Vehicle anti-theft device and anti-theft information center

• US 6,879,247 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2002
• Issued: 04/12/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Original Assignee: DENSO Corporation
• Inventors: Shimomura, Toshio, Shimonomoto, Ifushi
• Primary Examiner(s): TRIEU, VAN THANH
• Application Number:
  US10/293,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20030095039A1
• Time in Patent Office: 880 Days
• Field of Search: 340/425.5, 340/426.13, 340/426.15, 340/426.16, 340/426.18, 340/426.2, 340/426.22, 340/426.23, 340/426.24, 340/426.25, 340/436, 340/539.22, 340/593.25, 340/539.1, 307/10.2, 307/10.5, 307/10.6, 342/357.07, 342/357.09, 296/76
• US Class Current: 340/426.18
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/1004 Alarm systems characterised by the type of sensor, e.g. current sensing means using door lock sensors B60R25/1001
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/102 a signal being sent to a remote location, e.g. a radio signal being transmitted to a police station, a security company or the owner
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/302 using recording means, e.g. black box
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/305 using a camera

Abstract

An anti-theft device monitors an object or person approaching a vehicle from the surrounding area of the vehicle by using a surrounding area sensing sensor when an authorized vehicle user moves away from the vehicle which causes the anti-theft device to be activated. If the anti-theft device detects the object or person, the anti-theft device activates an alarm. The anti-theft device transmits images and surrounding area details of the vehicle to the information center. If the vehicle is illegally accessed, the occurrence of any illegal activity is detected by a break-in sensor that issues a break-in alarm, simultaneously with the transmission of vehicle information to the information center, indicating the current disposition of the vehicle. Then, the information center determines that the vehicle is being illegally operated and transmits the vehicle information accumulated at that moment to a manager terminal.

Claims

1. A vehicle anti-theft device, comprising:

illegal activity detection means for detecting illegal activity conducted on a vehicle;

vehicle information transmission means for acquiring vehicle information indicating a status of the vehicle so as to wirelessly transmit the vehicle information to one of a vehicle manager information terminal and an anti-theft information center when the illegal activity of the vehicle is detected by the illegal activity detection means;

access detection means for detecting access of an object to the vehicle from a surrounding area of the vehicle; and

surrounding area information storage means for acquiring surrounding area information indicating a state of the surrounding area of the vehicle so as to store the surrounding area information in a predetermined storage medium when the access of the object to the vehicle is detected by the access detection means, wherein

the vehicle information transmission means transmits the surrounding area information stored in the storage medium to one of the vehicle manager information terminal and the anti-theft information center immediately after detection of the illegal activity of the vehicle by the illegal activity detection means.

2. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 1, comprising alarm means for activating an alarm for alerting the surrounding area of the vehicle when access of the object to the vehicle is detected by the access detection means.

3. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 1, wherein the surrounding area information storage means includes an image pick-up means for capturing an image of the surrounding area of the vehicle, so that image information acquired by the image pick-up means is stored as the surrounding area information in the storage medium.

4. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 2, wherein the surrounding area information storage means includes an image pick-up means for capturing an image of the surrounding area of the vehicle, so that image information acquired by the image pick-up means is stored as the surrounding area information in the storage medium.

5. A vehicle anti-theft device comprising:

illegal activity detection means for detecting illegal activity conducted on a vehicle;

vehicle information transmission means for acquiring vehicle information indicating a status of the vehicle so as to wirelessly transmit the vehicle information to an anti-theft information center when the illegal activity of the vehicle is detected by the illegal activity detection means;

access detection means for detecting access of an object to the vehicle from a surrounding area of the vehicle; and

surrounding area information transmission means for acquiring surrounding area information indicating a state of the surrounding area of the vehicle so as to wirelessly transmit the surrounding area information to the anti-theft information center when the access of the object to the vehicle is detected by the access detection means.

6. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 5, further comprising:

an alarm means for giving an alarm for alerting the surrounding area of the vehicle when access of the object to the vehicle is detected by the access detection means.

7. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 6, wherein the surrounding area information transmission means includes image pick-up means for capturing an image of the surrounding area of the vehicle, so that image information acquired by the image pick-up means is transmitted as the surrounding area information to the anti-theft information center.

8. An anti-theft information center, for receiving information transmitted from the vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 6, comprising:

surrounding area information storage means for storing surrounding area information transmitted from the surrounding area information transmission means of the anti-theft device in a predetermined storage means; and

illegal activity notification means for identifying an illegally accessed vehicle from vehicle information upon reception of the vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle information transmission means of the anti-theft device so as to notify a vehicle manager information terminal corresponding to the illegally operated vehicle of the illegal activity of the vehicle.

9. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 5, wherein the surrounding area information transmission means includes an image pick-up means for capturing an image of the surrounding area of the vehicle, so that image information acquired by the image pick-up means is transmitted as the surrounding area information to the anti-theft information center.

10. An anti-theft information center, for receiving information transmitted from the vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 9 comprising:

surrounding area information storage means for storing surrounding area information transmitted from the surrounding area information transmission means of the anti-theft device in a predetermined storage means; and

illegal activity notification means for identifying an illegally accessed vehicle from vehicle information upon reception of the vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle information transmission means of the anti-theft device so as to notify a vehicle manager information terminal corresponding to the illegally operated vehicle of the illegal activity of the vehicle.

11. An anti-theft information center, for receiving information transmitted from the vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 5, comprising:

surrounding area information storage means for storing surrounding area information transmitted from the surrounding area information transmission means of the anti-theft device in a predetermined storage means; and

illegal activity notification means for identifying an illegally accessed vehicle from vehicle information upon reception of the vehicle information transmitted from the vehicle information transmission means of the anti-theft device so as to notify a vehicle manager information terminal corresponding to the illegally operated vehicle of the illegal activity of the vehicle.

12. The anti-theft information center, according to claim 11, wherein the illegal activity notification means identifies the illegally operated vehicle from the vehicle information upon reception of the vehicle information so as to read out the surrounding area information corresponding to the vehicle from the storage medium, thereby transferring the readout surrounding area information and the received vehicle information to a corresponding vehicle manager information terminal.

13. The anti-theft information center according to claim 12, further comprising:

surrounding area information transfer means for, upon reception of a transmission request for the surrounding area information from the vehicle manager information terminal, reading out surrounding area information of a vehicle corresponding to the vehicle manger side information terminal from the storage medium in accordance with the transmission request so as to transfer the readout surrounding area information to the corresponding vehicle manager information terminal.

14. A vehicle anti-theft device, comprising:

an illegal activity detector configured to detect illegal activity conducted on a vehicle;

a vehicle information transmitter configured to;

acquire vehicle information indicating a status of the vehicle, and

wirelessly transmit the acquired vehicle information to one of;

a vehicle manager information terminal, and an anti-theft information center, when the illegal activity of the vehicle is detected by the illegal activity detector;

access detector configured to detect access of an object toward the vehicle from a surrounding area of the vehicle; and

surrounding area information storage device configured to;

acquire surrounding area information indicating a state of the surrounding area of the vehicle, and

store the surrounding area information in a predetermined storage medium when the access of the object to the vehicle is detected by the access detector,

wherein the vehicle information transmitter transmits the surrounding area information stored in the storage medium to one of;

the vehicle manager information terminal, and the anti-theft information center, immediately after detection of the illegal activity of the vehicle by the illegal activity detector.

15. A vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 14, wherein the surrounding area information storage device is further configured to detect that the object is a person.

16. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 14, further comprising an alarm configured to alert in an area surrounding the vehicle when access of the object toward the vehicle is detected by the access detector.

17. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 16, wherein the surrounding area information storage device includes an image pick-up device for capturing an image of the surrounding area of the vehicle, so that image information acquired by the image pick-up device is stored as the surrounding area information in the storage medium.

18. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 17, wherein the image pick-up device includes an infrared camera.

19. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 14, wherein the surrounding area information storage device includes an image pick-up device for capturing an image of the surrounding area of the vehicle, so that image information acquired by the image pick-up device is stored as the surrounding area information in the storage medium.

20. The vehicle anti-theft device according to claim 19, wherein the image pick-up device includes an infrared camera.