Vehicle Occupant Mask Detection and Automatic Provision Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle control systems fail to ensure that occupants, including drivers, wear anti-droplet protective equipment, leading to discomfort and potential health risks, especially in shared vehicle settings where mask-wearing is preferable for infectious disease prevention.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle control system equipped with a camera, anti-droplet protective equipment providing device, and an electronic control unit that determines if occupants are wearing masks and provides suitable protective equipment when needed, including the option to prohibit vehicle travel until masks are worn and to facilitate payment for the equipment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the driver is required to wear a mask for infectious disease prevention, then health safety is improved, but face orientation detection becomes impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses image processing to create a simplified representation of the driver's face region, detecting key features like eyes and mouth position to determine face orientation without requiring full facial visibility. This copying approach allows detection to work with partial facial information when masks are worn.
Solution Approach 2:
The detection algorithm changes its parameters and detection criteria based on whether a mask is detected. When a mask is present, the system adjusts its detection parameters to rely on visible features above the mask (eyes, forehead) rather than traditional full-face recognition, enabling continued operation under mask-wearing conditions.
2Ease of operation
If a passenger does not wear a mask when entering a shared vehicle, then ease of entry is improved, but discomfort to other passengers and health risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs mask detection before the vehicle journey begins, at the point of entry. When a passenger without a mask is detected, the system proactively provides masks through the providing device before the passenger boards or begins travel, preventing the harmful situation from occurring rather than reacting to it later.
Solution Approach 2:
The mask providing device is positioned and operated to allow passengers to automatically receive masks without requiring assistance from staff or other passengers. The system autonomously identifies passengers who need masks and makes them available through the providing device, enabling self-service mask distribution.
3Reliability
If the system provides masks to all occupants automatically, then health safety is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different treatment to different occupants based on local conditions detected by the camera. Rather than uniformly providing masks to everyone, the system identifies specific occupants who need masks (those not already wearing them) and directs provision only to them, optimizing resource allocation and reducing unnecessary system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A control system for a vehicle includes a camera mounted on the vehicle and configured to take an image of an occupant of the vehicle, and an anti-droplet protective equipment providing device mounted on the vehicle and configured to provide anti-droplet protective equipment to the occupant, a determination unit configured to determine whether the occupant is wearing the anti-droplet protective equipment based on the image of the occupant taken by the camera, and a provision control unit configured to provide the anti-droplet protective equipment to the occupant with the anti-droplet protective equipment providing device when the determination unit determines that the occupant is not wearing the anti-droplet protective equipment.