Vehicular surveillance system

• US 20100271480A1
• Filed: 01/25/2007
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/27/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Leonid Bezborodko
• Original Assignee: Leonid Bezborodko
• Inventors: Bezborodko, Leonid
• Application Number:
  US11/657,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20100271480A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• 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 on-board vehicular surveillance system for an occupied or unoccupied host vehicle is configured to capture and record car-accident related events caused by a target vehicle or any other object by at least one hidden recording camera. The camera is camouflaged for or incorporated in at least one of the standard accessories of the host vehicle and, thus, is hardly identifiable from outside.

Claims

1. A vehicular surveillance system, comprising a recorder operable to capture and record car-accident related events and mounted in a housing of a standard car accessory within a passenger compartment of a host vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the standard car accessory comprises a taillight.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the standard car accessory comprises a ceiling light.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the recorder comprises a photo/video-camera with sound registration.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the recorder includes a CCD/CMOS.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one mirror or reflective prism mounted in the passenger compartment and coupled to the recorder, the mirror being configured to reflect the car-accident related events incident upon the recorder.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the mirror is spaced from the housing of the standard car accessory.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the mirror is mounted within the housing of the standard car accessory

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the mirror is configured to have a wide view angle.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the mirror has a prismatically plane-shaped cross-section or dome concave/convex-shaped cross-section.

11. The system of claim 6, further comprising a sensory unit operative to detect the car-accident related events and generate a trigger signal in response to detection of the car-related events.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the sensory unit comprises one or more sensors coupled to the camera and located within the housing of the standard accessory of the host vehicle or outside the housing.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more sensors are configured as an optical motion detector, an impact-acceleration detector or a deflection detector.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more sensors are selected from the group consisting of the optical operated configuration, acceleration or deflection operated configuration and a combination thereof.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the one or more sensors are mounted to a body of the host vehicle.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising a controller coupled to the recorder, the mirror and the sensory unit and operable to receive the triggering signal so as to generate a control signal actuating the recorder, wherein the controller is configured with a software or hardware.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the controller is operative to execute an algorithm for actuating the recorder upon receiving the triggering signal from the sensory unit.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the controller is operative to execute an algorithm for actuating the recorder to aim on a license plate region of a target vehicle.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the controller is operative to execute an algorithm for displacing the mirror so as to have the car-accident related events reflected from a mirror incident upon the recorder.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the controller is operative to execute an algorithm for recognizing icons on a license plate of a target vehicle and for generating a sound signal corresponding to each of the recognized icons, the system further comprising a transmitter linked to a remote information center and operable to transmit audio and video recordings of the car-related accident over a communication link.