System for mediating safety drive information, safety drive information mediating apparatus used therein and method for confirming safety drive information

• US 7,046,130 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2003
• Issued: 05/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Omron Automotive Electronics Company Limited (Nidec Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Inventors: Kusano, Yuji
• Primary Examiner(s): La, Anh V.
• Application Number:
  US10/724,393
• Publication Number:
  US 20040160327A1
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• Field of Search: 340/576, 340/439, 340/988, 340/989, 340/991, 340/995, 340/993, 340/996, 340/905, 340/539.13, 705/13, 705/4, 705/400, 701/117, 701/118, 701200-213
• US Class Current: 340/439
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/06 indicating a condition of sleep, e.g. anti-dozing alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/016 Personal emergency signalling and security systems emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm activators G08B25/12

Abstract

A system for mediating safety drive information is provided, wherein a family or a managing company of a vehicle driver is able to confirm the safety of the driver with ease with a cellular phone or the like. The system comprises safety drive detecting terminals each installed in a vehicle for detecting the drive state with a plurality of sensors; user'"'"'s safety confirming terminals each included in a predetermined contact address; and a safety drive information mediating apparatus, which judges whether or not a vehicle is in the safety drive state, after receiving detected sensor data from the safety drive detecting terminal by wireless, and then supplies either a message of the occurrence of an abnormal state or a message of a safety drive to the user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal, in response to the confirmation of an abnormal drive state or a safety drive along with the receipt of a request of confirming the safety drive from the user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal.

Claims

1. A system for mediating safe driving information, said system comprising:

safe driving detecting terminals for detecting a driving state with a plurality of sensors in each of a plurality of vehicles;

user'"'"'s safety confirming terminals possessed by users wishing to obtain the safe driving information for a specified vehicle; and

a safe driving information mediating apparatus for applying a predetermined process to detected sensor data from said safe driving detecting terminals in said vehicles to supply information about the safe driving of said specified vehicle to a corresponding user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal;

wherein said system for mediating the safe driving information judges whether or not said specified vehicle is running in a safe driving state, and then, depending on the judging, supplies either a message of the occurrence of an abnormal driving state to a user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal in a predetermined contact address when the abnormal driving state of said vehicle is confirmed, or a message of the safe driving of said vehicle to said user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal when the safe driving of said vehicle is confirmed and when a request of confirming the safe driving is received from said predetermined contact address.

2. A system for mediating safe driving information according to claim 1, wherein the judgment as to whether or not said vehicle is running in a safe driving state is executed either in said safe driving detecting terminal included in each vehicle, or in said safe driving information mediating apparatus.

3. A system for mediating safe driving information according to claim 1, wherein the confirmation of the safe driving of said vehicle is carried out by comparing said detection sensor data with pre-specified detection sensor data in the case of the safe driving.

4. A system for mediating safe driving information according to claim 1, wherein said user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal is a cellular phone, a stationary telephone or a personal computer.

5. A system for mediating safe driving information according to claim 1, wherein said safe driving information mediating apparatus has a fee-charging process function used to charge the fee of providing the information about the abnormal driving state or the safe driving of said vehicle.

6. A system for mediating safe driving information according to claim 5, wherein a varied service fee is required by said fee-charging process in accordance with the level of safe driving information supplied from said safe driving information mediating apparatus to said user.

7. A system for mediating safe driving information according to claim 6, wherein said level of safe driving information is varied either by the number of sensors disposed in said vehicle or by the detection content of said sensors.

8. A system for mediating safe driving information according to claim 1, wherein said safe driving information mediating apparatus has a telephonic communication function between said safe driving detecting terminal and said user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal.

9. A system for mediating safe driving information according to claim 1, wherein the users possessing the user'"'"'s safety confirming terminals are the families of the drivers of the vehicles.

10. A safe driving information mediating apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

first means for judging whether or not a vehicle is running in a safe driving state on the basis of detection sensor data received by wireless from a plurality of vehicles, each of which is equipped with a safe driving detecting terminal for detecting the driving state with sensors; and

second means capable of supplying, depending on the judging, either a message of the occurrence of an abnormal driving state to a user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal in a predetermined contact address when the abnormal driving state of said vehicle is confirmed, or a message of the safe driving of said vehicle to said user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal when the safe driving of said vehicle is confirmed and when a request of confirming the safe driving is received from said predetermined contact address.

11. A method for confirming safe driving information of a vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

detecting the driving state data of said vehicle with a plurality of sensors;

judging from the detected driving state data whether or not said vehicle is running in a safe driving state; and

supplying, depending on the judging, either a message of the occurrence of an abnormal driving state to a predetermined contact address when the abnormal driving state of said vehicle is confirmed, or a message of the safe driving of said vehicle to said predetermined contact address when the safe driving of said vehicle is confirmed and when a request of confirming the safe driving is received from said predetermined contact address.

12. A program for confirming safe driving information of a vehicle, said program comprising:

a first memory section for detecting the driving state data of said vehicle with a plurality of sensors;

a second memory section for judging from the detected driving data whether or not said vehicle is running in a safe driving state; and

a third memory section for supplying, depending on the judging, either a message of the occurrence of an abnormal driving state to a predetermined contact address when the abnormal driving state of said vehicle is confirmed, or a message of the safe driving of said vehicle to said predetermined contact address when the safe driving of said vehicle is confirmed and when a request of confirming the safe driving is received from said predetermined contact address.

13. A storage medium including a program for confirming safe driving information of a vehicle, said storage medium comprising:

first means for detecting the driving state data of said vehicle with a plurality of sensors;

second means for judging from the detected driving state data whether or not said vehicle is running in a safe driving state; and

third means for supplying, depending on the judging, either a message of the occurrence of an abnormal driving state to a predetermined contact address when the abnormal driving state of said vehicle is confirmed, or a message of the safe driving of said vehicle to said predetermined contact address when the safe driving of said vehicle is confirmed and when a request of confirming the safe driving is received from said predetermined contact address.