Unnoticed Area Detection for Driver Safety

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional techniques for specifying incident or potential incident areas in intersections often present areas where incidents do not occur, leading to driver distraction and complicating cause investigation, as they lack necessity-based presentation, thereby reducing the effectiveness of safety driving support.

Innovation Solution

An apparatus and method that specify incident/potential-incident factor areas by determining a viewing area of the driver before an incident and identifying unnoticed areas where objects within this view are located, highlighting these areas as critical for presentation to prevent incidents.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional techniques present areas with high incident possibility regardless of driver attention, then incident prediction coverage is improved, but driver distraction and information overload increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveincident prediction coverageVSAvoiddriver distraction

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies local quality by differentiating the presentation characteristics based on the specific attributes of each factor area. Areas are classified into different types (e.g., unnoticed areas, over-noticed areas) and presented with different emphases or visual characteristics, allowing drivers to perceive the most critical areas more effectively without being overwhelmed by uniform presentations across all areas.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

Instead of presenting all areas with high incident possibility uniformly, the invention inverts the approach by identifying and emphasizing specifically the areas that drivers failed to notice (unnoticed areas) or paid excessive attention to (over-noticed areas). This selective inversion of attention patterns highlights the most critical factor areas that directly relate to driver behavior and incident causes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

2Loss of information

If all factor areas are presented equally, then comprehensive safety information is provided, but cause investigation becomes complicated

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesafety information completenessVSAvoidcause investigation complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and separates factor areas into distinct categories based on their characteristics and relationship to driver attention. By taking out and isolating specific types of areas (unnoticed areas, over-noticed areas) from the general set of factor areas, the system enables more targeted analysis and simplifies cause investigation by focusing on the most relevant categories rather than treating all areas uniformly.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The invention segments the factor areas into multiple sub-categories or types based on their characteristics and impact on driver behavior. This segmentation allows for more organized presentation and analysis, making cause investigation simpler by breaking down the complex set of all factor areas into manageable, meaningful groups that can be investigated systematically.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Area of stationary object

If areas are presented without considering driver viewing patterns, then comprehensive coverage is achieved, but presentation necessity decreases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvefactor area coverageVSAvoidpresentation necessity

Core Design Contradiction:

Area of stationary objectVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system incorporates feedback from driver viewing patterns and attention analysis to determine which factor areas should be presented and with what emphasis. By using feedback about actual driver behavior (what drivers noticed, what they missed), the system dynamically adjusts the presentation strategy to highlight areas that are most likely to influence driver attention and prevent incidents, thereby increasing presentation necessity for the most critical areas.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentUS8981963B2Accident/near-miss factor area specifying device and accident/near-miss factor area specifying method

Publication Date: 2015.03.17 PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO LTD

AI summary

Disclosed is an accident/near-miss factor area specifying device capable of specifying accident/near-miss factor areas, the presentation of which is highly required. The accident/near-miss factor area specifying device (100) is used for specifying accident/near-miss factor areas which a driver of a vehicle should be aware of in order to prevent an accident, and the device comprises a viewing area specifying unit (151) for specifying a viewing area of a driver of a vehicle which had a near-miss, immediately before the near-miss occurs, and an unnoticed area specifying unit (152) wherein, when a near-miss object is located in a viewing area, an area corresponding to the position of the object is treated as an unnoticed area which is one of the accident/near-miss factor areas.