HK1131371B - Health state management device and health state management system - Google Patents

Description

Health state management device and health state management system

Technical Field

The present application relates to a health status management apparatus and a health status management system that manages the health status of a driver of an automobile or other vehicle, ship, aircraft, or other type of vehicle.

Background

Japanese unexamined patent application, first publication No.2006-248254 discloses the following technique: the driver is verified, and further, the alcohol concentration contained in the breath of the driver is measured, and when the alcohol concentration is equal to or greater than a preset concentration, the start of the engine of the automobile owned by the driver is restricted via the network.

However, the above-described technique of the related art only detects the alcohol concentration in the breath of the driver. There is therefore a problem in that if alcohol is not detected, driving is permitted even in a case where the health state of the driver is not satisfied, because the judgment is impaired and it is not desirable to permit driving of the driver.

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a state of health management apparatus and a state of health management system that are capable of deciding whether to permit operation of a vehicle based on information about the state of health of a driver.

In order to achieve the above object, a state of health management device according to the present invention manages information on a state of health of a driver of a vehicle, including: a verification section that verifies a driver; a health state determination portion that measures blood component data of the driver verified by the verification portion and determines a health state of the driver using the blood component data; a decision section that decides whether or not to permit operation of a vehicle based on a result of the judgment by the state of health judgment section; and a storage section that stores the determination result of the state of health determination section and the determination result of the determination section in association with driver identification information of a driver. Wherein the blood component data measured by the health status judging section includes a plasma protein value and a lactic acid value, and the health status judging section obtains a comparison result by comparing the plasma protein value and the lactic acid value in the blood component data measured by the health status judging section with an allowable range indicating a health status suitable for an operation, which is registered in advance for each item of the blood component data, and obtains the judgment result from the comparison result.

With this configuration, the health state management section measures the blood component data of the driver that has been verified by the verification section, and determines the health state of the driver from the blood component data. Based on the determination result, the decision section decides whether or not to permit operation of the vehicle. Therefore, a decision whether to permit operation of the vehicle can be made based on the information about the state of health of the driver.

In the state of health management apparatus according to the present invention, the authentication portion may authenticate the driver by a vein pattern in a part of a body of the driver.

With the above configuration, the authentication portion authenticates the driver using the vein pattern in a part of the body of the driver, so that accurate authentication can be performed.

In the health status management apparatus according to the present invention, the health status determination section may irradiate a part of the body of the driver with infrared light to acquire an absorption spectrum, and may analyze the absorption spectrum to measure blood component data.

With the above configuration, the health state determination section irradiates a part of the body of the driver with infrared light to acquire an absorption spectrum, and analyzes the absorption spectrum. In this manner, blood component data is obtained by a non-invasive (non-invasive) method. Therefore, the physiological and mental stress of the driver can be reduced.

In the health status management apparatus according to the present invention, the verification section may verify the driver by a vein pattern in a part of the body of the driver, the health status determination section may irradiate the part of the body of the driver with infrared light to acquire an absorption spectrum, and may analyze the absorption spectrum to measure blood component data, and the detection of the vein pattern used by the verification section and the acquisition of the absorption spectrum used by the health status determination section may be realized by a single sensor section.

With the above configuration, the detection of the vein pattern used by the authentication section and the acquisition of the absorption spectrum used by the health status determination section are realized by a single sensor section. Therefore, the verification of the driver and the judgment of the state of health are realized by the same operation, and the configuration of the system as a whole can be simplified.

In the state of health management apparatus according to the present invention, the decision section may allow the vehicle to be operated when the values of all items of the blood component data are within the specified range determined for each item.

With the above configuration, when the values of all items of the blood component data are within the specified range determined for each item, the decision section decides to permit the operation of the vehicle. More detailed information about the state of health of the driver can thus be obtained, on the basis of which information a more appropriate decision can be made as to whether or not to allow operation of the vehicle.

In the state of health management apparatus according to the present invention, the decision section may decide not to permit operation of the vehicle when a value of a predetermined specific item among the items of the blood component data is not within a specified range.

With the above configuration, when the value of a specific predetermined item among the items of the blood component data is not within a specified range, the decision section decides not to permit the operation of the vehicle. Therefore, a decision can be made more appropriately as to whether or not to permit operation of the vehicle.

In the state of health management apparatus according to the present invention, the decision section may decide not to permit operation of the vehicle when, of items other than the specific item in the blood component data, the number within the specified range determined for each of the items is less than a specified number.

With the above configuration, when the number within the specified range among the items other than the specific item is smaller than the specified number, the deciding part decides not to allow the operation of the vehicle. Therefore, the decision whether to permit the operation of the vehicle can be made more appropriately.

The health status management apparatus according to the present invention may further comprise an output section that outputs a decision result of the decision section.

With the above configuration, the decision result of the decision section is output by the output section, and therefore can be visually confirmed reliably by the driver.

The health status management apparatus according to the present invention may further include: a key management section that accommodates and manages keys of the vehicle; and a control portion that performs control to enable removal of the key of the vehicle that the driver can operate, which is accommodated by the key management portion, based on driver identification information of the driver who is permitted to operate, when the operation of the vehicle is permitted by the decision portion.

With the above configuration, when the decision portion has permitted to operate the vehicle, the control portion performs control to enable the key of the vehicle that the driver can operate, which is accommodated by the key management portion, to be taken out, based on the driver identification information of the driver whose operation is permitted. Therefore, only the key of the vehicle that the driver can operate is taken out.

The health status management system according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises: the health state management device described above; a plurality of key managers that accommodate and manage keys including keys of the vehicle, and that can be connected to the health status management device via a network; and a control portion that performs control to enable extraction of a key accommodated by the key manager of a vehicle that can be operated by the driver, based on driver identification information of a driver who is permitted to operate, when the operation of the vehicle is permitted by the decision portion.

With the above configuration, in the health state management apparatus, the health state judgment section measures the blood component data of the driver who has been verified by the verification section, and judges the health state of the driver from the blood component data. Based on the determination result, the decision section decides whether or not to permit operation of the vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to decide whether to permit operation of the vehicle based on the information about the state of health of the driver. Further, in a case where the decision portion of the state of health management device has allowed operation of the vehicle, the control portion performs control based on driver identification information of the driver so that a key of the vehicle that can be operated by the driver, which is accommodated by the key manager that can be connected to the state of health management device via the network, can be taken out. Therefore, only the key of the vehicle that the driver can operate is taken out.

A health status management system according to a second aspect of the present invention comprises: the health state management device described above; a vehicle that receives specified data from the IC chip held in the holder; a data writing section that writes information on a decision result of the deciding section to the IC chip; a data reading section that reads information on a decision result of the deciding section written to the IC chip; and an engine control portion that performs control to enable starting of an engine of the vehicle when the information on the decision result read by the data reading portion is permission information authorizing permission to operate the vehicle.

With the above configuration, in the health state management apparatus, the health state judgment section measures the blood component data of the driver who has been verified by the verification section, and judges the health state of the driver from the blood component data. Based on the determination result, the decision section decides whether or not to permit operation of the vehicle. Therefore, it is possible to decide whether to permit operation of the vehicle based on the information about the state of health of the driver. Further, information on the decision result of the decision section of the state of health management device is written to the IC chip held in the holder by the data writing section. Information on the decision result of the decision section, which is written to the IC chip, is read by the data reading section. When the thus read decision result information is a permission decision authorizing permission to operate the vehicle, the engine control section performs control to enable starting of the engine of the vehicle. Therefore, the engine can be started only when the data reading portion reads the holder holding the IC chip storing the permission information authorizing permission to operate the vehicle.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a health state management device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a health state management device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a health state management system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a health state management system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

A health status management apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention is explained below with reference to fig. 1.

The health status management apparatus 10 shown in fig. 1 measures the health status of a driver (operator) of a truck, bus, taxi, rail vehicle, or other vehicle, or a ship, aircraft, or other vehicle for a particular business use, and manages the health status. The health status management apparatus 10 verifies that the driver is a previously registered legitimate driver, determines the health status thereof, and decides whether to allow the driver to operate (drive) the vehicle based on the determination result. The health state management device 10 stores the above-described health state determination result and the decision result as to whether or not to permit the operation in association with the driver identification information on the driver, and additionally outputs the decision result as to whether or not to permit the operation, so as to enable the driver to visually confirm.

The health status management device 10 includes: a driver verification section (verification section) 11, a health state judgment section 12, an allowance decision section (decision section) 13, a storage section 20, and a display section (output section) 16. The driver authentication portion 11 authenticates the driver as a legitimate driver. The health status determination section 12 measures blood component data of the driver being determined, which has been verified as a legitimate driver by the driver verification section 11, and further determines the health status of the driver being determined from the blood component data. The permission deciding portion 13 decides whether or not to permit the driver being decided to operate the vehicle based on the judgment result of the state of health judging portion 12. The storage section 20 stores the judgment result of the state of health judgment section 12 and the decision result of the permission decision section 13 in association with the driver identification information on the driver being judged. The display section 16 is an LCD (liquid crystal display) or the like, and outputs a result of decision as to whether or not the driver's operation being judged is permitted, so as to enable visual confirmation.

The driver authentication portion 11 is a well-known vein authentication device. The driver authentication portion 11 acquires a vein pattern of a part of the body of the driver such as, for example, a fingertip, and verifies the vein pattern against a vein pattern of a previously registered legitimate driver. Based on the result of the check, the driver authentication portion 11 determines whether the individual is an individual who has been permitted to be a driver, i.e., a legitimate driver. The vein pattern is acquired as follows. The driver holds his finger Y on the sensor section (verification section, health state judgment section) 14. The finger Y is irradiated with near infrared light by the infrared LED 14a, and the transmitted light or the reflected light is received by a CCD (charge coupled device) or other imaging element.

The sensor section 14 has a vein mode sensor 14b including the imaging element. The driver authentication portion 11 has a vein pattern processing portion 11a that performs specified image processing on the signal from the vein pattern sensor 14 b. The driver authentication portion 11 has a vein pattern verification portion 11 b. The vein pattern check portion 11b reads a vein pattern of the driver registered in advance corresponding to the driver identification information based on the driver identification information input from the input portion 15. The input section 15 is a keyboard, a card reader, or the like.

The vein pattern inspection section 11b inspects the read-out vein pattern with respect to the vein pattern acquired by the sensor section 14 and image-processed by the vein pattern processing section 11 a. If the vein pattern check portion 11b judges that the two vein patterns are the same, the driver is authenticated as a legitimate driver. On the other hand, if the vein pattern check portion 11b judges that the two vein patterns are not identical, the driver is not authenticated as a legitimate driver. The result of the verification is displayed to the driver on the display section 16. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the input of the driver identification information by the input section 15 is removed, and the vein pattern acquired by the sensor section 14 is individually and automatically checked against the registered vein pattern to identify and verify the driver identification information of the driver.

As the health state judging section 12, a well-known non-invasive blood component measuring apparatus is used. The health status determination section 12 analyzes the absorption spectrum from the transmitted light or the reflected light obtained by irradiating the finger Y of the driver being determined with near-infrared light by the infrared LED 14a of the same sensor section 14 as described above. From the analysis result of the absorption spectrum, the health state judgment section 12 acquires data (blood component data) relating to the blood component of the driver being judged. The health state judgment section 12 has an absorption spectrum analysis section 12a for performing analysis of an absorption spectrum for data of transmitted or reflected light obtained from near infrared light of the finger Y of the driver irradiated by the infrared LED 14 a. This data has been acquired by blood component sensor 14 c. The blood component measuring section 12c in the health state judging section 12 includes the absorption spectrum analyzing section 12a and the blood component sensor 14c of the sensor section 14.

The blood component measuring section 12c employs an infrared spectrophotometer.

Items of the blood components measured by the health status judging section 12 are blood glucose values, GPT (glutamate pyruvate transaminase) and other enzyme values, albumin and other plasma protein values, and cholesterol values, lactic acid values, and the like.

The blood component comparing section 12b of the health status judging section 12 reads a specified allowable range of blood component data indicating a health status suitable for the operation, which is registered in advance for each item.

The blood component comparing section 12b compares the allowable range for each item of the read blood component data with the experimental value for each item of the blood component data acquired from the absorption spectrum analysis for each item. From among the several comparison results, the blood component comparing section 12b determines whether the driver being determined is in a healthy state suitable for operating the vehicle.

Specifically, the blood component comparing section 12b determines in advance a plasma protein value and a lactic acid value indicating the degree of fatigue of the driver as specific items among the blood component data items. The blood component comparing section 12b judges whether or not the values of these specific items in the measured blood component data are within the read blood component data values, that is, within the allowable range determined in advance for each item. These allowable ranges are ranges: within this range, the state of health of the driver can be judged as being suitable for operating the vehicle. The allowable range is appropriately set based on the age and sex of the driver and individual differences. Such a configuration may be adopted: wherein the allowable range is appropriately corrected or updated based on the blood component data acquired in the past.

When the above-described specific item values are all within the respectively set allowable ranges (when the specific items all satisfy the requirements), the blood component comparing portion 12b judges that the health state of the driver being judged is suitable for operating the vehicle. On the other hand, if at least one of the values of the above-described specific items is out of the allowable range (if at least one of the requirements is not satisfied), the blood component comparison portion 12b determines that the health state of the driver being determined is not appropriate for operating the vehicle.

When the number of items within the corresponding preset allowable range among all the items other than the above-described specific items is equal to or greater than a specified number (e.g., half), the blood component comparing portion 12b determines that the state of health of the driver being determined is suitable for operating the vehicle. On the other hand, if the number of items within the corresponding preset allowable range among all the items other than the above-described specific item is less than the specified number, the blood component comparison portion 12b determines that the health state of the driver being determined is not suitable for operating the vehicle.

When the health state of the driver being judged is judged as a state suitable for operating the vehicle in both the judgment result for the specific item of the blood component data and the judgment result for the item other than the specific item, the permission decision section 13 decides to permit the driver being judged to operate the vehicle. On the other hand, if in at least one or the other of the determinations, the state of health of the driver being determined is determined to be a state unsuitable for operating the vehicle, the permission deciding portion 13 decides not to permit the driver being determined to operate the vehicle.

The permission decision section 13 may also perform a decision as to whether or not to permit the operation of the vehicle as described below. The permission deciding part 13 does not set a specific item, and the permission deciding part 13 decides permission to operate the vehicle by the driver being judged only when all items of the blood component data are within the respectively set allowable ranges. On the other hand, when at least one item is not within the allowable range, the permission deciding portion 13 decides not to permit the driver being decided to operate the vehicle. Otherwise, when the specified number or more of items among all items of the blood component data are within the respectively set allowable ranges, the permission decision portion 13 decides to permit the driver being judged to operate the vehicle. On the other hand, when the number of items within the allowable range among all the items of the blood component data is less than the specified number, the permission decision portion 13 decides not to permit the driver being judged to operate the vehicle. Further, a configuration may be adopted in which: wherein the user can select and set any one of the above-described determination methods.

The permission determination portion 13 causes the display portion 16 to display the above determination result in association with the driver identification information of the driver being determined. That is, when a decision is made to permit the driver being judged to operate the vehicle, the permission decision portion 13 causes a message indicating "permit the operation of the driver a" to be displayed on the display portion 16. On the other hand, if the permission decision portion 13 decides not to permit the driver being judged to operate the vehicle, a message indicating "not permit the operation of the driver a" is displayed on the display portion 16.

The permission determination portion 13 stores the determination result as to whether or not the operation of the vehicle is permitted, the determination result of the health state determination portion 12 as the basis of the determination result, and the comparison result for all items of the blood component data in the storage portion 20 in association with the measurement date and the driver identification information of the driver being determined as the object of the determination result, as log information. The log information stored in this storage section 20 can be displayed on the display section 16 or can be printed by a printer (output section) not shown, as necessary. The log information may be presented as a numerical value, or may be displayed as a graphic or the like. By storing such information as log information, the health status of each driver on different dates can be confirmed.

With the above-described first embodiment, the sensor portion 14 and the state of health determination portion 12 measure the blood component data of the driver being determined, which has been verified by the sensor portion 14 and the driver verification portion 11, and further, determine the state of health of the driver being determined from the blood component data. Based on the determination result, the permission determination portion 13 determines whether or not to permit the driver being determined to operate the vehicle. Therefore, based on the information about the state of health of the driver being judged, a decision can be made as to whether or not to permit operation of the vehicle.

Further, the sensor section 14 and the driver authentication section 11 perform authentication of the driver being judged using the vein pattern of a part of the body. Therefore, accurate verification of the driver being judged can be performed.

Further, the sensor portion 14 and the health status determination portion 12 irradiate a part of the body of the driver being determined with infrared light to acquire an absorption spectrum, and analyze the absorption spectrum to measure blood component data. In this way, the physiological and mental stress of the driver being judged can be reduced using a non-invasive method to measure the blood component data.

Further, the vein pattern detection used in the driver authentication section 11 and the absorption spectrum acquisition used in the health state determination section 12 can be realized by a single sensor section 14. Therefore, the verification of the driver being judged and the judgment of the state of health can be performed in the same operation, and the system configuration is simplified as a whole.

Further, when the value of a specific item preset in advance in the item of the blood component data is not within a specified range, the permission decision section 13 decides not to permit the operation of the vehicle. Therefore, the decision whether to permit the operation of the vehicle can be made more appropriately.

Further, when the number of items within the specified range other than the specific item is less than the specified number, the permission decision portion 13 decides not to permit the operation of the vehicle. Therefore, the decision as to whether or not to permit operation of the vehicle can be made more appropriately.

Further, by causing the decision result of the permission decision section 13 to be output by the display section 16, the result can be reliably presented for visual confirmation by the driver being judged.

When the values of all items of the blood component data are within the specified range determined for each item, if the permission decision section 13 decides that the operation of the vehicle is permitted, more detailed information on the health state of the driver can still be obtained. Based on this message, a decision can still be made more appropriately as to whether to allow operation of the vehicle.

Next, referring to fig. 2, focusing on differences from the health status management apparatus according to the first embodiment, a health status management apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention is explained below.

The health status management device 10 shown in fig. 2 includes a key management section 31 and a control section 32. The key management section 31 accommodates and manages keys 30 of vehicles. When the permission decision portion 13 has made a decision to permit the driver being judged to operate the vehicle, the control portion 32 performs control so that, of the keys 30 accommodated in the key management portion 31, only the keys 30 of the vehicles that can be operated by the driver being judged can be taken out, based on the driver identification information from the driver authentication portion 11 with respect to the driver being judged.

The key 30 includes a key body 35 and a key holder 37. The key holder 37 has an RFID (radio frequency identification) IC chip 36 for storing key identification information and displaying the key identification information that can be visually confirmed. The key management portion 31 is provided with holding portions 38, and each of the holding portions 38 can hold only the key holder 37 of the key 30 in one-to-one correspondence, and can be individually locked and unlocked. Identifiable holding-section identification information is visually displayed on each holding section 38. The driver inserts the key holder 37 of the key 30 into the holding portion 38 having the holding portion identification information matching the key identification information displayed on the key holder 37. When the key holder 37 is inserted in this manner, the holding portion 38 communicates with the IC chip 36 of the key holder 37 and reads the key identification information. The holding portion 38 locks the key holder 37 only in the case where the key identification information of one-to-one correspondence is read from the IC chip 36. On the other hand, when the key holder 37 of the key 30 whose key identification information does not match is inserted, the key holder is not held, but a warning is issued, and the driver is notified that the holding position is incorrect.

The holding portion 38 holds the key 30 that can be used by the driver identification information of the driver. The holding portion identification information for the holding portion 38 is stored in advance in the control portion 32. Similar to the state of health management apparatus according to the first embodiment, when the permission decision portion 13 makes a decision to permit operation of the vehicle for the driver being judged, the control portion 32 unlocks the holding portion 38 that has stored the holding-portion identification information corresponding to the driver identification information of the driver being judged. On the other hand, the control portion 32 does not unlock the lock with the holding portion 38 holding other holding portion identification information. In this way, only the key 30 of the vehicle that the driver being judged can operate can be taken out from the key management portion 31. On the other hand, when the permission decision portion 13 has decided that the driver being judged is permitted to operate the vehicle, the control portion 32 does not unlock any of the holding portions 38.

In the case where the IC chip 36 is not provided in the key holder 37, the key 30 may also be managed using only the visually identifiable holding-part identification information of the holding part 38 and the visually identifiable key identification information of the key holder 37. In this case, when returning the key 30, the driver inputs information indicating that the key 30 is to be accommodated and the key identification number to the input portion 15 of the health state management apparatus 10, and inserts the key holder 37 into the holding portion 38 having the corresponding key identification information. Then, the holding portion 38 locks the key holder 37, and stores information indicating that the key 30 having the key identification number input to the input portion 15 is held in the holding portion 38. On the other hand, if the key identification information for the key 30, which has been input to the input portion 15 at the return time described above, is the key identification information for the key that has been held in the holding portion 38, an input error is detected, and an alarm is issued.

With the above-described second embodiment, when the permission decision portion 13 permits operation of the vehicle, the control portion 32 performs control so that only the key 30 of the vehicle that can be operated by the driver being judged, which is accommodated in the key management portion 31, can be taken out, based on the driver identification information on the driver being judged and who has been authorized to permit the operation. In this way, only the key 30 of the vehicle that can be operated is taken out.

Next, referring to fig. 3, focusing on differences from the health status management apparatus according to the second embodiment, a health status management system according to a third embodiment of the present invention is explained below.

As shown in fig. 3, a health status management system 41 according to a third embodiment is configured with a plurality of key managers 40 having a configuration similar to that of the key management section 31 described above, separately from the health status management device 10, connectable to the health status management device 10 via a wired or wireless network N.

The control portion 32 of the state of health management apparatus 10 stores in advance holding portion identification information for the holding portion 38 containing identification information for the key manager 40 for driver identification information of each driver. Similar to the state of health management apparatus of the first embodiment, when the permission determination portion 13 makes a determination to permit the driver being determined to operate the vehicle, the control portion 32 places the holding portion 38 of the key manager 40, which has stored the holding portion identification information corresponding to the driver identification information of the driver being determined, in an unlockable state. At this time, however, the control portion 32 does not actually release the lock. When the driver being judged inputs appropriate driver identification information to the key manager 40, the key manager 40 unlocks the holding portion 38 corresponding to the input driver identification information, which has been in an unlockable state. In this way, only the keys 30 of vehicles that can be operated by the driver being judged for which a decision to permit operation of the vehicle has been made can be taken out. On the other hand, when the permission determination portion 13 does not make a determination to permit the driver being judged to operate the vehicle, the control portion 30 does not unlock the holding portion of any one of the key managers 40.

With the third embodiment, when the permission deciding part 13 of the state of health management apparatus 10 permits the driver being judged to operate the vehicle, the control part 32 of the state of health management apparatus 10 performs control based on the identification information of the driver being judged so that only the key 30 of the vehicle that can be operated by the driver being judged, which is accommodated in the key manager 40 connectable to the state of health management apparatus 10 via the network, can be taken out. Therefore, only the key 30 of the vehicle capable of operation is taken out.

Next, referring to fig. 4, focusing on differences from the health status management apparatus according to the first embodiment, a health status management system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention is explained below.

As shown in fig. 4, the state of health management system according to the fourth embodiment has an ignition key 50 that is separate from the vehicle and is required when the vehicle is started, and a vehicle 55. The ignition key 50 is configured by embedding an RFID IC chip 51 in a holder 52, the ignition key 50 being, for example, a so-called smart key of a card type. The vehicle 55 is provided with an RFID reader (data reading section) 56, an engine 58, and an engine control section 57 that controls the engine 58 of the vehicle 55. An RFID reader (data reading section) 56 drives the IC chip 51 of the ignition key 50, and wirelessly receives information from the IC chip 51. The engine control portion 57 reads the key identification information of the ignition key 50 from the IC chip 51, and enables the engine to be started only when the key identification information matches the key identification information stored in advance.

The health status management device 10 is provided with an RFID reader/writer (data writing portion) 59 capable of wirelessly writing and deleting information in the IC chip 51 of the ignition key 50.

The health status management system 60 according to the fourth embodiment includes: the health management apparatus includes an ignition key 50, a health management apparatus 10 that writes information to an IC chip 51, and a vehicle 55 that receives specified data from the health management apparatus 10 via the IC chip 51 of the ignition key 50.

In the health status management device 10, similar to the first embodiment, when the permission deciding portion 13 decides to permit the driver being judged to operate the vehicle 55, when the ignition key 50 is inserted into the RFID reader/writer 59, the permission deciding portion 13 stores permission information indicating that the operation of the vehicle 55 is decided to be permitted, and date and time information of the decision calculated from the internal clock in the IC chip 51 of the ignition key 50 using the RFID reader/writer 59.

When the driver enters the corresponding vehicle 55 with the ignition key 50 and performs an operation of starting the engine 58, the RFID reader 56 of the vehicle 55 reads information from the IC chip 51 of the ignition key 50. The engine control portion 57 performs control such that the engine is started only when the key identification information of the ignition key 50 matches the key identification information stored in advance in the engine control portion 57, and further when the read permission information matches the date and time information, and further when the date and time information is within a valid period set in advance. That is, if the information from the IC chip 51 of the ignition key 50 satisfies the above-described condition, the engine control portion 57 performs the start of the engine 58 when the driver performs the operation of starting the engine 58. The validity period described above may indicate, for example, validity only on the day of decision to permit operation, or a time band may be specified.

With the fourth embodiment described above, information on the decision result of the permission decision section 13 of the health state management device 10 is written to the IC chip 51 held by the ignition key 50 by the RFID reader/writer 59. The decision result information written to the permission decision section 13 of the IC chip 51 is read by the RFID reader 56 of the vehicle 55, and if the read-out decision result information is permission information indicating that it is decided that the operation of the vehicle 55 is permitted, the engine control section 57 of the vehicle 55 performs control to enable the engine 58 of the vehicle 55 to be started. Therefore, the engine 58 can be started only when the RFID reader 56 reads the permission information from the ignition key 50 holding the IC chip 57 in which the permission information indicating the decision to permit the operation of the vehicle 55 is stored in the IC chip 57.

As the condition for enabling the engine to be started, at least one of the above-described conditions may be employed, or an appropriate condition may be combined.

In the state of health management device 10, in addition to the permission information indicating permission to operate the vehicle 55 and the decision date and time information calculated from the internal clock, the identifying device information of the vehicle 55 that the driver being judged can operate may be stored, the identifying device information of the vehicle 55 being stored in association with the driver identifying information about the driver being judged. In this case, when there is information that matches the device identification information stored in advance in the engine control portion 57 among the device identification information stored in the IC chip 51 of the ignition key 50, and further when the readout permission information and the date and time information are read out, and when the date and time information is within the valid period set in advance, the engine control portion 57 performs control so as to enable the engine to be started.

Such a configuration may be adopted: wherein the above-mentioned sensor portion 14 is further combined with a detection device to detect data that is not detectable by the sensor portion 14 (e.g., alcohol concentration in the driver's breath), and this data is included in making a decision as to whether to permit operation of the vehicle.

While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated above, it should be understood that these are examples of the invention and should not be considered as limiting. Additions, omissions, substitutions, and other modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be seen as limited by the foregoing description, and is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.

Cross Reference to Related Applications

The present invention claims priority from Japanese patent application No.2008-009395 filed on 18.1.2008, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Claims (11)

1. A state of health management device that manages information regarding a state of health of a driver of a vehicle, the state of health management device comprising:

a verification section that verifies a driver;

a health state determination portion that measures blood component data of the driver verified by the verification portion and determines a health state of the driver using the blood component data;

a decision section that decides whether or not to permit operation of a vehicle based on a result of the judgment by the state of health judgment section; and

a storage section that stores a judgment result of the state of health judgment section and a decision result of the decision section in association with driver identification information of a driver,

wherein the blood component data measured by the health status judging section includes a plasma protein value and a lactic acid value, and

the health status determination section obtains a comparison result by comparing the plasma protein value and the lactic acid value in the blood component data measured by the health status determination section with an allowable range indicating a health status suitable for an operation, which is registered in advance for each item of the blood component data, and obtains the determination result from the comparison result.

2. The health status management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the authentication portion authenticates the driver by a vein pattern in a part of a body of the driver.

3. The health status management apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the health status determination section irradiates a part of the body of the driver with infrared light to acquire an absorption spectrum, and analyzes the absorption spectrum to measure blood component data.

4. The health status management device according to claim 1,

the authentication section authenticates the driver by a vein pattern in a part of a body of the driver,

the health state judging section irradiates a part of the body of the driver with infrared light to acquire an absorption spectrum, and analyzes the absorption spectrum to measure blood component data, an

The detection of the vein pattern used by the authentication section and the acquisition of the absorption spectrum used by the health status determination section are realized by a single sensor section.

5. The health status management apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 4, wherein the decision section allows the vehicle to be operated when values of all items of the blood component data are within a specified range determined for each of the items.

6. The health status management apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 4, wherein the decision section decides not to permit operation of the vehicle when a value of a specific item predetermined among the items of the blood component data is not within a specified range.

7. The health status management apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the decision section decides not to permit operation of the vehicle when, of items other than the specific item in the blood component data, the number within a specified range determined for each of the items is less than a specified number.

8. The health status management device according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 4, further comprising: an output section that outputs a decision result of the decision section.

9. The health status management device according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 4, further comprising:

a key management section that accommodates and manages keys of the vehicle; and

a control portion that performs control to enable a key of a vehicle that is accommodated by the key management portion and that is operable by the driver to be taken out, based on driver identification information of the driver whose operation is permitted, when the operation of the vehicle is permitted by the decision portion.

10. A health state management system comprising:

the health status management device according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 4;

a plurality of key managers that accommodate and manage keys including keys of the vehicle, and are connectable to the health status management apparatus via a network; and

a control portion that performs control to enable a key of a vehicle that is accommodated by the key manager and that is operable by the driver to be taken out, based on driver identification information of the driver whose operation is permitted, when the operation of the vehicle is permitted by the decision portion.

11. A health state management system comprising:

the health status management device according to any one of claims 1, 2 and 4;

a vehicle that receives specified data from the IC chip held in the holder;

a data writing section that writes information on a decision result of the deciding section to the IC chip;

a data reading section that reads information on a decision result of the deciding section written to the IC chip; and

an engine control portion that performs control to enable starting of an engine of the vehicle when the information on the decision result read by the data reading portion is permission information authorizing permission to operate the vehicle.