Data recorder system and unit for a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9460566-B2
Application number	US-201414282363-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 20, 2014
Priority date	May 20, 2014
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

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.

First claim

What is claimed is:

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 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, and
wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to store at least a portion of the data on the at least one non-crash-hardened memory and the at least one crash-hardened memory substantially in parallel.

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

3. The data recorder unit of claim 1 , 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.

4. The data recorder unit of claim 3 , 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.

5. The data recorder unit of claim 4 , 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.

6. The data recorder unit of claim 1 , 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.

7. The data recorder unit of claim 1 , 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.

8. The data recorder unit of claim 1 , 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.

9. The data recorder unit of claim 8 , 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.

10. The data recorder unit of claim 8 , wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to cache a specified amount of current data, and overwrite existing non-current data.

11. The data recorder unit of claim 1 , 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.

12. The data recorder unit of claim 1 , wherein the at least one non-crash-hardened memory is removable.

13. 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, and
wherein the at least one non-crash-hardened memory is removable,
wherein the at least one data processing unit is configured to store at least a portion of the data on the at least one non-crash-hardened memory and the at least one crash-hardened memory substantially in parallel.

14. The data recorder unit of claim 13 , wherein the at least one first storage device comprises a solid-state storage device.

15. The data recorder unit of claim 13 , 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.

16. The data recorder unit of claim 13 , 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.

17. The data recorder unit of claim 16 , 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.

18. The data recorder unit of claim 17 , 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.

19. The data recorder unit of claim 13 , 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.

20. The data recorder unit of claim 13 , 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.

21. The data recorder unit of claim 13 , wherein the at least one d

Assignees

• Wabtec Holding Corp

Inventors

• Allwardt Theodore E
• Bittle Khim
• Kurz Brian
• Haas Carl L

Classifications

• G07C5/08

  Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time · CPC title

• G07C5/008 Primary

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• G07C5/0866 Primary

  the electronic data carrier being a digital video recorder in combination with video camera · CPC title

• G07C5/085

  using electronic data carriers · CPC title

• H04N1/00103

  specially adapted for radio transmission, e.g. via satellites (H04N1/00098 takes precedence) · CPC title