JP2006015872A - Driving position and visibility adjustment system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a driving position and visibility adjustment system which shorten the time from boarding to departure. <P>SOLUTION: The visibility adjustment system has a body height measurement means 31 measuring the body height of a driver getting on a vehicle, a face photography means 12 photographing the face of the driver after boarding the vehicle, steering position change means 26, 27 changing the steering device position, seat position change means 23, 24, 25 changing the seat position, and control means 36 to 40 which control the steering position change means and the seat position change means based on the body height of the driver measured by the body height measurement means and the height of eyes of the driver's face photographed by the face photography means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a driving position and a visual field adjustment system, and more particularly to a driving position and a visual field adjustment system that automatically adjusts a set position according to a physique of a driver.

  The driving position and visibility adjustment system is a system that automatically adjusts the seat position, the steering position, and the pedal position according to the physique of the driver. When the driver sits on the seat, the position of the driver's eyes is measured by a camera installed in the passenger compartment, and based on this, the motors are driven and controlled to the optimum seat position, steering position, and pedal position for the driver's vehicle. To move.

  As related arts, Patent Documents 1 to 3 are listed. Patent Document 1 discloses a vehicle steering and seat position adjusting device. The vehicle steering and seat position adjusting device includes a steering and front seat that can change position and angle, a drive means that changes the position and angle of the steering and front seat, and the steering and front seat that are changed by the drive means. Steering and seat position / angle detection means for detecting position / angle, occupant body shape detection means for detecting the occupant body shape of the driver and the driver's rear seat, and control means for controlling the position / angle of the steering wheel and the front seat I have. And the switch which shows the operation | work content of the driver | operator at the time of vehicle stop, ie, idle, or key-off is provided. The control means is linked to the switch, and sets the steering and the front seat at predetermined positions and angles in order to secure a space and a driver posture for achieving the work content selected by the switch.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a driver authentication method. In the driver authentication method, when the driver uses the operation device of the vehicle, the driver irradiates a predetermined part of the body with infrared rays, and acquires the driver's blood vessel arrangement pattern as identification information based on the reflected light. And a step of performing authentication based on the identification information.

  A driving position control device disclosed in Patent Document 3 includes a camera that is supported on an instrument panel of a passenger compartment and that captures a driver's face image, and a driving posture restraining means that is provided in the passenger compartment and restrains the driving posture of the driver. Image data storage means for selectively capturing a face image from the camera as an inspection image, 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 The vertical position calculation means for calculating the vertical position of the eye based on the coordinates of the eye image, and the deviation of the vertical position of the eye measured this time from the vertical reference eye position of the driver's eye of the set reference body shape is obtained. Driving posture control means for controlling the driving posture restraining means at a driving posture restraining position corresponding to the body shape of the driver corresponding to the deviation.

  In the driving position control apparatus as described above, the image data storage means selectively captures the face image from the camera as the inspection image, and the image processing means extracts the driver's eye image based on the inspection image from the image data storage means. Then, the vertical position calculation means calculates the vertical position of the eye based on the coordinates of the eye image, and the eye of the current measurement relative to the vertical reference eye position of the reference body driver set with the driving posture control means is obtained. It is possible to obtain a deviation from the vertical position of the vehicle and to control the driving posture restraining means corresponding to the body shape of the driver corresponding to the deviation.

However, the conventional technique has a problem in that the time from the boarding to the departure becomes long because the eye point position is measured by the camera and the driving position and the field of view are automatically adjusted after boarding.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-255045 JP 2003-137073 A JP-A-7-69107

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the problem that the time from boarding to departure is long when the conventional driving position and field of view are automatically adjusted.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a driving position and a visual field adjustment system in which a time from getting on to a departure is shortened.

  In order to achieve the above object, the driving position and field of view adjustment system according to the present invention is configured as follows.

  The first driving position and visibility adjusting system (corresponding to claim 1) includes a height measuring means for measuring the height of a driver trying to get on the vehicle, and a face photographing means for taking a picture of the driver's face after getting on the vehicle. Steering position changing means for changing the steering device position, seat position changing means for changing the seat position, the height of the driver measured by the height measuring means, and the face of the driver photographed by the face photographing means It is characterized by having control means for controlling the steering position changing means and the seat position changing means based on the eye height.

  The second driving position and visibility adjustment system (corresponding to claim 2) includes height measuring means for measuring the height of the driver who is about to ride the vehicle, and face photographing means for photographing the face of the driver after getting on the vehicle. And face authentication means for identifying the driver from the face photographed by the face photographing means, steering position changing means for changing the steering device position, seat position changing means for changing the seat position, and height measurement means. It is characterized by having control means for controlling the steering position changing means and the seat position changing means based on the height of the driver and the driver name specified by the face authentication means.

  In the above configuration, the third driving position and view adjustment system (corresponding to claim 3) is preferably configured such that the height measuring means captures a driver who is about to ride the vehicle, and driving performed by the camera. It is characterized by comprising image processing means for obtaining a person's image and height specifying means for specifying the height from the image obtained by the image processing means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to return to the boarding / exiting position by automatically adjusting and storing the setting position according to the physique of each driver. In addition, the driver's name is identified from the driver's face, and the optimum steering position and seat position are automatically set according to the driver's name, so the driving position can be set in a short time after the driver gets on. .

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a view showing a driving position and field of view adjustment system according to the present invention. The driving position and visibility adjusting system 10 includes an outside camera 11, a vehicle interior camera 12, a driving position (DP) controller 13, and a face authentication system 14. Further, in the drawing, a steering device 17 whose position is variable in the directions of arrows 15 and 16 is drawn, and further, a seat cushion 21 is attached to a floor 19 via a seat adjuster 20 on a floor 19. A seat back 22 is attached to the seat cushion 21 via a reclining device (not shown). The seat cushion 21 is equipped with a slide control motor 23 for adjusting the front and rear slide amount, a height control motor 24 for adjusting the height amount, and a reclining adjustment motor 25. These motors are driven by the driving position controller 13. Be controlled. The driving position controller 13 controls the seat 18 to return to a predetermined reference position when receiving an OFF signal of a main switch (not shown) of the vehicle. In addition, a manual switch (not shown) is connected to the driving position controller 13 so that the seat can be slid in the front-rear direction and adjusted up and down in accordance with the switching operation of the switch. Further, the steering device 17 includes a tilt adjustment motor 26 and a telescopic adjustment motor 27, and these motors are driven and controlled by the driving position controller 13. The driving position controller 13 controls the steering device 17 to return to a predetermined reference position when receiving an OFF signal of a main switch (not shown) of the vehicle. In addition, a manual switch (not shown) is connected to the driving position controller 13 so that the position of the steering device can be adjusted according to the switching operation of the switch.

  The vehicle outside camera 11 is a camera for photographing a driver outside the vehicle trying to get on the vehicle and measuring the height of the driver.

  The in-vehicle camera 12 is a camera that captures a face image of a driver who is supported on an instrument panel in a passenger compartment and seated on a driver's seat 18.

  The DP controller 13 obtains the height of the driver who is going to get on from the image taken by the camera 11 outside the vehicle, and calculates the optimum steering position and seat position where the driver of that height can easily get on and off from the obtained height, The motors 23 to 27 are driven and controlled so as to be in these positions. In addition, the in-vehicle camera 12 determines the eyes of the driver who has boarded the vehicle via the face authentication system 14, obtains the optimal positions of the steering device 17 and the seat 18 from the positions of the eyes, and the motors 23- 27 is driven and controlled. Further, the driver's data is determined by the face authentication system 14, the optimum position of the driver is obtained, and the motors 23 to 27 are driven and controlled accordingly.

  The face authentication system 14 captures a face image from the indoor camera 12 as an inspection image, and authenticates whether or not it matches the driver's face stored in advance in the database. Then, the driver data and the face image are transmitted to the DP controller 13.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the driving position and view adjustment system 10 according to the present embodiment. The DP controller 13 of the driving position and visibility adjustment system 10 includes an image processing unit 30, an image-height conversion unit 31, a height-position conversion unit 32, an image-eye height conversion unit 33, and an eye height-position. A conversion unit 34, a driver-position conversion unit 35, a steering tilt controller 36, a telescopic controller 37, a seat slide controller 38, a seat height controller 39, and a reclining controller 40 are included. The face authentication system 14 includes an image processing unit 41, a face authentication unit 42, and a database 43. The camera 12 outside the vehicle, the image processing unit 30 and the image-height conversion unit 31 constitute height measuring means, the indoor camera constitutes face photographing means, the motors 26 and 27 constitute steering position changing means, and the motors 23 to 25 Thus, the sheet position changing means is configured.

  The image processing unit 30 is an apparatus for obtaining an image of a driver who is about to get on a vehicle outside the vehicle photographed by the camera 11 outside the vehicle.

  The image-height conversion unit 31 is a device for obtaining the height from the driver's image obtained by the image processing unit 30.

  The height-position conversion unit 32 is a device for obtaining an optimum position of the steering device 17 and the seat 18 corresponding to the height from a map given in advance. The obtained position is sent to the steering tilt controller 36, the telescopic controller 37, the seat slide controller 38, the seat height controller 39, and the reclining controller 40.

  The image-eye height conversion unit 33 is a device that calculates and outputs the eye height from the image sent from the face authentication system 14.

  The eye height-position conversion unit 34 obtains the optimum position of the steering device 17 and the optimum position of the seat 18 from the map according to the eye height, and obtains the obtained positions by the steering tilt controller 36, the telescopic controller 37, The sheet slide controller 38, the seat height controller 39, and the reclining controller 40 are sent. Further, the optimum position is registered in the driver-position conversion unit 35 together with the driver name.

  The driver-position conversion unit 35 searches for the optimum position of the steering device 17 and the position of the seat 18 from the driver name sent from the face authentication system 14, and finds the positions of the steering tilt controller 36, the telescopic controller 37, and so on. The sheet slide controller 38, the seat height controller 39, and the reclining controller 40 are sent.

  The steering tilt controller 36 controls the motor 26 that changes the steering tilt based on a signal related to the position sent from the height-position conversion unit 32, the eye height-position conversion unit 34, or the driver-position conversion unit 35. It is a device to do.

  The steering telescopic controller 37 controls the motor 27 that changes the steering telescopic on the basis of a signal relating to the position sent from the height-position converting unit 32, the eye height-position converting unit 34, or the driver-position converting unit 35. It is a device to do.

  The seat slide controller 38 controls the motor 23 that changes the seat slide based on a signal relating to a position sent from the height-position conversion unit 32, the eye height-position conversion unit 34, or the driver-position conversion unit 35. It is a device to do.

  The seat height controller 39 controls the motor 24 that changes the seat height based on a signal related to the position sent from the height-position conversion unit 32, the eye height-position conversion unit 34, or the driver-position conversion unit 35. It is a device to do.

  The reclining controller 40 controls the motor 25 that changes the seat reclining based on a signal relating to the position sent from the height-position converting unit 32, the eye height-position converting unit 34, or the driver-position converting unit 35. Device.

  The image processing unit 41 obtains the driver's face image taken by the in-vehicle camera 12 and sends it to the face authentication unit 42.

  The face authentication unit 42 searches the face image of the driver name in the database 43 for the face image. If the face image already exists in the database 43, the face authentication unit 42 sends the driver name to the DP controller 13. Sends the face image and the driver name to the DP controller 13.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the steering tilt controller 36, the telescopic controller 37, the seat slide controller 38, the seat height controller 39, and the reclining controller 40. Since each of the controllers is a device that drives a motor, the controller has substantially the same structure and includes a motor control unit 50 and a motor position detection unit 51. The motor control unit 50 includes a signal related to a position sent from the height-position conversion unit 32, eye height-position conversion unit 34, or driver-position conversion unit 35, and position detection signals of the drive motors 23 to 27. The motor is driven until the motor position matches the input signal based on the signal related to the motor position from the motor position detector 51. When the motor position matches, the motor drive is stopped. The motor position detector 51 detects the motor position based on signals output from the driving motor sensors 52 to 56 and inputs the detected motor position to the motor controller 50.

  Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The power is turned on (step S11). The vehicle exterior camera 11 photographs the driver. Then, an image is obtained by the image processing device 30, and the height is measured from the image by the image-height conversion unit 31 (step S12). Next, the height-position conversion unit 32 obtains the optimum position from the height and outputs the getting-on / off position (step S13). Then, the motors 23 to 27 are driven to move the positions of the steering device 17 and the seat 18. Next, it is determined whether or not the ignition switch 28 is turned on (step S14). If not, step S14 is executed again. When turned on, the driver's face is photographed by the indoor camera 12, and face authentication is executed by the face authentication system 14 (step S15). The face authentication unit 42 checks with the database 43 to determine whether it has been registered (step S16). If not registered, the image and the driver name are sent to the DP controller 13, and the eye height is obtained from the image by the image-eye height conversion unit 33 (step S17). The eye height-position conversion unit 34 searches the steering position and the seat position optimum for the eye height (step S18), and outputs the respective positions to the controllers 36-40. Then, the controllers 36 to 40 drive the motors 23 to 27 to obtain optimum positions (step S19). When registered in step S16, the driver name is sent to the DP controller 13, the optimum position is searched by the driver-position converting unit 35 (step S20), and the optimum position is output to the controllers 36 to 40. 23 to 27 are driven to an optimum position (step s19). It is determined whether or not the ignition switch 28 is off (step S21). If the ignition switch 28 is not off, step S21 is executed. If it is off, each position is detected (step S22), and the driver's data is saved (step S23).

  As described above, by automatically adjusting and memorizing the setting position according to the physique of each driver, it is possible to return to the boarding / exiting position, and it is easy to use and get on as soon as anyone comes.

  The present invention is used for a driving position and a visual field adjustment system that automatically adjusts a driving position and a visual field.

It is a figure which shows the driving position and visual field adjustment system which concern on this invention. It is a block diagram of the driving position and view adjustment system concerning this embodiment. It is a block diagram of a steering tilt controller, a telescopic controller, a seat slide controller, a seat height controller, and a reclining controller. It is a flowchart of operation | movement of this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Driving position and view adjustment system 11 Outside camera 12 Indoor camera 13 Driving position (DP) controller 14 Face authentication system 17 Steering device 18 Seat 19 Floor 21 Seat cushion 22 Seat back 30 Image processing part 31 Image-height conversion part 32 Height- Position conversion unit 33 Image-eye height conversion unit 34 Eye height-position conversion unit 35 Driver-position conversion unit 41 Image processing unit 42 Face authentication unit 43 Database

Claims (3)

Height measuring means for measuring the height of a driver trying to get on the vehicle;
Face photographing means for photographing the face of the driver after getting on the vehicle;
Steering position changing means for changing the steering device position;
Sheet position changing means for changing the sheet position;
The steering position changing means and the seat position changing means are controlled based on the height of the driver measured by the height measuring means and the height of eyes of the driver's face taken by the face photographing means. A driving position and field-of-view adjustment system comprising a control means. Height measuring means for measuring the height of a driver trying to get on the vehicle;
Face photographing means for photographing the face of the driver after getting on the vehicle;
Face authentication means for identifying the driver from the face photographed by the face photographing means;
Steering position changing means for changing the steering device position;
Sheet position changing means for changing the sheet position;
Control means for controlling the steering position changing means and the seat position changing means based on the height of the driver measured by the height measuring means and the driver name specified by the face authentication means. Driving position and visibility adjustment system.   The height measuring means specifies a height from a camera that captures a driver who is about to ride the vehicle, an image processing means that obtains an image of the driver photographed by the camera, and an image obtained by the image processing means. 3. The driving position and field-of-view adjustment system according to claim 1 or 2, comprising height specifying means.

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