IMAGE RECORDING METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR RECORDING A SCENE-CAPTURING IMAGE WHICH CAPTURES ROAD SCENES AROUND A CAR, AND MACHINE READABLE MEDIUM THEREOF

• US 20100103265A1
• Filed: 10/02/2009
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Winstron Corporation
• Original Assignee: Wistron Corporation
• Inventors: Yu, Chien-Chih, Yeh, Chih-Feng
• Application Number:
  US12/573,074
• Publication Number:
  US 20100103265A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0891 Video recorder in combination with video camera

Abstract

An image recording method for use in an electronic device configured on a car for recording a scene-capturing image which captures road scenes around the car is disclosed. The method comprises the following steps. First, a positioning signal is received. The positioning signal is decoded to obtain determination data. It is determined whether a predetermined condition is satisfied based on the determination data. The recording of the scene-capturing image is continued when the predetermined condition is satisfied and the recording of the scene-capturing image is stopped when the predetermined condition has not been satisfied for a predetermined time period.

Claims

1. An image recording method for use in an electronic device configured on a car for recording a scene-capturing image which captures road scenes around the car, comprising:

receiving a positioning signal;

decoding the positioning signal to obtain determination data;

determining whether a predetermined condition is satisfied based on the determination data;

continuing recording of the scene-capturing image when the predetermined condition is satisfied; and

stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image when the predetermined condition has not been satisfied for a predetermined time period.

2. The image recording method of claim 1, wherein the determination data comprises a positioning data, a speed data and a time data.

3. The image recording method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined condition corresponds to a change in position and/or speed of the electronic device.

4. The image recording method of claim 3, wherein the step of determining whether a predetermined condition is satisfied based on the determination data is performed by determining whether the position of the electronic device has continually changed and the speed of the electronic device is not zero.

5. The image recording method of claim 4, wherein the predetermined condition is determined as not being satisfied when the position of the electronic device is not continually changing or the speed of the electronic device is zero.

6. The image recording method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the recording of the scene-capturing image has stopped, displaying a message for indicating that the recording of the scene-capturing image has stopped.

7. The image recording method of claim 6, further comprising:

manually canceling a request for stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image via a user interface after the message for indicating that the recording of the scene-capturing image has stopped has been displayed.

8. The image recording method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device further comprises a memory unit, wherein the memory unit has a recordable time with a fixed time length and the predetermined time period corresponds to the recordable time.

9. The image recording method of claim 1, further comprising:

after stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image, generating a protection image using a recorded image that was recorded within the predetermined time period and a fragment image that was recorded from the end of the predetermined time period to a time point of stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image;

configuring the protection image as a read-only image; and

storing the read-only image in a memory unit.

10. The image recording method of claim 1, further comprising configuring a bad signal accumulating time;

utilizing a recorded image that was recorded within the bad signal accumulating time period and a fragment image that was recorded from the end of the bad signal accumulating time period to a time point of stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image to generate a protection image when determining that an accumulated time that was accumulated when the received signal quality of the positioning signal was bad exceeded the configured bad signal accumulating time;

configuring the protection image as a read-only image; and

storing the read-only image in a memory unit.

11. An image recording system for recording a scene-capturing image, comprising:

a signal receiving unit, receiving a positioning signal;

an image capture unit, capturing/recording a scene-capturing image; and

a control unit coupled to the signal receiving unit and the image capture unit, obtaining determination data according to the positioning signal and determining whether a predetermined condition is satisfied based on the determination data,

wherein the control unit directs the image capture unit to continually record the scene-capturing image when the predetermined condition is satisfied, and the control unit directs the image capture unit to stop recording of the scene-capturing image when the predetermined condition has not been satisfied for a predetermined time period.

12. The image recording system of claim 11, further comprising a memory unit, wherein the memory unit has a recordable time with a fixed time length and the predetermined time period corresponds to the recordable time.

13. The image recording system of claim 12, wherein the control unit further, after stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image, generates a protection image using a recorded image that was recorded within the predetermined time period and a fragment image that was recorded from the end of the predetermined time period to a time point of stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image, configures the protection image as a read-only image and stores the read-only image to the memory unit.

14. The image recording system of claim 11, further comprising a display unit for displaying a message indicating that the recording of the scene-capturing image has been stopped when the recording of the scene-capturing image has stopped.

15. The image recording system of claim 14, wherein the display unit further provides a user interface for a user to manually cancel a request for stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image.

16. The image recording system of claim 11, wherein the control unit further comprises a timer for determining whether the predetermined condition has been satisfied for the predetermined time period, and the timer starts counting when the predetermined condition has not been satisfied.

17. The image recording system of claim 11, wherein the determination data comprises a position data, a speed data and a time data.

18. The image recording system of claim 11, wherein the predetermined condition corresponds to a change in position and/or speed of the electronic device.

19. The image recording system of claim 18, wherein the control unit determines whether the predetermined condition is satisfied by determining whether the position of the electronic device has continually changed and the speed of the electronic device is not zero, and determines that the predetermined condition has not been satisfied when the position of the electronic device is not continually changing or the speed of the electronic device is zero.

20. A machine-readable storage medium comprising a computer program, which, when executed, causes a device configured on a car to perform an image recording method for recording a scene-capturing image which captures road scenes around the car, and the method comprising:

acquiring a positioning signal;

decoding the positioning signal to obtain determination data;

determining whether a predetermined condition is satisfied based on the determination data;

continuing recording of the scene-capturing image when the predetermined condition is satisfied; and

stopping the recording of the scene-capturing image when the predetermined condition has not been satisfied for a predetermined time period.