Data Recorder System and Unit for a Vehicle

• US 20150339863A1
• Filed: 05/20/2014
• Published: 11/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wabtec Corporation (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Wabtec Corporation (Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Haas, Carl L., Allwardt, Theodore E., Bittle, Khim, Kurz, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 9,460,566 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• 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: H04N 1/00103 specially adapted for radio transmission, e.g. via satellites H04N1/00098 takes precedence

Abstract

Disclosed is a data recording unit and data recording system for use in connection with a vehicle, such as a train, a locomotive of a train, a railcar of a train, and the like.

Claims

1. A data recorder unit for a vehicle, comprising:

at least one data recorder enclosure configured to house at least one internal component;

at least one data processing unit located in the enclosure and configured to directly or indirectly receive data input from at least one data source associated with the vehicle; and

at least one storage device in direct or indirect communication with the at least one data processing unit and configured to store data received from the at least one data processing unit,

wherein the at least one storage device is at least one local storage device located within a crash- and/or fire-proof enclosure, which is positioned within the data recorder enclosure, and

wherein the at least one local storage device comprises a network-attached storage device.

2. The data recorder unit of claim 1, wherein the at least one local storage device comprises a solid-state storage device.

3. The data recorder unit of claim 1, further comprising a remote storage device in communication with the at least one data processing unit.

4. The data recorder unit of claim 1, wherein the at least one local storage device comprises at least one logical partition that is configured as local storage, and at least one logical portion that is configured as network storage.

5. The data recorder unit of claim 1, wherein the at least one local storage device comprises a crash-hardened memory.

6. The data recorder unit of claim 1, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to transmit or cause the transmission of video data to at least one remote device.

7. The data recorder unit of claim 1, wherein the at least one data source comprises at least two cameras, each camera having a time source, and wherein the at least one data processing unit is further configured to store, in the at least one local storage device, video data received from the at least two cameras and the time source from each of the at least two cameras, such that the video data can be synchronized based at least in part on the time source.

8. A data recorder unit for a vehicle, comprising:

at least one data recorder enclosure configured to house at least one internal component;

at least one data storage device comprising crash-hardened memory, the at least one data storage device located in the enclosure; and

at least one data processing unit located in the enclosure and configured to directly or indirectly receive data from a plurality of data inputs and synchronize data from the plurality of data inputs based at least partially on at least one of the following;

time data from at least one internal time source, time data from at least one data input of the plurality of data inputs, or any combination thereof.

9. The data recorder unit of claim 8, wherein the plurality of data inputs comprises at least one of the following:

an Ethernet input, a serial input, a parallel input, an Ethernet interface, a serial interface, a parallel interface, a wireless interface, an Ethernet port, a serial port, a parallel port, or any combination thereof.

10. The data recorder unit of claim 8, wherein the plurality of data inputs comprise at least one video camera, wherein the data received from the at least one video camera comprises video data corresponding with independent time data, and wherein the video data received from the at least one video camera is synchronized with the at least one internal time source based at least partially on the independent time data.

11. The data recorder unit of claim 8, wherein the plurality of data inputs comprise at least two video cameras, wherein the data received from each video camera of the at least two video cameras comprises video data corresponding with independent time data, and wherein the video data received from the at least two video cameras is synchronized based at least partially on the independent time data.

12. The data recorder unit of claim 8, wherein at least two data inputs of the plurality of data inputs are stored in separate logical partitions of the at least one data storage device.

13. A data recorder system for a vehicle, comprising:

at least one video camera device configured to;

generate video data associated with the vehicle and/or its surroundings; and

wirelessly transmit at least a portion of the video data; and

a data recorder unit, comprising;

(a) at least one data recorder enclosure configured to house at least one internal component;

(b) at least one data processing unit located in the enclosure and configured to;

(i) receive at least a portion of the video data from the at least one video camera device;

(ii) process at least a portion of the video data; and

(iii) generate processed video data based at least partially on the video data; and

(c) at least one storage device comprising crash-hardened memory in direct or indirect communication with the at least one data processing unit and configured to store at least a portion of at least one of the video data and the processed video data.

14. The data recorder system of claim 13, wherein the at least one storage device is at least one solid-state storage device located within a crash- and/or fire-proof enclosure, which is positioned within the data recorder structure.

15. The data recorder system of claim 13, wherein the at least one storage device comprises at least one local storage device in direct or indirect communication with at least one remote network storage device.

16. The data recorder system of claim 13, wherein the at least one video camera device comprises at least one Internet protocol (IP) camera, and wherein the at least a portion of the video data is wirelessly transmitted by the at least one IP camera via a network and received by a wireless interface, and/or transmitted by the at least one IP camera over an Ethernet connection and received by an Ethernet interface.

17. The data recorder system of claim 13, wherein the data recorder unit comprises an Ethernet interface, and wherein the at least one video camera is in wired communication with the Ethernet interface.

18. The data recorder system of claim 13, wherein the at least one storage device comprises at least one logical partition configured as a network storage device, and wherein the at least a portion of at least one of the video data and the processed video data is stored on the network storage device.

19. A data recorder unit for a vehicle, comprising:

at least one data recorder enclosure configured to house at least one internal component;

at least one data processing unit located in the enclosure and configured to directly or indirectly receive data input from at least one data source associated with the vehicle; and

at least one storage device in direct or indirect communication with the at least one data processing unit and configured to store data received from the at least one data processing unit;

wherein the at least one storage device comprises at least one first storage device comprising at least one non-crash-hardened memory and at least one second storage device comprising at least one crash-hardened memory.

20. The data recorder unit of claim 19, wherein the at least one first storage device comprises a solid-state storage device.

21. The data recorder unit of claim 19, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to store non-critical data in the at least one non-crash-hardened memory, and specified critical data in the at least one crash-hardened memory.

22. The data recorder unit of claim 19, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to store data on the non-crash-hardened memory and the at least one crash-hardened memory substantially in parallel.

23. The data recorder unit of claim 19, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to record over existing recorded data on the at least one crash-hardened memory when at least one of the following occurs:

the at least one crash-hardened memory has reached capacity, a predetermined amount of data has been recorded, a predetermined duration of video data has been recorded, or any combination thereof, wherein the existing data on the at least one crash-hardened memory is recorded over in an order in which it was recorded.

24. The data recorder unit of claim 23, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to detect an accident and, in response to detecting the accident, stop recording over existing recorded data on the at least one crash-hardened memory.

25. The data recorder unit of claim 24, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to detect the accident based at least partially on at least one of the following:

emergency brake application, rapid deceleration, accelerometer data, impact sensor data, an indication from a positive train control (PTC) system, or any combination thereof.

26. The data recorder unit of claim 19, wherein the at least one data source associated with the vehicle comprises at least one video camera, and wherein the at least one video camera comprises at least one of the following:

a wired video camera, a wireless Internet protocol (IP) video camera, a wireless interface, or any combination thereof.

27. The data recorder unit of claim 19, wherein a capacity of the at least one first storage device is greater than a capacity of the at least one second storage device, and wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to store data on the at least one first storage device and the at least one second storage device substantially in parallel, such that data stored on the at least one first storage device is inclusive of data stored on the at least one second storage device.

28. The data recorder unit of claim 19, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to initially store data on the at least one first storage device, and wherein at least a portion of the data is cached on the at least one second storage device.

29. The data recorder unit of claim 28, wherein at least a portion of the cached data is at least one of the following:

authenticated, encrypted, verified, digitally-signed, specified data, critical data, dynamic data, or any combination thereof.

30. The data recorder unit of claim 28, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to cache a specified amount of current data, and overwrite existing non-current data.

31. The data recorder unit of claim 19, wherein the at least one second storage device is configured for wired or wireless transmission of at least a portion of the cached data to at least one download device.

32. A data recorder unit for a vehicle, comprising:

at least one data recorder enclosure configured to house at least one internal component;

at least one data processing unit located in the enclosure and configured to directly or indirectly receive data input from at least one data source associated with the vehicle; and

at least one storage device in direct or indirect communication with the at least one data processing unit and configured to store data received from the at least one data processing unit,

wherein the at least one storage device comprises at least one crash-hardened memory and/or at least one fire-resistant memory, wherein the power dissipation of the at least one storage device is throttled based at least partially upon a sensed temperature.

33. The data recorder unit of claim 32, wherein the power dissipation is throttled by at least one of the following:

discarding non-critical data, temporarily buffering data without recording it to the at least one storage device, storing non-critical data on at least one other storage device, adjusting a flow of data to reduce an amount of non-critical data recorded on the at least one storage device, or any combination thereof.

34. The data recorder unit of claim 32, wherein the power dissipation of the at least one storage device is throttled to maintain the sensed temperature within a specified temperature range or below a specified maximum temperature.

35. The data recorder unit of claim 32, wherein the at least one storage device comprises at least one solid-state storage device.

36. The data recorder unit of claim 32, wherein the sensed temperature is generated by or derived from at least one temperature sensor.

37. A data recorder unit for a vehicle, comprising:

at least one data recorder enclosure configured to house at least one internal component;

at least one data processing unit located in the enclosure and configured to directly or indirectly receive data input from at least one data source associated with the vehicle;

at least one storage device in direct or indirect communication with the at least one data processing unit and configured to store data received from the at least one data processing unit; and

at least one energy storage device configured to store electrical energy and provide the stored electrical energy to at least one component of the data recorder unit when a main power supply to the at least one storage device is lost, removed, or unavailable,

wherein the at least one energy storage device is in electrical communication with the at least one data processing unit, and wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to store, on the at least one storage device and using the stored electrical energy, data input from the at least one data source after the main power supply is lost, removed, or unavailable.

38. The data recorder unit of claim 37, wherein the at least one energy storage device comprises at least one super capacitor.

39. The data recorder unit of claim 37, wherein the at least one energy storage device provides the stored electrical energy to the at least one storage device to prevent data corruption when the main power supply is lost, removed, or unavailable.

40. The data recorder unit of claim 37, wherein at least one of the at least one storage device and the at least one data processing unit is configured to retain, using the stored electrical energy from the at least one energy storage device, at least one of a date and time between power cycles or during a power outage of the main power supply.

41. The data recorder unit of claim 37, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to detect a loss of power from the main power supply.

42. The data recorder unit of claim 41, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to, in response to detecting the loss of power, initiate a reduced power mode in which only critical data is stored on the at least one data storage unit.

43. The data recorder unit of claim 41, wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to, in response to detecting the loss of power, facilitate a shutdown of the data recorder unit using the stored electrical energy.

44. A data recorder unit for a vehicle, comprising:

at least one data recorder enclosure configured to house at least one internal component;

at least one data processing unit located in the enclosure and configured to directly or indirectly receive data input from at least one data source associated with the vehicle;

at least one storage device in direct or indirect communication with the at least one data processing unit and configured to store data received from the at least one data processing unit; and

at least one energy storage device configured to store electrical energy and provide the stored electrical energy to at least one component of the data recorder unit when a main power supply to the at least one storage device is lost, removed, or unavailable,

wherein the at least one data source comprises at least one video camera in electrical communication with at least one second energy storage device, and wherein the at least one video camera is configured to transmit video data to the data recorder unit when a power supply to the at least one video camera is lost or removed using stored energy from the at least one second energy storage device.

45. The data recorder unit of claim 44, wherein the at least one video camera comprises a wireless interface, and wherein the at least one video camera transmits the video data to the data recorder unit via the wireless interface.

46. The data recorder unit of claim 45, wherein the at least one video camera further comprises a wired interface, and wherein the at least one video camera transmits at least a portion of the video data to the data recorder unit via the wired interface when the wireless interface loses a wireless connection or when a wireless network becomes unavailable.