Method and apparatus for internal and external monitoring of a transportation vehicle

• US 7,761,544 B2
• Filed: 03/06/2003
• Issued: 07/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nice Ltd
• Original Assignee: Nice Systems Limited (Nice Ltd)
• Inventors: Roberts, Martin, Ben-Tov, Omri, Manasseh, Fredrick Mark
• Primary Examiner(s): Pwu; Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ali; Farhad
• Application Number:
  US10/506,787
• Publication Number:
  US 20050258942A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,693 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/200, 340/574
• US Class Current: 709/223
• 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 5/0891 Video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

An apparatus and method for the monitoring and recording of data stream associated with a transportation vehicle (10), the apparatus comprising at least one capture device (36) for receiving the data stream depicting activities within the transportation vehicle (10); at least one recording device (34) for recording the captured data stream about the activities within the transportation vehicle (10); and a communication device (32) for communicating the recorded data stream to a monitoring station (24, 26).

Claims

1. An apparatus for the recording, playback and investigation of an event associated with a transportation vehicle, from at least two synchronized streams carrying audio and video and data information associated with the transportation vehicle, the transportation vehicle being in communication with a command and control center, the apparatus comprising:

at least two capture devices for capturing the at least two synchronized streams carrying audio and video and data information depicting activities associated with the event;

at least one recording device for recording the at least two synchronized streams depicting the activities associated with the transportation vehicle in synchronization;

at least one communication device for communicating at least one of the at least two recorded streams to a monitoring station;

an investigative tool for debriefing the event at a later stage;

a command and control center interface for establishing a link between the command and control center and a remote command and control center; and

a multi-channel multimedia recording application that receives and records data information from the at least two capture devices capturing activities in or near the transportation vehicle, and information transmitted from the remote command and control center,

wherein communication between the command and control center and the remote command and control center is captured at the command and control center,

wherein the multi-channel multimedia recording application records the data indexed and formatted into a database and wherein at least one of the at least two streams is synchronized with a radio transmission or communication made by a person on the vehicle.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising at least one alarm activator device for activating at least one of the at least two capture devices.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the database stores the at least two streams.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an at least one analysis device for automatically analyzing an at least one of the at least two synchronized streams.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the at least one analysis device is located within the transportation vehicle.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the at least one analysis device is located external to the transportation vehicle in a command and control center or a crisis-management facility.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the analysis device initiates recording if the transportation vehicle does not follow a prearranged course.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a disabler device for disabling the control of the transportation vehicle.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a disabler device for controlling the transportation vehicle from a location external to the transportation vehicle.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a control device for controlling at least one of the at least two capture devices or the at least one recording device or the at least one communication device.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a monitoring device for monitoring events captured by at least one of the at least two capture device.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a retrieval device for retrieving a part or whole of at least one of the at least two synchronized streams captured by at least one of the at least two capture devices associated with the transportation vehicle.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least two capture devices is a video camera.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least two capture devices is a microphone.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one recording device is located within the transportation vehicle.

16. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one communication device transmits a transmission to be later redistributed.

17. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the command and control center, and or the remote command and control center, receive information from the transportation vehicle.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the radio transmission is audio communication related to the event and exchanged by an emergency service.

19. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the at least two capture devices captures audio communication transmitted by a radio receiver.

20. A method for the recording, playback, and investigation of an event associated with a transportation vehicle, from at least two synchronized streams carrying audio and video and data information associated with the transportation vehicle, the transportation vehicle being in communication with a command and control center, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a link between the command and control center and a remote command and control center;

receiving the at least two streams carrying audio and video and data information, depicting activities associated with the event, from at least two capture devices;

recording in synchronization the at least two streams depicting the activities in or near the transportation vehicle and data information transmitted from the remote command and control center, by at least one recording device and a multi-channel multimedia recording application;

communicating at least one of the at least two recorded streams to a monitoring station by a communication device, and

wherein communication between the command and control center and the remote command and control center is captured at the command and control center,

and wherein the multi-channel multimedia recording application records the data indexed and formatted into a database and wherein at least one of the at least two streams is synchronized with a radio transmission or communication made by a person on the vehicle.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of activating at least one of the at least two capture devices by at least one alarm activator device.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of storing the at least two streams in an at least one database device.

23. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of analyzing at least one of the at least two streams.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the analyzing is performed within the transportation vehicle.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the analyzing is performed external to the transportation vehicle in a command and control center or a crisis-management facility.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the analysis step initiates recording if the transportation vehicle does not follow a prearranged course.

27. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of disabling control of the transportation vehicle.

28. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of controlling the transportation vehicle from a location external to the transportation vehicle.

29. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of controlling at least one of the at least two capture device or the at least one recording device or the communication device.

30. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of monitoring events captured by at least one of the at least two capture devices.

31. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of retrieving a part or whole of at least one of the at least two streams captured by at least one of the at least two capture devices associated with the transportation vehicle.

32. The method of claim 20 wherein at least one of the at least two streams is synchronized with a radio signal.

33. The method of claim 20 wherein at least one of the at least two capture devices is a video camera.

34. The method of claim 20 wherein at least one of the at least two capture devices is a microphone.

35. The method of claim 20 wherein at least one of the at least two capture devices is a radio receiver capturing transmission or communication made by a person on the vehicle.

36. The method of claim 20 wherein the at least one recording device is located within the transportation vehicle.

37. The method of claim 20 wherein the communication device transmits a transmission to be later redistributed.

38. The method of claim 20 wherein the radio transmission is audio communication related to the event and exchanged by an emergency service.