Recovering legal evidence of unfavorable events or conditions during vehicle operations

• US 7,679,497 B1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Issued: 03/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kenneth Eugene Arant
• Original Assignee: Grue W + Juanita F Arant
• Inventors: Arant, Kenneth Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung T.
• Application Number:
  US11/980,866
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: 340/435, 340/436, 340/903, 340/937, 348/143, 348/148, 348/47, 348/151, 701/28, 701/29, 362/494, 382/103, 382/107, 386/31
• US Class Current: 340/435
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41422 located in transportation means, e.g. personal vehicle arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera

Abstract

A method for the driver of an automotive vehicle to avoid distraction from the task of driving, but yet to preserve and later recover legal evidence of events, objects, or conditions that may be encountered during the driving of the vehicle, by utilizing a perimeter optical viewing system in conjunction with a central digital recording system to (monitor and) record and subsequently retrieve images of those events, objects, or conditions.

Claims

1. A method for the driver of an automotive vehicle to avoid distraction from the task of driving but yet be able to record all external events, objects, or conditions that may be encountered during the driving of the vehicle, and to record and later recover legal evidence of those conditions, objects, or events using a controller, comprising the steps of:

(a) supporting a plurality of optical viewing lenses in fixed positions upon the vehicle around its periphery such that each lens has a fixed field of view in a horizontal plane relative to the vehicle;

(b) positioning a central digital recording medium within the automotive vehicle in a secure location;

(c) continuously energizing both the digital recording medium and all of the viewing lenses while the vehicle is moving so as to acquire optical information of images captured by the lenses, convert the optical information into electrical form in actual time, and record the electrical information in a time division process in actual time on separate tracks in the central recording medium;

(d) when the vehicle is stopped, retrieving the thus-recorded electrical information from the separate tracks of the recording medium and reconstituting for each individual viewing lens the images that were captured in its corresponding fixed field of view; and

(e) wherein at least one vehicle corner has a pair of viewing lenses mounted with their major viewing axes in generally perpendicular relation to each other so as to provide overlapping fields of view to cooperatively view at least about a quarter circle of the perimeter outside the vehicle in a horizontal plane relative to the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the fixed fields of view of all of the viewing lenses together cooperatively span the entire periphery of the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein on each of at least two corners of the vehicle a pair of viewing lenses are mounted with their major viewing axes in generally perpendicular relation to each other so as to provide overlapping fields of view to cooperatively view at least about a quarter circle of the perimeter outside the vehicle in a horizontal plane relative to the vehicle.

4. A method for the driver of an automotive vehicle to record all external events, objects, or conditions that may be encountered during the driving of the vehicle, and later recover legal evidence of those conditions, objects, or events using a controller, comprising the steps of:

(a) supporting a plurality of optical viewing lenses in fixed positions around the periphery of the vehicle such that each lens has a fixed field of view in a horizontal plane relative to the vehicle, including on each of at least two corners of the vehicle a pair of viewing lenses that are mounted with their major viewing axes in generally perpendicular relation to each other so as to cooperatively view at least about a quarter circle of the perimeter outside the vehicle in a horizontal plane relative to the vehicle;

(b) positioning a central digital recording medium within the automotive vehicle in a secure location;

(c) continuously energizing both the digital recording medium and all of the viewing lenses while the vehicle is moving so as to acquire optical information of images captured by the lenses, convert the optical information into electrical form in actual time, and record the electrical information in a time division process in actual time on separate tracks in the central recording medium;

(d) when the vehicle is stopped, retrieving the thus-recorded electrical information from the separate tracks of the recording medium and reconstituting for each individual viewing lens the images that were captured in its corresponding fixed field of view; and

(e) wherein at least one vehicle corner has a pair of viewing lenses mounted with their major viewing axes in generally perpendicular relation to each other so as to provide overlapping fields of view to cooperatively view at least about a quarter circle of the perimeter outside the vehicle in a horizontal plane relative to the vehicle.

5. A method for the driver of an automotive vehicle to record all external events, objects, or conditions that may be encountered during the driving of the vehicle, and later recover legal evidence of those conditions, objects, or events using a controller, comprising the steps of:

(a) supporting a plurality of optical viewing lenses in fixed positions upon the vehicle around its periphery such that each lens has a fixed field of view in a horizontal plane relative to the vehicle, the fields of view of all of the viewing lenses together cooperatively spanning the entire periphery of the vehicle;

(b) positioning a central digital recording medium within the automotive vehicle in a secure location;

(c) while the vehicle is moving, continuously energizing through a switch controlled only by the driver both the digital recording medium and all of the viewing lenses so as to acquire optical information of images captured by the lenses, convert the optical information into electrical form in actual time, and record the electrical information in a time division process in actual time on separate tracks in the central recording medium;

(d) when the vehicle is stopped, retrieving the thus-recorded electrical information from the separate tracks of the recording medium and reconstituting for each individual viewing lens the images that were captured in its corresponding fixed field of view; and

(e) wherein at least one vehicle corner has a pair of viewing lenses mounted with their major viewing axes in generally perpendicular relation to each other so as to provide overlapping fields of view to cooperatively view at least about a quarter circle of the perimeter outside the vehicle in a horizontal plane relative to the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein on each of at least two corners of the vehicle a pair of viewing lenses are mounted with their major viewing axes in generally perpendicular relation to each other so as to provide overlapping fields of view.