VEHICLE MONITORING MODULE

• US 20150355224A1
• Filed: 06/04/2014
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Danlaw, Inc. (Danlaw Technologies India Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Danlaw, Inc. (Danlaw Technologies India Ltd.)
• Inventors: Greer, Dale R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,429,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/166 Mechanical, construction or arrangement details of inertial navigation systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/14 by making use of gyroscopes gyroscopes per se G01C19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/18 in two or more dimensions

Abstract

A portable system for monitoring vehicle driving conditions is provided. The system may include a processor, an accelerometer unit, and a gyroscope unit. The processor may be configured to determine a primary axis of the vehicle based on acceleration data from the accelerometer unit and the angular rate of change data from the gyroscope unit.

Claims

1. A portable system for monitoring vehicle driving conditions comprising:

a processor;

an accelerometer unit in communication with the processor;

a gyroscope unit in communication with the processor;

a housing unit enclosing the processor, the accelerometer unit, and the gyroscope unit, the processor being configured to determine an orientation of the vehicle relative to the accelerometer unit and the gyroscope unit based on accelerometer data and gyroscope data.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine a relationship of the accelerometer unit and the gyroscope unit to a vehicle coordinate system during the real-time movement of the vehicle.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the accelerometer unit comprises a 3-axis accelerometer.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the accelerometer unit and the gyroscope unit are formed on a single semiconductor chip.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular rate of change and the composite acceleration of the vehicle.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular position when the angular rate of change is above a rate threshold.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular position when the magnitude of the composite acceleration is above an acceleration threshold.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular rate of change weighted by the magnitude of the rate of rotation of the vehicle at a particular instant of time.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular rate of change in the gravity plane weighted by the magnitude of the composite acceleration of the vehicle projected onto the gravity plane.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the transverse axis based on the a plurality of values, each value being associated with an angular location at a time, and each value being calculated based on the angular rate of change weighted by the magnitude of the composite acceleration of the vehicle at the time.

11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine the gravity plane based on rate of angular change data for a plurality of turns.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to determine the gravity plane based on plane fit for rate of angular change data for a plurality of turns.

13. A method for monitoring vehicle driving conditions for a vehicle, the method comprising:

identifying a gravity direction;

collecting acceleration data for the vehicle from an accelerometer;

collecting a angular rate of change data for the vehicle using a gyroscope;

calculating an orientation of a vehicle based on the angular rate of change data and the acceleration data.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular rate of change within the gravity direction and the composite acceleration of the vehicle.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular position when the angular rate of change is above a rate threshold.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular position when the magnitude of the composite acceleration is above an acceleration threshold.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular rate of change weighted by the magnitude of the composite acceleration of the vehicle.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to determine the orientation of the vehicle based on the angular rate of change in the gravity direction weighted by the magnitude of the composite acceleration of the vehicle projected onto the gravity plane.

19. The method according to claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to determine the transverse axis based on the a plurality of values, each value being associated with an angular location at a time, and each value being calculated based on the angular rate of change weighted by the magnitude of the composite acceleration of the vehicle at the time.

20. The method according to claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to determine the gravity direction based on a best fit of angular change data for a plurality of turns.