Device, system and method for aggregating networks and serving data from those networks to computers

• US 9,387,813 B1
• Filed: 03/13/2014
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Road-iQ, LLC (Velvac Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Road-iQ, LLC (Velvac Incorporated)
• Inventors: Moeller, Mark M., Meeks, Lester, McLeod, Rory N., Topolski, Collin J., Dossev, Ilko, Porter, Jeffery Robert, Whitehead, Peter John
• Primary Examiner(s): Unelus, Ernest
• Assistant Examiner(s): Modo, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US14/208,349
• Time in Patent Office: 852 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 1/28 with an adjustable field of view
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/04 Mounting of cameras operative during drive; Arrangement of controls thereof relative to the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/105 using multiple cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2300/60 characterised by monitoring and displaying vehicle exterior scenes from a transformed perspective
• CPC Class Codes: B65F 3/02 with means for discharging refuse receptacles thereinto conveyor construction B65G; loaders separate from vehicles B66F; fluid power control systems in general F15B
• CPC Class Codes: B65F 3/14 with devices for charging, distributing or compressing refuse in the interior of the tank of a refuse vehicle B65F3/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19647 Systems specially adapted for intrusion detection in or around a vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/63 by using electronic viewfinders
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/65 Control of camera operation in relation to power supply
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/44 Receiver circuitry for the reception of television signals according to analogue transmission standards H04N5/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

Disclosed herein, in one example, is a device for aggregating networks in a vehicle and serving data, including video data, from those networks to a computer for integrating information from various systems in a vehicle, processing that information, and presenting the information to a user in a suitable format. The device for aggregating networks, in another example, is specific to a vehicle and serving data, including video data, from those networks to computers.

Claims

1. A system for aggregating data including video data in a vehicle and for serving the data to a computer device, the system comprising:

a motherboard comprising a processor capable of executing application programs including;

a memory on the motherboard comprising an operating system executed by the processor;

the memory on the motherboard comprising application software;

a plurality of peripheral input terminals capable of receiving data from a plurality of peripheral sensors including vehicle sensors and video cameras;

the peripheral input terminals coupled to the processor to deliver data to the operating system;

wherein the processor is capable of aggregating the data provided by the sensors including vehicle sensor data and multiple channels of video data and providing the aggregated data to an information output device, the vehicle sensor data including a vehicle turn sensor or vehicle turn signal sensor;

the information output device being capable of communicating at least portion of the application software to a remote computing device;

the remote computing device capable of receiving and running the communicated portion of the application software; and

the application software receiving the aggregated data from the output peripheral and displaying the aggregated data to a user, the application software displaying at least one channel of the video data on the remote computing device, the application software selectively displaying multiple channels of the video data on the remote computing device in ones of a plurality of display layouts,

wherein the remote computing device displays a first display layout including displaying video data from a plurality of video channels upon detecting a left turn by the vehicle via the vehicle turn sensor or vehicle turn signal sensor, the first display layout including a first portion of the display showing video data only from a driver side camera and a second portion of the display showing video data only from a rear camera, and

wherein the remote computing device displays a second display layout including displaying video data from a plurality of video channels upon detecting a right turn by the vehicle via the vehicle turn sensor or vehicle turn signal sensor, the second display layout including a first portion of the display showing video data only from a passenger side camera and a second portion of the display showing video data only from a rear camera,

wherein the remote computing device displays a third display layout including displaying video data from a plurality of video channels in an absence of detecting a left turn and a right turn, the third display layout including a first portion of the display showing video data only from a driver side camera and a second portion of the display showing video data only from a passenger side camera and a third portion of the display showing video data only from a rear camera;

wherein the first and second portions of the first display layout and the first and second portions of the second display layout and the first and second and third portions of the third display layout are each separate portions of the display for displaying video data of the respective camera.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the vehicle sensor data includes a vehicle speed sensor, and

wherein remote computing device displays the third layout upon detecting a vehicle speed of the vehicle above a predetermined threshold.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the third layout includes displaying video data that does not include video data from a forward facing video camera, video data from the forward facing video camera being recorded even though it is not being displayed.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a remote computer capable of accessing and executing the operating system, wherein the remote computer receives the aggregated data and displays the aggregated data on a display screen, the remote computer being operable to record a plurality of channels of the video data, the remote computer being operable to record a marker associated with the video data to indicate a vehicle event.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the information output device is a WiFi access point.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

a battery connected to power the video cameras, wherein the video cameras are operable by battery power to perform at least one of display the video data on the remote computer or record the video data when the vehicle motor is off to provide security and surveillance video of the vehicle.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the operating system comprises operation drivers for the input peripherals and device detection to load drivers for detected devices wherein failure to detect a sensor or driver does not affect data input, aggregation, and output of data from operating sensors.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the display layout includes a representation of the vehicle and an indication of which of the video data is being displayed in the display layout.

9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the input peripherals are selected from the group consisting of:

tire pressure sensor;

left side camera;

right side camera;

front camera;

rear camera;

driver facing camera;

auxiliary camera;

global position system receiver (GPS);

a relative position sensor/gyroscope;

engine control unit;

climate control unit;

a compass/magnetometer; and

relative motion sensor/accelerometer.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the video data being displayed includes video data showing the load carried by the vehicle.

11. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the video data being recorded includes video data showing an interior of the vehicle and a driver of the vehicle.

12. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a display layout for a bus, trolley or shuttle including video data showing a passenger door of the bus, trolley or shuttle.

13. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a display layout for a refuse truck including video data showing refuse being collected.

14. A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the third display layout displays the left side view and the right side view with the vehicle in the middle portion of the display.

15. An information hub, comprising:

at least one data communication port selected from the group consisting of;

an Ethernet hub;

cellular network port;

WiFi system port;

Bluetooth system antenna;

at least one vehicle bus interface coupled to a vehicle data bus;

wherein the vehicle data bus is coupled to at least one sensor selected from the list consisting of;

engine control unit;

tire pressure monitor;

climate control sub module;

wherein the information hub comprises a motherboard comprising a processor with operating system stored thereon capable of aggregating data received from the sensors;

wherein the information hub is capable of communicating the aggregated data to a remote computer to display the aggregated data to a remote user via the communication port;

wherein the information hub is capable of communicating command and control data to devices on an Ethernet, WiFi or Vehicle Bus; and

wherein the information hub is capable of having sensors connected to it via any one of its external interfaces including but not limited to Ethernet, WiFi, CAN, USB, Vehicle Bus;

wherein the information hub comprises 4 to 8 analog video camera inputs and processing circuits that are operable to capture, compress, record and view video from video cameras connected to the video camera inputs onto a computer system connected to the information hub; and

wherein the information hub is operable to deliver at least four streams of near real-time video from the analog video camera inputs to the computer system, the streams of near real-time video being delivered for simultaneous display of a plurality of the video streams, the streams of video being delivered for simultaneous display changing depending on at least one of detection of a driver action, detection of a predetermined movement of the vehicle, or detection of a vehicle system event, each of the video streams shown in the simultaneous display being shown in respective separate portions of the display, each separate portion of the display showing the respective video streams only from a given camera.

16. The information hub as recited in claim 15, wherein the aggregated data from various sources in a vehicle is communicated via WebSockets protocol to the remote computer.

17. The information hub as recited in claim 16, wherein the data is aggregated for display in a plurality of different display layouts by the information hub prior to communicating the aggregated data to the remote computer.

18. The information hub as recited in claim 16, wherein the video data aggregated by the information hub is made available on a remote display device that dynamically changes a layout of the display information from the video cameras based on data aggregated by the information hub including at least one vehicle sensor, the display layout including a first display of a plurality of video channels for right turns by the vehicle, a second display layout of a plurality of video channels for left turns by the vehicle, a third display layout of a plurality of video channels for forward motion by the vehicle over a speed threshold, and a fourth display layout of a plurality of video channels for reverse motion by the vehicle.

19. The information hub as recited in claim 16, wherein the data aggregated by the information hub is made available to augmented reality viewing devices.

20. The information hub as recited in claim 16, wherein the data aggregated by the information hub is recorded on the computer device, the system including a video server bridge that is operable to transfer independent streams of video information from multiple cameras across a connection to the computer device in near real time for recording on the computer device, while simultaneously displaying a single composite video stream of one or more cameras on the computer display.

21. A method for display and recording of video data of a vehicle during vehicle operation, comprising:

receiving a plurality of channels of video information from a plurality of video cameras mounted on or in a vehicle;

receiving vehicle sensor information from sensors in the vehicle;

processing the channels of video information;

transmitting the channels of video information to a computer readable storage media for recording;

displaying at least one of the channels of video information on a display device in the vehicle;

automatically changing a layout of the displayed channels of video information between a plurality of different layouts of video information depending on a sensor signal received from a sensor in the vehicle, the plurality of layouts including a first layout showing video data of a passenger side camera and a rear camera, a second layout showing video data of a driver side camera and the rear camera, and a third layout showing video data of the passenger side camera and the driver side camera and the rear camera, each layout showing the respective video data only from a given camera in separate portions of the display; and

recording channels of video information for video channels that are being displayed on the display device and recording video information for video channels that are not being displayed on the display device.

22. A method as claimed in claim 21, further comprising:

displaying the vehicle in the middle portion of the display in the third display layout.