JPH0326025Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a device for preventing drowsy driving of an automobile.

(Prior Art) In order to prevent drowsy driving of a car, a drowsy driving prevention device that detects a drowsy state and issues an alarm is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-38138,
Many proposals have been made, including Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-140132.

These systems detect when you are falling asleep while driving and issue an alert just before you become fully drowsy.
This is designed to prevent traffic accidents caused by falling asleep.

(Problem that the invention aims to solve) However, even if a warning is issued just before drowsy driving, the driver may ignore the warning and continue driving, and in this case, there is a risk of an accident due to drowsy driving. There is. When you receive a warning for drowsy driving, you can temporarily stop the vehicle, take a nap, etc., and then start driving again after completely waking up from the drowsiness. Even if the driver returns to his senses, he may soon become sleepy again, and if the driver continues to drive with repeated warnings issued for temporary drowsiness, the driver may gradually become accustomed to these warnings. Therefore, it can be said that simply issuing a warning is insufficient from a safety point of view. Despite this, the decision to continue driving is left up to the driver, and conventional devices cannot necessarily prevent drowsy driving.

The present invention aims to solve such problems.

(Means for Solving the Problems) Therefore, the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, means 4 for determining that the person is in a dozing state when the outputs of these detecting means do not change for a predetermined period of time or more; and means 5 for issuing an alarm when the dozing state is determined; and means 6 for operating the braking system of the vehicle when it is determined that the vehicle is falling asleep again before a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the vehicle fell asleep.

(Function) Therefore, when a pre-drowsy driving condition is detected, a warning is issued to the driver to draw attention to drowsy driving, and if such a condition is subsequently repeated, a warning is issued to the driver. Since the vehicle is then forced to stop, the driver cannot continue driving unless the driver completely wakes up from sleepiness.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

As shown in Fig. 2, a vehicle speed sensor 10 detects the vehicle speed, a steering angle sensor 11 detects the steering angle of the steering wheel, and a gear position of the transmission is detected as information for determining drowsy driving. A gear position sensor 12 and the like are provided for this purpose.

The signals from these sensors 10 to 12 are digitally processed and input to the arithmetic processing section 14 of the microcomputer 13 via an input interface (not shown). The microcomputer 13 includes a memory (ROM) 15 that stores calculation procedures, and a memory (RAM) 16 that temporarily stores the results of data calculations and whose memory can be rewritten, as will be described later based on the input data. The dozing state is determined as follows, and in this dozing state, the alarm means 18 is activated, and if the dozing state is determined again before a predetermined time has elapsed after the alarm activation,
The brake system 19 of the vehicle is gradually activated, and the engine is further stopped to force the vehicle to stop.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart showing the calculation operation in the microcomputer 13.

This control operation is repeated at predetermined short intervals. First, in step 20, it is determined whether the gear position N of the transmission is at medium speed _N1 or higher (for example, 3rd gear or higher in a 6-speed transmission). When the vehicle is in the middle gear, it is determined in step 21 whether the vehicle speed V is greater than or equal to a predetermined vehicle speed value _V0 (for example, greater than 4 km/h), and based on these, it is determined that the vehicle is in a running state.

Next, in step 22, it is determined from the steering oil pressure whether the steering state is present or not, and the steering oil pressure P is a predetermined value.
If it is less than _P1 , it is assumed that the steering wheel is not turned, and a timer TA is set in step 24, and if it is more than that, timer TA is reset in step 23. It is determined in step 26 how long the state in which the steering wheel is not turned is continued, and if the steering wheel is not turned for a predetermined time TC or longer, it is determined that the vehicle is in a kind of pre-drowsy stage state. At the same time, in step 25, the cumulative travel distance after setting the timer TA is calculated as the product of vehicle speed and time (VN・TN), and in step 27, the timer TA is set.
When the cumulative distance after setting TA is equal to or greater than the predetermined value LB, that is, when the steering wheel is not turned once over the predetermined travel distance, it is determined that the vehicle is in the pre-drowsy stage state in the same manner as described above. On the other hand, in step 28, if the steering oil pressure P is greater than _P1 , it is determined that the vehicle is in the steering state, and the timer TB is set in step 30, but in the following cases, the timer TB is reset in step 29. Then, in step 32, it is determined whether the steering state continues for a predetermined time TD or more. , it is determined that the state is still in the pre-sleep stage state. At the same time, the calculated distance after shifting to the steering state in step 31
LN is determined in the same manner as in step 25, and is compared with a predetermined value LA in step 33. If this is greater than the predetermined value, it is determined that the state is in the pre-drowsiness stage.

When the pre-drowsy state is determined in this manner, the number of alarms is counted by the counter NA in step 34, an alarm is issued to the alarm means in step 35, and a timer TE is set in step 36. This warning continues to operate unless the timer TE is reset by the driver.In step 37, the timer TE determines whether a predetermined time TF has elapsed, and the driver responds to the warning. When the person remains unresponsive for a predetermined period of time or longer, it is determined that the person is completely asleep.

On the other hand, in step 38 it is determined whether the timer TE has been reset, and if the driver has reset the timer based on the warning, in step 39 the timers TA and TB are reset to return to the initial state. At the same time, the timer is set at step 40.
Set TG. The setting of this timer TG is
This is to determine the interval until the next similar pre-drowsy state occurs and the alarm is issued again.
The number of alarms counted in step 34 is judged in step 41, and it is checked whether the number of alarms counted by counter NA is 1 or more. If one or more alarms have already been issued, step 41 is carried out. 43, the timer TG is set at a predetermined time interval TH.
Compare with. If a second alarm is issued within a predetermined time after the first alarm, it is determined that the subject is completely asleep. On the other hand, 2
If the second alarm is not issued within a predetermined time, it is determined that the driver has woken up from the first alarm, the timer TG is reset in step 44, and the counter NA is set to 0 in step 42.
Clear to.

If it is determined in step 37 or 43 that the person is completely asleep, step 46 is performed.
By activating the braking means of the vehicle at step 47 and then stopping the engine at step 47, the running of the vehicle is completely stopped regardless of the driver's will.

As for braking, apply the brakes gradually to avoid causing a rear-end collision with the vehicle behind you.

(Effects of the invention) As described above, the present invention first issues an alarm to urge the driver to wake up from drowsiness when the pre-drowsiness state is determined, and then, if this alarm is ignored, If the driver is in a driving state where the warning is issued again within a predetermined period of time, there is a risk that the driver will completely fall asleep while driving, so the vehicle's braking means will be activated and the engine will be stopped if necessary. When the driver is unable to wake up from drowsiness, it becomes impossible to drive the vehicle regardless of the driver's will, so accidents caused by drowsy driving can be reliably prevented.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a diagram corresponding to claims of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a circuit configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart for executing control operations. 10...Vehicle speed detection means, 11...Steering angle detection means, 12...Transmission gear position detection means, 13...
...Microcomputer, 18...Alarm means, 1
9...braking device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] means for detecting vehicle speed; means for detecting steering angle; and means for detecting gear position of the transmission;
means for determining that the person is dozing when the outputs of these detection means do not change for a predetermined period of time or more, means for issuing an alarm when determining the doze state, and at least a predetermined period of time after the alarm is generated. 1. A device for preventing drowsy driving of an automobile, comprising means for activating a braking device of the vehicle when the drowsy state is determined again before the drowsiness has elapsed.