CELLPHONE CONTROLLABLE CAR INTRUSION RECORDING AND MONITORING REACTION SYSTEM

• US 20130295912A1
• Filed: 11/29/2012
• Published: 11/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Innova Electronics Corporation (Innova Telematics Solutions)
• Original Assignee: Innova Electronics Corporation (Innova Telematics Solutions)
• Inventors: Chen, Ieon
• Granted Patent: US 8,855,621 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/420
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/00 Fittings or systems for preventing or indicating unauthorised use or theft of vehicles locks for vehicles E05B77/00-E05B85/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/00 Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers subscriber services or facilities provided at exchanges H04M3/00; prepayment telephone coin boxes H04M17/00; current supply arrangements H04M19/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/121 Wireless intrusion detection systems [WIDS]; Wireless intrusion prevention systems [WIPS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

A cellphone controllable car intrusion system is provided. This system includes a vehicle OEM system, including an electronic control unit (ECU), a diagnostic port, a plurality of OEM cameras, a plurality of OEM sensors, an OEM satellite communication system, and an OEM local communication system. The diagnostic port, OEM cameras, OEM sensors, OEM satellite communication system, and the OEM local communication system being in electric communication with the ECU. A cellphone is provided having a local communication system disposed therein. The cellphone is in wireless communication with the ECU. The cellphone is adapted to configure the ECU to enable operation of the OEM cameras in response to receipt by the cellphone of an alert signal from the OEM sensors, indicating that an intrusion is in process. The alert signals are representative of detection of a monitor event by one or more of the OEM sensors.

Claims

1. A cellphone controllable vehicle monitoring system for use with a vehicle having a vehicle ECU, a vehicle interior, and vehicle exterior, the system comprising:

an electrical monitoring system including a plurality of cameras and a plurality of sensors, the plurality of cameras being configured to capture images within a zone including the vehicle interior, the vehicle exterior, and an area surrounding the vehicle, the plurality of sensors being able to detect a monitoring event and generate a monitoring signal in response thereto;

a storage device in communication with the plurality of cameras and configured to store the images captured by the plurality of cameras;

a local monitoring communication system in communication with the plurality of cameras and sensors and configured to transmit an alert signal in response to receipt of the monitoring signal; and

a cellphone in wireless communication with the local monitoring communication system, the cellphone having;

a local cellphone communication system disposed therein; and

a control unit configured to generate a startup signal when the alert signal matches operating criteria stored on the cellphone;

the startup signal being communicated to the plurality of cameras via the local monitoring communication system to initiate operation of the plurality of cameras.

2. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of sensors includes at least one from the group comprising:

motion sensors, sound sensors, brightness sensors, and vibration sensors.

3. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras are configured to capture images at programmable time intervals.

4. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras and plurality of sensors are OEM devices.

5. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of cameras and plurality of sensors are aftermarket devices.

6. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the storage device is in wired communication with the plurality of cameras.

7. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the storage device is in wireless communication with the plurality of cameras.

8. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the local monitoring communication system is in communication with the storage device to facilitate communication between the storage device and the cellphone.

9. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the sensors are programmable by the cellphone to generate the monitoring signal in response to user defined triggering criteria.

10. The monitoring system as recited in claim 1, wherein the storage device is connectable to the vehicle ECU to receive power and data therefrom, the storage device being configured to correlate the monitoring event with real-time data from the vehicle ECU.

11. An image capture and relay system for communicating image data over a cellular telephone network, the system configured for use with a vehicle having a vehicle ECU, the system comprising:

a camera mountable to the vehicle, the camera being configured to capture an image and generate a camera signal corresponding to the captured image;

a local communication device in operative communication with the camera and configured to receive the camera signal therefrom; and

a cellphone in communication the local communication device for communicating the camera signal from the local communication device to the cellphone via a first communication pathway, the cellphone further being in wireless communication with the cellular telephone network for communicating the camera signal from the cellphone to the cellular telephone network via a second wireless communication pathway.

12. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the camera is programmed to generate and transmit the camera signal automatically after a prescribed period of time.

13. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the camera is programmed to generate and transmit the camera signal automatically according to a programmed schedule.

14. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the camera is programmed to generate and transmit the camera signal in response to a detected event for monitoring the activity of a minor.

15. The system recited in claim 14, wherein the detected event relates to the vehicle being placed in park.

16. The system recited in claim 14, wherein the detected event relates to the vehicle being turned ON.

17. The system recited in claim 14, wherein the detected event relates to the vehicle passing a prescribed speed threshold.

18. The system recited in claim 14, wherein the detected event relates to position information of the vehicle.

19. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the camera is programmed to generate and transmit the camera signal in response to a verbal command.

20. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the camera is programmed to generate and transmit the camera signal in response to a signal from the vehicle'"'"'s electronic control unit (ECU).

21. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the camera is programmed to generate and transmit the camera signal in response to the camera receiving a request signal from the cellphone.

22. The system recited in claim 21, wherein the request signal is generated by the cellphone in response to a manual input by a user.

23. The system recited in claim 21, wherein the request signal is generated by the cellphone in response to a remote signal received by the cellphone.

24. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the camera is programmed to generate and transmit the camera signal independent of user input.

25. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the camera is configured to capture the image and generate the camera signal independent of the cellphone.

26. The system recited in claim 11, further comprising a data storage unit in communication with the camera and configured to store the camera signal.

27. The system recited in claim 26, wherein the data storage unit includes a short term memory module and a long term memory module, the data storage unit being configured to buffer data in the short term module for a prescribed buffering period and stores the data in a long term memory module in response to receipt of a storage signal.

28. The system recited in claim 27, wherein the short term module is configured to automatically delete data therefrom after the data resides thereon for a period of time equal to the buffering period, the system further comprising a manual override circuit in electrical communication with the short term module to allow for selective override of the automatic deletion of data from the short term module.

29. The system recited in claim 26, wherein the data storage unit is configurable to limit access to the data according to a user selectable filtering scheme.

30. The system recited in claim 29, wherein the user selectable filtering scheme assigns password protection in connection with a unique identifier associated with the cellphone such that a parent can regulate content accessible to a minor.

31. The system recited in claim 11, further comprising a sensor in operative communication with the camera, the camera being configured to generate the camera image in response to receipt of an alert signal from the sensor.

32. The system recited in claim 11 wherein the camera is programmed to generate and transmit the camera signal for capturing images within a zone including the vehicle interior, the vehicle exterior, and an area surrounding the vehicle for establishing a record to mitigate a driver'"'"'s liability in an accident.

33. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the cellphone is in wireless communication with the local communication device, and the first communication pathway is a wireless communication pathway.

34. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the local communication device is connectable to the vehicle ECU to receive power and data therefrom, the local communication device being configured to correlate the camera signal with real-time data from the vehicle ECU.

35. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the cellphone is in wired communication with the local communication device, and the first communication pathway is a wired communication pathway.

36. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the local communication device is configured to communicate a signal to the cellphone including image data and textual data related to the image data.