Incident alert and information gathering method and system
First Claim
1. A data recorder for use in a vehicle, the data recorder comprising;
- a processor;
a storage medium, an incident detector, and a communication device, each coupled to the processor;
wherein the storage medium comprises a first portion and a second portion, and at least the second portion is a non-volatile memory, data collected from a sensor being stored in the first portion; and
data stored in the first portion being copied to the second portion when an event occurs, the event being one of an incident detector output representing an incident or a communication device output representing the receipt of a broadcast message.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus, a system and a method of collecting vehicle data for use in incident investigations, including: a vehicle data recorder for recording vehicle parameters such as geographic location, speed, azimuth of motion, acceleration, brake pedal pressure and similar parameters: a means for detecting incidents such as an accident, and sending an incident message to a incident monitoring station, which then transmits a broadcast message. Other vehicles within communication range of the incident monitoring station each respond to the broadcast message with a report message including a unique identifier. When an incident occurs, a portion of the data stored prior to, and at the time of, the incident is saved for future retrieval. The incident message may be reported to a central site or other authority so that emergency response can be provided.
162 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A data recorder for use in a vehicle, the data recorder comprising;
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a processor;
a storage medium, an incident detector, and a communication device, each coupled to the processor;
wherein the storage medium comprises a first portion and a second portion, and at least the second portion is a non-volatile memory, data collected from a sensor being stored in the first portion; and
data stored in the first portion being copied to the second portion when an event occurs, the event being one of an incident detector output representing an incident or a communication device output representing the receipt of a broadcast message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An incident monitoring station, comprising:
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a processor;
a storage medium and a communication device, each coupled to the processor; and
wherein the communication device receives an incident message from a data recorder in a first vehicle, and wherein the processor, upon receipt of the incident message, causes the communication device to transmit a broadcast message, and wherein the processor stores the incident message and a response to the broadcast message in the storage medium. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification