JP2836454B2 - Driving position control device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a driving position control device for restraining a driver's posture, such as a seat or a steering wheel, mounted on a vehicle, and in particular, to automatically adjust a driving posture restraining means by measuring a driver's body shape. And a driving position control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a vehicle is running, a driver sitting in a driver's seat always looks forward through a front window to check safety on a road surface within a field of view in front of the vehicle, and operates a steering wheel. The vehicle continues to travel in the desired direction. In this case, the driver sits on the seat and checks the front view from the front window while operating the steering wheel. For this reason, it is necessary for the driver to hold the eye point at a position most suitable for confirming the front view and to sit down at a position with good driving operability. That is,
It is desired to sit in an optimal driving position in which it is easy to secure a forward view and the driving operability is good. However, in practice, the optimal driving position differs depending on the driver's body shape, the seat on which the driver sits, the position of the steering wheel operated by the driver, and the like. In order to hold the driving position so as to be able to hold, adjustment of driving posture restraining means such as a seat and a steering handle is repeatedly performed, and much time is required for the adjustment.

For this reason, it is troublesome to readjust the driving position every time the driver changes, so that the driver often travels without performing the driving position operation or enters the vehicle only after roughly performing the operation. Therefore, a device that can automate the adjustment of such driving posture restraining means has been proposed. For example, a specific driver is registered, and the optimal seat position, mirror position and steering tilt position corresponding to the body shape are stored and processed in the control unit in advance, and when the specific driver gets on the vehicle, the registered driver signal is registered. A device is known which automatically switches and holds each driving posture restraining means to each restraining position when the operator inputs a command. Furthermore,
There is also known an apparatus in which a control unit stores and processes a standard position of each driving posture restricting means, and the control unit automatically controls the driving posture restricting means to a standard position according to a standard position command.

[0004]

However, in the case of a device that can automate the adjustment of the driving posture restraining means, it does not play any role of automatic adjustment for non-registered drivers other than the specific registered driver. In the case of a device that automatically controls the restraint means to a standard position, the device is completely useless for a driver whose body shape is out of the standard body shape, which poses a problem. An object of the present invention is to provide a driving position control device capable of switching and holding all drivers sitting in a driver's seat to an optimum driving position.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a camera supported on an instrument panel in a vehicle compartment and for photographing a frontal face image of the driver, and a camera mounted in the vehicle compartment and provided with the driver. Driving posture restricting means for restricting the driving posture of the driver, image data storage means for selectively capturing the frontal face image from the camera as an inspection image, and extracting a driver's eye image based on the inspection image from the image data storage means. Image processing means for calculating the coordinates of the eye image; vertical position calculating means for calculating the vertical position of the eye based on the coordinates of the eye image; and a vertical reference eye position of the driver's eye of the set reference body shape The vertical deviation of the vertical position of the eye measured this time is calculated with respect to the
The vertical movement amount is set, and then the same vertical movement amount
The forward / backward movement amount corresponding to
Driving posture control means for controlling the driving posture restraining means so as to maintain the moving amount and the longitudinal movement amount .

[0006]

The image data storage means selectively captures the frontal face image from the camera as an inspection image, and the image processing means extracts the driver's eye image based on the inspection image from the image data storage means, and obtains the coordinates thereof. , vertical position calculating means calculates the vertical position of the eye based on the coordinate of the eye image, the upper and lower upper and lower positions of the eyes of this measurement with respect to the vertical direction reference eye position of the driver of the reference body shape driving position control means is set Direction deviation, and according to the vertical deviation ,
The vertical movement amount is set, and then the same vertical movement amount
The forward / backward movement amount corresponding to
The driving posture restraining means can be controlled so as to maintain the amount of movement and the amount of movement in the front-rear direction .

[0007]

FIG. 1 shows a driving position control device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The driving position control device is supported on an instrument panel 2 of a vehicle cabin 1 shown in FIGS.
Camera 3 that captures the face image of the driver sitting on the
An image processing device 5 that captures a face image from the user as an inspection image, obtains and stores coordinate information of left and right eye images of the driver,
It is connected to the image processing apparatus and calculates the vertical position of the eye based on the coordinates of the left and right eye images (see FIG. 7). A driving position control unit (hereinafter simply referred to as a position controller) 6 for controlling the seat 7 and the steering device 20 as driving posture restricting means to a driving posture restricting position corresponding to the driver's body shape corresponding to a deviation from the vertical position of the driver. Is provided. Here, the seat 7 of the vehicle has a seat cushion 10 attached to a floor 9 via a seat adjuster 8, and a seat back 11 attached to the seat cushion 10 via a reclining device (not shown). Seat cushion 10
Is a slide control actuator (hereinafter simply referred to as a slide actuator) 12 for adjusting the front-back slide amount and a height control actuator (hereinafter simply referred to as the height actuator) 1 for adjusting the height amount.
3, and both of these actuators are driven and controlled by the power seat controller 14. The power seat controller 14 controls to return the seat 7 to a predetermined reference position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4) when an off signal of a main switch (not shown) of the vehicle is received from the main control unit 15. In addition, a manual switch (not shown) is connected to the power seat controller 14, and the seat can be slid in the front-rear direction in accordance with the switching operation of the switch, so that the seat can be moved up and down.

Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the reference position of the seat is assumed assuming that a normal adult person having a relatively large body shape sits on the seat 7, and for that person, the eye point IP is forward. It is set as a seat position where it can be considered that the field of view can be secured most reliably. That is, a normal adult person having a relatively large body shape can use the seat 7 at this reference position.
This is a position where the slide control and the height control are not required when the user sits on the seat, and the hip point at that time is shown in FIG. 4 as HP.

Here, the slide actuator 12 can be adjusted as shown by reference sign AS in FIG. 4 when the seat 7 is represented by the movement locus of the hip point HP, and the height actuator 13 is represented by the movement locus of the hip point HP. 4 can be adjusted. In particular, the power seat controller 14 receives a height signal s from the position controller 6, which is a driving posture restrained position signal described later.
The drive of the slide actuator 12 and the height actuator 13 is controlled in accordance with 1 and the slide signal s2, and the seat 7 can be adjusted as indicated by reference numeral B in FIG. On the other hand, the steering device 20 is mounted inside the instrument panel 2 at the front of the passenger compartment and on a cross member (not shown) on the base side for tilt control and telescopic control. The tilt control device here can swing the central axis of the steering handle 19 up and down to maintain a predetermined tilt angle θc, and the tilt operation is controlled by the tilt actuator 17 controlled by the steering controller 16.
Is adopted. The telescopic control device adopts a well-known configuration in which the steering handle 19 can be slid in the front-rear direction of the vehicle body to maintain a predetermined telescopic amount, and the telescopic operation is performed by a telescopic actuator 18 controlled by the steering controller 16.

The steering controller 16 controls the steering handle 19 to return to a predetermined reference position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4) when receiving an OFF signal of a main switch (not shown). The tilt angle and the telescopic amount of the steering handle 19 are automatically adjusted according to the ON operation. Here, the reference position of the steering handle 19 (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4) is based on the assumption that a normal adult person having a relatively large body shape is seated on the seat 7 at the reference position. The point IP is set as a steering handle position at which the front view can be secured most reliably and the steering handle 19 can be gripped with good operability. That is, when a normal adult having a relatively large body shape is seated on the seat 7 at the reference position and grips the steering handle 19 at the reference position, the tilt control and the telescopic control of the handle are unnecessary. . Here, the tilt actuator 17 can be adjusted as shown by a reference sign AC in FIG. 4 when the steering handle 19 is represented by a movement locus during driving, and the telescopic actuator 18 is represented by a reference sign AT in FIG. In particular, the steering controller 16 can be adjusted by the position controller 6.
The tilt actuator 17 and the telescopic actuator 18 are driven and controlled in accordance with a tilt signal s3 and a telescopic signal s4, which are driving posture restraint position signals to be described later, and the steering handle 19 is moved to a position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. Adjustable.

A camera 3 mounted with an opening in the upper skin of the instrument panel 2 is equipped to capture a frontal face image of a driver sitting on a seat 7 at a reference position, for example, on a screen A shown in FIG. You. The face image from the camera 3 is input to the image processing device 5. The image processing device 5 has a well-known image processing function. In particular, the image data storage means A1 and the image data storage means A1, which sequentially take in and store a face image from a camera selectively as a still inspection image p1.
Comprising extracting the right and left eye image of the driver based on the test image from 1, the coordinates of the right and left eye image (X _L, Y _i), a function as an image processing unit A2 for obtaining the (X _R, Y _i) . That is,
The image data storage means A1 selectively captures the face image data from the camera 3 at predetermined time intervals as a stationary inspection image p1, and sequentially stores the image data of this inspection image p1 in the latest inspection image data in a predetermined image storage device. File in containment area.

The image processing means A2 takes in the latest inspection image data (see FIG. 7) from the storage area of the latest inspection image data at an appropriate time. Then, based on the characteristics as shown in FIG. 3, a region E1 other than the face having a density lower than the predetermined density value β1, a boundary line between a face having the predetermined density value β1 or more and a boundary line other than the face, and a boundary region E3 which becomes a shadow in the face Is divided. In this case, the face area E2 and the boundary area E3 other than the face and the face occupied in the inspection image p1 are determined beforehand as a ratio of about 30% of the whole, and a value significantly different from this ratio is calculated. Then, the area indicated by the value is assumed to be an area other than the face, and is processed as "noise". Then, the predetermined density value β1
In the above area, the maximum area is determined as a face part (FIG. 8A shows an example of an image that can be regarded as an image signal obtained by the processing at that time). A portion including a low eye is extracted, and a background region other than the image region is removed (FIG. 8B shows an example of an image that can be regarded as an image signal obtained by the processing at that time). Thereafter, the maximum width Lf (see FIG. 5) of the determined face portion is obtained, and an area above the center line Y ₀ (face center line) in the vertical direction of the image including the eyes is left (FIG. 8C). Shows an example of an image that can be considered to be represented by the image signal obtained by the processing at that time). Further, each small area smaller than an area smaller than the area occupied by the normal eye by a predetermined amount and smaller than 1/10 of the maximum width Lf is shown. deleted, further, remove each small area of the position where the shift amount is shifted larger than the deviation amount in the normal eye position from the center line X ₀ in the horizontal direction of the face, take out the candidate of the right and left eyes. After this,
Two sets of combinations having a small Y coordinate position and a relative width difference are extracted, and each area located under each of the two sets of areas is defined as a left and right eye area (FIG. 8D). determined as showing an example of an image to considered) when represented by the image signal obtained by the coordinates of the right and left eye image _{(X L, Y i),} (X R,
Y _i ) (see FIG. 7) is output to the position controller 6.

[0013] Position controller 6 is a main part is composed of a microcomputer, the coordinates of the right and left eye image as a vertical position calculating means _{A3 (X L, Y i)} , (X R, Y i) containing information and eye image to calculating the longitudinal vertical position of the eye based on the center line Y ₀ in hn of (= h ₀ + hi). Further, as the driving posture control means A4, the driver of the set reference body shape, here, the reference eye position in the vertical direction of the driver of the set reference body shape (the position shown by the solid line in FIG. 4) Pib (in the inspection image p1) Yb) the vertical position of the eye of the present measurement with respect to Yb) (the position indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 4) Pin (Yi on the inspection image)
n) deviation dH = Yb-Yin (dh =
1-hn). The height signal s1 and the slide signal s are used to control the driving posture restraining means (the seat 7 and the steering device 20) to a driving posture restraining position corresponding to the driver's body shape corresponding to the deviation dH (dh on the inspection image).
2. The tilt signal s3 and the telescopic signal s4 are output.

Here, the driving attitude control means A4 determines the deviation dh.
In calculating the height adjustment amount and the slide adjustment amount corresponding to, the seat adjustment amount map M1 as shown in FIG.
Is used. This seat adjustment amount map M1 is based on the assumption that a normal adult person having a relatively large body shape is seated on the seat 7 at the reference position.
A position (dh = 0 on the inspection image) at which P can be considered to be able to secure the forward field of view most reliably is set as a reference position,
The reference position is set to 1.0, and a value corresponding to the deviation dh = 1-hn of the lower position of the eye of a person having a smaller body shape is plotted on the horizontal axis as a height control adjustment amount,
The slide adjustment amount corresponding to the driver's body shape corresponding to the dh is plotted on the vertical axis. Thus, the driving posture control means A
Reference numeral 4 indicates a height control adjustment amount and a slide adjustment amount corresponding to the vertical deviation dh = 1-hn of the driver's eyes sitting on the seat at the reference position, calculated along the seat adjustment amount map M1, and corresponds to the same value. The height signal s1 and the slide signal s2 are output.

Similarly, the driving attitude control means A4 detects the deviation dh.
In calculating the tilt adjustment amount and the telescopic adjustment amount corresponding to, a steering adjustment amount map M2 as shown in FIG. 6 is used. The steering adjustment amount map M2 is based on the assumption that a normal adult person having a relatively large body shape is seated on the seat 7 at the reference position, and the position at which the steering wheel 19 is most easily gripped by the person, that is, the tilt adjustment amount The position where the telescopic adjustment amount is 0 is set as a reference position, and the reference position is set as 1. And the deviation dh of the lower position of the eye of a person having a smaller body shape
= 1−hn is plotted on the horizontal axis, and the deviation d
The tilt adjustment amount and the telescopic adjustment amount suitable for the driver's body shape corresponding to h are plotted on the vertical axis. As described above, the driving posture control means A4 calculates the tilt adjustment amount and the telescopic adjustment amount corresponding to the vertical deviation dh = 1-hn of the eyes of the driver sitting on the seat at the reference position by the steering adjustment amount map M.
2, and outputs a tilt signal s3 and a telescopic signal s4 corresponding to the same value. The image processing device 5, the position controller 6, the power seat controller 14, and the steering controller 16 are all connected to a main control unit 15 of the vehicle so that signals can be transmitted and received.

Next, the driving position control processing written in the ROM (not shown) of the position controller 6 will be described with reference to the control flow of FIG. here,
The driving position control process shown in FIG. 9 is performed by the position controller 6 and the image processing device 5, the power seat controller 14, and the steering controller 16 which are linked thereto at every predetermined control cycle. Here, in steps s1 and s2, it is determined whether or not the key is turned on. When the key is turned on, it is determined whether or not a posture determination flag described later is turned on.
Proceed to.

In step s3, input of seat occupancy information is waited for, and furthermore, a predetermined time after input is waited. As the predetermined time, the time required for the driver after sitting on the seat to stabilize the body so that the driver can see the front is usually set appropriately.

When a predetermined time has elapsed after the seating, in step s4, the seat 7 is held at the reference position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4), and the steering handle 19 is moved to the reference position (the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 4). It is determined based on the signal of each position sensor (not shown) whether or not it is held. If the position is not at each reference position, the process proceeds to step s6. If Yes, the process proceeds to step s5.

At step s6, the sheet 7 is set at each reference position.
And to switch and hold the steering handle 19,
Each of the actuators 12, 13, 1 via the power seat controller 14 and the steering controller 16
7 and 18 are drive-controlled, and the control in this cycle ends.
In step s5, the eyes are extracted, that is, the image processing device 5 sequentially captures the face images of the driver sitting on the seat 7 as inspection images, and specifies the left and right eye images. Moreover, In step s7 identified the left and right of the latest right and left from the eye image eye image coordinates _{(X L, Y i),} (X R, Y i) determined the vertical direction reference eye position Yb and the current from these data The deviation dh = 1−hn from the vertical position Yin of the eye is calculated. When the process reaches step s8, here, the height control adjustment amount and the slide adjustment amount according to the deviation dh are calculated along the sheet adjustment amount map M1. Steps
9, the steering adjustment amount map M2
, The tilt adjustment amount and the telescopic adjustment amount corresponding to the deviation dh are calculated.

Thereafter, in steps s10 and s11, first, a height signal s1 and a slide signal s2 corresponding to the height control adjustment amount and the slide adjustment amount are output to the power seat controller 14, and the seat height and the slide amount are determined. Correct to the target value. Then, it waits for the seat height and the slide amount to reach the target values, and then proceeds to step s11.
Proceed to. In steps s12 and s13, first, a tilt signal s3 and a telescopic signal s4 corresponding to the tilt adjustment amount and the telescopic adjustment amount are output to the steering controller 16, and the tilt amount and the telescopic amount are corrected to target values. Then, it waits until the tilt amount and the telescopic amount reach the target values, and when they reach the target values, the process proceeds to step s14.

In step s14, the vehicle speed is set to a predetermined value Vs
It is determined whether or not the value has exceeded the value, that is, when the vehicle starts traveling, the process proceeds to step s15, where the attitude determination flag is turned on, and the control in this one control cycle is terminated. The control in the cycle is ended. In the processes of steps s14 and s15, the rate of movement of the body is large before the driver starts running, so that the correction of the seat and the steering device to the target value is repeated until the vehicle speed exceeds the predetermined value Vs, and Once the vehicle starts running, it is possible to cancel subsequent updates and stabilize the posture. As a result, the seat 7 is automatically adjusted to a position where the driver can consider the eye point IP to be able to secure the forward view most reliably.
At the same time, the steering handle 19 is switched and held at a position where the steering handle 19 is most easily grasped by the person.

[0022]

As described above, according to the present invention, the driver's front face image is used as the inspection image, the left and right eye images of the driver are extracted based on the inspection image, the coordinates are obtained, and the coordinates are obtained. The vertical position of the eyes is calculated based on the vertical position of the driver of the reference body shape, and the vertical deviation of the vertical position of the eyes measured this time with respect to the vertical reference eye position of the driver is calculated. The amount of movement in the direction is set, and then the amount of movement in the front-back direction corresponding to the amount of movement in the up-down direction is set. Control, the optimal driving position can always be set automatically, even if a driver of various body types is on board.Especially, a driver with a large body shape can be set with the seat position relatively ahead. Boarding Even if it is possible to properly adjust the position of the driving position restraining unit. Further, even if the driver does not particularly operate the switch or intentionally move the position of the head (eye), the optimum driving position is automatically set.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic overall configuration diagram of a driving position control device as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of a cabin of a vehicle equipped with the driving position control device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating distribution characteristics of a face image based on density values performed by the image processing apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a position explanatory view of a seat and a steering device used for driving position control performed by the driving position control device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a characteristic diagram of a seat adjustment amount map used by the driving position control device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram of a steering adjustment amount map used by the driving position control device in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining eye coordinates and eye distance in an inspection image performed by the driving position control device of FIG. 1;

8A and 8B are image diagrams that can be considered to be obtained by processing in the process of processing an inspection image performed by the driving position control device of FIG. 1, wherein FIG. 8A is a diagram when a driver's face image is determined, and FIG. () Is a diagram at the time of background exclusion, (c) is a diagram at the time of small region exclusion, and (d) is a diagram at the time of eye image extraction.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a driving position control process performed by the driving position control device of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 vehicle compartment 2 instrument panel 3 camera 5 image processing device 6 position controller 7 seat 9 floor 12 slide actuator 13 height actuator 14 power seat controller 15 main controller 16 steering controller 17 tilt controller 18 telescopic controller 19 steering handle 20 steering device A1 Image data storage means A2 Image processing means A3 Vertical position calculation means A4 Operating posture control means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B60N 2/06 B60N 2/16 B62D 1/18

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A camera supported on an instrument panel in a vehicle compartment for photographing a frontal face image of a driver, driving posture restraining means provided in the vehicle compartment for restraining a driver's driving posture,
Image data storage means for selectively capturing a frontal face image from the camera as an inspection image, and image processing means for extracting a driver's eye image based on the inspection image from the image data storage means and obtaining coordinates of the eye image And vertical position calculating means for calculating the vertical position of the eye based on the coordinates of the eye image,
The vertical deviation of the vertical position of the eye measured this time with respect to the vertical reference eye position of the driver's eye of the set reference body shape is obtained, and the above-mentioned driving posture restraining means is operated in accordance with the vertical deviation.
The amount of downward movement is set, and then
The corresponding forward / backward movement amount is set, and the vertical movement
A driving attitude control means for controlling the driving attitude restraining means so as to maintain the driving amount and the amount of movement in the front-rear direction .