JPH1029567A - Vehicular accident-state recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To properly record circumstances before and after an accident with a compact storage capacity in a vehicular accident-state recorder having two means for automatically and manually recognizing the accident respectively. SOLUTION: A vehicular accident-state recorder comprises a storage means 5 into which traveling information detected by traveling-information detection means 11, 21 and 31 are written, and an overwriting control means 6 for stopping the writing of driving information into the storage means 5 after the lapse of the first recording time following recognition when accident detection means 31 and 61 automatically recognize an accident or after the lapse of the second recording time following recognition when an accident recognition switch 4 manually recognizes an accident. The second recording time following recognition is set shorter than the first recording time following recognition such that circumstances before and after an accident may be properly recorded without requiring the operation by an occupant of the accident recognition switch 4 in concurrence with the occurrence of the accident.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle accident situation recording apparatus for recording an accident situation in a traffic accident.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The situation of an accident caused by a vehicle is reproduced by data such as verification of an accident vehicle and an accident site, and testimony of persons involved and witnesses. However, the situation of the accident reproduced based on these data after the accident is not always accurate due to the lack of evidence or the absence of witnesses. Therefore, there is an on-vehicle type vehicle accident situation recording device that collects and records traveling information such as a steering angle before and after an accident, a vehicle speed, and brake on / off. The vehicle accident situation recording device endlessly records new traveling information data while erasing the oldest traveling information data stored in the storage unit composed of semiconductor memory, etc., and stops endless recording when an accident occurs In addition, records of the situation before and after the accident are kept. After the accident, the vehicle accident situation recording device is collected from the vehicle, and the data of the traveling information is applied to the accident situation analysis as accident data.

[0003] In a vehicle accident situation recording device, it is general that an accident is automatically determined based on a detection signal from an acceleration sensor or the like for detecting a sudden deceleration of the vehicle. Then, the threshold value of the acceleration determined to be the occurrence of the accident is set to a large value (for example, 2G) so that the accident is not determined carelessly. Therefore, an accident that does not cause sudden deceleration, such as a boring accident, is not recognized as an accident. Therefore, there is a vehicle in which an occupant of the vehicle operates a manual switch manually to cause the vehicle accident situation recording device to recognize the accident.

[0004]

However, even if a manual switch is provided, the operation of the manual switch may be delayed depending on the situation of the accident, such as the occupant being upset, and the process of the occurrence of the accident may be left as data. May not be. It is sufficient to increase the storage capacity of the storage unit, but this increases the cost.

Accordingly, the present invention is a vehicle accident situation recording device which can manually record the traveling information of the vehicle before and after the accident even if the accident cannot be automatically recognized. The storage capacity of the storage unit is compact. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle accident situation recording device.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an overwritable storage unit in which the traveling information of the vehicle detected by the traveling information detecting unit is sequentially written in a time-series manner. Overwriting control means for stopping overwriting in the storage unit after a lapse of a recording time after the recognition of the information. The vehicle has an accident detection means for detecting occurrence of an accident so that the overwriting control means can recognize the accident, and an accident recognition switch operated by an occupant when an accident occurs. The post-recognition recording time is a first post-recognition recording time when the accident detection means recognizes that the accident has occurred, and a second post-recognition recording when the accident recognition switch recognizes that the accident has occurred. In terms of time, the latter is shortened.

The overwriting control means recognizes that an accident has occurred by an accident recognition switch in the case of an accident in which no accident is detected by the accident detecting means. In this case, since the second post-recognition recording time is shorter than the first post-recognition recording time, in order to leave a record of the circumstances leading up to the accident and the state after the accident, the occupant must simultaneously record the accident. Even if the driver does not operate the accident recognition switch, the occupant may operate the accident recognition switch after the surroundings can be judged calmly after the accident. Therefore, the storage means does not need an extra storage capacity for the case where an accident is recognized by the accident recognition switch, and the storage capacity can be made compact.

In the invention according to the second aspect, the overwriting control means, when the accident is recognized by the accident recognition switch, starts from the time when the accident detection means detects an event having a high probability of the accident according to the second criterion. The second post-recognition recording time is set shorter as the time up to the point at which is operated is longer. Thereby, even if the difference between the time of occurrence of the accident and the time of recognition of the accident differs depending on the accident, the variation in the ratio of the recording time before and after the accident can be suppressed.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is an overall block diagram of a vehicle accident situation recording apparatus according to the present invention. The imaging device 11 serving as travel information detection means is a CCD camera, and is provided on a ceiling or the like in a vehicle compartment so that a lens faces the outside of the vehicle through a windshield. The imaging device 11 captures an image of the situation in front of the vehicle, and the video signal is input to the A / D converter 12. The A / D converter 12 converts the video signal into a digital signal and inputs the digital signal to the frame memory 13. The video data input to the frame memory 13 is temporarily stored there, and then input to the storage unit 5 as storage means as travel information data of the vehicle.

[0010] The sensor section 21 serving as travel information detecting means includes a vehicle speed sensor, an engine speed sensor, a yaw rate sensor,
It comprises a sensor such as a steering angle sensor, a brake switch, a direction indicator and the like. The interface unit 22 is provided with the sensor signals output from them as inputs.
The interface unit 22 is an A / D converter for converting a sensor signal output as an analog signal into a digital signal, such as a yaw rate sensor, or a counter, such as an engine speed sensor, for counting sensor signals output in pulses. It is composed.

The sensor signal digitized by the interface unit 22 from the sensor unit 21 is input to the storage unit 5 via the microcomputer 61 of the recording control unit 6 serving as overwriting control means as traveling information of the vehicle. ing.

The vehicle is also provided with an acceleration sensor 31 for detecting the acceleration of the vehicle. A sensor signal output as an analog signal from the acceleration sensor 31 is converted into a digital signal by an A / D converter 32,
The signals are inputted to the acceleration sensor 31 and a microcomputer 61 constituting an accident detecting means. The acceleration sensor 31 is also a traveling information detecting unit, and the acceleration of the vehicle detected by the acceleration sensor 31 is input to the storage unit 5 via the microcomputer 61 as traveling information.

The storage unit 5 inputs a digital signal to the image signal, the image signal detected by the CCD camera 11, the sensor signal detected by the sensor unit 21 and the acceleration sensor 31, and the detection time (hereinafter, these image signals and the like). Is referred to as sensor data) is sequentially overwritten every 100 ms,
It comprises an SRAM 51 for endless recording, and a flash memory 52 to which sensor data stored in the SRAM 51 is written after the endless recording.
The SRAM 51 and the flash memory 52 are divided into video signal areas 51a and 52a and sensor signal areas 51b and 52b having a large data amount, respectively. Each area 51
Each of a, 52a, 51b, and 52b is divided into 450, and sensor data for 45 seconds is recorded. Also S
The microcomputer 61 controls overwriting to the RAM 51 and writing to the flash memory 52.

A manual switch 4, which is an accident recognition switch, is provided in the passenger compartment. When an accident occurs, an occupant such as a driver turns on the vehicle, and an acceleration sensor 31 detects a large sudden deceleration of the vehicle. Can be forcibly recognized by the microcomputer 61 without detecting the occurrence of an accident.

The operation of the vehicle accident situation recording device will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows a main routine of the recording control unit 6 of the accident situation recording device.
Initial settings are made (step 101). Then step 1
In 02, it is determined from the recordable flag Z whether or not recording is prohibited. If the recording is not prohibited, the post-recognition writing number C is set to 50 (step 103). The post-recognition writing number C is a set value of the number of times sensor data is written to the SRAM 51 of the storage unit 5 after the time when the accident is recognized. Since writing is performed every 100 ms, 100 ms × C is the post-recognition recording time. Become. Next, the count variable N for counting the number of times of writing to the SRAM 51 of the storage unit 5 after the recognition of the accident and the accident flags Fa and Fm indicating the accident recognition are reset (steps 104 and 105).
An interrupt processing start to be started every 100 ms is set (step 106).

Then, the video signal obtained by the imaging device 11 is fetched into the frame memory 13, and the sensor signal is fetched from the sensor section 21 and the like into the microcomputer 61 (step 107). If both the accident flags Fa and Fm are 0 (step 108), the routine proceeds to step 109. Step 109 is an operation part as an accident detecting means. It is determined whether or not the sensor signal of the acceleration sensor 31 taken in step 107 exceeds 2G which is a first reference (step 109). If not, proceed to step 110. In step 110, it is determined whether or not the manual switch 4 is turned on. If the manual switch 4 is off, it is determined that the occupant has not recognized the accident, and the process returns to step 107 again. That is, if the acceleration sensor 31 does not detect an acceleration exceeding 2 G and the manual switch 4 is off, steps 107 to 110 are repeated.

FIG. 3 shows an interrupt process started every 100 ms. If the occurrence of an accident is not recognized from the sensor signal of the acceleration sensor 31 or the operation state of the manual switch 4, the accident flags Fa and Fm are both 0. Since there is, the process proceeds from step 201 to step 202, and the sensor data fetched in step 107 of the main routine (FIG. 2) is transferred to the SRAM 51 of the storage unit 5 and the interrupt processing ends (step 203). And S in the storage unit 5
In the RAM 51, an area in which sensor data with the oldest write time is stored is overwritten with the transferred latest sensor data for each interruption process. Therefore, the storage unit 5
The SRAM 51 stores sensor data updated every 100 ms and for 45 seconds (100 ms × 450) up to the present.

Next, a case where an accident occurs will be described. If the sensor signal of the acceleration sensor 31 exceeds 2 G in step 109 in FIG. 2, the accident flag Fa is set to 1 (step 111), and the post-recognition writing number C is changed to 150 (step 112).

In the interrupt processing when the occurrence of an accident is recognized from the sensor signal of the acceleration sensor 31, the process proceeds from step 201 to step 204, where the count variable N is incremented. Next, it is determined whether or not the count variable N is the post-recognition write number C (here, 150) (step 205). Count variable N is the number of writes C after recognition C
If not, steps 202 to 203 are executed. That is, the count variable N is incremented by one step at step 204 for each interrupt process, but until the number C of write after recognition is reached, steps 202 and 203 are executed, and the sensor data is sequentially overwritten on the SRAM 52 every 100 ms.

The count variable N is a post-recognition record variable C.
In other words, after the first recognition time of 15 seconds (100 ms × 150) elapses, that is, after the recognition of the occurrence of the accident, the SRAM 51 of the storage unit 5 stores the 15-second sensor data with the oldest write time. The sensor data is updated to the sensor data for 15 seconds after the accident occurrence is recognized, and the sensor data for 30 seconds until the accident occurrence recognition time and the sensor data for 15 seconds after the accident occurrence recognition time are stored. Then, the process proceeds from step 205 to step 206, in which the SR
The sensor data for 45 seconds stored in the AM 51 is transferred to the flash memory 52, and subsequent interrupts are prohibited (step 207). Thus, the operation of the apparatus ends (step 208).

If the manual switch 4 is turned on in step 110 of FIG. 2, the accident flag Fm is set to 1
(Step 113). If an accident is recognized by the manual switch 4, the number of writes after recognition is 50 set in step 103 after the start of the apparatus since the main routine does not go through step 112, and the interrupt processing started every 100 ms is , Only the point where the number of writes C after recognition is 50 is the acceleration sensor 31
This is different from interrupt processing when an accident is recognized. Therefore, after 50 seconds, which is the second post-recognition recording time in which the interrupt processing is performed 50 times, four times until the accident recognition is reached.
The sensor data for 0 seconds and the sensor data for 5 seconds after the recognition of the accident are recorded in the flash memory 52.

FIG. 4 shows a recording time period of the sensor data recorded in the flash memory 52 of the accident situation recording device collected after the accident. In the case where an accident is recognized by the sensor signal of the acceleration sensor 31 (A). In the case where the accident is recognized by the manual switch 4 and the case (B), the ratio of the storage time before and after the recognition of the accident is different. In other words, when an accident is recognized by the manual switch 4, the recording time after the recognition of the accident is shorter by 10 seconds and the recording time before the recognition of the accident is longer by that much. Therefore, even if the occupant does not operate the manual switch 4 at the moment of the accident, the occupant can operate the manual switch 4 after the accident and can calmly determine the situation. A record of the situation after the accident is kept.

Although the occurrence of an accident is determined by the binary determination of the acceleration of the vehicle, it may be determined by the yaw rate detected by the yaw rate sensor.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention. This is a modification of the main routine of the first embodiment in place of the main routine. Differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described. The difference from FIG. 2 is the subsequent procedure when the manual switch 4 is turned on in step 110. The accident flag Fm is set to 1 (step 113).
Then, it is determined whether there is an event having a high probability of the accident. That is, the data of the sensor signal of the acceleration sensor 31 up to the present time stored in the SRAM 51 of the storage unit 5 is searched for data exceeding 0.5 G as the second reference (step 11).
4). The occurrence of an acceleration exceeding 0.5 G is usually difficult to say as an accident,
If it is turned on, it can be said that the event is highly probable of the accident. Therefore, if there is data exceeding 0.5 G, it is estimated that an accident has occurred at that time.

If there is data exceeding 0.5 G, it is determined whether the data is data 5 seconds or more ago (step 115). In addition, as in the case of multiple accidents such as
When a plurality of peaks exceeding G are distributed, the last data is determined. If the data exceeding 0.5 G is more than 5 seconds ago, it is highly probable that more than 5 seconds have elapsed from the occurrence of the accident to the recognition of the accident, and the sensor after the occurrence of the accident is already stored in the SRAM 51 of the storage unit 5 at the time of the recognition of the accident. It is recognized that the data is stored for 5 seconds, which is sufficient for analyzing the situation after the accident occurred. The count variable N is set as the post-recognition write number C (step 116), and the sensor data stored in the SRAM 51 of the storage unit 5 at that time is transferred to the flash memory 52 in the interrupt processing (FIG. 3), and the operation of the device is ended ( Steps 205, 206, 20
7, 208).

If it is determined in step 115 that the data exceeding 0.5 G is within 5 seconds, the post-recognition write number C is calculated (step 117). That is, the difference between the above 5 seconds and the time from when the acceleration sensor 31 detects the acceleration of 0.5 G to the time when the manual switch 4 recognizes the accident is calculated, and the difference is calculated as the second post-recognition recording time. I do.
A value obtained by dividing the post-recognition recording time by 100 ms is defined as a post-recognition write number C.

The number of interrupt processes executed from the time when the acceleration sensor 31 detects an acceleration exceeding 0.5 G to the time when the manual switch 4 recognizes an accident is less than 50, ie, less than 50 times. 3)
Is executed, and the operation of the device ends. When the operation of the device is completed, the acceleration of the vehicle finally reaches 0.5 G
Is stored in the flash memory 52 for 40 seconds until the vehicle speed exceeds 0.5 G and the sensor data for 5 seconds after the vehicle acceleration finally exceeds 0.5 G.

The ratio of the recording time after the accident and before the accident is that if the time from when the acceleration sensor 31 finally detects the acceleration exceeding 0.5 G to when the manual switch 4 recognizes the accident is long, Since the recording time after the second recognition is shortened, the variation can be suppressed even if the time when the occupant turns on the manual switch 4 due to an accident is different.

In step 115, it is determined whether the data exceeding 0.5G is data 5 seconds or more ago. However, the data is not limited to 5 seconds. For example, the first recording time after recognition is 15 seconds. For example, the ratio of the recording time before and after the occurrence of the accident can be made substantially constant between the case where the accident is recognized by the acceleration sensor 31 and the case where the accident is recognized by the manual switch 4 for a momentary accident.

In a multiple accident such as a collision with a ball,
If the section of the collision is long, the recording time until the start of the collision becomes short, and the history of the accident may not be sufficiently recorded. This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 (A)
Is the time when the accident was recognized by the manual switch 4 (t
FIG. 6B shows a storage time zone of the sensor data stored in the SRAM 51 of the storage unit 5 in FIG.
Indicates the acceleration of the vehicle. The second post-recognition writing time is set based only on the last data exceeding 0.5 G, and the recording time from the point of time when the accident is recognized (t2) to the time when the new sensor data is overwritten until the start of the collision with the collision is overwritten. This is because it becomes shorter.

Therefore, the second post-recognition write time is set to a second post-recognition recording time when the time up to the point where the acceleration exceeding 0.5 G first occurs does not satisfy the preset lower limit value (for example, 20 seconds). Time is assumed to be 0, and accident recognition time (t2)
To record the accident situation for 45 seconds back. Specifically, between steps 115 and 117 in FIG.
The time from the writing time (t1) of the oldest sensor data stored in 51 to the time when the acceleration exceeding 0.5 G first occurs is compared with a lower limit value (for example, 20 seconds).
A procedure for proceeding to step 116 when the lower limit is not satisfied may be added. As a result, a record of the time until the collision with the ball starts can be kept to a minimum, so that information on the circumstances leading up to the accident does not become insufficient. Alternatively, instead of setting the second post-recognition recording time to 0, the recording time may be shortened as the difference between the time until the acceleration exceeding 0.5 G first occurs and the lower limit becomes larger.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the numerical value such as the recording time can be appropriately set according to the storage capacity of the storage unit and the like.
Further, the sensor data recorded as the travel information is not limited to those described in the above embodiments, and may be a part thereof.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an accident situation recording device for a vehicle according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a first flowchart illustrating the operation of the vehicle accident situation recording device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a second flowchart illustrating the operation of the vehicle accident situation recording device of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the vehicle accident situation recording device of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of another vehicle accident situation recording device according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating the operation of another vehicle accident situation recording device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Imaging device (travel information detection means) 21 Sensor part (travel information detection means) 31 Acceleration sensor (accident detection means) 4 Manual switch (accident recognition switch) 5 Storage part (storage means) 61 Microcomputer (accident detection means, overwriting Control means)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A traveling information detecting means for detecting traveling information of a vehicle, an accident detecting means for detecting that an accident has occurred in the vehicle, and an accident recognition switch operated by the occupant when the occupant of the vehicle judges that an accident has occurred. And, when the data of the traveling information of the vehicle detected by the traveling information detecting means is sequentially and chronologically written, the overwritable storage means and the accident detecting means or the accident recognition switch recognizes the accident,
An overwriting control means for stopping overwriting to the storage means after a lapse of a predetermined recording time after the recognition of the accident, wherein the overwriting control means comprises: When the accident is recognized by the means, the overwriting is stopped after the first recognition time has elapsed, and when the accident is determined by the accident recognition switch, the overwriting is stopped after the second recognition time has elapsed. The second recording time after recognition is shorter than the first recording time after recognition. 2. An accident situation recording apparatus for a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said accident detecting means includes a first criterion for detecting an accident and a second criterion for detecting an event having a high probability of an accident.
The overwriting control means, when the accident recognition switch recognizes an accident, from the time when the accident detection means detects the event by the second criterion to the time when the accident recognition switch is operated The vehicle accident situation recording device in which the second time after the recognition is set shorter as the time is calculated.