Abstract:
Driver distraction in a motor vehicle is assessed by capacitively detecting the driver's head pose relative to the forward direction of vehicle motion. A symmetrical array of sensor electrodes (A-H) is disposed in the cockpit ceiling (22) above the driver's head (24), and pairs of electrodes (A/E, B/F, C/G, D/H) disposed along varying axes of rotation (30-36) with respect to the forward direction are successively activated for capacitance measurement. The capacitance measurements are combined to form a signal whose strength depends on the degree of alignment between the driver's head (24) (i.e., the head pose) and the respective axes of rotation (30-36), and the driver's head pose is calculated to assess driver distraction.
Abstract:
Driver distraction in a motor vehicle is assessed by capacitively detecting the driver's head pose relative to the forward direction of vehicle motion. A symmetrical array of sensor electrodes (A-H) is disposed in the cockpit ceiling (22) above the driver's head (24), and pairs of electrodes (A/E, B/F, C/G, D/H) disposed along varying axes of rotation (30-36) with respect to the forward direction are successively activated for capacitance measurement. The capacitance measurements are combined to form a signal whose strength depends on the degree of alignment between the driver's head (24) (i.e., the head pose) and the respective axes of rotation (30-36), and the driver's head pose is calculated to assess driver distraction.
Abstract:
A system and method of assessing the driving task demand on the driver of a vehicle (10), and further controlling one or more devices (36) on the vehicle (10) as a function of the assessed driver demand is provided. The method includes sensing a coverage zone (14) in relation to a vehicle (10), determining a presence of one or more objects in the sensed zone (14), measuring speed (R & ) of each detected object in the sensed zone (14), determining a variation in speed of one or more sensed objects, and determining a driving task demand signal (Demand j ) indicative of driving task demand of the vehicle (10) as a function of the measured speed variability. The method controls one or more devices (36) on the vehicle (10) based on the driving task demand signal (Demand j ). Alternately, the driving task demand signal (Demand j ) is determined based on vehicle speed (V h ).
Abstract:
A drive system (10) for powering LED triads (66, 68, 70) includes a controller (12) for supplying power to one or more LED triad modules (14) with integral encoding of the desired hue and intensity information (22, 24). The LED triad modules (14) each include an LED triad (66, 68, 70) and decoding circuitry (72-82) for activating the individual LED elements of the triad (66, 68, 70) according to the encoded hue and intensity information. In the illustrated configuration, the controller (12) supplies power to the LED triad modules (14) over a pair of conductors (16a, 16b), and the supplied power is modulated using a four-phase encoding sequence that is decoded by the decoding circuitry (72-82) of each LED triad module (14) so that each LED triad module (14) produces light of the desired hue and intensity.
Abstract:
An object awareness determination system and method of determining awareness of a driver (34) of a vehicle (10) to an object (16) is provided. The system includes an object monitor (18) including an object detection sensor (12A) for sensing an object (16) in a field of view and determining a position of the object (16). The system also includes an eye gaze monitor (38) including an imaging camera (30) oriented to capture images of the vehicle driver (34) including an eye (36) of the driver (34). The gaze monitor (38) determines an eye gaze vector (g). The system further has a controller (60) for determining driver awareness of the object (16) based on the detected object position and the eye gaze vector (g).
Abstract:
A system (15) and method are provided for actively illuminating and capturing images of an object (26), such as a driver of a vehicle (10) to reduce glare. The system (15) includes a video imaging camera (32) orientated to generate images of the subject object (20) (e.g., eye(s) (28)) in successive video frames. The system (15) also includes first and second light sources (20, 30) operable to illuminate the object (26) one at a time. The system (15) further includes a processor (40) for processing the image by performing pixel-wise min operation to combine multiple frames into a single frame to reduce glare in the image. The system (15) may remove glare caused by the illuminators (20, 30) and caused by external energy sources.
Abstract:
In a preferred embodiment, an apparatus for eye tracking, including: an illuminator; reflection apparatus to reflect illumination from the illuminator onto a surface of a windshield of a vehicle in which the windshield is installed, such that the illumination is reflected onto at least an eye of a person in the vehicle, and to reflect an image of the at least an eye; and a sensor to receive a reflection of the image of the at least an eye reflected by the reflection apparatus and to produce an output signal representative thereof.
Abstract:
In a preferred embodiment, an apparatus for eye tracking, including: an illuminator; reflection apparatus to reflect illumination from the illuminator onto a surface of a windshield of a vehicle in which the windshield is installed, such that the illumination is reflected onto at least an eye of a person in the vehicle, and to reflect an image of the at least an eye; and a sensor to receive a reflection of the image of the at least an eye reflected by the reflection apparatus and to produce an output signal representative thereof.