EVENT DATA RECORDER WITH INTELLIGENT SWITCHING FUNCTION

Abstract

 An event data recorder with intelligent switching function includes a central control device, a GPS unit used for generating a locating signal, a gyroscope used for generating a direction signal, an acceleration sensing unit used for generating an acceleration signal, and a recording device. The central control device has at least one processing chip and a plurality of circuit units. The GPS unit, the gyroscope, the acceleration sensing unit, and the recording device are respectively electrically connected to the processing chip via the circuit units. The locating, the direction, and the acceleration signals are sent to the central control device to instantly determine whether or not to activate the recording device when they are detected not in a predetermined range.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to an event data recorder with intelligent switching function, and more specifically, to an event data recorder with intelligent switching function that can instantly be activated to record the surrounding information when one of the signals is not determined in a predetermined range.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Most traffic accidents caused by drivers' careless, and therefore drivers' concentration is essential while driving, so they can quickly react to avoid accidents.

[0003] Traffic accidents happened frequently caused by various dangerous situations, such as cars in front or nearby stop due to sudden emergency brakes, land changing without alarming turn signals, or violated road crossing of pedestrians. Thus, the drivers need to concentrate on not only the surrounding road conditions and traffic lights, but also unexpected situations, like animals, pedestrians, or bikes.

[0004] Although paying a lot of attention to surrounding conditions while driving, accidents still happened due to ever-changing road conditions. In order to avoid car crashes, some vehicles are equipped with active driving assistant system to detect and alarm warning to remind the drivers when the relative distance between two cars is too short.

[0005] A passive safety system, such as an event data recorder, is used to record information related to car crashes or accidents for clarifying. Normally, most event data recorders are turned on when the cars are start-up and off when stop. Some event data recorders have a function that when the car stops the event data recorder can automatically be activated to record the information about the suspected vehicles to avoid a hit-and-run accident. However, this function can only be activated after the car stops. Also, the event data recorder cannot be activated when the driver forgets to turn it on. It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop an improved event data recorder with intelligent switching function to overcome the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] To solve the above problems, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an event data recorder with intelligent switching function that can automatically be activated to record the surrounding information when detecting the driver's moving route is not in a predetermined route or external condition is unusual.

[0007] To achieve the above and other objects, the event data recorder includes a central control device, a GPS unit, a gyroscope, an acceleration sensing unit, and a recording device.

[0008] The event data recorder with intelligent switching function includes at least one central control device, a GPS unit used for generating a locating signal, a gyroscope used for generating a direction signal, an acceleration sensing unit used for generating an acceleration signal, and a recording device. The central control device has at least one processing chip and a plurality of circuit units. The GPS unit, the gyroscope, the acceleration sensing unit, and the recording device are respectively electrically connected to the processing chip via the circuit units. The locating, the direction, and the acceleration signals are sent to the central control device to instantly activate the recording device when they are not determined in a predetermined range.

[0009] With these arrangements, the central control device can automatically determine whether the recording device is in operation or activate the recording device to instantly record surrounding information when determining one of the signals sent by the GPS unit, the gyroscope, and the acceleration sensing unit is not in the predetermined range, such as the driving route is not in a predetermined route, the driving state is not stable, or the acceleration is unusual, so as to clarify the responsibility of traffic accidents later on.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an event data recorder with intelligent switching function according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an example of use of the event data recorder with intelligent switching function according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is another example of use of the event data recorder with intelligent switching function according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 4 is still another example of use of the event data recorder with intelligent switching function according to a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] The present invention will now be described with some preferred embodiments thereof and by referring to the accompanying drawings. For the purpose of easy to understand, elements that are the same in the preferred embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals.

[0012] Please refer to Fig. 1, which is block diagram of an event data recorder with intelligent switching function according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the event data recorder with intelligent switching function 1 includes a central control device 11, a GPS unit 12, a gyroscope 13, an acceleration sensing unit 14, and a recording device 15. For the purpose of conciseness, the present invention is also briefly referred to as the event data recorder and generally denoted by reference numeral 1.

[0013] The event data recorder 1 includes a central control device 11, a GPS unit 12 used for generating a locating signal 121, a gyroscope 13 used for generating a direction signal 131, an acceleration sensing unit 14 used for generating an acceleration signal 141, and a recording device 15. The central control device 11 has at least one processing chip 111 and a plurality of circuit units 112. The locating, the direction, and the acceleration signals 121, 131, 141 are sent to the central control device 11 to determine whether the recording device 15 is in operation or activate the recording device 15 to instantly record surrounding information.

[0014] The GPS unit 12 is electrically connected to the processing chip 111 of the central control device 11 via the circuit units 112 and a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip. The GPS unit 12 is used for generating the locating signal 121 according to a real-time location and a moving route of the event data recorder 1. Then the locating signal 121 is sent to the central control device 11 to determine whether the recording device 15 is in operation or activate the recording device 15 to instantly record surrounding information when detecting the locating signal 121 is not in the predetermined route.

[0015] The gyroscope 13 is electrically connected to the processing chip 111 of the central control device 11 via the circuit units 112 and used for generating the direction signal 131 according to a detected yaw rate of the event data recorder 1. Then the generated direction signal 131 is sent to the central control device 11 to determine whether the recording device 15 is in operation or activate the recording device 15 to instantly record surrounding information when detecting the direction signal 131 is not in the predetermined direction.

[0016] The acceleration sensing unit 14 is electrically connected to the processing chip 111 of the central control device 11 via the circuit units 112 and an acceleration sensor used for generating the acceleration signal 141 according to a change of an instantaneous acceleration, and then the acceleration signal 141 is sent to the central control device 11 to determine whether the recording device 15 is in operation or activate the recording device 15 to instantly record surrounding information when detecting the acceleration signal 141 is not in the predetermined range.

[0017] The recording device 15 is electrically connected to the processing chip 111 of the central control device 11 via the circuit units 112 and has a video-receiving unit 151 and a storage unit 152. The video-receiving unit 151 is a camera, whereas, the storage unit 152 is a hard-disk or a memory card. The recording device 15 is used for recording the surrounding visual information, which is received by the video-receiving unit 151 and then stored in the storage unit 152. When detecting one of the signals sent by the GPS unit 12, the gyroscope 13, and the acceleration sensing unit 14 is not in the predetermined range the recording device 15 is activated by the central control device 11 when not in operation.

[0018] With these arrangements, the central control device 11 can automatically determine whether the recording device 15 is in operation or activate the recording device 15 to instantly record surrounding information when detecting one of the signals sent by the GPS unit 12, the gyroscope 13, and the acceleration sensing unit 14 is not in the predetermined range, such as the driving route is not in a predetermined route, the driving state is not stable, or the acceleration is unusual, so as to clarify and responsibility of traffic accidents later on. Moreover, the recording device 15 can be chose to turn off or keep recording when all the signals are stable in the predetermined range from the exceeded range.

[0019] Please refer to Fig. 2, which is an example of use of the event data recorder 1 according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment of the event data recorder 1 is generally structurally similar to the first embodiment except that, in this second embodiment, the event data recorder 1 is installed on a vehicle 2. With these arrangements, the central control device 11 can automatically determine whether the recording device 15 is in operation or activate the recording device 15 to instantly record surrounding information when detecting one of the signals sent by the GPS unit 12, the gyroscope 13, and the acceleration sensing unit 14 is not in the predetermined range, such as the driving route is not in a predetermined route, the driving state is not stable, or the acceleration is unusual, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to clarify the responsibility of traffic accidents later on.

[0020] Please refer to Fig. 3, which is another example of use of the event data recorder 1 according to a third preferred embodiment of the present invention. The third embodiment of the event data recorder 1 is generally structurally similar to the first embodiment except that, in this third embodiment, the event data recorder 1 is installed on a motorcycle 3. With these arrangements, the central control device 11 can automatically determine whether the recording device 15 is in operation or activate the recording device 15 to instantly record surrounding information when detecting one of the signals sent by the GPS unit 12, the gyroscope 13, and the acceleration sensing unit 14 is not in the predetermined range, such as the riding route is not in a predetermined route, the riding state is not stable, or the acceleration is unusual, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to clarify the responsibility of traffic accidents later on.

[0021] Please refer to Fig. 4, which is still another example of use of the event data recorder 1 according to a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention. The fourth embodiment of the event data recorder 1 is generally structurally similar to the first embodiment except that, in this fourth embodiment, the event data recorder 1 is installed on a bike 4.With these arrangements, the central control device 11 can automatically determine whether the recording device 15 is in operation or activate the recording device 15 to instantly record surrounding information when detecting one of the signals sent by the GPS unit 12, the gyroscope 13, and the acceleration sensing unit 14 is not in the predetermined range, such as the riding route is not in a predetermined route, the riding state is not stable, or the acceleration is unusual, as shown in Fig. 1, so as to clarify the responsibility of traffic accidents later on.

[0022] The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A event data recorder with intelligent switching function, comprising:

a central control device having at least one processing chip and a plurality of circuit units, which being electrically connected to the processing chip;

a GPS unit being electrically connected to the processing chip of the central control device via the circuit units and used for generating a locating signal, which being sent to the central control device to determine;

a gyroscope being electrically connected to the processing chip of the central control device via the circuit units and used for generating a direction signal, which being sent to the central control device to determine;

an acceleration sensing unit being electrically connected to the processing chip of the central control device via the circuit units and used for generating an acceleration signal, which being sent to the central control device to determine; and

a recording device having a video-receiving unit and a storage unit and being electrically connected to the processing chip of the central control device via the circuit units and activated by the central control device.

2. The event data recorder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the GPS is a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip and used for locating and generating the locating signal according to a real-time location, and then the generated locating signal being sent to the central control device to determine according to a moving route.

3. The event data recorder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the gyroscope is used for generating a direction signal according to a detected yaw rate, and then the generated direction signal being sent to the central control device to determine.

4. The event data recorder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the acceleration sensing unit is an acceleration sensor used for generating the acceleration signal according to a change of a detected instantaneous acceleration, and then the generated acceleration signal being sent to the central control unit to determine.

5. The event data recorder as claimed in claim 1, wherein the video-receiving unit is a camera, whereas the storage unit is a hard-disk or a memory card.

Drawing