Driver Sensor Operation Detection for Reliable Vehicle Safety Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle safety systems struggle to reliably determine if safety measures such as airbag or seatbelt deployment are controlled by the actual driver, rather than a passenger, and fail to continuously monitor the driver's physical condition during operation.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method using onboard vehicle cameras to determine if a sensor is operated by the driver, involving image processing to identify and track the driver's body parts, localize and track the driver's hands, and determine the proximity of the hands to the sensor, thereby ensuring that safety measures are only activated by the driver.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If basic person detection is used for seat occupancy detection, then the system can determine whether a person is located on a seat, but it cannot reliably control all safety measures
Solution Approach 1:
The detection system is segmented into multiple specialized modules: person detection module, hand localization module, sensor operation detection module, and physical condition assessment module. Each module handles a specific aspect of the detection task, improving overall reliability while maintaining manageable complexity through functional decomposition.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from basic 2D person detection to multi-dimensional analysis by tracking hand positions, determining proximity to sensors, and assessing physical conditions across multiple parameters. This dimensional expansion enables more reliable safety measure control by capturing comprehensive driver state information.
2Reliability
If the system uses image processing to track driver's hands and determine sensor operation, then it can ensure safety measures are activated by the driver, but the complexity of the detection system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The image processing system serves multiple functions: person detection, hand localization, sensor operation detection, and physical condition monitoring. By making the system multi-functional, the patent reduces the need for separate dedicated systems for each task, thereby managing complexity while improving reliability through comprehensive monitoring.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary analysis layer that processes image data to determine hand-sensor proximity and interaction. This intermediary layer acts as a mediator between raw image data and safety control decisions, enabling reliable driver identification without requiring direct complex integration between all system components.
3Reliability
If the system continuously monitors driver's physical condition, then it can prevent unsafe driving scenarios, but the energy consumption and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The physical condition monitoring operates periodically rather than continuously, assessing driver state at regular intervals during operation. This periodic action reduces energy consumption and processing requirements while still ensuring safe driving through timely detection of critical changes in driver condition.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses the vehicle's existing camera infrastructure for physical condition monitoring, making the monitoring service self-sufficient without requiring additional dedicated sensors or power-intensive specialized equipment. The existing imaging system is leveraged to provide energy-efficient continuous surveillance of driver state.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for determining a physical condition of a driver of a vehicle. The method includes receiving at least one image taken by a vehicle camera. The image shows at least a part of the driver and a sensor to be operated by the driver to determine the physical condition. The method includes determining, based on the image, if the sensor is operated by the driver.