Patent Application
20090273672
The described embodiments relate to vehicle recording systems and methods for capturing video and other information regarding a vehicle and its surroundings.
When owning and/or operating a vehicle, many types of incidents may occur in which the owner or operator of the vehicle would benefit from having information regarding the conditions in and around the vehicle. For instance, when a traffic accident occurs, it may be helpful to have information such as the speed of the vehicle and other conditions which may have contributed to the accident. Similarly, when a vehicle is broken into or vandalized, it may be useful to have video data of the incident. Vehicle recording systems may be used to collect and store such data. This data can then be analyzed and possibly used as evidence.
Many known vehicle recording systems require a video cassette recorder or large capacity hard drive in order to store large volumes of information relating to, for example, an entire trip. However, it is often not necessary to store information relating to a long period of time in order to obtain desired information regarding a particular event. Other previous systems capture data only after a triggering event, such as the activation of a user-activated switch, has occurred.
Embodiments are described in further detail below, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. In addition, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understating of the embodiments described herein. However, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments described herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiments described herein. Also, the description is not to be considered as limiting the scope of the embodiments described herein.
Referring first to
The control panel 30 may include some number of lights (not shown) which indicate the status of the system. The control panel 30 may also include a user-activated switch (not shown) used to trigger the vehicle recording system 5.
The control unit 20 is designed to receive one or more signals indicating that a triggering event has occurred. This triggering event may be, for example, the activation of a user-activated switch, the deployment of a vehicle airbag, or the activation of a vehicle alarm system. The control unit 20 also receives information from the vehicle ignition in order to determine whether or not the vehicle is in operation. The control unit 20 receives power for the vehicle recording system 5 from the vehicle battery (not shown).
The control unit 20 also receives signals from the proximity sensors 40. The proximity sensors 40 are capable of determining when an object, such as a person or another vehicle, has come within a certain distance of the vehicle. For example, the proximity sensors may be ultrasonic sensors such as the KL-A1840H07-W produced by Kaili or the sensors included in the 8 Sensor Front & Rear Parking Kit SB301-8 sold by Sports Imports Limited. The control unit 20 may also receive data from the video capturing devices 10 and send signals to the video capturing devices 10 to indicate, for example, the frequency at which they should capture the video data.
Referring now to
Once the data is compressed, the camera processor 103 stores the data in an internal memory (not shown). The camera processor 103 collects data in the internal memory continuously during the normal operation of the vehicle. The camera processor 103 keeps each frame in internal memory for at least a previous time interval Tp at which time it may be overwritten. When the control unit 20 receives a signal indicating that a triggering event has occurred, it sends a signal to the video capturing devices 10. Once the signal is received from the control unit 20, the camera processor 103 stores the data from the previous time interval Tp in the main memory 104 and continues to collect data in the internal memory for a subsequent time interval Ts. The data for the subsequent time interval Ts can be simultaneously stored in the main memory 104 or, once the camera processor 103 has collected all the data for the subsequent time interval Ts in the internal memory, it can all be written to the main memory 104. Alternatively, the camera processor 103 may wait to store the data from the previous time interval Tp until all the data for the subsequent time interval Ts has been collected in the internal memory and then the camera processor 103 may write all the data from both time intervals to the main memory 104 at the same time. Regardless of the sequence in which the data is stored, at this point, the main memory 104 will include data for the previous time interval Tp before the triggering event and the subsequent time interval Ts including and after the triggering event.
The previous and subsequent time intervals Tp, Ts may be the same or different and may be configurable by the user or administrator or they may be set at the time the vehicle recording system 5 is manufactured. In any event, the time intervals Tp, Ts can be set so that data is collected for any suitable period of time before and after the event to allow an analysis of the circumstances surrounding the triggering event. For example, if the triggering event is the deployment of a vehicle airbag during a collision, the vehicle data stored in the main memory 104 should help to clarify the cause of the accident and the steps that were taken immediately afterward.
It is also possible that the length of the previous and subsequent time periods Tp, Ts may vary depending on the type of triggering event. In this case, the vehicle recording system 5 could continuously store data for the maximum previous time period and, when a triggering event occurred, the data from the previous time period associated with that particular event would be stored in the main memory 104 along with data from the subsequent time period for that particular event.
In this embodiment, the main memory 104 is a removable memory device, such as a flash card, but the memory may also be of a non-removable type. If the main memory 104 is a removable memory device, the memory device may be removed from the vehicle recording system and downloaded into another device, such as a personal computer, for viewing and analysis. If the memory device is not removable, the data may be downloaded from the video capturing device 10 by connecting another device directly to the video capturing device 10 (such as via USB or FireWire (IEEE 1394) bus connections). Alternatively, the video recording devices 10 themselves may be removable such that an entire video recording device 10, and the data contained therein, may be removed from the vehicle and connected to another device, such as a personal computer, so that the data can be downloaded. As another alternative, the vehicle recording device 5 may contain a display from which the data may be viewed. In yet another alternative embodiment, the internal memory and the main memory 104 may be the same memory device.
The communication port 105 provides a bi-directional connection to the control unit 20 (shown in
Referring now to
The vehicle recording system 6, shown in
The control unit 60 receives audio data from in and/or around the vehicle from the microphone 70. The control unit 60 may also receive data from the vehicle computer (not shown) which may be stored in memory along with the video data from the video capturing devices. This data may include, for example, information regarding the speed of the vehicle, braking information, the status of the turn signals or the status of the seat belts.
Referring now to
The communication port 505 provides a bi-directional connection to the control unit 60. This allows the control unit 60 to send control signals to the video capturing devices 50 and allows the video capturing devices 50 to send status signals to the control unit 60. The communication port 505 may, for example, be an infrared wireless communication port, an RF wireless communication port, a wired communication port or an optical fiber connection.
Referring now to
Video data from the channel link receivers 601 is continually stored by the memory controller 603 in the internal memory 602 such that the internal memory 602 keeps each frame in memory for at least the previous time interval Tp. When a triggering event occurs, the memory controller 603 receives a command from the microcontroller 605 to copy the video data for the previous time period from the internal memory 602 to the main memory 61 along with video data from the subsequent time period Ts following the event. The memory controller 603 may also receive and store other data from the microcontroller 605 such as audio signals, time, data and other information from the vehicle computer in the main memory 61.
The internal memory 602 may be a random access memory (RAM), as shown in
The control unit communication port 604 communicates with the communication port 505 of the video capturing devices 50 (shown in
The microcontroller 605 may receive signals indicating that a triggering event has occurred, such as from the user-activated switch, the vehicle alarm system or the vehicle airbag activation system. The microcontroller 605 also receives data from the vehicle ignition key in order to determine whether or not the vehicle is in operation. The microcontroller 605 may also receive data from the vehicle computer and microphone 70 to be sent to the memory controller 603 and stored in main memory 61 when a triggering event occurs.
Referring now to
Referring now to
If the vehicle ignition key is in the OFF position, meaning that the vehicle is not in operation, the control unit 60 puts the system in deep save mode at step 702. Upon entering deep save mode, the control unit 60 sends a signal to the video capturing devices 50 through communications port 604 to begin capturing still images at a low frequency, for example at a frequency of one image per second. At this point, all lights (e.g. LEDs) on control panel 90 are turned off.
When an object, such as a person or another vehicle, comes within a certain distance of the vehicle, the proximity sensors 80 will send a signal to the control unit 60 and the vehicle recording system 6 will enter a partial save mode at step 704. Upon entering the partial save mode, the control unit 60 sends a signal to the video capturing devices 50 through communications port 604 to begin capturing images at a moderate frequency, for example at a frequency of three images per second. At this point, the lights on the control panel 90 may start flashing. If there has been no triggering event within a certain period of time, for example three minutes, and the vehicle ignition has not been turned on, then the vehicle recording system 6 will return to the deep save mode at step 702.
If, at step 704, there is a triggering event, such as the activation of the vehicle alarm or an impact from another vehicle, the vehicle recording system 6 enters the regular mode 712 and moves to step 706a. At step 706a, the control unit 60 sends a signal to the video capturing devices 50 through communications port 604 to begin to capturing images at a regular frequency, for example at a frequency of fifteen frames per second.
As explained above, as video data is captured by the video recording devices 50, it is sent to the control unit 60 via the channel link receivers 601. The video data is then sent to the memory controller 603 and stored in the internal memory 602. Each frame of the video data is stored in the internal memory 602 for at least the previous time interval Tp, at which point it may be overwritten.
At step 708, the memory controller 603 copies the video data from the previous time interval Tp stored in the internal memory 602 into the main memory 104. This data will include images captured at the moderate frequency while the vehicle recording system 6 was in the partial save mode 704 and may include images captured at the lower frequency while the vehicle recording system 6 was in the deep save mode 702.
The video recording devices 50 will continue to capture video data for the subsequent time interval Ts. The video data will continue to be sent to the control unit 60 through the channel link receivers 601 and stored by the memory controller 603 in the internal memory 602. At step 710, video data collected from the video capturing devices 50 for the subsequent time interval Ts will be copied by the memory controller 603 from the internal memory 602 into the main memory 104 along with any other data collected by the microcontroller 605. At this point, the vehicle recording system 6 will move to step 706b, in which it continually collects video data at the regular frequency. Steps 708, 710, and 706b will repeat each time there is a triggering event until the vehicle ignition is turned off or the main memory is full.
If, at step 704, a person who has come within a certain distance of the vehicle turns on the vehicle ignition, the vehicle recording system 6 will enter the regular mode of operation 712. In the regular mode of operation 712, the control unit 60 sends a signal to the video capturing devices 50 through communications port 604 to continually collect video data at the regular frequency at step 706b. The video data will be stored in the internal memory 602, as explained above. When the control panel 605 receives a signal indicating that a triggering event has occurred, the vehicle recording system 6 moves to step 708 as explained above. Once the video data from the previous and subsequent time intervals has been stored in main memory 104, along with any additional data, at steps 708 and 710 respectively, the vehicle recording system 6 returns to the regular mode at step 712.
If, at step 706b, the vehicle ignition is turned off, the vehicle recording system 6 returns from regular mode 712 to the deep save mode 702.
Alternatively, in some embodiments, there may only be two modes of operation, namely deep save mode and regular mode. In these embodiments, as with the method 700 described above, the vehicle recording system 6 would enter deep save mode when the vehicle ignition is turned off. The vehicle recording system 6 would enter regular mode either in response to a triggering event (as with step 706a described above) or in response to the vehicle ignition being turned on (as with step 706b described above). In these embodiments, the activation of a proximity sensor 80 may be considered a triggering event such that the vehicle recording system 6 would go directly from deep save mode (step 702 described above) to regular mode (step 706a described above) upon a proximity sensor 80 being activated.
While certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes, and equivalents will now occur to those of ordinary skill in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.
