Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/JP4826506B2/en
Timestamp: 2020-02-21 16:48:20
Document Index: 68857885

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 12', 'art 13', 'art 14', 'art 15', 'art 16', 'art 17', 'art 18']

JP4826506B2 - Gaze estimation device - Google Patents
Gaze estimation device Download PDF
JP4826506B2
JP4826506B2 JP2007047424A JP2007047424A JP4826506B2 JP 4826506 B2 JP4826506 B2 JP 4826506B2 JP 2007047424 A JP2007047424 A JP 2007047424A JP 2007047424 A JP2007047424 A JP 2007047424A JP 4826506 B2 JP4826506 B2 JP 4826506B2
JP2007047424A
JP2008210239A (en
治夫 松尾
2007-02-27 Application filed by 日産自動車株式会社 filed Critical 日産自動車株式会社
2007-02-27 Priority to JP2007047424A priority Critical patent/JP4826506B2/en
2008-09-11 Publication of JP2008210239A publication Critical patent/JP2008210239A/en
2011-11-30 Publication of JP4826506B2 publication Critical patent/JP4826506B2/en
The present invention relates to a gaze estimation apparatus that estimates gaze from a face image of a vehicle driver.
In recent years, research and development of techniques for estimating line of sight from the image of a driver's face photographed by a camera has been actively conducted, and an alarm is detected by detecting a side look or failure to confirm safety from the direction of the driver's line of sight. A safety device to perform, a vehicle motion control device to control the vehicle operation by predicting the next action and intention from the direction of the vehicle driver's line of sight, and an input device to perform a predetermined input operation according to the direction of the vehicle driver's line of sight Application to such as is expected.
As an apparatus for estimating the line of sight from the face image of a vehicle driver, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 1, the face image data captured by a camera is subjected to image processing by a microcomputer and the face of the vehicle driver And the direction of eyes (rotation angle of the eyeball) are obtained, and the direction of the line of sight of the vehicle driver is estimated by combining the face direction and the eye direction. In addition, as a technique for estimating the face direction from the face image of the vehicle driver, for example, as disclosed in Patent Document 2, the face direction is determined from the positional relationship of a plurality of characteristic parts detected from the face image. There are known a method of estimating and a method of estimating the face direction from the positional relationship between the face outline and the center line as disclosed in Patent Document 3.
JP 2003-271932 A JP 2005-196567 A JP 2005-157648 A
However, in the conventional techniques for estimating the line of sight and the face direction from the face image of the vehicle driver, including the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 3 described above, the left and right symmetry of the face part detected from the face image, etc. Since the vehicle driver recognizes the front direction and determines the direction of the driver's line of sight and the direction of the face based on this front direction, the front direction may not be accurately captured. In some cases, the direction and face direction cannot be estimated with sufficient accuracy.
That is, the human face is not exactly symmetrical, and there are individual differences in the rotation axis, visual field, and visual acuity of the head and eyeballs. In addition, there are people who have a habit of turning their faces sideways, and the posture while driving the vehicle varies from person to person. Furthermore, even if the person is the same, the posture while driving the vehicle may change depending on time, environment, and mood. In this way, the direction that the vehicle driver recognizes as the front changes depending on the individual difference for each vehicle driver, the driving environment, etc., and such a front direction of the facial part extracted from the face image is changed. If the direction of the line of sight and the face direction are estimated based on a uniform determination from the left-right symmetry and the like, there are cases where sufficient estimation accuracy cannot be obtained.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional situation, and an object of the present invention is to provide a gaze estimation apparatus that can accurately estimate the gaze of a vehicle driver.
In order to achieve the above object, the gaze estimation apparatus according to the present invention obtains a video signal from a camera that shoots video in time series with a face of a vehicle driver as a subject as a face image acquisition unit. Image processing of the face image acquired by the face image acquisition means to detect a plurality of feature parts of the face of the vehicle driver, and a plurality of feature parts detected by the face feature detection means Based on the positional relationship, face orientation estimating means for estimating the face orientation of the vehicle driver, and image processing is performed by cutting out the surrounding image of the eye in the face image acquired by the face image acquiring means, and at least the position of the pupil Eye detection means for detecting feature points of eyes including eye, eye direction estimation for estimating the eye direction of the vehicle driver based on the camera based on the estimation result of the face direction estimation means and the detection result of the pupil detection means Means and gaze direction estimation Based on the time-series change of the estimation result by the means, the reference front estimation means for estimating the reference front assumed to be recognized as the front by the vehicle driver, and the gaze direction estimation using the estimation result by the reference front estimation means And a line-of-sight direction correcting unit that corrects the estimation result of the unit.
According to the gaze estimation apparatus according to the present invention, a reference front that is assumed to be recognized by the vehicle driver as the front is estimated from a time-series change in the estimation result of the gaze direction with respect to the camera. Since the gaze direction based on the camera is corrected using the estimation result, it is possible to always accurately estimate the gaze of the vehicle driver regardless of individual differences or driving environments for each vehicle driver.
[Configuration of in-vehicle system using gaze estimation device]
The line-of-sight estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied is used in an in-vehicle system as shown in FIG.
The in-vehicle system shown in FIG. 1 shoots time-series images using the camera 2 installed in the vehicle as a subject of the face of the vehicle driver D, and inputs a video signal from the camera 2 to the line-of-sight estimation device 1. The gaze estimation apparatus 1 estimates the gaze of the vehicle driver D and outputs it as a gaze signal as needed. In order to improve the accuracy of eye-gaze estimation, the eye-gaze estimation device 1 includes a vehicle signal such as a steering signal detected by a steering angle sensor or a signal indicating a vehicle traveling direction obtained by a gyro in addition to a video signal from the camera 2. Also, vehicle periphery information indicating the road environment around the vehicle supplied from the in-vehicle navigation system is also input. The gaze estimation device 1 also has a function of estimating a gaze state from the gaze of the vehicle driver D and outputting the gaze direction as a gaze direction signal. Further, when photographing with the camera 2, the near-infrared illumination device 3 illuminates the face of the vehicle driver D as a subject as necessary.
[Configuration of eye gaze estimation device]
FIG. 2 is a data flow diagram showing the functional configuration inside the line-of-sight estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied and the flow of data between the components.
As shown in FIG. 2, the gaze estimation apparatus 1 includes a face image acquisition unit 11, a face feature detection unit 12, a face orientation estimation unit 13, a pupil detection unit 14, a gaze direction estimation unit 15, and a reference front estimation. Unit 16, gaze direction correction unit 17, gaze direction estimation unit 18, and vehicle travel state determination / prediction unit 19.
The face image acquisition unit 11 acquires a video signal from the camera 2 that shoots video in time series using the face of the vehicle driver D as a subject as a face image for each frame.
The face feature detection unit 12 performs image processing on the face image acquired by the face image acquisition unit 11, detects a plurality of feature parts of the face of the vehicle driver D, and outputs coordinate data of each feature part. .
The face direction estimation unit 13 detects the position of the face of the vehicle driver D from the coordinate data of the plurality of feature parts output from the face feature detection unit 12, and based on the positional relationship between the plurality of feature parts. The face orientation of D is estimated and face orientation / position data is output.
The pupil detection unit 14 cuts out an image around the eye from the face image acquired by the face image acquisition unit 11, performs image processing on the cut-out image, and features of the eye including at least the position of the pupil A point is detected and coordinate data of each feature point is output.
The line-of-sight direction estimation unit 15 is based on the face direction / position data output from the face direction estimation unit 13 and the eye feature point coordinate data output from the pupil detection unit 14, and is a vehicle driver based on the camera 2. Estimate the line-of-sight direction of D and output camera-based line-of-sight data.
The reference front estimation unit 16 estimates a reference front that is assumed to be recognized by the vehicle driver D as the front based on the time-series change of the camera-based gaze data output from the gaze direction estimation unit 15; Output standard front data. Specifically, the reference front estimation unit 16 accumulates the camera-based line-of-sight data output from the line-of-sight direction estimation unit 15 for a predetermined number of times, and creates a frequency distribution representing the degree of concentration of each line-of-sight data. Then, the direction in which the line of sight is most concentrated is identified based on the created frequency distribution, the direction is estimated as the reference front, and is output as reference front data. In addition, the reference front determination unit 16 outputs the frequency distribution data used for estimating the reference front as data for the gaze direction estimation unit 18 to estimate the gaze direction.
Further, the reference front estimation unit 16 determines from the traveling state determination / prediction unit 19 that the current traveling state of the vehicle is turning, or the future traveling state of the vehicle is predicted to be turning, In addition, when the gaze direction estimated by the gaze direction estimation unit 15 changes, the frequency distribution of the gaze data based on the change amount of the gaze direction or the change amount of the gaze direction in the same driving state in the past. The reference front estimated from the above is corrected, and the corrected reference front data is output.
The line-of-sight direction correction unit 17 corrects the line-of-sight data output from the line-of-sight direction estimation unit 15 using the reference front surface data output from the reference front surface estimation unit 16 and outputs it as a line-of-sight signal.
The gaze direction estimation unit 18 estimates the direction in which the vehicle driver D is gazing and outputs it as a gaze direction signal. Specifically, the gaze direction estimation unit 18 uses the frequency distribution data output from the reference front estimation unit 16, and the direction in which the line of sight concentrates in addition to the direction estimated as the reference front by the reference front estimation unit 16. Is estimated to be the direction in which the gaze target exists. When the line-of-sight data output from the line-of-sight direction estimation unit 15 concentrates in the direction in which the gaze target is estimated to exist, the direction is estimated as the gaze direction of the vehicle driver D and is output as a gaze direction signal. .
The gaze direction estimation unit 18 simply sets a predetermined range centered on the reference front as the front direction based on the reference front data output from the reference front estimation unit 16, and the gaze direction It is also possible to identify whether or not the line-of-sight data output from the estimation unit 15 is within the range set as the front direction, and output the result as a gaze direction signal.
The vehicle running state determination / prediction unit 19 inputs, for example, vehicle signals such as a steering signal and a gyro signal and vehicle peripheral information supplied from the in-vehicle navigation system, and based on these vehicle signals and vehicle peripheral information, The driving state of the vehicle is determined or the future driving state of the vehicle is predicted, and the result is output as driving state data. The traveling state data output from the vehicle traveling state determination / prediction unit 19 is used when the reference front estimation unit 16 corrects the reference front as described above.
[Outline of processing by gaze estimation device]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an overview of processing in the line-of-sight estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied. The line-of-sight estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied repeatedly performs the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 3 at a predetermined period, and outputs a line-of-sight signal and a gaze direction signal as needed.
First, when the process is started, a face image of the vehicle driver D is acquired in step S1 (face image acquisition unit 11). Next, in step S2, image processing is performed on the face image acquired in step S1, and a plurality of feature parts of the face of the vehicle driver D are detected (face feature detection unit 12). Next, in step S3, the face direction of the vehicle driver D is estimated based on the positional relationship between the plurality of characteristic parts detected in step S2 (face direction estimation unit 13).
In parallel with the face orientation estimation in step S3, image processing is performed on an image around the eyes of the vehicle driver D in step S4, and eye feature points including pupil positions are detected (pupil detection unit). 14). In step S5, the line-of-sight direction of the vehicle driver D with respect to the camera 2 is estimated based on the face direction of the vehicle driver D estimated in step S3 and the eye feature points detected in step S4. (Line-of-sight direction estimation unit 15). The line-of-sight direction estimation process in step S5 includes a process for estimating an apparent line-of-sight direction on the image (step S5-1) and a process for correcting the apparent line-of-sight direction using camera parameters (step S5-2). ).
Next, in step S6, the time series change of the processing result of step S5 in the past predetermined number of times is analyzed, and a reference front that is assumed to be recognized by the vehicle driver D as the front is estimated (reference front). Estimator 16). Next, in step S7, the camera-based gaze direction estimated in step S5 is corrected based on the reference front estimated in step S6 (gaze direction correction unit 17). In step S8, the line-of-sight direction corrected in step S7 is output as a line-of-sight signal.
In step S9, the direction in which the gaze target exists is estimated from the result of analyzing the time-series change in the line-of-sight direction in step S6, and is compared with the processing result in step S5. When the gaze direction estimated in step S5 is concentrated in the direction in which the gaze target exists, the direction is estimated as the gaze direction (gaze direction estimation unit 18), and in step S8, the gaze estimated in step S9. The direction is output as a gaze direction signal.
[Detection of facial features]
In order to detect a characteristic part from the face image of the vehicle driver D, for example, image processing such as edge detection processing or graph matching processing is performed on the face image data, and a point where a density change appears greatly on the face image, for example, The left and right eyes (upper and lower eyelids, eyes and eyes), right and left eyebrows, left and right outlines, nostrils, clefts, and the like may be detected as characteristic parts.
Here, since the face image data to be subjected to image processing is continuous data for each frame, if a feature part can be detected from the face image of the previous frame, the feature part can be detected by tracking the feature part. The feature part can be easily detected from the face image of the subsequent frames. For example, the tracking of the feature part is performed by setting a search area in the face image of the current frame based on the coordinates of one feature part detected from the face image of the previous frame, and within the limited search area. Search for a characteristic part to be performed. If one feature part can be detected from the face image of the current frame, the face image of the current frame is determined based on the positional relationship between the one feature part detected from the face image of the previous frame and the other feature parts. The remaining feature parts are detected.
In addition, as a method of detecting a facial feature part from the face image of the vehicle driver D, for example, the method described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-271932) or Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-2005). Conventionally known methods such as the method described in JP-A-196567) can be applied.
[Estimation of face orientation]
The face orientation of the vehicle driver D can be estimated by evaluating the left-right symmetry of the face based on, for example, the positional relationship of a plurality of characteristic parts detected by image processing on the face image. That is, a human face generally has a shape close to left-right symmetry, and when the face rotates, the apparent position of the characteristic part of the face shifts and distortion occurs in symmetry. Therefore, it is possible to estimate the face orientation by evaluating this.
As a method for estimating the face direction of the vehicle driver D, for example, a method described in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-271932) or Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-196567). Any of the conventionally known methods such as the method described in the above can be applied.
[Detection of eye feature points (pupil)]
In the gaze estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied, the position of the pupil of the vehicle driver D is detected by the method shown in FIG.
The detection of the pupil can be considered as a problem of detecting a dark and round (low luminance circle) region located below the horizontal edge line (upper eyelid). Therefore, first, the surrounding image of the eye cut out from the face image is adaptively binarized to extract a low-luminance region in the image such as the shadow of the upper eyelid and the pupil (iris). This process can be obtained by obtaining a difference between the virtual background image and the surrounding image of the original eye as an image obtained by blurring the surrounding image of the eye by the smoothing process.
Next, the evaluation function C (cx, cy, pr) of the circular shape and the evaluation function D (cx, cy, pr) of the low luminance area are applied to the surrounding area of the eye, and the pupil evaluation function P (cx , Cy, pr) is represented by these products, and the point where P is maximum under the horizontal edge line (upper eye candidate) is the pupil.
P (cx, cy, pr) = C (cx, cy, pr) x D (cx, cy, pr)
Hereinafter, the method for detecting the pupil position will be described in more detail.
<Extracting the low brightness area of the image around the eye>
First, based on the coordinate data of the eyes detected as a characteristic part from the face image, a region around the eyes is cut out from the face image and used as the eye surrounding original image Go. The cutout range (horizontal sw, vertical sh) is preferably calculated based on the coordinates and the angle of view of the camera 2 if the eye coordinate data includes the position of the head and head. The position of the driver's face and the size of the face to be imaged can be predicted to some extent, and may be fixed values.
An example of image clipping is shown in FIG. In FIG. 5, when the distance between the head and head is l, the size of the image to be cut out is sw = 1 × 1.5, sh = sw / 2, and the middle point of the head and head is vertically wide sh An example is shown in which the surrounding image Go of the eye is cut out with the position and center translated by 20%. The pupil radius pr is temporarily set to 15% to 20% of the distance l between the eyes and the eyes. An image Gs obtained by smoothing the image Go in the vicinity of 2 × 2 for noise removal is used as a surrounding image of the eyes.
Next, an image Gb obtained by smoothing the surrounding image Gs of the eyes in the vicinity of 10 × 10 is obtained. The image Gb smoothed over a relatively wide range of about 10 × 10 has the effect of blurring the surrounding image Gs of the eye, and can be regarded as a virtual background image.
Next, by obtaining the difference between the virtual background image Gb and the surrounding image Gs of the eye, an image Gd of only the low luminance region is obtained. The difference image Gd is binarized with a preset threshold value to obtain a binary image G2, thereby extracting a low luminance region.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for specifically explaining the process of extracting the low luminance region. In extracting the low-luminance area, by using the virtual background image Gb obtained by blurring the original image, as shown in the lower example of FIG. It can be confirmed that the low-luminance region of the eye to be extracted is obtained. Further, since the low luminance image Gd is obtained from the difference between the virtual background image Gb and the surrounding image Gs of the eyes, the binarization threshold value can be a fixed value without depending on the image.
<Extraction of upper candidate line>
Next, the binary image G2 is labeled for each region extracted as a low luminance region. Then, a label near the center of the image is searched. This label search is performed radially from the center of the image as shown in FIG. As a result, a labeled region (region (c) in FIG. 7) near the center of the image is searched. Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the upper edge line of the labeled area near the center of the image is extracted to obtain the upper eyelid candidate line. Note that, in the above-described face feature part detection processing, when the eye / eye is not included as a detection target, both ends of this line are assumed to be the eye / eye and are detected as eye feature points. These pieces of information can be used to limit the detection range of the pupil below the upper eyelid candidate line because the pupil exists below the upper eyelid.
<Circular fitting>
Next, as a method for detecting the position of the pupil from the surrounding image of the eye, it is assumed that there is a center of a circle that is a candidate for the pupil at an arbitrary coordinate (cx, cy) in the image, and this coordinate (cx, An evaluation function is applied to a circular region centered at cy). As shown in FIG. 9, the evaluation is performed assuming that all points in the image are the center of the circle, and a position having a high evaluation result is specified as a position having a high possibility of the pupil in the image.
Here, as an evaluation function applied to the circular region, a function for evaluating darkness and a function for evaluating circular shape are used. Hereinafter, these evaluation functions will be described.
(Evaluation function D for low luminance area-evaluation of darkness)
Circular fitting is performed using the binary image G2 representing the low luminance region and the virtual background image Gb.
First, as shown in FIG. 10A, an area within a circle having a radius r1 (= pr) corresponding to the size of the pupil is an area where pixel values of two images are added, and an area of pupil size + α ( A region in which the radii r1 to r2) are not performed and a region outside the radius (greater than r2) are defined as regions for subtracting pixel values. The result of adding or subtracting the pixel values p and q at arbitrary points in the evaluation region of the binary image G2 and the virtual background image Gb according to the following conditional expression according to the distance d from the center of the evaluation region (circle center) to the target point get s.
if d <r1: s = s + p × (1−q / 255)
else if d> r2: s = s−p × (1−q / 255)
A sample of the evaluation result is shown in FIG. When the eye shape is ideally binarized (see the upper image in FIG. 10B), only the p value is sufficient, but the eye shape is not ideally binarized Also in (see the lower image in FIG. 10B), the q value is used so that the evaluation value becomes high at a low luminance position.
The addition / subtraction result s in the evaluation region is divided by the pupil area π (pr) 2 which is an ideal value, and a value normalized to a real number of 0.0 to 1.0 is set as the result of the evaluation function D.
D (cx, cy) = s / (π (pr) 2 )
(Application of circular shape evaluation function C-circular evaluation)
Fitting to the circular shape of the edge part of the binary image G2, which is the extraction result of the low luminance area, is performed and evaluated.
First, an edge normal is obtained from the binary image G2. In the portion showing a circle, normal vectors exist at the edges radially from the center of the circle. However, with respect to the eye image, as shown in FIG. 11, the normal vector of the upper eyelid portion is along the upper eyelid line, so that it does not become a radial normal vector from the center of the circle. Therefore, when using the presence of radial normal vectors for circular evaluation, the lower half of the circle is mainly evaluated.
As shown in FIG. 12, assuming a slightly smaller circle and a slightly larger circle with respect to the radius pr of the pupil, an edge normal line v1 existing in a region between these two circles is obtained. If the edge normal belongs to the lower half of the circle, the vector θ is the inner product of the angle θ formed by the vector (normal vector of the point on the circumference) v2 connecting the center of the circle (cx, cy) and the target point. To obtain the total value t in the entire region.
cosθ = v1 ・ v2 / (| v1 || v2 |)
t = t + cosθ
At this time, if the angle θ formed by the vector v2 is outside the set range, it is not used for calculating the total value, and the total value t in the region is an ideal value (π (r2) 2 −π (r1) 2 ). The value normalized and divided to 0.0 to 1.0 is taken as the result of the evaluation function C.
C (cx, cy) = t / (π (r2) 2 −π (r1) 2 )
An example of the normal vector actually obtained from the edge information and the evaluation result is shown in FIG.
<Identification of low-intensity circular area>
Using the result of the evaluation function D for evaluating the darkness obtained as described above and the result of the evaluation function C for evaluating the circular shape, integration of the results of the evaluation function D and the evaluation function C as shown in FIG. By obtaining the value P, it is possible to specify a low-luminance and circular region, that is, a position where the possibility of the pupil is high. Here, since the pupil is located under the upper eyelid, as shown in FIG. 15, the position where the integrated value P under the upper edge (upper eye candidate line) extracted from the binary image G2 is the maximum Determine as position.
As described above, by detecting the position of the pupil using the result of the evaluation function D that evaluates the darkness and the result of the evaluation function C that evaluates the circular shape, the area of the pupil other than the black pupil is reduced in brightness. Even when it does not become a case or when a bright spot enters the eye and it does not become an accurate circle, the position of the pupil can be accurately detected with high accuracy.
[Gaze direction estimation]
FIG. 16 is a data flow diagram showing details of the gaze direction estimating unit 15 that estimates the gaze direction of the vehicle driver D with the camera 2 as a reference. As shown in FIG. 16, the line-of-sight direction estimation unit 15 receives face orientation / position data and coordinate data of eye feature points (including at least the eyes, eyes, and pupil centers), and determines the apparent line-of-sight direction on the image. Apparent gaze estimation unit 15a that outputs the eye direction data to be displayed, and the face direction / position data, eye feature coordinate data, camera parameters (including at least the angle of view of the camera 2 and the vehicle traveling direction), and eye direction data are input And a camera correction unit 15b that outputs camera-based line-of-sight data.
Hereinafter, the processing contents by the apparent line-of-sight estimation unit 15a and the camera correction unit 15b will be described in detail.
<Estimation of apparent gaze direction>
FIG. 17 shows the relationship between the apparent coordinates of the three points of the head, eyes, and pupil center and the position of each point when the eyeball cross section is viewed from above, and each point when the eyeball cross section is viewed from the side. It is a figure which shows the relationship with a position.
(Estimation in the horizontal direction)
First, a method for estimating the eyeball rotation angle ψy in the left-right direction from the three points of the eyes, the eyes, and the center of the pupil detected as eye feature points will be described below.
The virtual eyeball center O, the eyeball radius r, and the eye fissure angle 2ω are used as parameters representing the eyeball. In addition, the three points of the eyes, eyes, and the center of the pupil are A, B, and P, respectively, and the face direction angle in the left-right direction is θy. The eyeball rotation angle ψy at this time is obtained.
The distances a and b from the virtual eyeball center O to the head A and the eyeball B are expressed by the following equations.
a = Ax−Ox = r sin (θy + ω)
Ox = Ax−r sin (θy + ω) (1)
b = Bx−Ox = r sin (θy−ω)
Ox = Bx−r sin (θy−ω) (2)
From (1) = (2),
Ax−Bx = r {sin (θy + ω) −sin (θy−ω)}
r = (Ax−Bx) / {sin (θy + ω) −sin (θy−ω)} (3)
On the other hand, the distance p from the virtual eyeball center O to the center P of the pupil is expressed by the following equation.
p = Px−Ox = r sin (θy + ψy)
Px−Ax−r sin (θy + ω) = r sin (θy + ψy)
sin (θy + ψy) = (Px−Ax) / r + sin (θy + ω)
sin (θy + ψy) = sin (θy + ω) − {sin (θy + ω) −sin (θy−ω)} (Px−Ax) / (Bx−Ax)
As a result, the virtual eyeball center O and eyeball radius r are not required, and only the eye fissure angle 2ω is given as an external parameter, so that the three coordinates A, B, and P of the center of the eye, the eyes, and the pupil can be The line-of-sight angle θy + ψy can be obtained. Since θy is a value indicating the face orientation, only the left-right eyeball rotation angle ψy can be obtained using the face orientation estimation result.
(Estimation of vertical direction)
Next, a method for estimating the eyeball rotation angle ψx in the vertical direction will be described.
Since the lateral eyelid angle 2ω is almost always constant in the lateral direction of the eye if an individual is specified, it is an effective parameter for obtaining left-right eyeball rotation. However, in the up-and-down direction of the eye, the vertical eye-closure angle cannot be used because the change due to opening and closing of the eyelid is large.
For estimating the eyeball rotation angle ψx in the vertical direction, the virtual eyeball center O and the eyeball radius r are used as parameters representing the eyeball. In addition, the three points of the eyes, the eyes, and the center of the pupil are C, the middle point of A, B, P, A, and B, and the face direction angle in the vertical direction is θx. At this time, the eyeball rotation angle ψx is obtained.
The distance c from the virtual eyeball center O to the midpoint (eye center) C of A and B is expressed by the following equation.
c ＝ Cy−Oy ＝ r sinθx
Oy = Cy-r sinθx (4)
The distance p from the virtual eyeball center O to the pupil center P is expressed by the following equation.
p = Py−Oy = r sin (θx + ψx)
Py−Cy + r sin θx = r sin (θx + ψx)
sin (θx + ψx) = (Py−Cy) / r + sinθx
Since the eyeball radius r has already been calculated by equation (3),
sin (θx + ψx) = sinθx− {sin (θy + ω) −sin (θy−ω)} (Py−Cy) / (Bx−Ax)
Thus, the virtual eyeball center O and the eyeball radius r are not required, and by giving only the lateral eye crack angle 2ω as an external parameter, the coordinates A, B, and P of the three points of the center of the eye, the eyelid, and the pupil The viewing angle θx + ψx in the vertical direction can be obtained. Further, since θx is a value indicating the face orientation, only the eyeball rotation angle ψx in the vertical direction can be obtained using the result of face orientation estimation.
<Camera correction>
The line-of-sight direction is regarded as a direction in which the face direction (θy, θx) and the eye direction (ψy, ψx) are combined. Here, since the face direction (θy, θx) and eye direction (ψy, ψx) obtained up to the previous section are apparent rotation angles on the image, even if the line-of-sight direction is the same direction, the imaging of the camera 2 is performed. The actual orientation differs depending on the position. For this reason, it is necessary to correct the apparent angle on the image according to the imaging position of the camera 2.
When an object is imaged by the camera 2, an apparent rotation component generated by the lens of the camera 2 is included. As shown in FIG. 18, the apparent rotational component is a phenomenon in which the line of sight appears to change depending on the direction of the camera, the angle of view, and the imaging position, even when facing the same direction. If it is assumed that this apparent rotation component is a pinhole lens, it changes depending on the angle of view of the camera 2 and where the face is imaged, and can be corrected by these parameters.
As shown in FIG. 19, it is assumed that the image resolution of the camera 2 is width w and height h, and the angle of view of the camera 2 is (φy, φx). Further, assuming that the center of gravity coordinates F of the face (for example, the right eye, left eye, and midpoint of the nose) is (Fx, Fy), the correction angles (θyd, θxd) are expressed by the following equations.
θyd = arctan (2 Fx tan (φy / 2) / w) −σy
θxd = arctan (2 Fy tan (φx / 2) / h) −σx
If the center-of-gravity coordinates E of the eye (for example, the center of the eye and the center of the eyelid) is (Ex, Ey), the correction angles (ψyd, ψxd) are expressed by the following equations.
ψyd = arctan (2 Ex tan (φy / 2) / w) −σy
ψxd = arctan (2 Ey tan (φx / 2) / h) −σx
Here, the term of the angle component (σy, σx) is a parameter relating to the installation of the camera 2. For example, when the vehicle traveling direction is set to 0 degree, it represents the direction of the camera 2.
As a result, by subtracting the calculated correction angle from the face rotation angle (θy, θx) and the eye rotation angle (ψy, ψx) obtained up to the previous section, the corrected face rotation angle (θ′y, θ′x) and the eye rotation angles (ψ′y, ψ′x) are obtained. The direction (θy ′ + ψy ′, θx ′ + ψx ′) in which the corrected face rotation angles (θ′y, θ′x) and eye rotation angles (ψ′y, ψ′x) are combined is obtained. , Calculated as the camera-based line-of-sight direction.
[Estimation of reference front]
The line-of-sight data (θy '+ ψy', θx '+ ψx') obtained by the above processing is based on the symmetry of the face, average driving posture, etc. This is line-of-sight data with the front direction as a reference for the line-of-sight direction. For this reason, the line-of-sight data (θy ′ + ψy ′, θx ′ + ψx ′) does not take into account individual differences for each vehicle driver D or changes in posture according to the driving environment, and the actual vehicle driver D It does not necessarily match the line-of-sight direction. Therefore, in the line-of-sight estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied, the reference front estimation unit 16 estimates the reference front assumed to be recognized by the vehicle driver D as the front, and uses the estimation result of the reference front to The reference gaze direction (θy ′ + ψy ′, θx ′ + ψx ′) is corrected.
FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method for estimating the reference front (the process in step S6 in FIG. 3). In the reference front estimation process, first, in step S6-1, a predetermined number of line-of-sight data (for example, line-of-sight data obtained over 30 seconds) is sequentially stored in order to see a time-series change in the camera-based line-of-sight direction. When the stored line-of-sight data for a predetermined number of times is plotted two-dimensionally, the result is as shown in FIG.
Next, in step S6-2, the line-of-sight component θ′y + ψ′x in the horizontal direction and the line-of-sight component θ′x + ψ′y in the vertical direction based on the line-of-sight data for the predetermined number of times stored in step S6-1. Create a frequency distribution for. FIG. 22 shows a frequency distribution created for the line-of-sight component in the horizontal direction.
Next, in step S6-3, the position (ξy, ξx) having the maximum value in the frequency distribution created in step S6-2 is specified. In the driving behavior of the vehicle, the vehicle driver D faces the front direction for 90% or more of the total driving time. Therefore, the position (ξy, ξx) having the maximum value in the frequency distribution created in step S6-2 is considered to be the direction recognized by the vehicle driver D as the front, and this direction is estimated as the reference front. be able to.
In step S6-4, the direction of the position (ξy, ξx) specified in step S6-3 is updated as the reference front, and reference front data representing the latest reference front is output. By repeating the above processing, it is possible to accurately grasp the reference front that the vehicle driver D recognizes as the front, corresponding to individual differences for each vehicle driver D, changes in driving posture, and the like. .
<Correction of reference front according to vehicle running condition>
By the way, the reference front of the driver D who is driving the vehicle changes depending on the traveling state of the vehicle. For example, assuming that the vehicle driver D is estimating the position that will arrive in the future (n seconds later) and sending a line of sight, as shown in FIG. It can be seen that the reference front changes.
Here, the reference front estimation method described above estimates the reference front based on the frequency distribution of the line-of-sight data for a fixed time in the past (for example, 30 seconds). For example, FIG. 24 (a) and FIG. As shown in the image diagram, in a situation such as turning of the vehicle grasped from the change of the steering angle of the vehicle or the change of the traveling direction, as shown in the image diagrams of FIGS. The front follows the line of sight with a delay.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 25, the start of the turning section of the vehicle is detected based on the steering angle information that is a vehicle signal, the position information of the in-vehicle navigation system, its time series change, the vehicle traveling direction obtained by the gyro, etc. It is desirable to correct the reference front based on the amount of change in the line of sight that has occurred, or the correction angle of the reference front that has occurred in the past when the steering angle or travel direction change is equivalent. In addition, since the end of the turning section can be determined from the return of steering, even when the turning section ends, the reference front is corrected based on the amount of change in the line-of-sight change that occurred immediately before that, or the past turning end It is desirable to correct the reference front as in the case of time. Thereby, the influence of the estimated reference front being delayed with respect to the line-of-sight change can be suppressed, and the line-of-sight estimation accuracy can be further improved.
In addition, by using the route information of the in-vehicle navigation system, the vehicle traveling direction, and the vehicle speed as the vehicle periphery information, as shown in FIG. 26, the vehicle reaches the turning section at the time t + Δt at the time t. Can also be predicted. Therefore, when the change in the line of sight of the vehicle driver D is detected, if the position is the position where the vehicle is about to reach the turning section (the position at time t), It is desirable to correct the reference front based on the correction angle of the reference front when an equivalent turn is made in the past. Similarly, since it is also possible to detect a state in which the turning travel section is ended and the straight traveling section is reached from the vehicle signal or the vehicle surrounding information, the end of the turning travel section is predicted immediately before that. It is desirable to correct the reference front in the same manner as the amount of change in the line-of-sight change that has occurred, or at the end of past turning travel. Thereby, for example, even in a scene such as a mountain road where the turning section continuously changes, the reference front can be appropriately corrected to effectively suppress the influence of the delay on the line-of-sight change.
[Correction of gaze direction]
In the line-of-sight estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied, as described above, the camera-based face image of the vehicle driver D is subjected to image processing to obtain a camera-based line-of-sight direction by combining the face rotation angle and the eye rotation angle, By correcting the camera-based line-of-sight direction using a reference front that is assumed to be recognized as the front by the vehicle driver D, individual differences for each vehicle driver D, posture changes according to the driving environment, and the like In addition, an accurate gaze direction is taken into consideration. Specifically, in the gaze direction correction unit 17, the reference front (estimated by the reference front estimation unit 16 from the gaze data (θ′y + ψ′x, θ′x + ψ′y) output from the gaze direction estimation unit 15 ( The line-of-sight direction is corrected by subtracting (ξy, ξx), and the result is used as the line-of-sight signal as the output of the line-of-sight estimation apparatus 1.
[Estimation of gaze direction]
The gaze estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied has the function of outputting the gaze signal as described above, and the gaze direction estimation unit 18 estimates the gaze state of the vehicle driver D and outputs the gaze direction as a gaze direction signal. It also has a function to do. The gaze direction estimation unit 18 simply outputs the front and left and right identification results as gaze direction signals, but when the gaze direction can be estimated as the direction of a specific gaze target, the gaze direction and gaze time are calculated. Output.
<Front, left and right identification method>
For identifying the front and the left and right, first, a predetermined range centered on the reference front estimated by the reference front estimation unit 16 is set, and the gaze direction estimated by the gaze direction estimation unit 15 is within the set range. This is done by a method of identifying whether or not. That is, as shown in FIG. 27, the gaze direction estimation unit 18 sets the width of a predetermined angle in the horizontal direction centered on the reference front (maximum value of the frequency distribution) as the width in the front direction. Then, if the gaze direction estimated by the gaze direction estimation unit 15 is within the range set as the front direction, it is determined that the gaze direction is the front, and if it is on the right side of the range, the gaze direction is changed to the right. If it is to the left of this range, it is determined that the line of sight has changed to the left, and the result is output as a gaze direction signal. Note that the width set as the front direction may be set based on, for example, a position (angle) that takes the half value of the maximum value of the frequency distribution indicating the reference front, or a predetermined specified value is used. May be set.
<Identification of gaze target>
For specifying the gaze target, the frequency distribution data used when the reference front estimation unit 16 estimates the reference front is used. For example, when the line-of-sight data when the vehicle driver D gazes at the right door mirror, the left door mirror, the room mirror, the navigation screen, and the navigation operation unit for about 3 seconds in addition to the front is plotted in two dimensions, the line-of-sight distribution as shown in FIG. Is obtained. The gaze component in the horizontal direction of the gaze data at this time is represented as a frequency distribution as shown in FIG.
As can be seen from the frequency distribution of FIG. 29, when the vehicle driver D gazes at a specific gaze target, the frequency distribution has a local maximum value other than the reference front. Therefore, when a frequency distribution having a maximum value other than the reference front is obtained, the direction can be estimated to be the direction in which the gaze target exists, and the gaze direction estimated by the gaze direction estimation unit 15 is the direction. If it is concentrated on the target, it can be estimated that the user is gazing at a specific gaze target.
The gaze direction estimation unit 18 estimates the direction of the gaze target using the frequency distribution data output from the reference front estimation unit 16, and the gaze data output from the gaze direction estimation unit 15 is estimated from the frequency distribution data. If it is concentrated in the direction of the gaze target, the direction is estimated as the gaze direction. In addition, as shown in FIG. 30, the value of the maximum value appearing in the frequency distribution at this time and the area of a constant width centered on the maximum value are set as the gaze time. And these gaze directions and gaze times are output as gaze direction signals. Thereby, it becomes possible to determine the gaze state of the vehicle driver D in more detail.
[Switching eyes used for eye gaze estimation]
As described above, in the line-of-sight estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied, the facial rotation angle (face orientation) grasped from the positional relationship of the facial feature part of the vehicle driver D and the eye feature points including the pupil position From the eye rotation angle (eye orientation) grasped from the positional relationship, the camera-based line-of-sight direction is estimated, and this is corrected and output in front of the reference. Here, the direction of the eye used for estimating the line-of-sight direction may be either the right eye or the left eye of the vehicle driver D. However, due to the movement of the position of the face of the vehicle driver D and the influence of light, one eye faces the other face. There are scenes where a part is concealed, a face goes out of the imaging range, or imaging cannot be performed due to the influence of shadows. For this reason, it is desirable that the eyes used for estimating the line-of-sight direction are appropriately switched according to the face orientation, the movement of the position, the detection state of the facial feature part, and the like. Hereinafter, an example of the reference | standard which switches the eyes used for estimation of this gaze direction is demonstrated.
<Select dominant eye>
First, if the dominant eye of the vehicle driver D is known from the personal information of the vehicle driver D registered in advance, if the pupil positions of both the right eye and the left eye of the vehicle driver D can be detected It is desirable to estimate the gaze direction using the detection result of the pupil position for the dominant eye. Since the dominant eye of the vehicle driver D is the main eye when looking at an object, estimating the eye gaze direction using the detection result of the pupil position for this dominant eye increases the accuracy of eye gaze estimation. Can be improved.
<Select the one with higher pupil detection rate>
In addition, the detection result of the pupil position during a fixed period immediately before the right eye and the left eye of the vehicle driver D is stored, and the line of sight is used by using the detection result of the pupil position for the eye with the higher detection rate. The direction may be estimated. Thus, by estimating the gaze direction using the detection result for the eye with the higher detection rate of the pupil position, for example, even in a scene where only one pupil can be detected due to strong oblique light, the gaze direction Can be estimated stably. Further, the same effect can be expected even if the gaze direction is estimated using the detection result for the eye whose eye position is currently detected.
<Select the one with a higher degree of stability in the gaze direction>
In addition, when the pupil positions of both the right eye and the left eye of the vehicle driver D can be detected, the gaze direction estimation using the detection result of the right eye pupil position and the detection result of the left eye pupil position are obtained. You may make it perform both the estimation of the used gaze direction. In this case, two results are obtained as the estimation results of the gaze direction, and the stability degree of these gaze direction estimation results is evaluated, and if there is a difference in the evaluation value of the stability level, the gaze of the higher evaluation value A direction is selected and output as an estimation result, and if the evaluation values of the degree of stability are approximately the same, an average value of both gaze directions may be output as an estimation result. As a method for evaluating the degree of stability of the gaze direction estimation result, for example, by comparing the kurtosis of the peak existing in the reference front obtained by the above-described frequency distribution, the degree of stability is evaluated as being more stable. A method can be considered. Thus, by considering the degree of stability of the eye gaze direction estimation result, it becomes possible to effectively suppress the influence of sudden noise and the like.
<Select the one with the lower degree of concealment>
Further, the degree of concealment of the right eye and the left eye is evaluated based on the estimation result of the face direction of the vehicle driver D, the eye position is detected with priority on the eye with the lower possibility of concealment, and the detection result is used. Thus, the gaze direction may be estimated. In other words, if the face turns to the right or the face position moves to the right, the right eye is likely to be concealed. Conversely, if the face turns to the left or the face position moves to the left, the left eye may be hidden. Becomes higher. For this reason, a threshold is provided for the face direction and the face position, and switching is performed so that either the right eye or the left eye is used. As described above, if priority is given to detection of the pupil with less possibility of concealment according to the position, orientation, and moving direction of the face, and the result is used for estimation of the gaze direction, detection of the pupil position is performed. Can be performed more reliably, and the accuracy of line-of-sight estimation can be improved.
<When the pupil position cannot be detected with both eyes>
When the vehicle driver D is wearing glasses or sunglasses, the position of the pupil may not be detected by both eyes due to the reflection of the glasses. In such a case, since the direction of the eyes cannot be estimated, the line-of-sight direction is estimated from only the face direction information. The estimation result of the gaze direction at this time is inaccurate, but it is possible to continue the processing until the speculation of the spectacles is eliminated and the estimation is performed accurately without interrupting the gaze direction estimation process. It becomes.
As described above in detail with specific examples, the gaze estimation apparatus 1 to which the present invention is applied detects the face direction and the eye direction from the face image of the vehicle driver D and uses the camera 2 as a reference. And the gaze direction for the individual vehicle driver D that is assumed to be recognized as the front by the vehicle driver D from the time-series change of the gaze direction with the camera 2 as a reference. The reference front as a reference of the vehicle is estimated, and the visual direction is corrected with respect to the camera 2 using the reference front, and then output as a visual line signal. Regardless of the change in driving posture according to the environment, the line of sight of the vehicle driver D can always be estimated with high accuracy.
The embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with specific examples. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the contents disclosed in the description of the above-described embodiments, and is easy from these disclosures. Of course, various alternative technologies that can lead to the above are also included.
It is a figure which shows the structure of the vehicle-mounted system using the gaze estimation apparatus of this invention. It is a data flow figure which shows the flow of data between the functional structure inside each gaze estimation apparatus to which this invention is applied, and each component. It is a flowchart explaining the outline | summary of the process in the gaze estimation apparatus to which this invention is applied. It is a figure explaining the outline | summary of the process which detects the position of a vehicle driver's pupil. It is a figure explaining an example of the method of extracting the image of the area | region of the circumference | surroundings of eyes from a face image. It is a figure explaining the process which extracts a low-intensity area | region concretely. It is a figure which shows a mode that the area | region used as a candidate of a pupil is extracted from the labeling result of a low-intensity area | region. It is a figure which shows a mode that the candidate line of an upper eyelid is extracted. It is a figure which shows a mode that circular fitting is performed with respect to the surrounding image of eyes. It is a figure explaining evaluation of a low-intensity circular area | region, (a) is a figure explaining the method of evaluation, (b) is a figure which shows the sample of an evaluation result. It is a figure which shows a mode that an edge normal line is calculated | required from the binary image which is the extraction result of a low-intensity area | region. It is a figure explaining the method of circular shape evaluation. It is a figure which shows an example of the normal vector calculated | required from edge information, and an evaluation result. It is a figure which shows the sample of the evaluation result of a low-intensity circular area | region. It is a figure which shows a mode that the position of a pupil is detected from the area | region under an upper eyelid candidate line. It is a data flow figure which shows the detail of the gaze direction estimation part which estimates the gaze direction of the vehicle driver on the basis of a camera. The relationship between the apparent coordinates of the three points of the eyes, eyes, and pupil center, and the position of each point when the cross section of the eyeball is viewed from above, and the position of each point when the cross section of the eyeball is viewed from the side It is a figure which shows a relationship. It is a figure explaining the apparent rotational component produced by the lens of a camera, (a) is a figure explaining the apparent rotational component of the left-right direction, (b) is a figure explaining the apparent rotational component of an up-down direction. It is a figure explaining the angle of view of a camera, an imaging surface, and an imaging position (coordinate). It is a flowchart which shows an example of the method of estimating a reference | standard front. It is a figure which shows the result of having plotted the gaze data for the predetermined number of times in two dimensions. It is a figure which shows the frequency distribution produced about the visual line component of the horizontal direction of FIG. It is a figure which shows a mode that a reference | standard front changes with the driving | running | working states of a vehicle. It is a figure explaining the relationship of the time change of a steering angle, advancing direction, a gaze direction, and a reference | standard front in the turning driving state, (a) is an image figure which shows the time change of a steering angle, (b) is the time of the advancing direction. (C) is an image diagram showing a time change in the direction of the line of sight, and (d) is an image diagram showing a time change in the reference front. It is a figure explaining the method of correct | amending a reference | standard front. It is a figure explaining the example which predicts in advance that a vehicle arrives at a turning section. It is a figure explaining the method of identifying the range of a front direction, and right-and-left gaze movement. It is a figure which shows the result of having plotted the line-of-sight data two-dimensionally when a vehicle driver gazes the right door mirror, the left door mirror, the room mirror, the navigation screen, and the navigation operation unit for about 3 seconds. It is a figure which shows the frequency distribution produced about the visual line component of the horizontal direction of FIG. It is a figure explaining the method of calculating | requiring a gaze direction and gaze time.
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Gaze estimation apparatus 2 Camera 11 Face image acquisition part 12 Face feature detection part 13 Face direction estimation part 14 Eye detection part 15 Gaze direction estimation part 16 Reference | standard front estimation part 17 Gaze direction correction part 18 Gaze direction estimation part
Face image acquisition means for acquiring a video signal from a camera that shoots video in time series with the face of the vehicle driver as a subject;
Face feature detection means for performing image processing on the face image acquired by the face image acquisition means and detecting a plurality of feature portions of the face of the vehicle driver;
Face direction estimating means for estimating the face direction of the vehicle driver based on the positional relationship of the plurality of feature parts detected by the face feature detecting means;
A pupil detection unit that cuts out an image around the eye in the face image acquired by the face image acquisition unit, performs image processing, and detects a feature point of the eye including at least a pupil position;
Gaze direction estimation means for estimating the gaze direction of the vehicle driver based on the camera based on the estimation result of the face orientation estimation means and the detection result of the pupil detection means;
It is assumed that the vehicle driver recognizes the direction in which the line of sight is most concentrated as the front based on the frequency distribution by accumulating the estimation results by the line-of-sight direction estimation means for a predetermined number of times. A standard front estimation means for estimating the standard front;
A line-of-sight estimation device comprising: a line-of-sight direction correcting unit that corrects the estimation result of the line-of-sight direction estimating unit using the estimation result of the reference front estimation unit.
The pupil detection means performs at least one of evaluation of a low luminance part and evaluation of a circular part on an image around an eye cut out from the face image, and detects a position having the highest evaluation as a pupil position. The line-of-sight estimation apparatus according to claim 1.
The pupil detecting means extracts a low-luminance portion having a luminance value equal to or lower than a predetermined value in an image around an eye cut out from the face image, and detects the position of the pupil from the extracted low-luminance portion. The gaze estimation apparatus according to claim 2.
The pupil detection means sets the upper edge of the low brightness portion located near the center of the image in the low brightness portion as an upper eyelid candidate line, and determines the position of the pupil for the area below the upper eyelid candidate line. The gaze estimation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the gaze estimation apparatus is detected.
5. The eye gaze estimation apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the pupil detection unit detects one end of the upper eyelid candidate line as a head and the other end as a head.
The gaze direction estimation unit estimates an apparent gaze direction based on the estimation result of the face direction estimation unit and the positional relationship between the eye feature points detected by the pupil detection unit, and sets the apparent gaze direction to the apparent gaze direction. The gaze estimation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gaze direction of the vehicle driver is estimated based on the camera by performing correction using camera parameters.
The gaze direction estimation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the gaze direction estimation unit further estimates an apparent gaze direction using a lateral eye crack angle as an eye parameter.
The line-of-sight direction estimation means includes an apparent line-of-sight direction caused by the installation position of the camera, and an apparent position caused by the position or position within the angle of view of the lens of the camera of the vehicle driver. Both of the sight line direction of the camera based on at least the position and orientation of the face of the vehicle driver, the position and orientation of the eyes, the angle of view of the lens of the camera, and the orientation of the camera relative to the reference plane. The line-of-sight estimation apparatus according to claim 6.
Using the frequency distribution created by the reference front estimation means, the direction in which the line of sight is concentrated other than the reference front is estimated as the direction in which the gaze target exists, and the line-of-sight direction estimated by the line-of-sight direction estimation means 2. The gaze estimation apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising first gaze direction estimation means that estimates a gaze direction of a vehicle driver when the gaze target is concentrated in a direction in which the gaze target exists. .
Whether or not a predetermined range centered on the reference front estimated by the reference front estimation means is set, and the gaze direction estimated by the gaze direction estimation means is within a predetermined range centered on the reference front The line-of-sight estimation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising second gaze direction estimation means for identifying the eye.
The line-of-sight direction estimation means estimates the line-of-sight direction of a vehicle driver based on the camera based on the estimation result of the face direction estimation means when the pupil detection means cannot detect the position of the pupil. The line-of-sight estimation apparatus according to claim 1.
The line-of-sight direction estimation means is the one of the left and right eyes of the vehicle driver that has a higher detection rate of the position of the pupil by the pupil detection means during the most recent fixed period, or currently the pupil detection means 2. The gaze direction of a vehicle driver with respect to the camera is estimated using a detection result of the pupil detection means for the eye whose eye position can be detected. The gaze estimation apparatus of description.
The gaze direction estimation means uses the gaze direction using the right eye pupil position and the left eye pupil position when the pupil detection means detects the positions of both the left and right eye eyes of the vehicle driver. Estimate each gaze direction and evaluate the degree of stability of both gaze directions. If there is a difference in the stability evaluation value, select the gaze direction with the higher evaluation value and output it as an estimation result. The eye-gaze estimation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein if the evaluation values are equal, an average value of both eye-gaze directions is output as an estimation result.
The line-of-sight direction estimation means uses the detection result of the pupil detection means for the dominant eye of the vehicle driver when the pupil detection means can detect the positions of the eyes of both eyes of the vehicle driver. The gaze estimation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gaze direction of the vehicle driver is estimated based on the camera.
The pupil detection means evaluates the degree of concealment of the left and right eyes of the vehicle driver based on the estimation result of the face direction estimation means, and detects the position of the pupil with priority on the eye with the lower possibility of concealment. The line-of-sight estimation apparatus according to claim 1.
The vehicle further comprises traveling state determination means for determining the current traveling state of the vehicle from the vehicle signal and / or vehicle surrounding information,
The reference front estimation means determines the current line of sight when the current driving state of the vehicle is determined to be turning by the driving state determination means, and when the gaze direction estimated by the gaze direction estimation means changes. Correcting the reference front estimated based on the time-series change of the estimation result by the gaze direction estimating means, based on the amount of change in the direction or the amount of change in the gaze direction in the same turning state in the past. The line-of-sight estimation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the line-of-sight estimation apparatus is characterized.
The vehicle further includes a traveling state prediction means for predicting a traveling state of the vehicle from the vehicle signal and / or vehicle periphery information,
The reference front estimation means predicts that the future driving state of the vehicle will be turning by the driving state prediction means, and when the gaze direction estimated by the gaze direction estimation means changes, Correcting the reference front estimated based on the time-series change of the estimation result by the gaze direction estimation means based on the gaze direction change amount or the gaze direction change amount in the past in the same turning state. The line-of-sight estimation apparatus according to claim 1.
JP2007047424A 2007-02-27 2007-02-27 Gaze estimation device Expired - Fee Related JP4826506B2 (en)
JP2007047424A JP4826506B2 (en) 2007-02-27 2007-02-27 Gaze estimation device
JP2008210239A JP2008210239A (en) 2008-09-11
JP4826506B2 true JP4826506B2 (en) 2011-11-30
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JP2007047424A Expired - Fee Related JP4826506B2 (en) 2007-02-27 2007-02-27 Gaze estimation device
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