Driver condition determination device

Abstract

To provide a driver state determination device which can determine a type and a stage of an abnormal state of a driver and can provide an appropriate drive support according to the state of the driver.SOLUTION: A driver state determination device 100 comprises: an in-vehicle camera 32 detecting a driver's eye gaze and, optionally, detecting the driver's head behavior; and a controller 10 configured to determine the driver's state on the basis of the driver's eye gaze and head behavior. In the case where the controller determines that the driver is in an abnormal state on the basis of the driver's eye gaze movement, the controller may optionally determine whether the driver's abnormal state is an attention dysfunction or a visual field impairment on the basis of a change in each of a yaw angle and a pitch angle of the driver's head. In the case where it is determined that the driver's abnormal state is the visual field impairment, the controller determines that the driver is in a state of being aware of the visual field impairment when there is a direction in which the driver's eye gaze is not directed, and determines that the driver is in a state of being unaware of the visual field impairment when there is no direction in which the driver's eye gaze is not directed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a driver condition determination device that determines the condition of a driver who drives a vehicle. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, driver condition detection devices have been proposed that detect abnormalities in a vehicle driver. For example, a driver condition estimation device has been proposed that determines that the driver is suspected of having a visual field defect when an expansion of the distribution of the driver's line of sight direction relative to the normal state and a change in steering operation relative to the normal state are detected (see Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-198842 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] As a result of research by the present inventors, it has been found that in diseases such as glaucoma, in which visual field impairment gradually progresses, the driver's line of sight and head movements change depending on the stage of the disease. However, the conventional technology described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 does not take into account the fact that line of sight and head movements change depending on the stage of the disease, and therefore cannot distinguish, for example, between the stage immediately after the onset of the disease and the stage when the driver is aware of the disease. Therefore, it may be difficult to provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driver's condition.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and aims to provide a driver condition determination device that can determine the type and stage of a driver's abnormal condition and provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driver's condition. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a driver state determination device for determining the state of a driver who drives a vehicle, the device comprising: a gaze detection device for detecting the gaze of the driver; a head behavior detection device for detecting the behavior of the head of the driver; and a controller configured to determine the state of the driver based on the gaze and head behavior of the driver, the controller determining the state of the driver based on the movement of the gaze of the driver. The frequency and / or amplitude of the saccade is detected, and if the frequency and / or amplitude of the detected saccade is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold, the driver is in an abnormal state That is If the driver is determined to be in an abnormal state In , the yaw angle and pitch angle of the driver's head When the amplitude is equal to or greater than the first threshold , the driver's abnormal condition If the visual field is determined to be impaired and the amplitude of the yaw angle and pitch angle of the driver's head is less than a first threshold, the abnormal state of the driver is determined. attention disorder Harm be and When it is determined that the abnormal state of the driver is a visual field disorder, and there is a direction that the driver cannot look at, it is determined that the driver is aware of the visual field disorder, and when it is determined that the abnormal state of the driver is a visual field disorder, and there is no direction that the driver cannot look at, it is determined that the driver is not aware of the visual field disorder.

[0007] According to the present invention configured as described above, when the controller determines that the driver is in an abnormal state based on the movement of the driver's line of sight, it determines whether the driver's abnormal state is an attention disorder or a visual field disorder based on changes in the yaw angle and pitch angle of the driver's head. Therefore, the type of abnormal state can be determined by utilizing the different head behaviors depending on whether the driver's abnormal state is an attention disorder or a visual field disorder. Furthermore, when the controller determines that the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder, if there is a direction that the driver's line of sight cannot be directed, it determines that the driver is aware of the visual field disorder. If there is no direction that the driver's line of sight cannot be directed, it determines that the driver is not aware of the visual field disorder. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether the driver is in a stage immediately after the onset of a disease accompanied by visual field disorder, such as glaucoma, and is unaware of the visual field disorder, or whether time has passed since the onset of the disease accompanied by visual field disorder and the driver is aware of the visual field disorder. This makes it possible to determine the type and stage of the driver's abnormal state and provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driver's condition. In particular, the controller determines whether the driver is in an abnormal state based on the frequency and / or amplitude of saccades, thereby enabling accurate determination of the driver's abnormal state. Furthermore, if the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder and the driver tends to shake their head up and down and left and right to consciously or unconsciously compensate for the visual field defect, the controller can determine that the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder based on the head behavior. If this is not the case, the controller can appropriately determine that the driver's abnormal state is an attention disorder. This allows the type of the driver's abnormal state to be determined, enabling appropriate driving assistance to be provided according to the driver's state.

[0010] In the present invention, preferably, Further, the controller includes a memory for storing information indicating that the abnormal condition of the driver is determined to be a visual field disorder when the controller determines that the abnormal condition of the driver is a visual field disorder, When the controller determines that the driver is not in an abnormal state, it determines that the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder. Information indicating the determination is stored in the memory. In this case, it is determined that the driver has acquired compensatory behavior for visual field impairment.

[0011] According to the present invention configured as described above, it is possible to appropriately distinguish between a state in which the driver is in a normal state and a state in which the driver has acquired compensatory behavior for visual field impairment, thereby making it possible to determine the stage of the driver's abnormal state and provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driver's state.

[0014] In the present invention, preferably, the driver condition determination device further includes an information output device that outputs information to the driver, and the controller is configured to cause the information output device to output information indicating that the driver has a visual field disorder when it determines that the driver is unaware of the visual field disorder.

[0015] According to the present invention configured in this manner, it is possible to provide appropriate driving assistance to a driver who is unaware that he or she has a visual field disorder. [Effects of the Invention]

[0016] According to the driver condition determination device of the present invention, it is possible to determine the type and stage of the driver's abnormal condition, and to provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driver's condition. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] 1 is an explanatory diagram of a vehicle equipped with a driver state determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram of a driver state determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] 4 is a flowchart of a driver state determination process according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 illustrates saccade frequency at each stage of visual field impairment. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the distribution of gazes when a person is not aware of visual field defects. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the distribution of gaze when a person is aware of visual field impairment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A driver's state determination device according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0019] [System Configuration] First, the configuration of a driver's condition determination device according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 1 and 2. Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram of a vehicle equipped with a driver's condition determination device, and Figure 2 is a block diagram of the driver's condition determination device.

[0020] The vehicle 1 according to this embodiment includes a driving force source 2 such as an engine or an electric motor that outputs driving force, a transmission 3 that transmits the driving force output from the driving force source 2 to the driving wheels, a brake 4 that applies a braking force to the vehicle 1, and a steering device 5 for steering the vehicle 1.

[0021] The driver state determination device 100 is configured to determine the state of the driver of the vehicle 1 and, if necessary, control the vehicle 1 or drive assistance control. As shown in Fig. 2, the driver state determination device 100 includes a controller 10, a plurality of sensors, a plurality of control systems, and a plurality of information output devices.

[0022] Specifically, the multiple sensors include an exterior camera 21 and radar 22 that acquire driving environment information about the vehicle 1, a navigation system 23 for detecting the position of the vehicle 1, and a positioning system 24. The multiple sensors also include a vehicle speed sensor 25, an acceleration sensor 26, a yaw rate sensor 27, a steering angle sensor 28, a steering torque sensor 29, an accelerator sensor 30, and a brake sensor 31 that detect the behavior of the vehicle 1 and driving operations by the driver. The multiple sensors also include an in-vehicle camera 32 that detects the driver's line of sight. The multiple control systems include a powertrain control module (PCM) 33 that controls the driving force source 2 and the transmission 3, a dynamic stability control system (DSC) 34 that controls the driving force source 2 and the brakes 4, and an electric power steering system (EPS) 35 that controls the steering device 5. The multiple information output devices include a display 36 that outputs image information and a speaker 37 that outputs audio information.

[0023] Other sensors may also include a peripheral sonar that measures the distance and position of surrounding structures relative to vehicle 1, a corner radar that measures the approach of surrounding structures at the four corners of vehicle 1, and various sensors that detect the driver's condition (e.g., a heart rate sensor, an electrocardiogram sensor, a steering wheel grip force sensor, etc.).

[0024] The controller 10 performs various calculations based on signals received from a plurality of sensors, and sends control signals to the PCM 33, DSC 34, and EPS 35 to appropriately operate the driving force source 2, transmission 3, brake 4, and steering device 5, and also sends control signals to the display 36 and speaker 37 to output desired information. The controller 10 is composed of a computer equipped with one or more processors 10a (typically a CPU), memory 10b (ROM, RAM, etc.) for storing various programs and data, input / output devices, etc.

[0025] The exterior camera 21 captures images of the surroundings of the vehicle 1 and outputs image data. Based on the image data received from the exterior camera 21, the controller 10 identifies objects (for example, a preceding vehicle, a parked vehicle, a pedestrian, a road, dividing lines (lane boundaries, white lines, yellow lines), traffic signals, traffic signs, stop lines, intersections, obstacles, etc.).

[0026] The radar 22 measures the position and speed of an object (particularly, a preceding vehicle, a parked vehicle, a pedestrian, an object fallen on the road, etc.). For example, a millimeter wave radar can be used as the radar 22. The radar 22 transmits radio waves in the traveling direction of the vehicle 1 and receives reflected waves generated when the transmitted waves are reflected by the object. Then, based on the transmitted waves and received waves, the radar 22 measures the distance between the vehicle 1 and the object (for example, the inter-vehicle distance) and the relative speed of the object with respect to the vehicle 1. Note that in this embodiment, instead of the radar 22, a laser radar, an ultrasonic sensor, etc. may be used to measure the distance to the object and the relative speed. Furthermore, a position and speed measuring device may be configured using a plurality of sensors.

[0027] The navigation system 23 stores map information internally and can provide the map information to the controller 10. The controller 10 identifies roads, intersections, traffic signals, buildings, etc. that exist around the vehicle 1 (particularly in the direction of travel) based on the map information and current vehicle position information. The map information may be stored in the controller 10. The positioning system 24 is a GPS system and / or a gyro system, and detects the position of the vehicle 1 (current vehicle position information).

[0028] The vehicle speed sensor 25 detects the speed of the vehicle 1 based on, for example, the rotational speed of the wheels or the drive shaft. The acceleration sensor 26 detects the acceleration of the vehicle 1. This acceleration includes the acceleration in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle 1 and the acceleration in the lateral direction (i.e., lateral acceleration). Note that in this specification, acceleration includes not only the rate of change of speed in the direction in which the speed increases, but also the rate of change of speed in the direction in which the speed decreases (i.e., deceleration).

[0029] The yaw rate sensor 27 detects the yaw rate of the vehicle 1. The steering angle sensor 28 detects the rotation angle (steering angle) of the steering wheel of the steering device 5. The steering torque sensor 29 detects the torque (steering torque) applied to the steering shaft via the steering wheel. The accelerator sensor 30 detects the amount of depression of the accelerator pedal. The brake sensor 31 detects the amount of depression of the brake pedal.

[0030] The in-vehicle camera 32 captures an image of the driver and outputs image data. The controller 10 detects the driver's line of sight and the behavior of the driver's head (e.g., the yaw angle and pitch angle of the head) based on the image data received from the in-vehicle camera 32. The in-vehicle camera 32 corresponds to an example of the "gaze detection device" and the "head behavior detection device" of the present invention.

[0031] The PCM 33 controls the driving force source 2 of the vehicle 1 to adjust the driving force of the vehicle 1. For example, the PCM 33 controls the engine's spark plugs, fuel injection valves, throttle valves, variable valve mechanisms, the transmission 3, and an inverter that supplies power to the electric motor. When it is necessary to accelerate or decelerate the vehicle 1, the controller 10 sends a control signal to the PCM 33 to adjust the driving force.

[0032] The DSC 34 controls the driving force source 2 and brakes 4 of the vehicle 1 to perform deceleration control and attitude control of the vehicle 1. For example, the DSC 34 controls the hydraulic pump and valve unit of the brakes 4, and controls the driving force source 2 via the PCM 33. When it is necessary to perform deceleration control or attitude control of the vehicle 1, the controller 10 sends a control signal to the DSC 34 to adjust the driving force or generate a braking force.

[0033] The EPS 35 controls the steering device 5 of the vehicle 1. For example, the EPS 35 controls an electric motor that applies torque to a steering shaft of the steering device 5. When it is necessary to change the traveling direction of the vehicle 1, the controller 10 transmits a control signal to the EPS 35 to change the steering direction.

[0034] The display 36 is provided in front of the driver in the vehicle cabin and displays image information to the driver. The display 36 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display or a head-up display. The speaker 37 is provided in the vehicle cabin and outputs various types of audio information. The display 36 and the speaker 37 correspond to examples of the "information output device" of the present invention.

[0035] [Driver state determination process] Next, the flow of the driver's state determination process performed by the driver's state determination device 100 of this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flowchart of the driver's state determination process.

[0036] The driver state determination process is started when the power supply of the vehicle 1 is turned on, and is repeatedly executed by the controller 10 at a predetermined cycle (for example, every 0.05 to 0.2 seconds).

[0037] When the driver state determination process is started, the controller 10 first acquires various information including the driver's line of sight and head behavior based on signals received from sensors including the exterior camera 21, radar 22, navigation system 23, positioning system 24, and interior camera 32 (step S1).

[0038] Next, controller 10 detects the movement of the driver's line of sight based on the signal received from in-vehicle camera 32 in step S1 (step S2). Specifically, controller 10 detects the driver's pupil from the image (image data) obtained by in-vehicle camera 32, and detects the driver's line of sight based on the detected pupil. Next, controller 10 calculates the movement distance of the driver's line of sight. Then, controller 10 calculates the speed of the driver's line of sight based on the change over time in the movement distance of the driver's line of sight. For example, controller 10 calculates the speed of the driver's line of sight by differentiating the movement distance of the line of sight that changes over time.

[0039] Next, the controller 10 determines whether the frequency fs of the driver's saccades is equal to or less than a threshold value fth (predetermined and stored in the memory 10b, corresponding to the "second threshold value" of the present invention) based on the gaze movement of the driver detected in step S2 (step S3). Specifically, the controller 10 extracts saccade candidates based on the gaze movement speed calculated in step S2. For example, the controller 10 extracts a period during which the gaze movement speed is less than a predetermined speed threshold (e.g., 40 deg / s) for a predetermined stagnation time (e.g., 0.1 seconds) as a "gazing period." Then, the controller 10 extracts, from gaze movements during a period sandwiched between two adjacent gaze periods, gaze movements whose movement speed is equal to or greater than the speed threshold (e.g., 40 deg / s) and whose movement distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance threshold (e.g., 3 deg) as "saccade candidates." Furthermore, the controller 10 extracts, as saccades, saccade candidates from which noise has been removed using a known method. Then, for each predetermined period (e.g., every 10 seconds), the controller 10 calculates a value obtained by dividing the number of saccades included in the period by the time of the period as the "saccade frequency fs" and compares it with a threshold value fth.

[0040] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the saccade frequency at each stage of visual field impairment. According to research by the present inventors, as shown in FIG. 4, when a driver's condition is visual field impairment, the saccade frequency is equal to or less than the threshold value fth, regardless of whether the driver is aware of the visual field impairment. On the other hand, when the driver's condition is normal or when the driver has acquired behavior to compensate for the visual field defect through rehabilitation after developing visual field impairment, the saccade frequency is greater than the threshold value fth. Furthermore, although not shown in FIG. 4, when the driver's condition is attention impairment, the saccade frequency is also equal to or less than the threshold value fth. Therefore, by determining whether the saccade frequency is equal to or less than the threshold value fth, it is possible to determine whether the driver's condition is abnormal (visual field impairment or attention impairment), normal, or has acquired compensatory behavior after visual field impairment.

[0041] Therefore, if the result of the determination in step S3 is that the frequency fs of the driver's saccades is equal to or less than the threshold fth (step S3: Yes), the controller 10 determines that the driver is in an abnormal state and detects the behavior of the driver's head based on the signal received from the in-vehicle camera 32 in step S1 (step S4). Specifically, the controller 10 recognizes the driver's head from the image (image data) obtained by the in-vehicle camera 32, and calculates the yaw angle ay and pitch angle ap of the recognized head.

[0042] According to the research of the present inventors, when the driver's saccade frequency fs is determined to be equal to or less than a threshold fth, it has been found that, when the driver's condition is determined to be abnormal, it is possible to determine whether the driver's abnormal condition is an attention disorder or a visual field disorder based on the driver's head behavior. Specifically, when the driver's abnormal condition is an attention disorder, the driver's head behavior does not become larger than that in a normal condition. On the other hand, when the driver's abnormal condition is a visual field disorder, the driver tends to shake his head up and down and left and right, consciously or unconsciously, to compensate for the visual field defect. As a result, the driver's head behavior becomes larger than that in a normal condition or when the driver is in an attention disorder. Therefore, when the fluctuation amplitudes of the yaw angle ay and pitch angle ap of the driver's head are relatively large (e.g., equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold), it is possible to determine that the driver's abnormal condition is a visual field disorder. When the fluctuation amplitudes of the yaw angle ay and pitch angle ap of the driver's head are relatively small (e.g., less than a predetermined threshold), it is possible to determine that the driver's abnormal condition is an attention disorder.

[0043] Therefore, based on the behavior of the driver's head detected in step S4, the controller 10 determines whether the amplitudes of the yaw angle ay and pitch angle ap of the driver's head are equal to or greater than a threshold ath (predetermined and stored in the memory 10b, corresponding to the "first threshold" of the present invention) (step S5). Specifically, for each predetermined period (for example, every 10 seconds), the controller 10 calculates the average value of the amplitude of the yaw angle ay and the average value of the amplitude of the pitch angle ap of the driver's head included in that period as the "amplitude of the yaw angle ay" and the "amplitude of the pitch angle ap," respectively, and compares them with the threshold ath.

[0044] If the result of the determination in step S5 is that the amplitudes of the yaw angle ay and pitch angle ap of the driver's head are equal to or greater than the threshold ath (step S5: Yes), the controller 10 determines that the abnormal condition of the driver is a visual field disorder (step S6). At this time, the controller 10 stores information indicating that the abnormal condition of the driver is a visual field disorder in the memory 10b.

[0045] Next, the controller 10 detects the distribution of the driver's gaze direction based on the driver's gaze movement detected in step S2 (step S7). For example, the controller 10 identifies the driver's gaze direction at a predetermined time interval every predetermined period (for example, every 10 seconds), and obtains the distribution of the gaze direction included in that period.

[0046] Figures 5 and 6 are diagrams illustrating gaze distributions, with Figure 5 illustrating the gaze distribution when the driver is unaware of a visual field defect, and Figure 6 illustrating the gaze distribution when the driver is aware of a visual field defect. The black circles in Figures 5 and 6 indicate the gaze directions identified in the driver's visual field at a given time interval.

[0047] According to research by the present inventors, immediately after the onset of a disease accompanied by visual field impairment, such as glaucoma, if the driver is not aware of the visual field impairment, there is no bias in the distribution of gaze in the visual field, and there is no particular direction to which the gaze cannot be directed, as shown in Figure 5. On the other hand, if some time has passed since the onset of the disease accompanied by visual field impairment and the driver becomes aware of the visual field impairment, there will be areas where the gaze is not distributed (i.e., directions to which the gaze cannot be directed) depending on the location of the visual field defect, as shown by the shading in Figure 6. Therefore, by determining whether there is an area where the driver's gaze is not distributed (i.e., a direction to which the gaze cannot be directed), it is possible to determine whether the driver is aware of the visual field impairment or not.

[0048] Therefore, the controller 10 determines whether there is an area where the driver's gaze is not distributed, based on the distribution of the driver's gaze directions detected in step S7 (step S8). As a result, as illustrated in Fig. 5, if there is no area where the gaze is not distributed (i.e., there is no direction to which the gaze is not directed) (step S8: No), the controller 10 determines that the driver is not aware of the visual field defect (step S9). In this case, the controller 10 causes the display 36 and the speaker 37 to output information notifying the driver that the driver has a visual field defect (visual field defect notification information) (step S10), and ends the driver state determination process.

[0049] Furthermore, in step S8, if there is a range where the driver's line of sight is not distributed (i.e., there is a direction where the line of sight is not directed) (step S8: Yes), the controller 10 determines that the driver is aware of the visual field defect (step S11). In this case, since the driver is aware of the visual field defect, the controller 10 ends the driver state determination process without outputting visual field defect notification information.

[0050] Furthermore, in step S5, if the amplitudes of the yaw angle ay and pitch angle ap of the driver's head are less than the threshold ath (step S5: No), the controller 10 determines that the abnormal state of the driver is attention disorder (step S12) and ends the driver state determination process. At this time, information notifying the driver that the driver is experiencing attention disorder may be output from the display 36 and the speaker 37.

[0051] Furthermore, in step S3, if the frequency fs of the driver's saccades is greater than the threshold value fth (step S3: Yes), the controller 10 determines whether the driver has been determined to be in an abnormal state in the past, and whether the abnormal state has been determined to be a visual field defect (step S13). For example, the controller 10 determines whether the driver's abnormal state has been determined to be a visual field defect in the past, based on whether information indicating that the driver's abnormal state has been determined to be a visual field defect is stored in the memory 10b.

[0052] As a result, if the driver was previously determined to be in an abnormal state and the abnormal state was determined to be a visual field defect (step S13: Yes), as described with reference to Fig. 4, it is considered that the driver had previously had a visual field defect, but had acquired behavior to compensate for the visual field defect through rehabilitation or the like, and thus recovered to the point where the saccade frequency fs exceeds the threshold value fth. Therefore, the controller 10 determines that the driver has acquired behavior to compensate for the visual field defect (step S14), and ends the driver state determination process.

[0053] On the other hand, if the driver's abnormal state has not been determined to be a visual field disorder in the past (step S13: No), the controller 10 determines that the driver's state is normal (step S15) and terminates the driver state determination process.

[0054] In the driver state determination process of this embodiment, in step S3, the controller 10 determines whether the driver is in an abnormal state (visual field impairment or attention impairment) based on whether the frequency fs of the driver's saccades is equal to or less than a threshold fth. However, other criteria may be used to determine whether the driver is in an abnormal state. For example, if the amplitude of the driver's saccades is equal to or less than a threshold, the driver may be determined to be in an abnormal state. Furthermore, as with the technology described in JP 2021-077136 A, the amplitude and frequency of the saccades of the vehicle driver may be detected, and a level of attention may be detected that increases as the number of points in the external environment of the vehicle that the driver must check while driving increases, and whether the driver is in an abnormal state may be determined based on the level of attention and the amplitude and frequency of the driver's saccades.

[0055] Furthermore, in the driver state determination process of this embodiment, in step S10, the controller 10 causes the display 36 and the speaker 37 to output information (visual field obstruction notification information) notifying the driver that the driver has a visual field obstruction, but other information may also be output from the display 36 and the speaker 37 depending on the determination result of the driver's state, and control signals may be sent to the PCM 33, DSC 34, and EPS 35 to appropriately operate the driving force source 2, transmission 3, brake 4, and steering device 5, thereby controlling the behavior of the vehicle 1.

[0056] [Actions and Effects] Next, the operation and effect of the driver state determination device 100 of the present embodiment will be described.

[0057] When the controller 10 determines that the driver is in an abnormal state based on the movement of the driver's line of sight, it determines whether the driver's abnormal state is an attention disorder or a visual field disorder based on changes in the yaw angle ay and pitch angle ap of the driver's head. Therefore, it is possible to distinguish the type of abnormal state by utilizing the behavior of the head, which differs depending on whether the driver's abnormal state is an attention disorder or a visual field disorder. Furthermore, when the controller 10 determines that the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder, if there is a direction that the driver's gaze cannot be directed toward, it determines that the driver is aware of the visual field disorder. When the controller 10 determines that the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder, if there is a direction that the driver cannot be directed toward, it determines that the driver is not aware of the visual field disorder. Therefore, it is possible to accurately distinguish whether the driver is in a stage immediately after the onset of a disease accompanied by visual field disorder, such as glaucoma, and is unaware of the visual field disorder after some time has passed since the onset of the disease accompanied by visual field disorder and is aware of the visual field disorder. This makes it possible to determine the type and stage of the driver's abnormal state and provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driver's condition.

[0058] Furthermore, when the controller 10 determines that the driver is in an abnormal state, if the amplitudes of the yaw angle ay and pitch angle ap of the driver's head are equal to or greater than a threshold ath, the controller 10 determines that the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder, and if they are less than ath, the controller 10 determines that the driver's abnormal state is an attention disorder. This allows the controller 10 to determine that the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder based on the behavior of the head when the driver's abnormal state is a visual field disorder and the driver tends to shake their head up and down and left and right to consciously or unconsciously compensate for the visual field defect. Otherwise, the controller 10 can appropriately determine that the driver's abnormal state is a moderate visual field disorder. This allows the controller 10 to determine the type of the driver's abnormal state and provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driver's state.

[0059] Furthermore, when the controller 10 determines that the driver is not in an abnormal state, and has previously determined that the driver's abnormal state is a visual field defect, the controller 10 determines that the driver has acquired compensatory behavior for the visual field defect, and therefore can appropriately distinguish between a case in which the driver is in a normal state and a case in which the driver has acquired compensatory behavior for the visual field defect. This makes it possible to determine the stage of the driver's abnormal state and provide appropriate driving assistance according to the driver's state.

[0060] Furthermore, the controller 10 determines whether the driver is in an abnormal state based on the frequency of saccades, and therefore can accurately determine whether the driver is in an abnormal state.

[0061] Furthermore, the driver state determination device 100 further includes a display 36 and a speaker 37 that output information to the driver, and when the controller 10 determines that the driver is unaware of the visual field impairment, the controller 10 causes the display 36 and the speaker 37 to output information indicating that the driver has a visual field impairment. Therefore, appropriate driving assistance can be provided to a driver who is unaware that he or she has a visual field impairment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0062] 1 vehicle 10 Controllers 100 Driver state determination device 21 Exterior camera 22 Radar 23 Navigation System 24 Positioning System 25 Vehicle speed sensor 26 Acceleration sensor 27 Yaw rate sensor 28 Steering angle sensor 29 Steering torque sensor 30 Accelerator sensor 31 Brake sensor 32 In-car camera 36 Display 37 Speaker

Claims

1. A driver state determination device that determines the state of a driver who drives a vehicle, a gaze detection device for detecting the driver's gaze; a head behavior detection device for detecting a behavior of the driver's head; a controller configured to determine a state of the driver based on a line of sight and a head movement of the driver; The controller Detecting a frequency and / or amplitude of saccades of the driver based on a movement of the driver's line of sight, and determining that the driver is in an abnormal state when the detected frequency and / or amplitude of the saccades is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold; When it is determined that the driver is in an abnormal state, if the amplitudes of the yaw angle and pitch angle of the driver's head are equal to or greater than a first threshold, it is determined that the abnormal state of the driver is a visual field disorder, and if the amplitudes of the yaw angle and pitch angle of the driver's head are less than the first threshold, it is determined that the abnormal state of the driver is an attention disorder; When it is determined that the abnormal state of the driver is a visual field disorder, if there is a direction to which the driver cannot look, it is determined that the driver is aware of the visual field disorder, When it is determined that the abnormal state of the driver is a visual field disorder, if there is no direction to which the driver cannot turn, it is determined that the driver is not aware of the visual field disorder. It is configured as follows: Driver condition determination device.

2. Further, the controller includes a memory for storing information indicating that the abnormal condition of the driver has been determined to be a visual field disorder when the controller determines that the abnormal condition of the driver has been determined to be a visual field disorder, The controller is configured to determine that the driver has acquired compensatory behavior for visual field impairment when it is determined that the driver is not in an abnormal state and information indicating that the abnormal state of the driver is determined to be a visual field impairment is stored in the memory. The driver state determination device according to claim 1 .

3. Further, an information output device for outputting information to the driver is provided, The controller is configured to, when determining that the driver is unaware of the visual field disorder, output information indicating that the driver has a visual field disorder from the information output device. The driver state determination device according to claim 1 or 2.

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