Abstract: Accurate driver state determination achieving safety is enabled without being affected by differences between individual drivers. A driver state determination apparatus for determining a driver state, such as distracted driving, includes a calculator that determines a direction of a vehicle driver's face or gaze based on first sensing data output from a first sensor and including an image of the driver, and calculates statistical information about a direction in which the driver looking straight ahead retains his or her gaze with respect to a forward direction of a vehicle. A correction unit corrects the determined face or gaze direction of the driver with respect to a reference direction defined as the forward direction of the vehicle based on the statistical information. A determiner determines a driver state based on a deviation of the corrected face or gaze direction of the driver from the reference direction.

Abstract: A driver state determination apparatus includes: a vehicle behavior information acquisition unit that acquires behavior information of a vehicle; an image information acquisition unit that acquires image information including a face of a driver; a reference value setting unit that sets a reference value based on the behavior information of the vehicle acquired by the vehicle behavior information acquisition unit; and an index value calculation unit that calculates an index value relating to a driving state of the driver using duration of a state in which an amount of change in the image information acquired by the image information acquisition unit is equal to or less than the reference value. The apparatus further includes a determination unit that determines that the driver is in an unconscious state when the index value calculated by the index value calculation unit is equal to or greater than a threshold value.

Abstract: A face position detecting device includes: an image analyzer configured to analyze an image of a face imaged by an imaging unit and to extract a positional relationship between at least two characteristic points in the face; and a face position calculator configured to calculate a position of the face. The face position calculator calculates a position of the face in a space, upon operation of an operation screen, according to positional relationships among the face imaged, the imaging unit, and an operation unit, and except upon the operation, according to the positional relationship between the at least two characteristic points that the image analyzer extracts from the face imaged and positional relationships between a plurality of positions of the face and a plurality of the at least two characteristic points corresponding to the plurality of positions of the face obtained in respective operations, respectively.

Abstract: A driver performing a lane check by looking back for safe driving can be alerted based on the driver's gaze deviating from a view area for usual driving. A distracted driving determination apparatus, a distracted driving determination method, and a program for distracted driving determination recorded on a recording medium compare a change pattern detected from changes in the gaze or face orientation of the driver with a predetermined reference pattern, and change a usual determination condition for detecting distracted driving to a temporary determination condition when the change pattern matches the reference pattern. This prevents the line check from being determined to be distracted driving.

Abstract: An occupant monitoring apparatus includes: an imaging unit capturing an image of an occupant; an image processor performing predetermined processing on the image of the occupant captured by the imaging unit; and a sensitivity controller changing imaging sensitivity of the imaging unit. The occupant monitoring apparatus monitors the occupant according to the image of the occupant processed by the image processor. The imaging unit is disposed so as to face the occupant with a steering wheel located therebetween. In a case where the steering wheel is turned, the sensitivity controller maintains the current imaging sensitivity without changing the imaging sensitivity.

Abstract: An imaging device includes: an imaging unit that creates a first image of a subject captured with a light emitting element not emitting light and a second image of the subject captured with the light emitting element emitting light; an image processor that creates a difference image being difference between the first image and the second image, and detects the subject according to the difference image; a luminance detector that detects luminance of the first image and luminance of the difference image; a target luminance setting unit that sets target luminance of the difference image according to the luminance of the first image detected by the luminance detector; and a sensitivity adjusting unit that adjusts imaging sensitivity of the imaging unit such that the luminance of the difference image detected by the luminance detector approaches the target luminance set by the target luminance setting unit.

Abstract: An imaging apparatus accurately detects an obstacle interfering with image capturing as distinguishable from an obstacle not interfering with image capturing. An image captured by an imaging unit is divided into a plurality of sections, and the captured image is divided into a plurality of blocks each including a predetermined number of sections. For each of the blocks, an obstructed state of each section in each of the blocks is checked. When the obstructed state of each section in at least one block interferes with image capturing of the subject (when at least a part of the central area is obstructed), an obstacle between the imaging unit and the subject is detected.

Abstract: An occupant monitoring apparatus for measuring the spatial position of an occupant predetermined site with a camera includes a camera capturing an image of a vehicle occupant, an image processor processing the captured image, and a position calculator calculating the spatial position of the occupant predetermined site using the processed image. The camera is installed on a steering wheel of the vehicle away from a rotational shaft to be rotatable together with the steering wheel. The image processor rotates two images captured at two positions by the camera rotated together with the steering wheel to generate rotated images. The position calculator calculates the spatial position of the occupant predetermined site using a linear distance between the two positions, a parallax obtained from the rotated images, and a focal length of the camera.

Abstract: A face position detecting device includes: an image analyzer configured to analyze an image of a face imaged by an imaging unit and to extract a positional relationship between at least two characteristic points in the face; and a face position calculator configured to calculate a position of the face. The face position calculator calculates a position of the face in a space, upon operation of an operation screen, according to positional relationships among the face imaged, the imaging unit, and an operation unit, and except upon the operation, according to the positional relationship between the at least two characteristic points that the image analyzer extracts from the face imaged and positional relationships between a plurality of positions of the face and a plurality of the at least two characteristic points corresponding to the plurality of positions of the face obtained in respective operations, respectively.

Abstract: Distracted driving determination reflects changes in a vehicle traveling direction. A distracted driving determination apparatus includes a first obtaining unit that obtains first information indicating a driver's gaze or face orientation, a first determiner that determines whether the driver is engaging in distracted driving based on the gaze or face orientation indicated by the first information and a determination condition for detecting distracted driving, a second obtaining unit that obtains second information indicating a change in a traveling direction of a vehicle with respect to a straight traveling direction of the vehicle, a second determiner that determines whether the vehicle is traveling straight or traveling rightward or leftward based on the second information, and a condition changer that sets the determination condition to a first condition when the vehicle is traveling straight, and to a second condition different from the first condition when the vehicle is traveling rightward or leftward.

Abstract: The accuracy is improved for distracted driving determination performed when the vehicle changes the traveling direction. A distracted driving determination apparatus includes a first obtaining unit that obtains first information indicating a gaze or a face orientation of a driver, a second obtaining unit that obtains second information indicating an operational state of a direction indicator, and a determiner that determines distracted driving by comparing the gaze or the face orientation indicated by the first information with a predetermined criterion indicating a direction or a duration that varies depending on the operational state indicated by the second information.

Abstract: Distracted driving determination reflects changes in the traveling direction of the vehicle.

Abstract: An alert control apparatus includes a first obtaining unit that obtains first information about a gaze or face orientation of a driver, a distracted driving determiner that outputs a detection signal when detecting distracted driving, a second obtaining unit that obtains second information indicating whether an intersection is recognized, a third obtaining unit that obtains third information about a change in a vehicle traveling direction, an alert disabling unit that outputs a disabling signal disabling the detection signal in response to the intersection recognized and the traveling direction change detected, and an alert controller that outputs an instruction signal for an alert device to generate an alert in response to the detection signal output without the disabling signal, and outputs no instruction signal in response to the detection signal output with the disabling signal.

Abstract: To enable monitoring of both the direction and the level of attention being paid by a vehicle driver, a driver monitoring apparatus uses a detector to detect the attention direction of the driver based on monitoring data output from a first sensor, uses a calculator to repeatedly calculate, at every deviation calculation time, a deviation (e.g., standard deviation) of the attention direction during a deviation calculation duration, and uses a determiner to determine the direction and the level of attention being paid by the driver based on the calculated deviation.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus whereby the detection accuracy of a visual line direction of a driver can be improved, comprises an image acquiring part for acquiring an image including a face of a driver of a vehicle, a detecting part for detecting a visual line direction of the driver in the image acquired by the image acquiring part, an accumulating part for accumulating detection results by the detecting part, and a reference determining part for determining a reference of the visual line direction for the driver, using the detection results accumulated in the accumulating part.

Abstract: An information processing apparatus whereby the detection accuracy of a face direction of a driver of a vehicle can be improved, comprises an image acquiring part for acquiring an image including a face of a driver of a vehicle, a detecting part for detecting a face direction of the driver in the image acquired by the image acquiring part, an information acquiring part for acquiring information concerning a traveling condition of the vehicle, a first deciding part for deciding whether the vehicle is in a specified traveling condition based on the information acquired by the information acquiring part, and a reference determining part for determining a reference of the face direction of the driver based on the face direction of the driver while the vehicle is decided to be in the specified traveling condition by the first deciding part.

Abstract: An alert to distracted driving may adversely lower the attention of the driver. An alert control apparatus (300) includes data obtaining units (41 to 43) that obtain sensing data (a to j) from sensors (6 to 15), a railroad crossing recognizer (44) that recognizes a position of a railroad crossing relative to a vehicle based on the sensing data, and a crossing entry determiner (45) that determines whether the vehicle has entered the railroad crossing based on the sensing data, and an alert controller (48) that restricts generation of an alert to distracted driving from a distracted driving alert device (200) while the vehicle is passing the railroad crossing.

Abstract: If an alert to distracted driving is disabled, the driver can be alerted insufficiently in situations that take attention. An alert control apparatus (300) includes data obtaining units (41 to 43) that obtain sensing data (a to j) from sensors (6 to 15), a railroad crossing recognizer (44) that recognizes a railroad crossing in front of a vehicle based on the sensing data, and a crossing entry determiner (45) that determines whether the vehicle has entered the railroad crossing based on the sensing data, and a criterion changer (46) that sets, for an area defined in front of the vehicle, a determination criterion defined for causing a distracted driving alert device (200) to generate an alert in response to detection of the vehicle entering the railroad crossing.

Abstract: To alert a driver looking in one direction for a relatively long time when changing the vehicle traveling direction, an apparatus includes a data obtaining unit, which obtains sensing data, a gaze direction detector, which detects a driver gaze direction, a gaze direction determiner, which determines distracted driving based on whether the gaze direction deviates by at least a predetermined angle from a traveling direction, and the deviation continues for at least a predetermined allowable duration allowing distracted driving, an alert controller, which outputs a signal instructing to generate an alert, a traveling direction determiner, which detects a change in the traveling direction, and a duration changer, which shortens the allowable duration in response to an intersection being recognized and a change detected in the traveling direction.

Abstract: An alert may not be generated at railroad crossings. An alert control apparatus (300) includes data obtaining units (41 to 43) that obtain sensing data (a to j) from sensors (6 to 15), a railroad crossing recognizer (44) that recognizes the position of a railroad crossing relative to a vehicle based on the sensing data, and a criterion changer (46) that changes, based on the recognition result, a determination criterion used by a distracted driving alert device (200) to generate an alert to distracted driving to a criterion with which the alert is more likely to be generated while the vehicle is passing the railroad crossing than at other times.