Business method for a vehicle safety management system

• US 20040236596A1
• Filed: 02/27/2004
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Acculeon
• Original Assignee: Acculeon
• Inventors: Chowdhary, Mahesh, Govindarajan, Gunasekaran
• Application Number:
  US10/789,427
• Publication Number:
  US 20040236596A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A Vehicle Safety Management System (“VSM”) detects safe driving behavior in a vehicle. The system includes a plurality of unsafe driving events, including tailgating, frequent lane changes, speed limit violation, speed limit violation over a curved segment of road, rapid acceleration from a start, and rapid deceleration to a stop. The vehicle is equipped with an event detection module. The event detection module includes a circuit that acquires vehicle data for parameters associated with movement of the vehicle. The event detection module also includes a processor for executing algorithms that determine whether movement of the vehicle meets one or more pre-determined conditions. If the pre-determined conditions are met, event data for one or more unsafe driving events are generated. The event detection module includes a transceiver to send and receive data between the vehicle and a server. The server presents event data to a customer so as to allow the customer to view unsafe driving behavior data for the customer'"'"'s fleet. For example, the application server may generate reports that detail the unsafe driving events for a driver, vehicle, condition, etc.

Claims

1. A method for conducting business, said method comprising:

deploying, on a plurality of vehicles in a customer fleet of vehicles, an event detection module for acquiring vehicle data for a plurality of parameters associated with movement of said vehicle;

generating event data for one or more unsafe driving events from said vehicle data for at least one customer, wherein an unsafe driving event characterizes movement of a vehicle in a manner indicative of unsafe driving behavior; and

offering for sale to said customer access to said event data.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting event data from said event detection module on said vehicle to a server; and

granting access privileges to said customer to access said event data on said server.

3. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein transmitting event data from said event detection module on said vehicle to a server comprises:

transmitting said event data from said event detection module on said vehicle to a local server of said customer; and

transmitting said event data from said local server to an application server of a business entity offering said access to said event data.

4. The method as set forth in claim 2, further comprising publishing a web site on said server comprising a plurality of web pages, so as to permit said customer to access said event data through said web site.

5. The method as set forth in claim 2, further comprising generating from said event data to generate at least one report regarding one or more unsafe driving events for one or more vehicles in said customer fleet.

6. The method as set forth in claim 2, further comprising generating from said event data to generate at least one report regarding one or more unsafe driving events for one or more drivers in said customer fleet.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from said customer at least one user defined parameter for said event detection module;

transmitting said user defined parameter to said event detection module; and

generating event data for one or more unsafe driving events in accordance with said user defined parameter.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein transmitting event data from said event detection module on said vehicle to a server comprises transmitting said event data in real time.

9. The method as set forth in claim 2, further comprising:

receiving from said customer a communication parameter; and

transmitting said event data from said event detection module on said vehicle to said server in accordance with said communication parameter.