Driver Awareness Monitoring via Eye-Object Motion Correlation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current situational awareness monitoring systems for vehicle drivers face challenges in accurately tracking gaze direction over longer distances, requiring higher accuracy than existing technologies can provide without excessive cost, especially when determining awareness of external objects.
Innovation Solution
A processor-based apparatus that correlates eye tracking information with object tracking information using angular velocity signatures to determine if a driver is aware of external objects, allowing for adjustment of vehicle system sensitivity levels based on this correlation, utilizing a combination of optical, infrared, and potentially radar sensors for accurate monitoring.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If higher monitoring accuracy is used to track external objects over longer distances, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity and cost increase prohibitively
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the monitoring task into two parts: a coarse eye tracker monitors general gaze direction within the cabin, while external object trackers monitor specific external objects. The system then correlates these separate tracking streams to determine driver awareness, avoiding the need for a single high-precision system
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary correlation process that links eye tracking data with object tracking data. Instead of directly measuring precise gaze direction to external objects, the system uses the object tracker as an intermediary reference to infer driver awareness from correlated movement patterns
2Measurement precision
If higher monitoring accuracy is used to track external objects over longer distances, then measurement precision is improved, but cost increases prohibitively
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the expensive high-precision tracking function into a combination of a low-cost eye tracker and separate object trackers. Each component operates at lower precision individually, but their correlation achieves the effective precision needed for long-distance external object awareness
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of using a single high-precision eye tracker to directly track external objects, the system creates a correlated representation by matching eye movement patterns with object movement patterns. This copying approach allows inference of external awareness without direct high-precision measurement
3Device complexity
If coarse monitoring accuracy is used within the cabin, then device complexity is reduced, but accuracy is insufficient for long-distance external object tracking
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the outputs of the coarse eye tracker with the object tracker to achieve the effective precision needed for external object monitoring. By combining these data streams through correlation, the system achieves long-distance tracking accuracy without requiring either component to operate at high precision independently
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a situational awareness monitoring apparatus (1) for a vehicle (2). The situational awareness monitoring apparatus (1) includes a processor (3). The processor (3) receives eye tracking information from an eye tracking apparatus (7) configured to track driver eye movements; and object tracking information from an object tracking apparatus (6) configured to track one or more external object (O). The processor (3) is configured to correlate the eye tracking information with the object tracking information to determine when the driver eye movement corresponds to relative movement of the external object.