Communications: electrical – Land vehicle alarms or indicators – Of collision or contact with external object
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-30
2001-04-03
Swarthout, Brent A. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Land vehicle alarms or indicators
Of collision or contact with external object
C180S272000, C235S384000, C340S438000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06211777
ABSTRACT:
DESCRIPTION
Field of the Invention
This invention relates to mobile wireless communication, and more specifically to a method for automatically exchanging information between vehicles involved in a collision or near a collision site.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The current law requires drivers involved in a collision exchange insurance information and get witness if possible. Typically this is done by paper and pen, which is both time consuming and error prone. Sometimes drivers may not have their insurance information available at the scene of incidents. Sometimes drivers may even try to escape from the scene to avoid liability.
Collision detection and automatic notification systems already exist in the prior art, for example OnStar from General Motor [1], MP200-GPS from Sierra Wireless [2], and Placer 450 from Trimble [3]. These systems deliver notification to a central station with a preprogrammed number stored in the in-vehicle device via vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. The problem with these solutions is that they do not allow vehicles to exchange information and that they require vehicles in the communication range of cellular network infrastructure.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This present invention discloses a method which can automatically collect the other party's information and find witness at the scene of incidents without human intervention, thus greatly reducing the possibility of transcription error and hit-and-run.
This invention requires an automobile to be equipped a device of the following characteristics. First, the device needs wireless communication capability which can transmit/receive packets to/from the air. Second, the device needs some storage capability which can store the driver's information (e.g. name and driver license number), the vehicle's information (e.g., vehicle identification number and license plate number) and the driver's insurance information (e.g., insurance company name, policy number, and phone number.) Third, the device needs a sensor which can determine whether or not the vehicle is involved in a collision.
The basic sequence of events that will happen in a incident involving two vehicles equipped with the aforementioned device is described as follows. The sequence of events for the case of a multi-vehicle incident can be derived easily. Upon the collision sensors in both vehicles detect a collision, the in-vehicle device will broadcast its information over a radio channel and also try to receive the information from the other party.
The information to be exchanged can be tagged with the time and location when a collision is detected so that exchanging information are confined within vehicles involved in the same collision. The time and location information can be obtained, for example, by Global Position Systems (GPS).
In order to be sure that the information received is truly originated from the sender, the message sender has to digitally sign the message using a cryptosystem known in the prior art. Digital signatures can also prevent the receiving party from tampering with the received information. The broadcast information can also be encrypted by the public key of a trusted third party such as the police department or DMV (department of motor vehicles). In such a case, the receiving party has to work with the trusted third party to decrypt the received information.
The nature, principle and utility of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4638289 (1987-01-01), Zottnik
patent: 5311197 (1994-05-01), Sorden et al.
patent: 5483442 (1996-01-01), Black et al.
patent: 5910766 (1999-06-01), Evans
patent: 5969598 (1999-10-01), Kimura
patent: 6012012 (2000-01-01), Fleck et al.
Greenwood Michael Corey
Liu Te-Kai
Cameron Douglas W.
Dougherty Anne Vachon
International Business Machines - Corporation
Swarthout Brent A.
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