Intellectual Property Office
Non-Confidential Disclosures
“Vigilance Monitoring Technique for Highway Driving”
PSU Inv. Disc. No. 2005-3023
Field of the Invention:
Transportation Safety
Inventors:
M.A. Haque A.V. Desai
Patent status:
A provisional patent application has been filed.
Background:
In recent years, automobile safety requirements have intensified and emphasis is now being placed on monitoring driver vigilance (alertness) in preventing accidents. Reduced alertness in vehicle and machine operators can not only pose a risk to themselves but also to the public at large. Estimates suggest that hypovigilance causes approximately 100,000 automobile accidents, 40,000 injuries, and 1550 fatalities on U.S. highways each year. Significant efforts have already been made to develop vigilance (alertness) monitoring techniques, but these mostly rely on costly and intrusive digital image acquisition and processing. In addition, these techniques suffer from large instances of false detection, and may only detect during the late stages of drowsiness when a response may not be effective.
Invention description:
The disclosed invention relies on gathering real-time data associated with interaction profiles for the vehicle-driver interface. The profiles are distinctive for different levels of alertness and are less dependent on traffic, weather and other parameters that are external to the driver. A simple and inexpensive sensor is used to obtain the interaction profiles as a driver operates the vehicle. Novel real-time processing measures deviations of the interaction profile from a general trend and allows an accurate determination of a driver’s alertness. The method is sensitive enough to pick up deviations in the interaction profile that allow for early detection of driver fatigue or even distraction. The method relies on time series data for analysis; resulting in greatly reduced computing requirements. This technique also has the added benefit of being used for operator safety in a variety of vehicle or machine applications.
Advantages:
- Reduced unit-cost over competing technologies
- Easy to implement in a variety of vehicles and machines
- Non-intrusive, and non-distracting for the driver/operator
- Accurate and reliable real-time data processing
- System performance not influenced by external parameters
Contact:
Mr. Richard M. Weyer
Sr. Licensing Officer
Intellectual Property Office
The Pennsylvania State Universit
113 Technology Center
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 865-6279
Fax: (814) 865-3591
E-mail: rmw4@psu.edu
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