Patent Application
20180222391
This invention is to create a smart rearview mirror, which is capable to be network connected and provide rich functions like video recording, navigation and remote security monitoring.
1. The current DVR (video recording) devices for vehicles are mostly a separated electronic box/pack. It is install by mounted on windshield, dashboard etc. It takes up the space and block the driver's eye sights while driving. These dash cam designs makes the driving unsafe.
2. Existing in car navigation system is located in the middle of dashboard. Most of the navigation system has local data only, but without online data feedbacks. Drivers cannot get real time driving routes and traffic information. This outdated routes can be misleading, or can lead the driver into a traffic jammed roads.
3. The existing in-vehicle smart systems are mostly equipped by car manufactures. These closed systems can provide designed functions only. Users can not extended new features.
3. The existing in-vehicle electronics are lacks of infrastructures for SOS request. There is no security mechanism provided for notifying emergent contacts with real-time location and real-time images.
4. The vehicle is not seamless monitored with connection to Internet cloud or other information devices.
5. For those monitored vehicle, users lacks of an integrated, easy to control user applications.
A rear view mirror system comprises one or more cameras, a central control board, a hidden screen display, a touch pad, and a wireless control button array.
The one or more cameras are configured for recording continuous video inside, outside, or around a vehicle, taking snapshots, and providing real time photo and video information to a plurality of remote monitoring devices on a user request.
The central control board is equipped with an operating system and software packages for controlling operations of the one or more cameras.
The hidden screen display is installed in a mirror of the vehicle and configured for providing operational information of the one or more cameras and the vehicle.
The touch pad is connected electronically to the central control board for receiving user control actions.
The wireless control button array is configured for allowing a user to send action commands to mirror.
At least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices is configured for receiving and presenting the real time photo and video information from the one or more cameras and controlling the operations of the one or more cameras.
The one or more cameras may comprise a front facing camera as a main camera, a internal facing camera as backup camera, a down-facing back camera for reverse parking video, and a horizontally-facing back camera for rearview streaming.
The hidden screen display may be configured to be turned on and off by the user through the touch pad, the wireless control button array, and the central control board.
At least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices may be linked with an Internet.
The plurality of remote monitoring devices may comprise a smartphone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a personal computer, and a server in the Internet.
At least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices may comprise a plurality of remote control applications configured for: receiving a real-time notification on engine start and engine stop, wherein the notification contains information of location of the vehicle, date, and time; checking historical driving route records, wherein the historical driving route records contain locations and speeds of the vehicle and a total distance, an average speed, a maximum speed of the vehicle; monitoring a vehicle real-time information, wherein the user requests and checks images or video streams from the front facing camera, the back facing camera, the internal facing cameras; and reviewing historical photo records, which are exported, saved, and sorted by time and locations in the system.
The rear view mirror system may further comprise a mirror software installed in the mirror, wherein the historical photos are captured by the cameras and saved in a mirror memory installed in the mirror, and the mirror software keeps checking availability of network connections and once a data network is connected, the mirror software uploads the captured historical photos to the server, and the server sorts by time and locations, and organizes the records in a table storage, so that a user accesses the historical photos and records using at least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices.
An extended GPS antenna head may be provided and connected to the mirror for stronger GPS signal receiving.
The rear view mirror system may further comprise a back-end cloud database configured for storing data of the user, the vehicle, the one or more cameras, and GPS track.
The rear view mirror system may further comprise a mirror software installed in the mirror and configured for allowing the user to: review the historical video from the one or more cameras with functions including play, stop, delete of video files in the historical video; input navigation destinations and select the navigation modes; take instant real-time photos using the one or more cameras; send a real-time SOS request by triggering SMS text messages and email messages in the plurality of monitoring devices; and select, download, install, un-install new third party applications in the one or more monitoring devices.
The rear view mirror system may further comprise an automotive software installed in the vehicle configured for operating the hidden screen display in the mirror without a user interaction in: detecting the engine start/stop by sensors and start/stop DVR features automatically; monitoring the G-sensor data, trigger snapshots if car is hit or stopped, causing G-sensor data sudden sharp change; monitoring the vibrations during the vehicle's moving or parking and sending notification to remote monitoring applications; monitoring and sensing temperature and humidity in the vehicle, so that once over limit threshold, the mirror software notifies remote monitoring applications; keeping listening to a network connection for user's operation commands, and providing image or video feedback; and setting up alarm after the engine is stopped, and bringing the mirror software offline/power off based on pre-set parameters.
The rear view mirror system may further comprise a FM transmission component for redirecting audio information from the one or more cameras into an in-car radio system.
The rear view mirror system may further comprise slots and connectors configured for installing SIM card, installing SD storage card, and connecting USB cables for debugging or data fetching.
The rear view mirror system may further comprise a cable bundles configured for battery power, ACC on/off detection power, reverse parking detection, temperature and humidity sensors, vibration sensors, and USB/video-in cables for the one or more cameras.
The software packages may comprise a mirror software installed in the mirror, a server software installed in the server for running the system, and a user software app installed in at least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices.
The advantages of the present invention are: (1) the rear view mirror system according to the invention provides a convenient system for monitoring inside, outside, and the status of the vehicle in a remote monitoring device such as a smartphone; and (2) the rear view mirror system according to the invention can be applied to a vehicle easily, enabling a smart monitoring system for the vehicle.
Although the present invention is briefly summarized, the fuller understanding of the invention can be obtained by the following drawings, detailed description and appended claims.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Referring to the figures, the embodiments of the invention are described in detail.
An aspect of the present invention provides a rear view mirror system, Carkuda®, as shown in
Carkuda is consist of multiple components. The mirror is the main hardware components which is install in vehicle. It comprises camera, main boards, screen, mirror, and other wirings. The service cloud is the central data hub for the whole Carkuda system. It stores the database and responses to other components service requests. The Smartphone (or PC) end is the users control point. Carkuda has related application software to be installed on those control end devices.
Carkuda System Architecture
Mirror connect itself to related components to realize full functions.
The connection standard from Carkuda mirror to different periphery uses different standards. For GPS antenna, it is the standard GPS signal lines base on its frequencies ranfge. For battery, power, ACC and parking signal, it's plain mental lines. The wireless button, which is optional, is connected with open frequency 2.4 GHz based on Bluetooth 4.0 standard. For Legacy camera, the connection is legacy video-in lines. For high definition digital video, the connection is use USB3.0 lines, which is enforced with signal amplifier hub.
Carkuda has back-end service cloud as illustrated in
The mirror is composes of multiple cameras. Once the car engine is turned on, in-mirror application will start the recording. And application will setup the camera parameters according to user preferences. The DVR process will chop the video stream for a new video file for every 3 minutes. If the DVR storage is full, process will start to delete the oldest video, which is recorded before, to free up space for new recordings, as shown in
The DVR stream the video data and encode as MPEG-4 standard. At the meantime, mirror application will add time stamps onto the video files. During the DVR recording process, mirror application handles other photo requests simultaneously. Photo request includes but not limited to snapshots by user, remote security monitoring.
Carkuda system integrates the existing branded navigation applications. Carkuda host navigation systems is provided with additional inputs like GPS feed, mobile data. During the navigation process, Carkuda system provide full access for each navigation system. Carkuda offer icon boxes on the screen for users to select the navigation applications as shown in
Carkuda system has two levels of SOS notifications: Email and SMS text, as shown in
Carkuda mirror keep record the GPS locations every three seconds. The location contains the longitude, latitude and its current speed measured by kilo meters per hour. Whenever three minutes timer hits, the system will upload the track data onto service cloud database. The tracking data is secured stored, and the transmission is encrypted with dynamic handshake parameters.
From applications on Smartphone, user make request from service cloud database. Tracking data is packed and downloaded to user devices. Then the Smartphone app will display the tracks on maps. With top speed, average speed, total kilo meters calculated as shown in
Among the statistics, the data is calculated as below:
Total kilometers=SUM(All distances between ACC on and ACC off)
Average speed=(Total kilometers tracked)/Total duration
Top speed=MAX(All speed recorded during the selected day)
Based on user request, Carkuda mirror can take the image from camera sensors. Once the image is taken, then it is first stored into internal memory (On-board Flash, or TF-SD card). The mirror then process the images for better quality. After this is done, mirror application will try pushing the photo data onto service cloud. End users can access the photo snapshot data via Smartphone applications. The process for this is illustrated in
To enhance the user experience, Carkuda handle the online offline switching smoothly. By online offline switching, it means the network access from mirror will experience different signal levels which causes lost of data connections. If this is not carefully handled, such environment change will cause data lost forever, image missing or record missing etc.
Carkuda mirror application, together with service cloud, works in an innovative way to smooth the data transfer process. Mirror applications maintains a local buffer to store the data and acknowledge the transfer process before clean up any piece of local buffer data.
The local buffer contains the records of:
Whenever the events happened, the mirror keep track of all and write into the local buffer as a transfer intermediate mechanism. If the mirror is online, which means the data connection is properly set, then the dedicated upload process will use the established connection with service cloud to upload the records and data. Once the service cloud confirms the records are stored, then the upload process can delete the buffer record locally. If the mirror offline, the record are firstly store in the mirror's local storage. Meanwhile the upload process will keep monitoring the network data connection. Once it is resumed, the records upload returns to normal process. In this way, Carkuda system can tackle the fast environment change of network connection. This makes the data records are all consistent.
Mirror applications keeps alive for services response. Started from engine start, mirror application create a network services socket, and then listen to any incoming request for video and images. Considering the privacy, mirror application introduce a authentication process to grant the access to camera data.
Due to the variety of network structure and access type (3G/4G/Wi-Fi), Carkuda system transfer the messages in a faster and reliable fashion. The service cloud acts the central hub for message exchange. When user request images or video from Smartphone application, the service cloud will dispatch the request to the proper mirror, which has internal unique identification numbers.
In the mirror, front camera is a digital high definition camera. It is display as the default camera. To implement the parking video, there are few points to adjust for this. First is the user interface. Normally the mirror interface displays the functional icons. Once the signal detected for reverse parking, the video preview window will be maximized on bring onto the top of user views. The video streaming will switch the stream from front camera to back down-facing packing camera. For the down-facing back camera, Carkuda mirror setup dedicated chipset to process the image, it enhances the video quality by brightness, sharpness and color rebalancing. The dedicated chipset algorithms
Carkuda mirror has connection with battery. Normally vehicle has limited battery capacity. Carkuda will stay in a standby mode once the car engine is off. Carkuda has power management algorithms to protect this battery life.
In the mirror, the [Settings] section provide an item to modify the delay time of standby. Carkuda mirror setup a timer once the car engine is turned off. And as time goes, the timer hit. Carkuda mirror will command the operating system to shutdown the whole system to save power consumptions.
Carkuda has dedicated line connected to ACC signal line. The voltage level is different between ACC on and ACC off. Carkuda mirror software package keep checking the voltage level in a fast frequency (each 50 milliseconds). The change of voltage is filtered for a moving average. Once the voltage cross the moving average, the mirror application will trigger the monitoring events. That causes the system to send record to services cloud.
The sounds from Carkuda Mirror is normally transfer to in-mirror speaker. To enhance the sound effect, Carkuda introduce FM radio mechanism. Carkuda mirror has dedicated radio module for FM transmission. On the mirror user can select certain frequency, which is ranging from 80 MHz-150 MHz, which is public radio frequency range.
The Key Points of this Invention and Benefits
Carkuda innovatively design the mirror with network connection. This opens the opportunities to introduce advanced features on to linked mirror.
Carkuda is the first to bring integrated application for car mirror monitoring.
Carkuda introduce four camera for car security monitoring.
Integrated DVR
Unlike dash cam, by integrating DVR into rearview mirror the space is saved. The eye sight is more clear while driving.
An aspect of the invention provides a rear view mirror system 100 comprising one or more cameras 10, a central control board 20, a hidden screen display 30, a touch pad 40, and a wireless control button array 50 as shown in
The one or more cameras 10 are configured for recording continuous video inside, outside, or around a vehicle 900, taking snapshots, and providing real time photo and video information to a plurality of remote monitoring devices 60 on a user request.
The central control board 20 is equipped with an operating system 22 and software packages 24 for controlling operations of the one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16 as shown in
The hidden screen display 30 is installed in a mirror 90 of the vehicle 900 and configured for providing operational information of the one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16 and the vehicle 900.
The touch pad 40 is connected electronically to the central control board 20 for receiving user control actions.
The wireless control button array 50 is configured for allowing a user to send action commands to the central control board 20 of the mirror 90. The wireless control button array 50 may be provided in the mirror 90, more specifically on a portion of exterior surface of the mirror 90 or on a certain portion of the hidden screen display 30. In certain embodiments of the invention, the wireless control button array 50 may be provided in a form of a remote controller.
At least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices 60 is configured for receiving and presenting the real time photo and video information from the one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16 and controlling the operations of the one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16.
The one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16 may comprise a front facing camera 10 as a main camera, a internal facing camera 12 as backup camera, a down-facing back camera 14 for reverse parking video, and a horizontally-facing back camera 16 for rearview streaming as shown in
The hidden screen display 30 may be configured to be turned on and off by the user through the touch pad 40, the wireless control button array 50, or the central control board 20.
At least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices 60 may be linked with an Internet or any communication network 910 as shown in
The plurality of remote monitoring devices 60 may comprise a smartphone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a personal computer, and a server in the Internet as shown in
At least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices 60 may comprise a plurality of remote control applications configured for: receiving a real-time notification on engine start and engine stop, wherein the notification contains information of location of the vehicle 900, date, and time; checking historical driving route records, and the historical driving route records contain locations and speeds of the vehicle 900 and a total distance, an average speed, a maximum speed of the vehicle 900; monitoring a vehicle real-time information, and the user may request and check images or video streams from the front facing camera 10, the back facing camera 14, 16, the internal facing cameras 12; and reviewing historical photo records, which are exported, saved, and sorted by time and locations in the system.
The rear view mirror system 100 may further comprise a mirror software installed in the mirror 90, wherein the historical photos are captured by the cameras 10, 12, 14, 16 and saved in a mirror memory 70 installed in the mirror 90, and the mirror software keeps checking availability of network connections and once a data network 910 is connected, the mirror software uploads the captured historical photos to the server in the data network 910, and the server sorts by time and locations, and organizes the records in a table storage, so that a user accesses the historical photos and records using at least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices 60 as shown in FIG. 7.
An extended GPS antenna head 80 may be provided and connected to the mirror 90 for stronger GPS signal receiving as shown in
The rear view mirror system 100 may further comprise a back-end cloud database 910 configured for storing data of the user, the vehicle 900, the one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16, and GPS track as shown in
The rear view mirror system 100 may further comprise a mirror software installed in the mirror 90 and configured for allowing the user to: review the historical video from the one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16 with functions including play, stop, delete of video files in the historical video; input navigation destinations and select the navigation modes; take instant real-time photos using the one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16; send a real-time SOS request by triggering SMS text messages and email messages in the plurality of monitoring devices 60; and select, download, install, un-install new third party applications in the one or more monitoring devices 60 as shown in
The rear view mirror system 100 may further comprise an automotive software installed in the vehicle 900 configured for operating the hidden screen display 30 in the mirror 90 without a user interaction in: detecting the engine start/stop by sensors and start/stop DVR features automatically; monitoring the G-sensor data, trigger snapshots if car is hit or stopped, causing G-sensor data sudden sharp change; monitoring the vibrations during the vehicle's moving or parking and sending notification to remote monitoring applications; monitoring and sensing temperature and humidity in the vehicle 900, so that once over limit threshold, the mirror software notifies remote monitoring applications; keeping listening to a network connection for user's operation commands, and providing image or video feedback; and setting up alarm after the engine is stopped, and bringing the mirror software offline/power off based on pre-set parameters.
The rear view mirror system 100 may further comprise a FM transmission component for redirecting audio information from the one or more cameras into an in-car radio system.
The rear view mirror system may further comprise slots and connectors (not shown) configured for installing SIM card, installing SD storage card, and connecting USB cables for debugging or data fetching.
The rear view mirror system 100 may further comprise a cable bundles (not shown) configured for battery power 92, ACC on/off detection power, reverse parking detection 94, temperature and humidity sensors 96, vibration sensors, and USB/video-in cables for the one or more cameras 10, 12, 14, 16 as shown in
The software packages may comprise a mirror software installed in the mirror 90, a server software installed in the server 910 for running the system 100, and a user software app installed in at least one of the plurality of remote monitoring devices 60.
The concepts of Carkuda, a rear view mirror system 100 according to an embodiment of the invention, are shown in
As shown in
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
Users can long press the middle button on the front face for more then ten seconds. (>10 s). Then wait for a little while, the machine shall flash the screen and re-start. If further issues, please contact your local distributors/retailers.
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
In
While the invention has been shown and described with reference to different embodiments thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that variations in form, detail, compositions and operation may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.
