JP5345798B2 - Vehicle status recording device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to acceleration detection means for detecting an acceleration generated in a vehicle, and an impact detection means for detecting an impact generated in the vehicle by comparing the acceleration detected by the acceleration detection means with a predetermined determination threshold. The present invention relates to a vehicle status recording apparatus having

  In recent years, a drive recorder that stores vehicle status information before and after the accident (forward image, vehicle speed, sudden acceleration / deceleration, etc.) can be an effective means to prevent car accidents. Has begun to introduce. For example, a drive recorder mounted on a commercial vehicle such as a taxi or a bus is a traveling image showing a front image at the time of an accident or a sudden braking and a driving operation (brake operation, turn signal operation, travel route, etc.) status of the driver. The data can be stored. In addition to the functions described above, there is also known a high-function type drive recorder in which a video channel for storing the interior of a vehicle is added.

  The drive recorder described above incorporates a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera, an acceleration sensor, and a card-like storage medium (hereinafter also referred to as a card). In addition, it always stores video information such as a front image that captures the vehicle and surroundings from the driver's viewpoint (field of view), and receives impacts (0.4G or more) such as accidents, sudden braking, and sudden steering. Then, for example, the image and the running data for a predetermined time after the impact such as 12 seconds before the impact and 6 seconds after the impact for a total of 18 seconds are stored in the card.

  When an accident occurs, it is possible to clearly testify the driver's legitimacy based on the vehicle status information stored in the card. In addition, when the drive recorder detects a rough and dangerous driving operation such as a sudden handle or a sudden brake, it may give a certain tension to the driver by alerting the driver with a warning sound or the like. it can.

Further, the drive recorder disclosed in Patent Document 1 discloses a technical idea that uses acceleration information in the traveling direction and the gravity direction as a trigger for recording. This prevents the drive recorder from detecting the occurrence of an impact due to a road joint or the like while the vehicle is traveling on an expressway or the like.
JP 2007-83964 A

  However, even if the drive recorder avoids detecting a bounce due to a vehicle step or the like as the occurrence of an impact, in the detection based only on the acceleration generated in the vehicle, the acceleration in the front-rear direction or the left-right direction is recorded even at the road step. When (determination threshold) is exceeded, there is a problem that various information is recorded by detecting the occurrence of an impact. Further, in an actual accident, acceleration in the gravity direction and left-right direction of the vehicle may occur, and if these are excluded from the recording trigger, there is a possibility that necessary information cannot be recorded. Such a problem is not limited to a drive recorder, but may also occur in a vehicle situation recording apparatus such as a digital tachograph or an acceleration recording apparatus.

  Therefore, in view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle status recording apparatus that can reduce erroneous detection of impacts caused by road surface steps, seams, and the like.

In order to solve the above problems, the vehicle status recording apparatus according to claim 1 according to the present invention includes an acceleration detecting means 16 for detecting acceleration generated in the vehicle and the acceleration detection as shown in the basic configuration diagram of FIG. In the vehicle situation recording apparatus 1 having the impact detection means 11a that detects the impact generated in the vehicle by comparing the acceleration detected by the means 16 with a predetermined determination threshold.
Vehicle speed information collecting means 11b for collecting speed information indicating the speed of the vehicle, and vehicle speed information collected by the vehicle speed information collecting means 11b at the time of detection of an impact by the impact detection means 11a and at least before or after the detection. Speed change amount detecting means 1 for detecting a speed change amount based on
1c and an effectiveness determination for determining the effectiveness of the impact detected by the impact detection means 11a based on a comparison result between the speed change amount detected by the speed change amount detection means 11c and predetermined validity determination information. Means 11d and vehicle status information recording means 11e for recording vehicle status information indicating the status of the vehicle when the validity determination means 11d determines that the vehicle is effective. When vehicle speed information indicating a speed equal to or higher than a predetermined effective speed is collected by the vehicle speed information collecting means 11b at the time of detection of an impact by the impact detection means 11a, the effectiveness is determined, and more than the effective speed. When the vehicle speed information indicating the speed of the vehicle cannot be collected, the validity determination unit 11e does not perform the determination of the validity. When the determination of the efficacy has not been performed by the is characterized in that a means for recording the vehicle status information.

  According to the vehicle status recording apparatus of the present invention described in claim 1, when the impact generated in the vehicle by the comparison between the acceleration detected by the acceleration detecting means 16 and the determination threshold is detected by the impact detecting means 11 a, The speed change amount detecting means 11c detects the speed change amount based on the speed information collected by the vehicle speed information collecting means 11b before and after the detection. Then, the effectiveness determination means 11d determines the effectiveness of the detected impact from the comparison result between the speed change amount and the validity determination information. When it is determined to be effective, the vehicle situation information is stored in the vehicle situation information recording means 11e. To be recorded.

Further , according to the vehicle status recording apparatus of the present invention described in claim 1 , when the impact is detected by the impact detecting means 11a, the vehicle speed information indicating the speed higher than the effective speed is collected by the vehicle speed information collecting means 11b. Then, the validity determination means 11d determines the validity, and the validity determination means 11d does not determine the validity unless the vehicle speed information collection means 11b collects vehicle speed information indicating a speed higher than the effective speed . If the validity is not determined, vehicle status information corresponding to the impact is recorded by the vehicle status information recording unit 11e.

As shown in the basic configuration diagram of FIG. 1, the invention described in claim 2 is the vehicle situation recording apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising imaging means 15 for imaging the situation of the vehicle, and the vehicle situation information recording. It means 11e is, when it is determined that the valid by the validity determining unit 11d, and feature in that the imaging means 15 is means for recording the vehicle status information having an imaging information obtained by imaging.

According to the vehicle situation recording apparatus of the present invention described in claim 2 , when the validity judgment unit 11 d determines that the vehicle situation is valid, the vehicle situation information including the imaging information imaged by the imaging unit 15 is the vehicle situation information. Recording is performed by the recording unit 11e.

  As described above, according to the vehicle situation recording apparatus of the present invention described in claim 1, when the impact of the vehicle is detected from the acceleration, the speed change amount at that time is detected, and the speed change amount and the validity determination are detected. Since the vehicle status information is recorded when it is determined that the impact is effective based on the information, it is possible to invalidate the impact without a certain speed change such as a joint of a highway. In addition, it is possible to reduce false detection of impact due to steps, seams, and the like. Accordingly, it is possible to eliminate erroneous detection due to the vehicle bounce and to reliably record the vehicle situation at the time of an actual accident, and thus it is possible to improve the accuracy of the recorded contents of the vehicle situation recording device.

The fact, when the speed information collected upon detecting an impact the effectiveness rate or faster will determine the efficacy, also was not to determine the effectiveness when not being indicate the effective speed or faster Therefore, even in the low speed region where the change amount of the vehicle speed does not change greatly and it is difficult to detect the change amount, the vehicle situation information can be recorded according to the detection of the impact. Can also reduce the risk of missing records.

According to the invention described in claim 2 , in addition to the effect of the invention described in claim 1, since the vehicle situation information having imaging information is recorded, false detection is reduced. no increase child recording capacity, it is possible to record a visual vehicle status information.

  The best mode when the vehicle situation recording apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 according to the present invention is applied to a drive recorder will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  In FIG. 2, the drive recorder 10 is mounted on a vehicle such as a freight truck, a taxi, or a passenger car so as not to obstruct the driver's view. The drive recorder 10 stores a central processing unit (CPU) 11 that performs various processes and controls according to a predetermined program, a ROM 12 that is a read-only memory storing a program for the CPU 11, and various data. In addition, a RAM 13 that is a readable / writable memory having an area necessary for processing operations of the CPU 11, an electrically erasable / rewritable memory 14 that can retain stored contents even while the apparatus main body is in an off state, and the like doing.

  The ROM 12 described above includes various types of devices such as the impact detection means 11a, vehicle speed information collection means 11b, speed change amount detection means 11c, effectiveness determination means 11d, vehicle state information recording means 11e, etc. described in the claims of FIG. Various programs for causing the CPU 11 (computer) to function are stored as means.

  The memory 14 stores the validity determination information and the speed condition information described in the claims in a changeable manner. The validity determination information includes data for determining the effectiveness of the detected impact, for example, an effective speed difference or change arbitrarily determined by the owner, administrator, manufacturer, etc. of the drive recorder 10 as a recording trigger. Has data such as quantity. The speed condition information includes effective speed data for enabling the speed filter function, and is set to a value arbitrarily determined by the owner of the drive recorder 10 or the manager manufacturer.

  As the effective speed of the speed condition information, a speed threshold value for determining a speed at which the speed difference is not determined in the low speed range of the vehicle is set. The reason for this is that acceleration in the direction of gravity, such as steps, occurs in the high-speed area of the vehicle, but there is little noise-like impact in the low-speed area, and the speed change amount is small until the impact is undetectable. This is because it is necessary to determine whether or not to enable the speed filter function.

  The memory 14 has a storage area for storing vehicle status information indicating the status of the vehicle when an impact is detected over time in a predetermined desired range. As the vehicle status information, there are data and information arbitrarily determined from a forward video and image captured by a camera 25 described later, vehicle speed, sudden acceleration / deceleration, and the like.

  The drive recorder 10 further includes a camera 15, an acceleration sensor 16, and a card insertion unit 17. The camera 15 corresponds to the imaging unit 15 in the claims shown in FIG. 1, and is electrically connected to the CPU 11 via an interface circuit (I / F) 15i.

  As the camera 15, various cameras such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera, a digital camera, a video camera, and an infrared camera can be arbitrarily used. The camera 15 always captures a front image of the vehicle, and the captured image signal is converted and compressed by the interface circuit 15i and input to the CPU 11 as imaging information. The imaging information is arbitrarily determined according to the configuration, specifications, etc. of the drive recorder 2 such as moving images and still images.

  Further, in the best mode, the case where the camera 15 is provided inside the housing so as to capture the front of the vehicle will be described, but the present invention is not limited to this, for example, the rear of the vehicle, A plurality of cameras using cameras preinstalled in the vehicle, provided in any location of the vehicle so as to image the periphery, the driver of the vehicle, the driver of the business vehicle, the passenger, the inside of the vehicle, the door for getting on and off, etc. Various embodiments can be made, such as using. Then, by arranging the plurality of cameras 15 at desired locations in the vehicle, it is possible to collect imaging information that can contribute to the cause analysis of the impact.

  The acceleration sensor 16 corresponds to the impact detection means 16 in the claims shown in FIG. 1 and uses a triaxial acceleration sensor that detects acceleration, tilt, impact, etc. in the triaxial (X, Y, Z) directions. As is well known, the triaxial acceleration sensor supports a weight by a thin silicon beam (beam), the weight is moved by acceleration, the beam is distorted, and this distortion is applied to a piezoresistive element or the like formed on the beam. The acceleration is detected by resistance change. The acceleration sensor 16 is electrically connected to the CPU 11 and outputs an acceleration signal indicating the detected acceleration to the CPU 11. The acceleration sensor 16 is preferably capable of detecting acceleration in a direction orthogonal to the traveling direction of the vehicle and the traveling direction.

  In the best mode, the acceleration sensor 16 is provided corresponding to the camera 15 described above, and the acceleration sensor 16a is provided inside the housing. However, one or a plurality of accelerations are provided at the measurement point of the vehicle. Various embodiments such as arranging the sensor 16 can be employed.

  The card insertion unit 17 writes and reads various data designated by the CPU 11 with respect to the loaded card C. The card C is manually inserted into the insertion unit 17 and the card C is discharged. A discharge mechanism (not shown) in the card insertion portion 17 is automatically performed according to the operation of the key.

  The card C uses a memory card such as Compact Flash, for example. As is well known, the card C includes a memory that does not lose its stored contents even if it is not energized, and a controller circuit that handles external input / output. Yes. For the card C, various types of memory cards and the like can be used depending on the specifications of the drive recorder 10 and the like.

  In the present best mode, the case where the vehicle status information is written and recorded on the card C inserted into the card insertion portion 17 will be described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a predetermined area of the memory 14 is recorded. Various embodiments such as storing or transmitting to a management device or the like by wireless communication can be used.

  The drive recorder 10 further includes an interface unit 18, and the interface unit 18 is electrically connected to the CPU 11. The interface unit 18 is connected to a vehicle speed sensor 3, and a speed signal corresponding to the vehicle speed output from the speed sensor 31 is input to the CPU 11. And this speed signal is detected and memorize | stored by CPU11 as one item in vehicle condition information. Depending on the configuration content of the vehicle status information stored in the card C, various signals such as a vehicle brake, left and right turns, and steering angle can be input from the vehicle to the CPU 11 via the interface unit 18.

  Next, an example of a processing outline according to the present invention executed by the CPU 11 of the drive recorder 10 will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.

  In step S11, it is determined whether or not an ignition (IGN) switch of the vehicle has been turned ON by supplying power. When it is determined that the IGN switch is not turned on (N in S11), this determination process is repeated to wait for the IGN switch to be turned on. On the other hand, when it is determined that the IGN switch is turned on (Y in S11), the process proceeds to step S12.

  When the initial process is executed in step S12, predetermined initial values are set in various areas of the RAM 23, initial values are set in the validity determination information and speed condition information in the memory 14, and then the process proceeds to step S13.

  In step S13, imaging information obtained by imaging the front of the vehicle and the like from the camera 15 is acquired and stored in the memory 24 in time series, and in step S14, the acceleration signal input from the acceleration sensor 16 has three axes (X, X, Y, Z) is acquired as acceleration information indicating acceleration, inclination, impact, etc. in the direction, stored in the memory 24 in association with the imaging information, and in step S15 (speed information collecting means), the speed signal from the speed sensor 3 Is stored in the memory 14 in time series as speed information, and then the process proceeds to step S16.

  In step S16 (impact detection means), it is determined whether or not the impact exceeds the recording trigger level based on a comparison result between the latest acceleration information in the memory 14 and a recording trigger level predetermined as a recording trigger. The As an example of the determination method of the recording trigger, based on the acceleration information, pay attention to the longitudinal and lateral acceleration of the vehicle, and arbitrarily set the determination by comparing with the recording trigger level corresponding to each direction. For example, a method of performing determination on the selected item can be used. If it is determined that the impact is not the recording trigger level (N in S16), the process returns to step S13, and a series of processes is repeated. On the other hand, if it is determined that the impact is the recording trigger level (Y in S16), the process proceeds to step S17.

  In step S17, based on the comparison result between the latest speed information in the memory 14 and the speed condition information, it is determined whether the speed is equal to or higher than the effective speed. If it is determined that the speed is not equal to or higher than the effective speed (N in S17), the process proceeds to step S20. On the other hand, if it is determined that the speed is equal to or higher than the effective speed (Y in S17), the latest speed information in the memory 14 differs from that before detection (for example, N seconds before) in step S18 (speed change amount detection means). A speed change amount is calculated (detected) from the difference from the speed information of time and stored in the RAM 13, and then the process proceeds to step S19.

  In step S19, it is determined whether or not the speed change amount is equal to or greater than the effective change amount indicated by the validity determination information in the memory 14. When it is determined that the speed change amount is not equal to or greater than the effective change amount (N in S19), the process returns to step S13, and a series of processes is repeated. On the other hand, if it is determined that the speed change amount is greater than or equal to the effective change amount (Y in S19), the process proceeds to step S20.

  In step S20, vehicle status information having a plurality of imaging information corresponding to a time zone that goes back for a predetermined time from the time when the impact is detected is written to the card C from the plurality of imaging information stored in the memory 14. When requested by the card insertion unit 17, recording to the card C is started, and recording to the card C is terminated by a completion notification from the card insertion unit 17 in step S21, and then the process is terminated.

  Next, an example of the operation (action) of the drive recorder 10 having the above-described configuration will be described below.

  When the drive recorder 10 is activated in response to power supply, the drive recorder 10 stores the imaging information from the camera 15, the acceleration information from the acceleration sensor 16, and the speed information from the speed sensor 3 in time series. Then, when detecting the impact of the recording trigger from the acceleration information, the drive recorder 10 determines whether or not the speed of the vehicle at the time of detection is equal to or higher than the effective speed.

  The drive recorder 10 detects the speed change amount as described above when the speed change amount is more than the effective change amount when the speed change amount can be detected. Record vehicle status information. On the other hand, when the speed change amount is not equal to or greater than the effective change amount, the drive recorder 10 determines that an impact caused by a road step, seam, or the like is detected while the vehicle is traveling on an expressway or the like. Do not record status information.

  The drive recorder 10 records the vehicle status information on the card C when the vehicle speed at the time of detecting the impact is not equal to or higher than the effective speed. In the present embodiment, the case where the vehicle status information is unconditionally recorded on the card C will be described. However, it is determined whether or not to record the vehicle status information according to the impact detection level, and the specifications of the drive recorder 10 are not used. Depending on the embodiment, different embodiments can be used.

  According to the drive recorder 10 described above, when the impact of the vehicle is detected from the acceleration, the speed change amount at the time is detected, and it is determined that the impact is effective based on the speed change amount and the validity determination information. Since the vehicle status information is recorded at the time, it is possible to invalidate impacts that do not have a certain speed change, such as joints on expressways, thus reducing false detection of impacts due to steps, joints, etc. can do. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate erroneous detection due to vehicle bounding and to reliably record the vehicle status in the event of an actual accident, so that the accuracy of the recorded contents of the drive recorder 10 can be improved.

  The drive recorder 10 described above has described the case where it is determined whether or not the speed is greater than or equal to the effective speed after the impact is detected in step S17 of FIG. 3, but this determination processing is not performed (step S17 is executed). (Deletion), it is also possible to directly determine the amount of change in speed.

  However, the drive recorder 10 determines the validity when the speed information collected when the impact is detected satisfies the speed condition, and does not determine the effectiveness when the speed condition is not satisfied. Even in a low-speed region where the amount of change in vehicle speed does not change significantly and it is difficult to detect the amount of change, vehicle status information can be recorded in response to the detection of an impact, so it can be recorded using the effectiveness judgment function. The risk of leakage can be reduced.

  Further, since the drive recorder 10 records the vehicle status information having the imaging information on the card C, since the false detection is reduced, the recording capacity can be recorded even when recording the imaging information having a large recording capacity. It is possible to record visual vehicle status information without increasing.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the vehicle situation recording apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is applied to the drive recorder 10 has been described. However, the vehicle situation recording apparatus 1 is applied to other apparatuses such as a digital tachograph and an acceleration recording apparatus. Can also be incorporated.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the deceleration amount of the vehicle is focused as the speed change amount has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the speed change amount may be the acceleration amount.

  As described above, the above-described embodiments are merely representative forms of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. That is, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

It is a figure which shows the basic composition of the vehicle condition recording apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the drive recorder to which the vehicle condition recording apparatus of this invention is applied. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process outline | summary which concerns on this invention which CPU of FIG. 2 performs.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle condition recording apparatus 10 Drive recorder 11a Impact detection means (CPU)
11b Vehicle speed information collecting means (CPU)
11c Speed change amount detection means (CPU)
11d Effectiveness determining means (CPU)
11e Vehicle status information recording means (CPU)
15 Imaging means (camera)
16 Acceleration detection means (acceleration sensor)

Claims (2)

A vehicle having acceleration detection means for detecting acceleration generated in the vehicle, and impact detection means for detecting an impact generated in the vehicle by comparing the acceleration detected by the acceleration detection means with a predetermined determination threshold. In the status recording device,
Vehicle speed information collecting means for collecting speed information indicating the speed of the vehicle;
A speed change amount detecting means for detecting a speed change amount based on vehicle speed information collected by the vehicle speed information collecting means at the time of detecting an impact by the impact detecting means and at least one before or after the detection;
Effectiveness determination means for determining the effectiveness of the impact detected by the impact detection means based on a comparison result between the speed change amount detected by the speed change amount detection means and predetermined validity determination information;
Vehicle status information recording means for recording vehicle status information indicating the status of the vehicle when the validity determination means determines that the vehicle is valid;
When the effectiveness determination means collects vehicle speed information indicating a speed equal to or higher than a predetermined effective speed by the vehicle speed information collection means when the impact is detected by the impact detection means, the effectiveness determination is performed; and , Means for not determining the effectiveness when vehicle speed information indicating a speed equal to or higher than the effective speed could not be collected,
The vehicle status recording apparatus, wherein the vehicle status information recording means is means for recording the vehicle status information when the validity determination means does not determine the validity. Having imaging means for imaging the situation of the vehicle;
The vehicle status information recording means, when it is determined that effective by the validity determining unit, according to claim 1, wherein the imaging means is the feature that the means for recording the vehicle status information having an imaging information obtained by imaging Vehicle status recording device according to claim 1.

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