Vehicle event recorders with integrated web server

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9942526-B2
Application number	US-201615201385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 1, 2016
Priority date	Mar 16, 2006
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

Vehicle event recorders are arranged with integrated web servers to provide a simple user interface and control mechanism which may be address with commonly available hardware and software. A vehicle event recorder of these inventions couples to a network having a workstation node. The workstation having either of the many available web browsers can be used to view, address, control, perform data transfer, et cetera, by way of data exchange in accordance with simple IP protocols. A vehicle equipped with these systems returns to a household to make a network connection. A local server is used to see all exposed system controls as provided by predefined web pages provided by a web server integrated as part of the vehicle event recorder unit.

First claim

It is claimed:

1. A vehicle event recorder comprising:
a video camera configured to acquire visual information representing a vehicle environment, the vehicle environment including spaces in and around an interior of a vehicle and an exterior of the vehicle;
a memory configured to electronically store information; and
a microprocessor configured by machine-readable instructions to:
detect a vehicle event based on vehicle performance information, wherein detection uses an adjustable sensitivity level;
responsive to detection of the vehicle event, effectuate storage of visual information associated with the vehicle event in the memory;
facilitate wireless communication of information between the vehicle event recorder and a remotely located computing device using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP); and
adjust the adjustable sensitivity level based on information received from the remotely located computing device.

2. The vehicle event recorder of claim 1 , wherein the microprocessor is further configured by machine-readable instructions to cause communication of the visual information associated with the vehicle event stored in the memory to the remotely located computing device.

3. The vehicle event recorder of claim 2 , wherein the remotely located computing device:
determines an adjustment to the adjustable sensitivity level, wherein the adjustment is based on one or more previously detected vehicle events; and
communicates the adjustment to the microprocessor, and wherein the microprocessor adjusts the adjustable sensitivity level based on the adjustment received from the remotely located computing device.

4. The vehicle event recorder of claim 1 , wherein the microprocessor is further configured by machine-readable instructions to adjust the adjustable sensitivity level based on information received from a user via the remotely located computing device.

5. The vehicle event recorder of claim 4 , wherein the microprocessor is further configured by machine-readable instructions such that facilitating wireless communication includes generating one or more web pages for presentation to the user via a web browser on the remotely located computing device, and wherein the one or more web pages are configured to receive entry and/or selection of the information from the user.

6. The vehicle event recorder of claim 5 , wherein the microprocessor is further configured by machine-readable instructions such that the one or more web pages comprise one or more fields configured to receive entry and/or selection of the information from the user.

7. The vehicle event recorder of claim 1 , wherein the microprocessor is further configured by machine-readable instructions such that the detection of the vehicle event is based on the vehicle performance information breaching an event trigger threshold level.

8. The vehicle event recorder of claim 7 , wherein the microprocessor is further configured by machine-readable instructions such that the adjustable sensitivity level is adjusted by an increase and/or decrease in the event trigger threshold level.

9. The vehicle event recorder of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle performance information is based on an acceleration of the vehicle, and wherein the event trigger threshold level is an acceleration threshold level.

10. The vehicle event recorder of claim 1 , further comprising an output port configured to facilitate the wireless communication between the vehicle event recorder and the remotely located computing device.

11. The vehicle event recorder of claim 1 , further comprising
an e-mail server,
wherein the microprocessor is further configured by machine-readable instructions to:
prepare an e-mail message responsive to the detection of the vehicle event; and
send the e-mail message using the e-mail server.

12. A computer implemented method for adjusting vehicle event recorder settings with the vehicle event recorder, the vehicle event recorder comprising a video camera, an electronic memory, and a microprocessor, the method comprising:
acquiring, with the video camera, visual information representing a vehicle environment, the vehicle environment including spaces in and around an interior of a vehicle and an exterior of the vehicle;
detecting a vehicle event based on vehicle performance information, wherein detection uses an adjustable sensitivity level;
responsive to detecting the vehicle event, effectuate, with the microprocessor, storage of visual information associated with the vehicle event in the electronic memory;
facilitating, with the microprocessor, wireless communication of information between the vehicle event recorder and a remotely located computing device using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP); and
adjusting, with the microprocessor, the adjustable sensitivity level based on information received from the remotely located computing device.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising causing communication of the visual information associated with the vehicle event stored in the electronic memory to the remotely located computing device.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining an adjustment to the adjustable sensitivity level, wherein the adjustment is based on one or more previously detected vehicle events;
communicating, by the remotely located computing device, the adjustment to the microprocessor;
wherein adjusting the adjustable sensitivity level is based on the adjustment received from the remotely located computing device.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising adjusting the adjustable sensitivity level based on information received from a user via the remotely located computing device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein facilitating wireless communication includes generating one or more web pages for presentation to the user via a web browser on the remotely located computing device, wherein the one or more web pages receive entry and/or selection of the information from the user.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the one or more web pages comprise one or more fields that receive entry and/or selection of the information from the user.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the detection of the vehicle event is based on the vehicle performance information breaching an event trigger threshold level.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein adjusting the adjustable sensitivity level is accomplished by an increase and/or decrease in the event trigger threshold level.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the detection of the vehicle event is based on an acceleration of the vehicle, and wherein event trigger threshold level is an acceleration threshold level.

21. The method of claim 12 , further comprising facilitating the wireless communication between the vehicle event recorder and the remotely located computing device with an output port of the vehicle event recorder.

Assignees

• Smartdrive Systems Inc

Inventors

• Plante James

Classifications

• H04N23/62

  Control of parameters via user interfaces · CPC title

• G07C5/008 Primary

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

• H04N23/661

  Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet · CPC title

• H04N7/183

  for receiving images from a single remote source · CPC title

• G06F16/951

  Indexing; Web crawling techniques · CPC title