Vehicle safety and driver condition monitoring, and geographic information based road safety systems

• US 10,127,810 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2017
• Issued: 11/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zoll Medical Corporation (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Zoll Medical Corporation (Asahi Kasei Corporation)
• Inventors: Durie, Jr., William E, Gorham, John, Funk, Andrew D, Alamy, Sydney, Jacoby, Justin, Machacek Smith, Amy, Stuart, Troy, Freeman, Gary A
• Primary Examiner(s): Tissot, Adam D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dunn, Alex C
• Application Number:
  US15/468,521
• Publication Number:
  US 20170263120A1
• Time in Patent Office: 599 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/59 inside of a vehicle, e.g. relating to seat occupancy, driver state or inner lighting conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/02 Registering or indicating driving, working, idle, or waiting time only apparatus forming part of taximeters G07B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0866 the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure include vehicle safety monitoring, and more particularly monitoring a condition of an operator of a vehicle. According to some embodiments, the present disclosure includes a system for alerting the operator and/or a remote server/user when the operator'"'"'s driving time violates a pre-determined maximum threshold. According to other embodiments, the present disclosure includes a system that compares an operator'"'"'s driving behavior against a personalized driving model, and generates a flag based on that comparison. In some cases, this comparison can help detect when the driver is exhibiting signs of fatigue or other kinds of impairment. According to other embodiments, geographic information may be used to improve road safety systems.

Claims

1. A system for vehicle data management, the system comprising:

at least one memory;

a communication interface configured to communicate with one or more emergency response vehicles; and

at least one processor communicably coupled to the at least one memory and the communication interface, the at least one processor configured to;

maintain in the at least one memory a set of geographic indicators associated with a geographical area, wherein the geographical area is divided into a plurality of geographical zones;

designate at least some of the geographical zones as hazardous geographical zones; and

send information regarding the hazardous geographical zones to at least one of the one or more emergency response vehicles via the communication interface;

wherein each emergency response vehicle of the one or more emergency response vehicles includes;

a location sensing device configured to determine whether the corresponding emergency response vehicle is located at or is approaching a hazardous geographical zone;

a force sensing device configured to indicate a force undergone by the emergency response vehicle;

a speed sensing device configured to indicate a speed of the emergency response vehicle; and

a vehicle data management device communicably coupled to the force sensing device and the speed sensing device, wherein the vehicle data management device is configured to establish a vehicle record, and is further configured to;

adjust a speed limit and a force limit based on whether the emergency response vehicle is located at or is approaching a hazardous geographical zone, and

generate a flag when one or both of the speed is higher than the speed limit and the force is higher than the force limit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to designate the at least some of the geographical zones as hazardous geographical zones based on data regarding accidents within the geographical zones.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the data regarding accidents includes data regarding past accidents.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the data regarding accidents includes data regarding ongoing accidents.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more emergency response vehicles is a plurality of emergency response vehicles, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct at least some of the plurality of emergency response vehicles towards at least some of the hazardous geographical zones.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more emergency response vehicles is a plurality of emergency response vehicles, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct at least some of the plurality of emergency response vehicles away from at least some of the hazardous geographical zones.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein each emergency response vehicle of the one or more emergency response vehicles further includes a user interface configured to warn an operator when the location sensing device of the corresponding emergency response vehicle determines that the emergency response vehicle is located at or is approaching a hazardous geographical zone.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein each emergency response vehicle of the one or more emergency response vehicles further includes at least one navigation processor configured to determine a route for the emergency response vehicle that avoids the hazardous geographical zones.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to define a plurality of sub-zones within one or more geographical zones, and to assign a hazard level to one or more of the sub-zones.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is configured to define the plurality of sub-zones using a contour plot.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more emergency response vehicles is a plurality of emergency response vehicles, and wherein the at least one processor is configured to direct at least some of the plurality of emergency response vehicles towards at least some of the hazardous geographical zones.

11. A system for vehicle data management, the system comprising:

at least one memory;

a communication interface configured to communicate with a server;

a vehicle safety system configured to conduct one or both of;

logging instances when a safety threshold is exceeded by a vehicle and alerting a driver of the vehicle when the safety threshold is exceeded; and

at least one processor communicably coupled to the at least one memory, the vehicle safety system, and the server, the at least one processor configured to;

monitor a position of the vehicle;

maintain in the at least one memory a definition of a geographical area that is associated with a hazardous condition; and

adjust the threshold when the position of the vehicle is within the geographical area.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the vehicle safety system is further configured to alert the driver when the threshold has been adjusted by the at least one processor.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the definition is an original definition, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive an updated definition to replace the original definition.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the hazardous condition is determined by a number of automobile accidents within the geographical area within a period of time.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the period of time is less than one hour.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the period of time is more than thirty days.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the vehicle safety system comprises a user interface configured to warn the driver when the vehicle is approaching the geographical area.

19. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

a force sensing device configured to indicate a force undergone by the vehicle; and

a speed sensing device configured to indicate a speed of the vehicle;

wherein the processor is further configured to;

adjust a speed limit and a force limit based on whether the vehicle is within the geographical area, and

generate a flag when one or both of the speed is higher than the speed limit and the force is higher than the force limit.

20. The system of claim 11, further comprising at least one navigation processor configured to determine a route for the vehicle that avoids the geographical area.

21. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

maintain in the at least one memory definitions of a plurality of sub-zones within the geographical area, and to assign a hazard level to one or more of the sub-zones.

22. A system for vehicle data management, the system comprising:

at least one memory;

a communication interface configured to communicate with one or more emergency response vehicles; and

at least one processor communicably coupled to the at least one memory and the communication interface, the at least one processor configured to;

maintain in the at least one memory a set of geographic indicators associated with a geographical area, wherein the geographical area is divided into a plurality of geographical zones;

designate at least some of the geographical zones as hazardous geographical zones; and

send information regarding the hazardous geographical zones to at least one of the one or more emergency response vehicles via the communication interface;

wherein the at least one processor is configured to define a plurality of sub-zones within one or more geographical zones, and to assign a hazard level to one or more of the sub-zones.