Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication – Vehicle diagnosis or maintenance indication
Reexamination Certificate
1999-11-04
2001-06-12
Cuchlinski, Jr., William A. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Vehicle diagnosis or maintenance indication
C701S028000, C701S029000, C340S438000, C340S439000, C340S937000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06246933
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a traffic accident data recorder mounted on a vehicle for land transportation such as a car. The invention further relates to a traffic accident reproduction system for reproducing and reconstructing the traffic accident by using the traffic accident data stored in the traffic accident data recorder. Hereinafter this traffic accident data recorder will be called an ADVANCED VIDEO BOX (AVB).
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Most commercial aircraft and some private aircraft are equipped with an event recording device commonly called a “black box”. This device recorded pertinent data from the major subsystems of the aircraft as the aircraft was operating. If an accident occurred, the “black box” generally can be retrieved from the aircraft and the recorded information can be extracted to determine the status of subsystems of the aircraft just before the accident. Such information can then be used to reconstruct the events leading up to the accident, and can help determine the cause of the accident. Black box recording devices have proven invaluable in aircraft accident reconstruction. However, this type of technology is quite expensive, and its use has been limited to more expensive vehicles, e.g., aircraft. In addition, it is believed that all such devices operate using a cumbersome magnetic tape to record data. These devices also tend to be larger, heavier, and consume more power than would be acceptable for automotive use.
In the area of automobile accident reconstruction in the past, an accident investigating officer generally determined how an accident most probably occurred by measuring, among other things, the length of skid marks, the extent of vehicle and nearby property damage, and the condition of the road at the time of the accident. This method of reconstructing accidents was expensive and inaccurate at times.
Generally, it is very advantageous to know the condition or state of a vehicle when a traffic accident has occurred involving the vehicle, in order to determine the cause of the accident. It is also very advantageous to analyze data of, for example, acceleration, angular velocity, etc. of the vehicle at the accident occurrence time. Transitory events, e.g., accident scenes in particular, must be accurately and quickly recorded in situ prior to the removal of the affected vehicles for purposes of later reconstructing the relative position of various features and objects and their relationship to fixed positions at the site. This was usually accomplished manually. The data collected was then utilized to establish the final position of the vehicles and associated debris as well as to provide information from which reasonable inferences might be drawn concerning the events leading up to the accident.
Because, by their very nature, vehicular accidents almost always occur on or adjacent to roadways, the conventional methods of accurately recording the data necessary accurately to establish relative vehicle positions with respect to fixed adjacent objects (e.g., road signs, telephone poles and the like) utilizing a roll-a-tape, clipboard and pencil required that the accident scene not be disturbed for an extended period of time prior to clearing. During this laborious investigation process, other vehicular traffic is either slowed or totally obstructed which can itself lead to secondary incidents or accidents involving other vehicles or individuals assisting at the scene.
It is therefore vitally important that the accident investigating officer record, and then clear, an accident scene as rapidly as possible. Nevertheless, the data recorded must be accurate and verifiable for later use in reconstructing the incident and formal procedures must be followed such that the integrity of the data gathered might be ensured. Heretofore two methods of determining distances regarding an accident scene have been generally employed utilizing a mechanical distance measuring device, e.g., a roll-a-tape combined with the manual recordation of the distances on a clipboard.
The “baseline” (or “baseline/offset”) method was one recordation technique in which an imaginary grid or coordinate system was established overlying the accident scene with a first axis which was fixed between two permanent objects or positions adjacent to the site (e.g., traffic signs, utility poles and the like) which were utilized as control points. The accident investigating officer must then manually measure a series of distances along the first axis to establish various positions (e.g. the abscissa), at which positions the accident investigating officer must then additionally walk off and make a like series of right angle measurements to vehicle tires, skid marks and the like to establish the coordinate along the second axis (e.g. the ordinate). The resulting “x,y” values can then be utilized to reconstruct the accident scene on a grid for subsequent investigation.
An alternative technique was the “triangulation” (or “range/triangulation”) method. In practice, this technique required that a pair of fixed object or position control points also be selected and the distance between them established by manual measurement. The accident investigating officer then positioned himself or herself adjacent to the various points of interest (e.g., the left front tire of the first vehicle, the right front tire of the second vehicle, and the like) and then walked off and measured the distance to both of the control points for each point of interest. The resultant data was then utilized to calculate the “x,y” position of the various points with respect to the control points by knowledge of the lengths of the three sides of the triangle formed.
In practice, the baseline technique was the most time consuming to implement in the field but was the most expeditious to reconstruct back at the police station. The converse was true of the triangulation method. However, regardless of the technique employed, current roll-a-tape, clipboard and pencil techniques were time consuming as well as being subject to measurement errors when obstructions were in the path of the measurement to be made and recordation errors which might not be detected until after the accident had been cleared. Moreover, during the entire process, the normal traffic flow at the scene was disrupted and the accident investigating officer was exposed to the attendant dangers of making the measurements for an extended period of time.
Short-distance, or residual-distance, recording devices have been provided in motor vehicles and have been used for analyzing the last distance travelled before a stop, possibly a stop which was caused by a collision. A wide range of recording principles were already known for devices of this type, e.g., principles which enabled immediate examination of the recordings, as well as those in which speed values were generally written into an electronic storage, continuously in a determined clock cycle as data records, sometimes together with other data, the least current data records being erased.
Special accident recording devices were also known in which accident data were determined, preferably by means of acceleration sensors, and were stored for a relatively brief period, in a time-based manner, wherein additional information which concerned, for example, brake actuation, blinker operation and illumination, was compiled as an interpretation aid. Such a device permanently stored the accident data when the vehicle actually underwent accelerations beyond the range of possible accelerations which were brought about by the nature of the road and the driving dynamics, i.e., in the event of genuine impacts caused by traffic accidents. In this way, the processor capacity and storage space can be confined to authentic accident situations.
Recordings made by devices of the first group can provide a certain support for recording and interpreting accidents in that the speed curve, which preceded the stopping of the vehicle, was analyzed on the spot and status d
Arthur Gertrude
Cuchlinski Jr. William A.
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
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