Operation control system capable of analyzing driving tendency and its constituent apparatus

• US 6,438,472 B1
• Filed: 10/13/2000
• Issued: 08/20/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Data Tec Company Limited, The Tokio Marine RISK Consulting Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Data Tec Company Limited, The Tokio Marine RISK Consulting Company Limited
• Inventors: Daimon, Toshio, Tano, Michiyasu
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hernandez, Olga
• Application Number:
  US09/601,562
• Time in Patent Office: 676 Days
• Field of Search: 701/35, 701/36, 701/200, 701/1, 701/25, 701/209
• US Class Current: 701/35
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0858 wherein the data carrier is removable

Abstract

An operation control system includes a data recorder for recording data representing the features of behavior of a vehicle in a memory card and an operation control assisting apparatus for analyzing the driving tendency of the vehicle. The operation control assisting apparatus reads measurement data out of the memory card, classifies the measurement data into a set of data about the low-speed range, a set of data about the intermediate-speed range, and a set of data about the high-speed range, extracts behavior features in each speed range from the classified measurement data, and creates judgment information for judging the driving tendency by a driver of the vehicle in an ex post facto way based on the results of the extract.

Claims

1. A data recorder, comprising:

a media accommodating mechanism for detachably accommodating a recording medium;

a sensor unit for measuring, in chronological order, driving speed, three-dimensional angular velocity, and longitudinal/lateral acceleration of a vehicle; and

a recorder unit for recording the measurement data obtained from the sensor unit and processed data thereof in the recording medium accommodated in said medium accommodating mechanism,

wherein said recorder unit, upon recognizing that a behavior occurs when a variation range of said measurement data exceeds a predetermined threshold, records the measurement data at a time of behavior occurrence and for a predetermined time before and after that time of behavior occurrence;

records, according to changes in the driving condition, time and location information at a time of such changes;

updates an absolute maximum value when an absolute maximum value of new measurement data exceeds that of already recorded measurement data; and

calculates an average value of said measurement data whenever a predetermined period has elapsed, and records the average value together with absolute maximum and absolute minimum values within said predetermined period.

2. The data recorder according to claim 1, wherein:

if said vehicle has stopped for more than a certain period of time, said recorder unit records the measurement data during stopping at intervals that are several bit multiples of the measurement data during driving.

3. The data recorder according to claim 1, wherein:

said recording medium is a card-like recording medium that stores data for identifying a vehicle and its driver, and operation purpose information including information indicative of whether for business or private purposes and/or whether for toll-free road or toll highway, which is both read when reading the measurement data recorded, and is configured so that it prompts a predetermined data processing means for different styles of data processing according to said operation purpose information, regardless of the same behavior features for the same vehicle.

4. An operation control assisting apparatus, comprising:

a data reading means for reading recorded data from a recording medium where measurement data indicative of features of behavior of a vehicle is recorded as linked to data indicative of occurrence date/time and occurrence place of the behavior;

a criteria setting means for setting data criteria indicative of predetermined behavior features; and

a data processing means for extracting said recorded data read by said data reading means that match said set data criteria, classifying the extracted data according to behavior features, and aggregating the classified data per a predetermined period, said data processing means also replacing said occurrence place data linked to the aggregated data with geographical name data, and outputting said aggregated data in a visually-recognizable manner for use in operation control of said vehicle and driver thereof.

5. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:

said criteria setting means permits entering into an embedded area of a guidance displayed on a predetermined setup screen, criteria patterns for identifying behavior features of the vehicle, including dangerous behaviors.

6. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:

said criteria setting means permits entering into an embedded area of a guidance displayed on a predetermined setup screen, criteria patterns for identifying driving habits.

7. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:

said data processing means compares s aid recorded data to said data criteria indicative of features of driving interruptions, thereby identifying the time and place of occurrence of the driving interruptions and generating, in chronological order, geographical name data corresponding to the place of the driving interruptions identified.

8. An operation control assisting apparatus, comprising:

a data reading means for reading measurement data from a recording medium where measurement data indicative of behavior features of a vehicle, including its driving speed, is recorded; and

a data processing means for classifying said measurement data read by said data reading means into a plurality of driving speed ranges and detecting the behavior of said vehicle in each of the speed ranges according to the classified measurement data, said data processing means also generating judgment information for judging the driving tendency of a driver of the vehicle in an ex post facto way based on the results of the detection, so that the judgment information is outputted in a visually-recognizable manner and used for operation control of said vehicle and the driver thereof.

9. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

said data processing means performs at least one of correlation analysis or multivariate analysis between dissimilar measurement data, thereby generating said judgment information.

10. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:

one of said measurement data to be processed includes kinetic acceleration data in a predetermined direction of said vehicle.

11. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

said data processing means compares statistical values of the classified data about the recorded data for a plurality of drivers to similar data of a target driver to be analyzed, thereby generating said judgment information regarding said target driver.

12. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

said data processing means compares classified data about a specific reference driver exhibiting a specific driving tendency to similar data about a target driver to be analyzed, thereby generating said judgment information regarding said target driver.

13. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 12, wherein:

said reference driver is a driver exhibiting relatively less data indicative of features of dangerous behavior.

14. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 8, wherein:

said data processing means includes a fuel consumption tendency analysis module that creates data indicative of driving efficiency based on said judgment data for individual drivers and quantitatively identifies fuel consumption tendencies of said drivers.

15. The operation control assisting apparatus according to claim 14, wherein:

said fuel consumption tendency analysis module creates data indicative of said efficiency by using, as variables, driving tendency elements of a driver including idling time of the vehicle and its driving speed and acceleration variability derived by analyzing said behavior features.

16. An operation control system having a data recorder and an operation control assisting apparatus, wherein:

said data recorder comprising;

a media accommodating mechanism for detachably accommodating a recording medium;

a sensor unit for measuring, in chronological order, driving speed, three-dimensional angular velocity, and longitudinal/lateral acceleration of a vehicle; and

a recorder unit for recording the measurement data obtained from the sensor unit and processed data thereof in the recording medium accommodated in said medium accommodating mechanism, wherein said recorder unit, upon recognizing that a behavior occurs when a variation range of said measurement data exceeds a predetermined threshold, records the measurement data at a time of behavior occurrence and for a predetermined time before and after that time of behavior occurrence;

records, according to changes in the driving condition, time and location information at a time of such changes;

updates and absolute maximum value when an absolute maximum value of new measurement data exceeds that of already recorded measurement data; and

calculates an average value of said measurement data whenever a predetermined period has elapsed, and records the average value together with absolute maximum and minimum values within said predetermined period;

said operation control assisting apparatus comprising;

a data reading means for reading recorded data from a recording medium where measurement data indicative of features of behavior of the vehicle is recorded as linked to data indicative of occurrence date/time and occurrence place of the behavior;

a criteria setting means for setting data criteria indicative of predetermined behavior features;

a first data processing means for extracting said recorded data read by said data reading means that match said set data criteria, classifying the extracted data according to behavior features, and aggregating the classified data per a predetermined period, said first data processing means also replacing said occurrence place data linked to the aggregated data with geographical name data; and

a second data processing means generating judgement information indicative of driving tendency of a drive based on the measurement data indicative of behavior features of the vehicle including its driving speed.

17. The operation control system according to claim 16, further comprising:

an image data storage means for storing image data representing scenes around said vehicle; and

an image processing means for reading, upon input of a time of occurrence of a desired behavior feature, said scene image data at said time of occurrence, thereby embodying the scene image.

18. The operation control system according to claim 16, further comprising:

an image processing means for visualizing a driving route of said vehicle by identifying at least driving interruption and an place of occurrence thereof from the measurement data recorded by said data recorder and comprehensively displaying on a predetermined map image a driving history including the place of driving interruption of the vehicle equipped with said data recorder.

19. A computer-readable recording medium where digital information is stored for causing a computer unit to execute the steps of:

reading recorded data from a recording medium where measurement data indicative of features of behavior of a vehicle is recorded as linked to data indicative of occurrence date/time and occurrence place of the behavior;

setting data criteria indicative of predetermined behavior features;

extracting said recorded data read that match said set data criteria and classifying the extracted data according to behavior features;

aggregating the classified data per a predetermined period;

replacing said occurrence place data lined to the aggregated data with geographical name data; and

outputting the aggregated data in a visually-recognizable manner.

20. A computer-readable recording media where digital information is stored for causing a computer unit to execute the steps of:

reading recorded data from a recording medium where measurement data indicative of features of behavior of a vehicle including its driving speed is recorded;

classifying said recorded data read according a plurality of driving speed ranges;

detecting the behavior of said vehicle in each speed range based on the classified measurement data;

creating judgment information for judging the driving tendency of a driver of said vehicle in an ex post facto way based on the results of the detection; and

outputting the judgment information in a visually-recognizable manner.