Method of Storing Accident Data for a Vehicle

• US 20100174449A1
• Filed: 06/02/2008
• Published: 07/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PLK Technologies Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: PLK Technologies Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Hyun Chul
• Granted Patent: US 8,229,621 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera

Abstract

Provided is a method of storing accident data for a vehicle, in which image data taken by a camera during driving is stored in real time, a weight value is set according to a measured impulse value to calculate a priority index and data is stored in a memory based on the priority index, thereby preventing initial accident-cause data from being deleted over time. The method includes acquiring driving data including image data, setting a weight value corresponding to an average impulse value and calculating a priority index, selecting a block having a lowest priority index and storing the driving data in the selected block if the capacity of the volatile memory is full, determining whether a timer starts, and reading out all data stored in the volatile memory and storing the read data in the non-volatile memory if the predetermined amount of time has elapsed.

Claims

1. A method of storing accident data for a vehicle implemented in an apparatus for storing accident data for a vehicle, the apparatus including a camera unit, a frame grabber, an accident detecting sensor, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and a controller, the method comprising:

acquiring, by the controller, driving data including image data every pre-determined interval;

setting a weight value corresponding to an average impulse value included in the acquired driving data, and calculating a priority index;

sequentially storing the driving data if a capacity of the volatile memory is not full, and selecting a block having a lowest priority index from the volatile memory and storing the driving data in the selected block if the capacity of the volatile memory is full;

determining, by the controller, whether a timer starts, checking if an impulse value acquired in real time is greater than a predetermined threshold if the timer does not start, and starting the timer if the impulse value is greater than the pre-determined threshold;

if the timer starts, determining whether a predetermined amount of time has elapsed from a point-in-time at which the timer starts; and

reading out all data stored in the volatile memory and storing the read data in the non-volatile memory as accident-related data if the predetermined amount of time has elapsed from the point-in-time at which the timer starts.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the average impulse value is an average of impulse values acquired in a data interval stored in a single memory block with respect to at least one 1 axis.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority index is calculated by multiplying the average impulse value by the weight value being set corresponding to the average impulse value.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the block having the lowest priority index and the storing of the driving data in the selected block comprises:

setting a memory block which stores data recorded before a specific amount of time from a current point-in-time and a memory block which stores data recorded after a point-in-time at which the accident occurs as a memory overwrite region, thereby allowing a specific amount of data recorded before and after the point-in-time at which the accident occurs to be safely held regardless of the priority index.