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

• US 20040160327A1
• Filed: 12/01/2003
• Published: 08/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omron Automotive Electronics Company Limited (Nidec Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Inventors: Kusano, Yuji
• Granted Patent: US 7,046,130 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/576
• 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 safety drive information, said system comprising:

safety drive detecting terminals for detecting the drive state with a plurality of sensors in each of vehicles;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. A system for mediating safety drive information according to claim 6, wherein said level of safety drive 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 safety drive information according to claim 1, wherein said safety drive information mediating apparatus has a telephonic communication function between said safety drive detecting terminal and said user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal.

9. A safety drive detecting terminal for detecting the drive state of a vehicle with a plurality of sensors, said terminal comprising:

first means for judging whether or not said vehicle is running in a safety drive state; and

second means for supplying the abnormal drive information to a user'"'"'s safety confirming terminal, when an abnormal drive state of said vehicle is confirmed.

10. A safety drive information mediating apparatus, said apparatus comprising:

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

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

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

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

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

supplying either a message of the occurrence of an abnormal state to a predetermined contact address when the abnormal drive state of said vehicle is confirmed, or a message of the safety drive of said vehicle to said predetermined contact address when the safety drive of said vehicle is confirmed and when a request of confirming the safety drive is received from said predetermined contact address.

12. A program for confirming safety drive information of a vehicle, said program comprising:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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