IE912105A1 - Apparatus for data collection in a motor vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

It is proposed to complement a device for data acquisition in a vehicle by means for manually inputting information which characterises an accident or an accident-like situation. In particular, there is provision for the storage of this information to be triggered by actuating the key (2) of the hazard warning signal generator (1) of the respective motor vehicle. For this purpose, the signalling lines of the flasher lights (8, 9, 10, 11) of the right-hand and left-hand vehicle side are logically connected via an AND element (21) and the output level of a retriggerable, monostable multivibrator (22) connected downstream is continuously interrogated by a microcomputer over a specific hunting time. If the level is maintained, the microprocessor (19) controls the permanent storage of identification data in the data memory (24) of the relevant data acquisition system. <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to an apparatus for data collection in a motor vehicle, the apparatus comprising a microcomputer and a data store into which data is continually written in a time-controlled manner, the apparatus also comprising means for manual input of information indicative of an accident or an accident-like situation.

With regard to evaluation of transport performance, data collection in motor vehicles includes recording journey-dependent data, such as distances covered, the driving speeds involved, engine revolutions and fuel consumption, and also the retention of critical and safety-related data about operating conditions, for example, in regard to tyre pressure, brake lining thicknesses or axle loads.

The requirement of being able to prove compliance with working hours regulations, the so-called social provisions, makes obligatory recordal of working hours data, i.e. driving periods, standby periods and rest periods. The data collection should in addition also facilitate recognition and evaluation of accidents and near-accident situations, i.e. provide records with a considerably greater resolution of speed and/or distance values or acceleration values than those required for evaluating transport performance and compliance with traffic and working hours regulations for the recording period.

Apart from devices formed solely as accident recorders or accident stores, it is customary to provide in the data store of data collection devices, also for example, in the data stores of conventional tachographs when these are equipped with a data store, or in such data collection devices as are provided for the issue of printed receipts and the use of driver-related data cards, a storage region in which distance and/or time values are continually written with greater resolution and again deleted, so that this region contains only a defined residual path or recent time region, optionally with a time delay.

Specialised accident recorders, in which accident data is - 2 IE 912105 ascertained preferably by means of acceleration sensors and is stored for a relatively short time period on a time basis, in which additional status information on, for example, brake operation, indicator action and lighting is to be recorded as interpretational aids, permanently store the accident data if accelerations become actually effective on the motor vehicle which lie outside the possible accelerations induced by road condition and the dynamics of vehicle movement, i.e. upon genuine accidental impacts. This method of procedure is advantageous because the processor and the storage capacity can then be restricted to accident situations, i.e. to such situations as can cause damage and injury and are thus relevant in terms of insurance.

Traffic situations are known by contrast in which no collision occurs or in which the impact force is insufficient to trigger the automatically operative recording, but it is however nonetheless desirable that these accidents or these near-accident situations are permanently retained for a possible future reconstruction, for example, where a driver is accused of having caused an accident involving another vehicle or a collision of two other vehicles due to questionable handling of his own vehicle. Conversely, the driving behaviour of another vehicle can lead to traffic-endangering evasive action, particularly to skidding in wintry road conditions, or to an evasive swerve off the road, which usually cannot be carried out without the vehicle being damaged.

Deer crossing the road or surprising reactions by a cyclist or children playing can all give rise to dangerous situations for following traffic, which do not end with an accident-characterising impact triggering permanent storage of relevant driving data. It is furthermore desirable that when a motor vehicle comes to a standstill because of a breakdown, this dangerous situation can be rendered documentable by being able to permanently record at least the mileage and the time. Accidents involving people are especially critical, particularly those involving children or the aged, as these accidents occur with a relatively small impact force which may not be automatically detected, or they may take place without there being contact with the motor vehicle, i.e. they can result in considerable physical damage through shock alone. - 3 IE 912105 There is therefore no doubt that it would be advantageous, particularly in motor vehicles which are already fitted with an apparatus for data collection, i.e. that a gap in the data collection could be closed, if an apparatus were available enabling manual triggering of permanent storage of accident-indicative driving data or even just retention in continually-collected motor vehicle operating data of information indicative of an accident or a near-accident situation.

Even if provision is made for the driver to be able to delete a mistaken input which could incriminate him under certain circumstances, there is still a high acceptance threshold for such an apparatus. This is not only due to such apparatus necessarily occasioning additional expenditure, but also because the means for manual input or triggering should be within reach of the driver, an area where there would be considerable locational problems, especially for a retro-fit, because of the profusion of instruments, signal indicator means and activating elements already provided there It is an object of the invention to provide easily and reliably usable means for manually triggering an accident data store or for inputting accident indicative information, which means is distinguished by particular simplicity, can thus be manufactured at reduced cost, can be retro-fitted in a straightforward manner, and provides high operational security.

The meeting of this objective is characterised in that the button of the hazard indicator of the motor vehicle serves as the input element, that an AND logic unit is associated with at least one signal line for the indicator lights on the right-hand side of the motor vehicle and with at least one signal line for the indicator lights on the left-hand side of the motor vehicle, and that when an AND condition is present, the microcomputer indicates, in the data store, after a specified delay period, activation of the hazard indicator.

A preferred embodiment provides that a retriggerable - 4 •Ε 912105 monostable flip-flop is positioned after an AND element which connects the signal lines of the hazard lights of the right-hand and left-hand sides of the motor vehicle, that a pulse generator which defines the delay period is provided, which generator is started at the same time as the switching of the monostable flip-flop, and that the microcomputer then controls permanent storage of data gathered before and after activation of the button of the hazard indicator, if the monostable flip-flop has not switched back after the delay period has been reached.

The invention meets the object put forward in a satisfactory manner and also offers the advantage of enabling use of an activating member, namely the button on the hazard indicator, which is already present in the motor vehicle and which is easily usable, for manually triggering a storing process. The idea of achieving the triggering signal merely through an AND operation on the indicator circuits of the right-hand and left-hand sides of the motor vehicle is fundamental. It employs a sensor which is already present in the motor vehicle and thus offers a solution which incurs exceptionally little expenditure. Apart from level matching on the system side and a signal processing logic feature which can be realised by hardware or software, only two lines have to be wired between the data collection device and the indicator circuits of the right-hand and left-hand sides of the motor vehicle, preferably connected to the L-output and the R-output of the hazard indicator, so that do-it-yourself installation is also easily achieved. By using the button of the hazard indicator, there is also a logical relation in so far as the hazard lights device has to be switched on anyway when there is an accident or a vehicle breakdown, in order to warn other vehicle users of a dangerous situation. In this regard, there is automatic identification of this situation in the data store, in the simplest case an assignment of 0 or 1 to a data record, and the driver is made aware by means of a visual and/or audible signal that this identification is pending or has occurred, so that he has the option of preventing or deleting the storage operation.

The invention is described in more detail in the following text with reference to the accompanying drawings. - 5 IE 912105 Figure 1 shows a block diagram of an accident recorder selected as an example of application of the invention, Figure 2 shows a flow chart of the operational sequence of the accident recorder.

In Figure 1, a hazard indicator of a motor vehicle is denoted by reference I. This includes a lighted button 2, a pulse generator 3 and a control light 4. As part of the signal system of the vehicle in question, the hazard indicator 1 is connected to the ignition switch (not illustrated) by means of fuses 5 and 6. The indicator switch of the motor vehicle is denoted by reference 7.

The lights 8 and 9, 10 and 11 represent the indicator lights of the right-hand and left-hand sides of the motor vehicle.

The data collection device, an accident recorder in the selected example of application of the invention, is connected to the indicator signal lines or the corresponding outputs from the hazard indicator 1 by means of lines 13 and 14. An input circuit 15 serves for voltage level matching both for the indicator signals and also for further status or condition signals such as light switched on/off or indicators or brakes used or not used and such like, by way of lines 16, 17 and 18, these signals being useful for accident interpretation. A signal processing logic unit 20, located between the input circuit 15 and a microcomputer 19, includes an AND element 21, a monostable flip-flop 22 positioned after this which is formed to be capable of being retriggered and has a basic switching time of t=2 secs, for example, this bridging the flashing frequency tolerance. The level of the monostable flip-flop 22 is continually monitored by the microcomputer 19 at the system frequency and is compared with a pulse generator realised in software in the microcomputer 19, which generator supplies a defined delay time. As is further illustrated in Figure 1, a frequency digital converter 23 for processing the acceleration values measured in the X and Y directions as well as for tilt measurements, and a data store (RAM) are associated with the microcomputer 19, which is equipped with a pulse generator and a buffer battery for an accident situation, and thus meets the requirements of a storage module which can be removed from the accident recorder. - 6 IE 912105 The microcomputer 19, the external data store 24 and the frequency digital converter 23 are connected to one another in customary manner by means of an address bus 25, a data bus 26, control lines 27 and selection lines 29, 30 originating from an address decoder 28.

The flow chart in Figure 2 shows that after switching on the ignition of the motor vehicle (31), the apparatus first performs a self-test (32) in accordance with the program, in which the sensors and the status inputs are also checked. Then follows an enquiry (33) as to which storage region in the data store 24 is accessible as ring store I, II etc. for storing (34) a data record consisting at least of status data as well as measured values a and Following storing of the data record, a trigger vector is calculated (35) by means of a suitable computational algorithm and the data record is then checked (36) to see whether the conditions for an impact caused by an accident are fulfilled or not. If they are fulfilled, a pulse generator is started (37) which provides a delay period for storing further data records. When the delay period is reached (38), the quantity of data located in the relevant ring store I or II etc. is permanently stored (39), and when switching off (40), the apparatus turns off (41) in such a manner that the microcomputer 19 performs a specific shut-down routine, stops storage of data following a specified delay period, and ensures that no new data is written into the data store when the ignition is turned on again.

Advantageously, the driver is informed of this circumstance by a visual and/or audible signal when the ignition is turned on or off.

If the impact condition which activates an automatic storage process is not fulfilled, there follows in the sequence of routines a check (42) to see whether the button 2 of the hazard indicator 1 has been activated. If the button 2 has been operated, a pulse generator is started (43). Following a defined delay period (44), for example after 30 seconds, the microcomputer 19 interrupts the recording of further data records and permanently stores (45) the data content of the ring store, for example ring store I, used up to - 7 IE 912105 this point in time. Simultaneously, there is switch-over (46) to a free ring store, for example, ring store II, or a ring store released for overwriting, and the subsequently arising data record is stored in the new ring store.

If the delay period is not reached (44), i.e. the driver has already switched off the hazard lights device during the delay period, the microcomputer 19 remains in the previous routine and deletes the delay period counter (48) already counted if the ignition (47) is kept switched on.

To complete the picture, it must also be mentioned that a multitude of organisational forms are possible, depending upon the informational emphasis, in relation to the data processing of pure crash recorders, tachographs and other motor vehicle data collection apparatus, and that in all cases, information retention which is triggered by activating the button of the hazard indicator and is thus accident-relevant is both possible and advantageous.

Claims (5)

1. Apparatus for data collection in a motor vehicle, the apparatus comprising a microcomputer and a data store, into which data is continually input in a time-controlled manner, and also comprising means for manually inputting information indicative of an accident or a near-accident situation, wherein the button of the hazard indicator of the motor vehicle serves as input element, an AND logic unit is associated with at least one signal line for the indicator lights on the right-hand side of the motor vehicle and with at least one signal line for the indicator lights on the left-hand side of the motor vehicle, and, when the AND condition is present, the microcomputer identifies in the data store activation of the hazard indicator, following a specified delay period.

2. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the microcomputer stores in the data store an absolute or relative value of the actual time as identification of the activation of the hazard indicator.

3. Apparatus according to according to Claim 1, wherein the microcomputer controls permanent storage of the data in a region of the data store operated as a ring store, as identification of the activation of the hazard indicator.

4. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein a monostable flip-flop which can be retriggered is positioned after the AND element and connects the signal lines of the indicator lights of the right-hand and left-hand sides of the motor vehicle, a pulse generator which defines the delay period being provided, this being started at the same time as the monostable flip-flop is switched on, and the microcomputer controlling permanent storage of data collected before and after activation of the button of the hazard indicator if the monostable flip-flop has not switched back when the delay period is reached. - 9 IE 912105

5. Apparatus for data collection in a motor vehicle, substantially as described herein with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.