EP3791365B1

EP3791365B1 - Telematic device for motor vehicles

Info

Publication number: EP3791365B1
Application number: EP19729836.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Giuseppe Simonazzi
Original assignee: Meta System SpA
Current assignee: Meta System SpA
Priority date: 2018-05-10
Filing date: 2019-05-08
Publication date: 2023-08-02
Anticipated expiration: 2039-05-08
Also published as: WO2019215635A1; EP3791365A1

Description

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a telematic device for motor vehicles, which can be used to detect the driving patterns of a motor vehicle, for the control of emergency signals or for the detection of events involving the motor vehicle, such as road traffic accidents, attempted theft and intrusion, acts of vandalism or the like.

Background Art

Telematic appliances are known which, once installed on board a vehicle, are able to detect how the vehicle is used over time.
These appliances are used, for example, in the insurance field, for the determination of customized fees based on the actual use of the vehicle or for the determination and subsequent evaluation of sudden events such as traffic accidents.
The appliances of known type generally comprise a control unit that can be installed on board the vehicle, inside the passenger compartment, and connectable to the vehicle's electronics.
These appliances also comprise a radio wave device of the type commonly used for mobile phones, such as e.g. a GSM, GPRS, UMTS transceiver or the like. The transceiver, in particular, supports the sending of information collected by the appliance to a remote data storage and processing control unit.
If necessary, the transceiver is used to receive, from the remote-control unit, updates to the software for controlling the appliance on board the vehicle.
Such appliance generally also comprises a satellite receiver, of the type of a GPS receiver or the like, which allows the location of the vehicle through the measured coordinates of latitude, longitude and, possibly, altitude.
In practice, the operation of the appliance involves the collection at regular time intervals of information on the position of the vehicle by means of the GPS receiver and the subsequent transmission of such information to the remote-control unit by means of the radio wave transceiver.
The information thus collected by the remote-control unit is then processed to determine useful data for the specific field of application.
Further information may be collected by the appliance through the use of additional devices such as, e.g., an accelerometer installed on the vehicle and adapted to detect sudden accelerations and decelerations.
The accelerometer, in particular, can be used in the insurance sector to determine the dynamics of a traffic accident and, therefore, the responsibilities associated with it.
In particular, the presence of the accelerometer allows detecting abrupt accelerations and decelerations of the vehicle due to the occurrence of a traffic accident, thus allowing the reconstruction of how the traffic accident itself has occurred.
For insurance purposes, the remote-control unit's analysis of the data collected by the accelerometer can be advantageously used to significantly reduce the rate of fraud on road traffic accidents.
It is also well known that in the event of road traffic accidents, there are very often disputes between the parties involved, especially if the events took place in the absence of external witnesses.
Therefore, circumstances are certainly frequent in which it would be useful to have video footage of what happened a few moments before, and possibly during and after the traffic accident, in order to have a correct and irrefutable reconstruction of the facts, for the benefit of both the persons involved and the insurance companies.
In order to overcome this need, document EP 1 028 395 B1 describes a system consisting of at least one miniaturized camera and of relevant image recording means and, if possibly, of audio.
The camera can be installed on any type of motor vehicle and is arranged in such a way as to have a visual field at least equal to that of the driver.
Several cameras may be installed with different orientations, e.g. to the rear of the motor vehicle, to the side or to the inside of the passenger compartment.
With the motor vehicle in motion, the camera records and stores the images continuously and for a predefined period of time. After this time interval has ended, the images are deleted and replaced by those taken during a subsequent time period of equal duration.
The cycle repeats indefinitely during the regular movement of the vehicle and is interrupted only when there is a sudden external event involving the motor vehicle.
Document CN 206 678 910 U discloses a device with a camera for the acquisition of images of the outside of the vehicle.
The telematic devices of known type are however open to improvement.
In particular, with reference to telematic devices provided with cameras, very often the positioning of these inside the motor vehicle compartment is not optimal for the purpose of ensuring an effective acquisition of the images outside and inside of the compartment itself.
In addition, these telematic devices of known type are commonly installed inside of the passenger compartment and on the front glass (windscreen) of the motor vehicle, generally near the interior rear-view mirror.
The device fixed in such a position however creates a disturbance to the driver's normal visibility. In addition, in some countries it is explicitly forbidden to place stickers or other items on the upper part of the windscreen.

Description of the Invention

The main aim of the present invention is to devise a telematic device for motor vehicles that can be simply and quickly installed inside of a motor vehicle, in a position such as to minimize the disturbance to the driver's normal view.
Another object of the present invention is to devise a telematic device for motor vehicles that, once installed, allows an effective acquisition of the images outside and inside of the motor vehicle.
Another object of the present invention is to devise a telematic device for motor vehicles that allows overcoming the mentioned drawbacks of the prior art in a simple, rational, easy, effective to use and cost-effective solution.
The aforementioned objects are achieved by the present telematic device for motor vehicles according to the characteristics described in claim 1.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Other characteristics and advantages of the present invention will be more evident from the description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of a telematic device for motor vehicles, illustrated by way of an indicative, yet nonlimiting example, in the attached tables of drawings in which:

Figures 1 and 2 are axonometric views of a telematic device according to the invention;
Figures 3, 4 and 5 show the positioning of the telematic device according to the invention inside of the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle.

Embodiments of the Invention

With particular reference to these illustrations, reference numeral 1 globally indicates a telematic device that can be installed on a motor vehicle.
Specifically, the telematic device 1 can be used to detect the driving patterns of a motor vehicle, particularly in the insurance field, for the control of e-calls or for the detection of events involving the motor vehicle, such as road traffic accidents, attempted theft and intrusion, acts of vandalism or the like.
The telematic device 1 comprises an outer container body 2 which can be fixed to the windscreen A of a motor vehicle B, inside of the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle itself.
The telematic device 1 comprises a communication unit accommodated inside of said container body, schematically indicated in Figure 1 with reference numeral 3, configured for the transmission/receiving of data to/from at least one remote processing control unit C.
The telematic device 1 is therefore used to collect information relating to the motor vehicle B or, in any case, to events involving the motor vehicle B, and then send it to a remote-control unit C for processing such information. At the same time, the telematic device 1 can be used to receive information from the remote-control unit C, useful e.g. for sending alerts to the driver.
The container body 2 of the telematic device 1 has a substantially elongated conformation and comprises a lateral resting portion 2c which can be positioned in contact with and fixed on the inner surface of the windscreen A.
The telematic device may be provided with special fixing means, e.g. of the adhesive type, for fixing the lateral resting portion 2c to the inner surface of the windscreen A.
Advantageously, the container body 2 comprises a first extreme portion 2a which can be positioned between a lower end area of the windscreen P and the dashboard D of the motor vehicle B, when the lateral resting portion 2c of the container body itself is fixed to the windscreen A.
In addition, the container body 2 comprises a second extreme portion 2b, opposite the first extreme portion 2a, provided with at least one camera 4, 5 configured to acquire images relating to the outside and/or inside of the motor vehicle B.
Advantageously, the special elongated conformation of the container body 2, as well as the presence of a first extreme portion 2a which can be positioned between the windscreen A and the dashboard D and of a second extreme portion 2b provided with at least one camera 4, 5, make the telematic device 1 easy and quick to install in a position that does not hinder in any way the normal view of the driver of the motor vehicle B, while allowing an optimal acquisition of the images of the outside and/or of the inside of the motor vehicle B through at least one camera 4, 5.
Preferably, the first extreme portion 2a has a smaller cross section than the overall cross section of the container body 2. Specifically, by cross section is meant as cross with respect to the longitudinal axis of the container body 2.
According to a preferred embodiment of the container body 2, illustrated in the figures, the first extreme portion 2a is substantially wedge shaped. Different conformations cannot however be ruled out.
Advantageously, the particular wedge shape allows the first extreme portion 2a to be inserted between the lower end area of the inner surface of the windscreen A and the upper surface of the dashboard D of the motor vehicle B, when the lateral resting portion 2c is fixed to the windscreen A.
This allows therefore the telematic device 1 to be positioned and fixed as close as possible to the dashboard D, thus considerably limiting the encumbrance of the telematic device itself to the driver's view of the motor vehicle B.
Advantageously, the telematic device 1 comprises orientable supporting means 6 of at least one camera 4, 5. The orientable supporting means 6 are associated with the container body 2.
According to a preferred embodiment, illustrated in the figures, the orientable supporting means 6 comprise a support associated with the second extreme portion 2b of the container body 2 and rotatable with respect to the container body itself.
In particular, the support 6 is rotatable around an axis of rotation substantially orthogonal to the longitudinal axis of the container body 2 and substantially parallel to the windscreen A, when the telematic device 1 is installed on the motor vehicle B with the lateral resting wall 2c fixed to the surface of the windscreen itself.
According to the preferred embodiment shown in the figures, the support 6 comprises a housing body for housing said at least one camera 4, 5.
Preferably, the telematic device 1 comprises at least a first camera 4 facing towards the outside of the motor vehicle B through the windscreen A and at least a second camera 5 facing towards the inside of the compartment of the motor vehicle B.
Advantageously, the particular positioning of the telematic device 1 at the joining area between the windscreen A and the dashboard D, together with the elongated conformation of the container body 2 and the positioning of the first and second cameras 4 and 5 at the second extreme portion 2b, allow for an effective and optimal acquisition of the images both outside of the motor vehicle B through the first camera 4 and inside of the motor vehicle B through the second camera 5.
In addition, the second camera 5, appropriately configured, is able to collect images of the outside of the motor vehicle B through the rear window of the motor vehicle itself.
The telematic device 1 comprises at least one memory unit 7 configured to store the images acquired by the first and second cameras 4 and 5.
Moreover, the telematic device preferably comprises measurement means 8 for measuring the instantaneous acceleration of the motor vehicle B which are accommodated inside of the container body 2.
For example, the measurement means 8 may comprise at least one three-axis accelerometer for measuring the changes in instantaneous acceleration along at least three separate directions.
The telematic device 1 also comprises visual signaling means 9 configured to assist the driver of the vehicle while driving.
For example, with reference to the preferred embodiment shown in the figures, these visual signaling means 9 comprise three separate LEDs (red, yellow, green). The illumination of these LEDs can be used, for example, to provide the driver with real-time information about the current driving style. This information may be used by the driver to maintain or correct the current driving style.
Advantageously, the telematic device 1 may comprise a short-range communication unit 10 accommodated inside of the container body 2 and operatively connected, by means of short-range transmission/receiving, to at least one remote push button 11.
The remote push button 11 can be activated, for example, to send a predefined signal (an emergency signal) and/or to initiate an emergency call.
In addition, the remote push button 11 can be used to disable one or all the cameras 4, 5, in order to activate a specific mode of operation to protect the user's privacy.
The short-range communication unit 10 can be made e.g. of a Bluetooth transceiver.
Advantageously, the short-range communication unit 10 can communicate with a display installed inside of the motor vehicle B or, in any case, with a mobile device provided with a display, such as e.g. a smart phone or the like.
The display can be used for the visualization of the images and, in particular, to allow the user the correct orientation of the cameras 4, 5 by means of the rotatable support 6.
In addition, the mobile device, after being operatively connected by means of the short-range communication unit 10, can be provided with a software application for setting the telematic device 1.
Advantageously, the telematic device 1 also comprises at least one backup power supply battery 12 which is accommodated inside of the container body 2. The backup power supply battery 12 is adapted to operate in case of power failure of the motor vehicle B.
Moreover, the telematic device 1 can usefully be operatively connected to an alarm control unit (standard or aftermarket) installed on the motor vehicle B.
In addition, the telematic device 1 can be operatively connected to other cameras already present on the motor vehicle B, for example used for parking assistance.
It has in practice been found that the described invention achieves the intended objects.

Claims

Telematic device (1) for motor vehicles, comprising at least one outer container body (2) which can be fixed to the windscreen (A) of a motor vehicle (B), inside of the compartment of said motor vehicle (B), at least one communication unit (3) accommodated inside of said container body (2) and configured for the transmission/receiving of data to/from at least one remote processing control unit (C), wherein said container body (2) has an elongated conformation and comprises a lateral resting portion (2c) positioned in contact with and fixed on the inner surface of said windscreen (A), a first extreme portion (2a) positioned in use between a lower end area of the windscreen (A) and the dashboard (D) of the motor vehicle (B), when said lateral resting portion (2c) is fixed to the windscreen (A), wherein said first extreme portion (2a) has a smaller cross section than the overall cross section of said container body (2), and a second extreme portion (2b), opposite said first extreme portion (2a), provided with at least a first camera (4) facing towards the outside of said motor vehicle (B), configured to acquire images relating to the outside of the motor vehicle (B), and at least a second camera (5) facing towards the inside of the compartment of said motor vehicle (B), configured to acquire images relating to the inside of the motor vehicle (B).
Telematic device (1) according to claim 1, characterized by the fact that said first extreme portion (2a) is substantially wedge shaped and is adapted to be inserted between said lower end area of the windscreen (A) and said dashboard (D) of the motor vehicle (B), when said lateral resting portion (2c) is fixed to the windscreen (A).
Telematic device (1) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that it comprises fixing means for fixing said resting portion to said windscreen (A).
Telematic device (1) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that it comprises orientable supporting means (6) of said at least one camera (4, 5) which are associated with said container body (2).
Telematic device (1) according to claim 4, characterized by the fact that said orientable supporting means (6) comprise at least one support (6) associated with said second extreme portion (2b) of the container body (2) and rotatable around an axis of rotation substantially orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of said container body (2).
Telematic device (1) according to claim 5, characterized by the fact that said support (6) comprises a housing body for housing said at least one camera (4, 5).
Telematic device (1) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that it comprises at least one memory unit (7) configured to store the images acquired by said at least one camera (4, 5).
Telematic device (1) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that it comprises measurement means (8) for measuring the instantaneous acceleration of said motor vehicle (B) which are accommodated inside of said container body (2).
Telematic device (1) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that it comprises visual signaling means (9) configured to assist the driver of the vehicle while driving.
Telematic device (1) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that it comprises at least one short range communication unit (10) accommodated inside of said container body (2) and operatively connected to at least one remote push button (11) that can be activated to send a predefined signal and/or to initiate an emergency call.
Telematic device (1) according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact that it comprises at least one backup power supply battery (12) which is accommodated inside of said container body (2).