle input device 3 from an in-vehicle communication device (not shown) mounted on the vehicle A, and returns warning output information to the in-vehicle communication device based on the received information. The in-vehicle communication device outputs the received warning output information to the outside output device 5. With this configuration, the abandoned warning device 1 and the server device 6 constitute an abandoned warning system in which the abandoned warning device 1 is mounted on the vehicle A and the server device 6 is provided outside the vehicle A.

[0014] In this disclosure, an example of the use of the technology according to the present disclosure will be described assuming the interior of a vehicle A, but examples of the vehicle A include general passenger cars, as well as commercial vehicles such as buses and taxis, and railroad vehicles such as trains and locomotives. In addition to the interior of a vehicle, the technology according to the present disclosure can also be used in the interior of a moving body such as an aircraft, or in a room whose entrance can be opened and closed.

[0015] (Transmitter / Receiver) The transmitting / receiving unit 11 irradiates electromagnetic waves toward the vehicle interior via the sensor 2 and receives reflected waves of the irradiated electromagnetic waves. More specifically, the transmitting / receiving unit 11 outputs a control signal for transmitting electromagnetic waves to the sensor 2, the sensor 2 irradiates electromagnetic waves in accordance with the control signal, the sensor 2 receives reflected waves of the irradiated electromagnetic waves and outputs a digital received signal of the reflected waves (hereinafter simply referred to as a received signal), and the transmitting / receiving unit 11 receives the output received signal.

[0016] Examples of electromagnetic waves include, but are not limited to, millimeter waves, infrared rays, ultrasonic waves, and visible light. Sensor 2 may include multiple sensors, and multiple sensors may be installed at separate positions in the vehicle cabin. For example, a sensor may be provided for each seat so that each sensor includes an occupant sitting in one seat in its sensing range.

[0017] (Occupant attribute estimation unit 12) The occupant attribute estimation unit 12 estimates whether or not an occupant detected in the vehicle cabin is an occupant who requires an alarm using a first method based on the received signal, determines whether or not the occupant can be confirmed as an occupant who requires an alarm, and outputs the result of the determination as a determination result. The first method is a method that does not use user input, such as body size detection, breathing rate estimation, and age estimation by face recognition, as exemplified below. An occupant is typically a human being present in the vehicle cabin, but may also include non-human animals such as dogs or cats.

[0018] In order to estimate whether an occupant in the vehicle cabin needs an alarm, various known methods such as detecting a physique, detecting a respiration rate, and estimating age by face recognition can be used. As an example, when using a physique detection technique, the space to be monitored is represented by a three-dimensional lattice map consisting of a plurality of cells, and an occupancy lattice map showing whether a detection target exists is created based on a received signal from the transmitting / receiving unit 11, so that the physique can be estimated. The three-dimensional lattice map is stored in advance in a memory (not shown), and the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 accesses the memory to acquire the three-dimensional lattice map and creates the occupancy lattice map. As an example, when detecting a respiration rate, far-infrared rays are irradiated as electromagnetic waves to be irradiated into the vehicle cabin, and the respiration rate is detected from the variation in brightness in a far-infrared image created based on the reflected waves. If the detected respiration rate is faster than a preset threshold, it is determined that the occupant is an infant, i.e., a warning is required, and if it is slower than the threshold, it is determined that the occupant is an adult, i.e., a warning is not required. As a method for detecting breathing, other methods may be used, such as a method using a millimeter wave radar, which has a cost advantage, a method for detecting minute movements obtained by a visible light camera, or a method using a pressure sensor installed on a seat. When using face recognition technology, an image of the inside of the vehicle is captured by a camera (not shown), and face recognition is performed by performing image processing on the captured image. It is also possible to combine a plurality of methods to estimate whether or not an occupant requires an alarm.

[0019] As a result of estimating the presence or absence of an occupant and whether the occupant in the vehicle cabin is an occupant who requires an alert, not only binary information such as whether the occupant requires an alert or not, but also a value representing additional information such as the occupant's estimated age or size, etc. Also, if estimation is difficult for some reason such as a sensor failure, a predefined value representing an unknown estimation may be output.

[0020] A reliability indicating the degree to which the estimation result can be trusted may be calculated for at least one of the estimation result of the presence or absence of an occupant and the estimation result of whether or not an occupant requires an alarm. As one example, the reliability may be expressed as binary information, such as high or low reliability. As another example, the reliability may be expressed as a value within a predetermined range, for example, within a range of 1 to 100. As yet another example, the reliability may be expressed by a numerical value that increases with an unlimited upper limit as the reliability increases. Also, the likelihood or probability of the estimation result may be used as the reliability.

[0021] As a method of calculating the reliability, for example, in the case of a method using respiration rate, if the result of the alarm necessity determination based on the respiration rate within a certain period of time fluctuates greatly, the reliability may be set low, and if the determination result is stable, the reliability may be set high. In another method of determining age by face recognition, if the face is facing forward and information such as the outline and features used for age estimation can be sufficiently obtained, the reliability may be set high, and if some of the face information is missing due to the inclination of the face or partial occlusion, the reliability may be set low. In this case, it is also possible to directly replace the reliability with the number of features that can be obtained.

[0022] Furthermore, when a combination of multiple methods is used for judgment, the reliability can be set high when the tendency of the estimation results of each method is the same, and low when they are different. For example, when there are methods A and B for judging whether or not an alarm is necessary on a five-level scale from 1 to 5, if method A judges the result to be "1" and method B judges the result to be "2" which is the same tendency as the result of method A, the reliability is set to "4" obtained by subtracting "1" which is the difference between the judgment values ​​of method A and method B from "5" which is the number of levels. On the other hand, if method B judges the result to be "5" which is a tendency different from that of method A, the reliability is set to "1" obtained by subtracting "4" which is the difference between the judgment values ​​of method A and method B from "5". In this way, when the tendency of each estimation result is different, the reliability can be set to be low compared to when the tendency is the same.

[0023] The occupant attribute estimation unit 12 determines whether or not it is possible to determine whether an occupant in the vehicle cabin is an occupant who requires an alarm, and if it is possible to determine, transmits a determination result indicating that it is possible to determine to the alarm necessity determination unit 14. On the other hand, if it is not possible to determine, the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 transmits a determination result indicating that it is not possible to determine to the supplementary determination unit 13.

[0024] A case in which it is not possible to determine whether an occupant requires an alert means a case in which there is a risk of an erroneous determination of whether an alert is required based solely on the estimation results from the occupant attribute estimation unit 12, or a case in which there is a high possibility of an erroneous determination. For example, there are several possible situations, such as (a) to (c) below. (a) When the estimated occupant attribute is near the border of a predetermined requirement that requires an alarm. For example, when distinguishing between adults and small children based on their physical builds and sounding an abandoned vehicle alarm in the case of a small child, if the physical build of the vehicle occupant determined by the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 is a small adult whose physical build is relatively close to that of a small child, it is highly likely that the physical build has been erroneously determined. (b) When occupant attributes are unknown. (c) When the reliability of the result determined by the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 is low. For example, in the example of determining whether to issue an abandoned vehicle warning based on the physique of the occupant (a) above, even if the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 determines that the occupant is a large adult whose physique is clearly different from that of a small child, when the reliability of the result is low, it is highly likely that the determination is incorrect.

[0025] Note that the above (a) to (c) are examples, and the supplementary determination unit 13 may perform a determination in a situation other than the above. In addition, by combining the above situations, for example, it may be determined whether or not the occupant can be determined to be an occupant who requires an alarm based on the estimation result of the occupant attribute and its reliability. In addition, the determination of whether or not the occupant can be determined to be an occupant who requires an alarm may be performed by creating a table in advance based on the above examples (a) to (c) that defines the relationship between the occupant attribute estimation result and whether or not the occupant requires an alarm, and using the table. Furthermore, a machine learning method may be used to determine whether or not the occupant can be determined by learning a plurality of attribute determination results and information on the determination result manually assigned to the results as learning data.

[0026] The determination result output from the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 to the warning necessity determination unit 14 or the supplementary determination unit 13 may include, in addition to the determination result indicating whether or not the determination can be made, the presence or absence of an occupant, the estimation result obtained by estimating whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning, and all or part of the reliability. The determination result may also include the number of occupants who require a warning and the number of occupants who do not require a warning.

[0027] (Replenishment judgment department) When the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 cannot determine that the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm, the supplementary judgment unit 13 supplementarily judges whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm using a second method different from the first method used by the occupant attribute estimation unit 12, and outputs the result of the supplementary judgment as a supplementary judgment result to the alarm necessity judgment unit 14. The second method is a method that can accept user input. The second method includes a method that can ask a question described below and accept a response.

[0028] As an example, the supplementary determination unit 13 controls the in-vehicle output device 4 connected to the supplementary determination unit 13 to ask questions to the occupants in the vehicle detected by the occupant attribute estimation unit 12, and determines whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires an alert based on the occupant's response to the question received via the in-vehicle input device 3 connected to the supplementary determination unit 13. In the present disclosure, "based on the occupant's response" includes a case where an explicit response by the occupant to whether or not an alert is needed is taken into consideration, as well as a case where the occupant's response to whether or not an alert is needed is unclear and a case where the occupant's lack of response to whether or not an alert is needed is taken into consideration.

[0029] The questions posed through the in-vehicle output device 4 are, for example, voice output from a speaker, display on a display, or blinking of a preset button, but may be posed in other ways. Also, questions may be posed by combining a plurality of output devices.

[0030] The response by the vehicle occupant through the in-vehicle input device 3 is, for example, a voice response through a microphone, a touch operation through a touch panel, a gesture through a camera or an infrared sensor, a button operation through an input button, or other methods may be used. In addition, a plurality of input devices may be combined so that the abandoned vehicle alarm device 1 receives responses.

[0031] The questions asked to the vehicle occupants are questions that allow the necessity of an abandoned vehicle alarm to be determined from the occupants' responses or reactions to the questions. The questions include, for example, direct questions asking whether an abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary, such as "Do you need an alarm?", or questions asking about the age of the occupants. If the vehicle occupant responds to the question with the intention that an alarm is not necessary, or with a response that can be determined that an alarm is not necessary, the supplementary determination unit 13 determines that the occupant is an occupant for whom an alarm is not necessary. On the other hand, if the occupant responds that an alarm is necessary or there is no response from the occupant, the supplementary determination unit 13 determines that the occupant is an occupant for whom an alarm is necessary.

[0032] Note that the supplementary judgment result output from the supplementary judgment unit 13 to the warning necessity judgment unit 14 may be not only binary information indicating whether or not the occupant requires a warning, but also a value indicating the degree of warning necessity. If judgment is difficult for some reason, such as a sensor failure, the judgment result of the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 may be output to the warning necessity judgment unit 14.

[0033] The supplement determination unit 13 may change at least one of the method of questioning the vehicle occupant and the method of response, depending on the position of the vehicle occupant estimated by the occupant attribute estimation unit 12. For example, the supplement determination unit 13 may control the display of the question and the response on the in-vehicle display closest to the vehicle occupant's position, or may narrow the beam of the speaker output and voice input toward the occupant.

[0034] If the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 can determine whether or not the occupant is an occupant who needs an alarm, the supplemental determination unit 13 does not perform the determination, and the process proceeds to the alarm necessity determination unit 14. As a result, for example, if it can be determined that the occupant is an adult who clearly does not need an alarm, questions from the supplemental determination unit 13 and a response from the occupant are not necessary, so that the inconvenience of canceling the alarm when an alarm is not necessary can be suppressed. Conversely, if the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 cannot determine whether or not the occupant is an occupant who needs an alarm, that is, if there is a possibility that the estimation result in the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 alone will erroneously determine whether or not an alarm is necessary or there is a high possibility of erroneous determination, the supplemental determination unit 13 performs an additional determination to suppress errors in the abandoned alarm. In this way, the abandoned alarm device 1 is configured to perform supplemental determination by the supplemental determination unit 13 when it cannot be determined that the occupant is an occupant who needs an alarm after the determination by the occupant attribute estimation unit 12, and therefore it is possible to suppress erroneous determination of the abandoned alarm while suppressing the inconvenience of canceling the alarm when an alarm is not necessary.

[0035] (Alarm necessity determination unit) The warning necessity determination unit 14 determines whether or not an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the determination result of the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 or the supplementary determination result of the supplementary determination unit 13, and outputs the determination result to the warning output control unit 15. If the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 can determine that the vehicle occupant is an occupant who requires a warning, the warning necessity determination unit 14 determines whether or not an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the determination result of the occupant attribute estimation unit 12. If the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 cannot determine this, the warning necessity determination unit 14 determines whether or not an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the supplementary determination result of the supplementary determination unit 13.

[0036] The result of the alarm necessity determination may be expressed not only by binary information such as whether an alarm is necessary, but also by a value indicating the degree of necessity of an alarm. The degree of necessity of the abandoned vehicle alarm may be determined, for example, as "3" when the occupant is an infant and the temperature inside the vehicle is high or low, "2" when the occupant is an infant and the temperature inside the vehicle is appropriate, "2" when the occupant is a child and the temperature inside the vehicle is high or low, and "1" when the occupant is a child and the temperature inside the vehicle is appropriate. More simply, the degree of necessity of the abandoned vehicle alarm may be determined as "2" when the occupant is an infant and "1" when the occupant is a child. When determining the degree of necessity of the abandoned vehicle alarm based on the temperature inside the vehicle, a temperature sensor (not shown) that measures the temperature inside the vehicle is connected to the abandoned vehicle alarm device 1.

[0037] The warning necessity determination result may include information on the status or occupants inside the vehicle acquired by the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 or the supplementary determination unit 13.

[0038] (Warning output control unit) When the alarm necessity determination unit 14 determines that an abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary, the alarm output control unit 15 controls the vehicle exterior output device 5 capable of issuing an alarm to the outside of the vehicle to output a predetermined alarm. The alarm output method includes, but is not limited to, blinking hazard lights or blowing the horn. In addition, the vehicle may be controlled to open windows or unlock the vehicle, or a portable information terminal of a person outside the vehicle, such as a guardian or the driver, may be notified of the presence of an abandoned occupant in the vehicle via a communication line such as the Internet.

[0039] The alarm may be output at multiple levels depending on the result of the determination by the alarm necessity determination unit 14, and the alarm output method may be changed depending on the level. For example, if it is determined that an infant has been left behind and an alarm is definitely necessary, it is possible to increase the volume of the alarm outside the vehicle. The alarm method and level may be determined by using a table that is created in advance and defines the relationship between the result of the alarm necessity determination and the alarm method and level. Information obtained by the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 or the supplement determination unit 13 may be notified to the outside of the vehicle.

[0040] <Hardware configuration> Next, a hardware configuration of the abandoned vehicle warning device 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 2A and Fig. 2B. As an example, as shown in Fig. 2A, the abandoned vehicle warning device 1 is realized by a computer having a processor 101 and a memory 102. The memory 102 stores programs for causing the computer to function as the transceiver unit 11, the occupant attribute estimation unit 12, the replenishment determination unit 13, the warning necessity determination unit 14, and the warning output control unit 15. The functions of the transceiver unit 11, the occupant attribute estimation unit 12, the replenishment determination unit 13, the warning necessity determination unit 14, and the warning output control unit 15 are realized by the processor 101 reading and executing the programs stored in the memory 102.

[0041] The processor 101 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, or a digital signal processor (DSP).

[0042] The memory 102 may be, for example, a semiconductor memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) or an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or a magneto-optical disk.

[0043] 2B, the abandoned vehicle alarm device 1 may be realized by a dedicated processing circuit 103. The processing circuit 103 may be implemented using, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a system on a chip (SoC), a large scale integration (LSI), or the like.

[0044] As another example, the abandoned vehicle warning device 1 may be realized by using the processor 101, the memory 102, and the processing circuit 103. That is, some of the functions of the transmitting / receiving unit 11, the occupant attribute estimating unit 12, the refill determining unit 13, the warning necessity determining unit 14, and the warning output control unit 15 may be realized by the processor 101 and the memory 102, and the remaining functions may be realized by the processing circuit 103.

[0045] Moreover, the server device 6 can also be configured as shown in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B.

[0046] <Operation> Next, the operation of the abandoned vehicle alarm device 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0047] In step ST1, the transmitter / receiver 11 irradiates electromagnetic waves toward the interior of the vehicle compartment via the sensor 2, and receives reflected waves of the irradiated electromagnetic waves.

[0048] Next, in step ST2, the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 determines whether or not there is an occupant in the vehicle cabin based on the received signal of the reflected wave received by the transceiver unit 11, and if there is an occupant, estimates whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm.

[0049] Next, in step ST3, if the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 cannot determine whether or not the occupant in the vehicle is an occupant who requires an alarm, that is, if there is a risk of erroneous determination in the occupant attribute estimation unit 12, the process proceeds to processing in the supplementary determination unit 13 in step ST4. If it is possible to determine whether or not the occupant in the vehicle is an occupant who requires an alarm, the process skips step ST4 and proceeds to step ST5.

[0050] In step ST4, the supplementary judgment unit 13 makes a supplementary judgment as to whether or not the occupant in the vehicle is one who requires an alarm, based on questions from the abandoned vehicle warning device 1 using the in-vehicle input / output devices (in-vehicle input device 3, in-vehicle output device 4) and responses from the occupants, as well as the estimation results from the occupant attribute estimation unit 12.

[0051] In step ST5, the warning necessity determination unit 14 determines whether an abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary based on the determination result in the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 or the supplementary determination result in the supplementary determination unit 13. If the determination result on whether an abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary indicates that an alarm is necessary (YES in step ST6), the process proceeds to step ST7, and the alarm output control unit 15 outputs a control signal to the outside output device 5 to output an abandoned vehicle alarm.

[0052] (Variations) Even if it is determined in step ST6 that an alarm is not required, the process may return to step ST1 or ST5 to determine whether the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm multiple times. In addition, a condition for performing the determination multiple times may be when there is a high possibility that the determination by the supplement determination unit 13 as to whether the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm is erroneous. For example, the case may be one in which the supplement determination unit 13 receives a response indicating that an alarm is not required, even though the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 has determined that the occupant is a child who requires an alarm.

[0053] The abandoned vehicle warning device 1 may additionally have a function of acquiring the environment inside the vehicle. For example, by additionally connecting a temperature sensor that measures the temperature inside the vehicle cabin to the abandoned vehicle warning device 1, the abandoned vehicle warning device 1 can acquire the degree of danger inside the vehicle. As a result, even if the warning necessity determination unit 14 determines that a warning is unnecessary, if the temperature inside the vehicle cabin becomes high and it is determined to be in a dangerous state, an alarm may be output or the supplementary determination unit 13 may perform additional processing such as determining again whether or not the vehicle occupant is an occupant who requires a warning. This makes it possible to further protect the safety of the vehicle occupants.

[0054] In addition to the number of determinations, the timing of questioning the occupant in step ST4 may also be changed according to the vehicle interior environment. For example, in the example where the temperature sensor is added, the question from the refill determination unit 13 may be made when the temperature inside the vehicle becomes high and the abandoned vehicle alarm device 1 determines that it is dangerous. Alternatively, electromagnetic waves may be periodically transmitted and received, and a question may be asked when the determination result of the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 inside the vehicle changes due to some change in the vehicle interior situation. Possible timings for the determination result of the occupant attribute estimation unit 12 to change include when an occupant enters the vehicle from outside the vehicle or when the occupant's posture changes. This enables the abandoned vehicle alarm to be more flexibly adapted to changes in the vehicle interior situation.

[0055] Furthermore, the timing or number of questions posed to the occupant by the replenishment determination unit 13 in step ST4 may be changed based on the location information of vehicle A. Laws and regulations regarding abandoned vehicle warnings differ depending on the country or region. Therefore, by acquiring local law information from the location information of vehicle A and controlling the timing and number of questions to comply with the provisions of the acquired law, it becomes possible to deal with multiple countries or regions with different laws and regulations.

[0056] <Additional Notes> Certain aspects of the various embodiments described above are summarized below.

[0057] (Appendix 1) The abandoned vehicle warning device (1) of appendix 1 includes a transmitting / receiving unit (11) that controls transmission of an electromagnetic wave from a sensor that transmits electromagnetic waves into a vehicle interior and receives a reception signal based on a reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor, an occupant attribute estimation unit (12) that estimates whether an occupant detected in the vehicle interior is an occupant who requires a warning using a first method based on the received reception signal, determines whether the occupant can be confirmed as an occupant who requires a warning, and outputs the result of the determination as a determination result, and a supplementary determination unit (13) that, when it is not possible to determine that the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning, makes a supplementary determination as to whether the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning using a second method different from the first method, and outputs the result of the supplementary determination as a supplementary determination result. The vehicle is provided with an alarm necessity determination unit (14) which determines whether an abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary based on the determination result or the supplementary determination result, and an alarm output control unit (15) which controls an external output device to issue a predetermined alarm when it is determined that the abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary.

[0058] (Appendix 2) The abandoned vehicle warning device of Appendix 2 is the abandoned vehicle warning device described in Appendix 1, wherein the supplementary judgment unit controls the in-vehicle output device (4) to ask the occupant a question, and makes a supplementary judgment as to whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm based on the occupant's response to the question.

[0059] (Appendix 3) The abandoned vehicle alarm device of Appendix 3 is the abandoned vehicle alarm device described in Appendix 2, wherein the response is at least one of a voice response via a microphone, a touch operation via a touch panel, a gesture via a camera or an infrared sensor, and a button operation via an input button.

[0060] (Appendix 4) The abandonment warning device of Appendix 4 is an abandonment warning device described in any one of Appendixes 1 to 3, wherein the occupant attribute estimation unit calculates a reliability for the result of the estimation, and determines whether or not the occupant can be determined to be an occupant who requires an alarm based on at least one of the result of the estimation and the reliability.

[0061] (Appendix 5) The abandoned vehicle alarm device of Appendix 5 is an abandoned vehicle alarm device described in any one of Appendixes 1 to 4, wherein the alarm necessity determination unit further determines the degree of necessity of an abandoned vehicle alarm based on the determination result or the supplementary determination result, and the alarm output control unit changes the level of the alarm to be issued by controlling the external output device based on the determined degree of necessity.

[0062] (Appendix 6) The abandonment warning device of Appendix 6 is the abandonment warning device described in Appendix 2, which changes at least one of the method of questioning the occupant and the method of response from the occupant depending on the location of the occupant.

[0063] (Appendix 7) The vehicle abandonment warning device of Appendix 7 is the vehicle abandonment warning device described in Appendix 2, which changes the timing or number of questions to the occupants depending on at least one of the internal environment of the vehicle and the location of the vehicle.

[0064] (Appendix 8) The abandonment warning device of Appendix 8 is an abandonment warning device described in any one of Appendixes 1 to 7, wherein the first method is a method that does not use user input and the second method is a method that can accept user input.

[0065] (Appendix 9) The abandoned vehicle warning system of appendix 9 includes an occupant attribute estimation unit (12) that estimates whether an occupant detected in the vehicle interior is an occupant who requires a warning using a first method based on a received signal acquired via a sensor that transmits electromagnetic waves into the vehicle interior and receives reflected waves, determines whether the occupant can be confirmed as an occupant who requires a warning, and outputs the result of the determination as a determination result, a supplementary determination unit (13) that, when it is not possible to confirm that the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning, makes a supplementary determination as to whether the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning using a second method different from the first method, and outputs the result of the supplementary determination as a supplementary determination result, and The system includes a server device having at least one of an alarm necessity determination unit (14) that determines whether an abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary based on the replenishment determination result, and an alarm output control unit (15) that controls an external output device to issue a predetermined alarm when it is determined that the abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary; a transmitter-receiver unit (11) that controls the transmission of electromagnetic waves by the sensor and receives a received signal based on the reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor; and an abandoned vehicle alarm device that includes all of the occupant attribute estimation unit (12), the replenishment determination unit (13), the alarm necessity determination unit (14), and the alarm output control unit (15) that are not provided in the server device.

[0066] (Appendix 10) The abandoned vehicle warning method of appendix 10 is an abandoned vehicle warning method performed by an abandoned vehicle warning device including a transmitting / receiving unit (11), an occupant attribute estimating unit (12), a refill determining unit (13), an alarm necessity determining unit (14), and an alarm output control unit (15), the method including a step in which the transmitting / receiving unit (11) controls transmission of an electromagnetic wave from a sensor that transmits electromagnetic waves into a vehicle interior and receives a reception signal based on a reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor, and the occupant attribute estimating unit (12) estimates whether an occupant detected in the vehicle interior is an occupant who requires an alarm using a first method based on the received reception signal, and determines whether the occupant is a occupant who requires an alarm. the supplementary judgment unit (13), if it cannot be determined that the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm, makes a supplementary judgment as to whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm using a second method different from the first method, and outputs the result of the supplementary judgment as the supplementary judgment result; the alarm necessity judgment unit (14), based on the judgment result or the supplementary judgment result, judges whether or not an abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary; and the alarm output control unit (15), if it is determined that the abandoned vehicle alarm is necessary, controls an external output device to issue a predetermined alarm.

[0067] It is possible to combine the embodiments, and to modify or omit each embodiment as appropriate. [Industrial Applicability]

[0068] The abandoned vehicle warning device 1 of the present disclosure can be mounted in a vehicle and used as a warning device that determines whether or not an occupant left behind in the vehicle is an occupant who requires a warning and controls the warning. [Explanation of symbols]

[0069] 1 abandoned vehicle warning device, 2 sensor, 3 in-vehicle input device, 4 in-vehicle output device, 5 outside-vehicle output device, 6 server device, 11 transmitter / receiver unit, 12 occupant attribute estimation unit, 13 replenishment determination unit, 14 warning necessity determination unit, 15 warning output control unit, 101 processor, 102 memory, 103 processing circuit, A vehicle.

Claims

1. A transmitter / receiver that controls transmission of an electromagnetic wave from a sensor into a room and receives a reception signal based on a reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor; an occupant attribute estimation unit that estimates whether or not an occupant detected in the passenger compartment is an occupant who requires an alarm using a first method based on the received signal, determines whether or not the occupant can be determined to be an occupant who requires an alarm, and outputs a result of the determination as a determination result; a supplementary determination unit that, when it is not possible to determine that the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning, supplementarily determines whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning by using a second method different from the first method, and outputs a result of the supplementary determination as a supplementary determination result; a warning necessity determination unit that determines whether an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the determination result or the supplementary determination result; a warning output control unit that controls an external output device to issue a predetermined warning when it is determined that the abandoned vehicle warning is necessary; Equipped with The supplementary determination unit controls an in-vehicle output device to ask a question to the occupant, and supplementarily determines whether the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm based on a response from the occupant to the question. Abandonment alarm device.

2. The response is at least one of a voice response via a microphone, a touch operation via a touch panel, a gesture via a camera or an infrared sensor, and a button operation via an input button.

2. The abandoned vehicle alarm device according to claim 1.

3. A transceiver unit that controls transmission of an electromagnetic wave from a sensor that transmits electromagnetic waves into a room and receives a reception signal based on a reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor; an occupant attribute estimation unit that estimates whether or not an occupant detected in the passenger compartment is an occupant who requires an alarm using a first method based on the received signal, determines whether or not the occupant can be determined to be an occupant who requires an alarm, and outputs a result of the determination as a determination result; a supplementary determination unit that, when it is not possible to determine that the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning, supplementarily determines whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning by using a second method different from the first method, and outputs a result of the supplementary determination as a supplementary determination result; a warning necessity determination unit that determines whether an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the determination result or the supplementary determination result; a warning output control unit that controls an external output device to issue a predetermined warning when it is determined that the abandoned vehicle warning is necessary; Equipped with the occupant attribute estimation unit calculates a reliability of a result of the estimation, and determines whether or not it is possible to determine that the occupant is an occupant requiring a warning, based on at least one of the result of the estimation and the reliability. Abandonment alarm device.

4. changing at least one of a method of asking a question to the occupant and a method of receiving a response from the occupant depending on a position of the occupant; 2. The abandoned vehicle alarm device according to claim 1.

5. Changing the timing or number of questions to be asked to the occupant depending on the environment in the cabin.

2. The abandoned vehicle alarm device according to claim 1.

6. The interior space is a vehicle interior space, changing the timing or number of questions to be asked to the occupant depending on the location of the vehicle; 2. The abandoned vehicle alarm device according to claim 1.

7. A transceiver unit that controls transmission of an electromagnetic wave from a sensor that transmits electromagnetic waves into a room and receives a reception signal based on a reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor; an occupant attribute estimation unit that estimates whether or not an occupant detected in the passenger compartment is an occupant who requires an alarm using a first method based on the received signal, determines whether or not the occupant can be determined to be an occupant who requires an alarm, and outputs a result of the determination as a determination result; a supplementary determination unit that, when it is not possible to determine that the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning, supplementarily determines whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires a warning by using a second method different from the first method, and outputs a result of the supplementary determination as a supplementary determination result; a warning necessity determination unit that determines whether an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the determination result or the supplementary determination result; a warning output control unit that controls an external output device to issue a predetermined warning when it is determined that the abandoned vehicle warning is necessary; Equipped with The first method is a method that does not use user input, and the second method is a method that can accept user input. Abandonment alarm device.

8. an occupant attribute estimation unit that estimates whether or not an occupant detected in the vehicle interior is an occupant who requires an alert using a first method based on a received signal acquired via a sensor that transmits electromagnetic waves into the vehicle interior and receives reflected waves, determines whether or not the occupant can be determined to be an occupant who requires an alert, and outputs the result of the determination as a determination result; a supplementary determination unit which, when it cannot be determined that the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm, uses a second method different from the first method to supplementarily determine whether the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm and outputs the result of the supplementary determination as a supplementary determination result, the supplementary determination unit controlling an in-vehicle output device to ask the occupant a question and supplementarily determining whether the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm based on the occupant's response to the question; a warning necessity determination unit that determines whether an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the determination result or the supplementary determination result; and a warning output control unit that controls an external output device to issue a predetermined warning when it is determined that the abandoned vehicle warning is necessary; A server device including at least one of the following: a transceiver that controls transmission of electromagnetic waves by the sensor and receives a reception signal based on a reflected wave of the electromagnetic waves received by the sensor; all of the occupant attribute estimation unit, the supplement determination unit, the warning necessity determination unit, and the warning output control unit that are not included in the server device; An abandoned alarm device comprising: Equipped with Abandonment warning system.

9. A vehicle abandonment warning method performed by a vehicle abandonment warning device including a transmitting / receiving unit, an occupant attribute estimating unit, a refill determining unit, a warning necessity determining unit, and a warning output control unit, a step in which the transmitting / receiving unit controls transmission of an electromagnetic wave from a sensor that transmits electromagnetic waves into a room, and receives a reception signal based on a reflected wave of the electromagnetic wave received by the sensor; a step in which the occupant attribute estimation unit estimates whether or not the occupant detected in the passenger compartment is an occupant who requires an alert using a first method based on the received signal, determines whether or not the occupant can be determined to be an occupant who requires an alert, and outputs a result of the determination as a determination result; a step of, when the supplementary determination unit cannot determine that the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm, supplementarily determining whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm using a second method different from the first method, and outputting the result of the supplementary determination as a supplementary determination result, the step of controlling an in-vehicle output device to ask the occupant a question, and supplementarily determining whether or not the occupant is an occupant who requires an alarm based on the occupant's response to the question; a step of the warning necessity determination unit determining whether or not an abandoned vehicle warning is necessary based on the determination result or the supplementary determination result; a step of the warning output control unit controlling an external output device to issue a predetermined warning when it is determined that the abandoned vehicle warning is necessary; The abandoned person alarm method includes the steps of:

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