Driver alerting system

Details Driver alerting system Driver alerting system

2000-01-07

2001-07-17

Trieu, Van T. (Department: 2736)

Communications: electrical

Land vehicle alarms or indicators

Internal alarm or indicator responsive to a condition of the...

C340S438000, C340S576000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06262657

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a driver alerting system, and more particularly to a driver alerting system used to alert an operator of a vehicle such as a driver of the condition of loss of attention due to the use of a portable communication terminal such as a cellular telephone.
In recent years, cellular telephones have come into widespread use, with many people using such devices in trains, inside various buildings, and in vehicles.
In the Japanese patent laid-open patent application publication H10-42371, there is a disclosure of an apparatus for limiting the use of a cellular telephone as a means of solving problems arising from such use.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to an investigation made by the inventors, although cellular telephones provide the convenience of being usable anywhere, because of the sound of a person using a cellular telephone disturbs people near the user, and use while driving a vehicle can result in distraction of the operator of the vehicle.
In a study of the driving conditions while the driver is using a cellular telephone and the driving conditions when not using a cellular telephone, the following information was discovered.
The amount of time a driver eyes are removed from the road was 1.9 seconds when using a cellular telephone and 1.05 seconds when listening to a radio or the like while not using a cellular telephone.
The number of times the driver's eyes moved was 38.2 times when using a cellular telephone and 39.4 times when listening or looking at a radio or the like while not using a cellular telephone.
The number of times brake operation required more than 1 second was 50.0% when using a cellular telephone and 34.0% when listening or looking at a radio or the like while not using a cellular telephone.
The degree of steering wheel adjustment (amount of steering wheel change times the traveled distance) was 1107.43 while using a cellular telephone and 913.54 when listening or looking at a radio or the like.
In view of the above findings, an apparatus for limiting the use of a cellular telephone such as shown in
FIG. 20
was studied.
More specifically, when a receiving/sending unit
102
provided within a given facility, such as a hospital, or within a vehicle detects a radio signal indicating the content of a telephone call from a cellular telephone
103
or a radio signal sent from the cellular telephone
103
to a base station to indicate its existence, a microcomputer
104
makes a judgment that the cellular telephone
103
is in a condition in which it can transmit or a condition in which it can receive.
Based on the results of the above-noted judgment, a jamming signal is sent from the receiving/sending unit
102
so as to disable the cellular telephone
103
and a message such as “You are inside a hospital. Do not use your cellular telephone.” or “You are in a vehicle. Do not use your cellular telephone.” is heard from a speaker
105
, thereby limiting the use of the cellular telephone
103
, this being used to restrict the use of cellular telephones within a vehicle, within an aircraft, or within a medical facility.
With the above-noted cellular telephone usage restriction apparatus
101
, however, when operating a motor vehicle, by merely switching the power of the cellular telephone on, the microcomputer
104
detects this condition and disable the cellular telephone
103
, so that it is not even possible to detect the reception of calls, thereby sacrificing the convenience of the cellular telephone
103
.
Accordingly, in view of the above-noted drawback of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to provide an alerting system that not only reduces the distraction caused by use of a cellular telephone, but also maintains the convenience of such portable communication terminals.
An alerting system according to the present invention has a telephone call detection section that detects when either the operator of a vehicle is using a cellular telephone or is expected to use the cellular telephone, a running condition detection section that detects the running condition of the vehicle, a running condition judgment section that, based on the detection results from the running condition detection section, makes a judgment as to whether or not the running condition of the vehicle is unstable, or is expected to become unstable, and an alerting section which when, based on the results of the telephone call detection section and the judgment results of the running condition judgment section, the operator is either using a cellular telephone or expected to use a cellular telephone, if the running condition of the vehicle is unstable or expected to become unstable, alerts the operator of the vehicle.
In the above-noted system, the running condition detection section mounted in the vehicle detects the running condition of the vehicle. The telephone call detection section detects when the operator of the vehicle is using a cellular telephone or is expected to use a cellular telephone. Based on the detection results from the running condition detection, the running condition judgment section and the alerting section judge whether or not the running condition of the vehicle is unstable and, if the running condition is unstable or is expected to become unstable, the operator of the vehicle is alerted. By doing this, even if the power to the cellular telephone is turned on while operating the vehicle, or if the cellular telephone is actually used, the convenience of the cellular telephone is maintained while preventing interference with the operation of the vehicle, thereby effectively reducing the adverse affects attributed to the use of a cellular telephone while operating a vehicle.
When the operator of a vehicle attempts to use a cellular telephone while driving the vehicle, or while the operator is using the cellular telephone, if the direction of travel or speed of the vehicle becomes unstable, or is expected with a high probability of becoming unstable, a message or the like is used to warn the vehicle operator to pay attention to operation of the vehicle.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4706072 (1987-11-01), Ikeyama
patent: 5432509 (1995-07-01), Kajiwara
patent: 6061628 (2000-05-01), Hayashi et al.
patent: 6087953 (2000-07-01), DeLine et al.
patent: 6125326 (2000-09-01), Ohmura et al.
patent: 10-42371 (1998-02-01), None
patent: 10-138791 (1998-05-01), None
patent: 10-173740 (1998-06-01), None
patent: 10-042371 (1998-08-01), None
patent: 10-234076 (1998-09-01), None
patent: 10-276126 (1998-10-01), None
patent: 10-294971 (1998-11-01), None
patent: 11-98559 (1999-04-01), None

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