System and methods for mobile surveillance
AssigneeVIG Vehicle Intelligence Group LLC
InventorGreg Horn
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to mobile surveillance and, more particularly, to systems and methods for policing traffic violations, such as illegal cell phone use while driving. The surveillance system may include a mobile unit and an imaging device configured to monitor, detect, and record vehicles moving in the same direction or in an opposite direction of the mobile unit. The imaging device may capture license plate information and other data, such as characteristics corresponding to the driver of the vehicle. Advantageously, the surveillance system can record, analyze, detect, and communicate distracted driver violations effectively and efficiently.
Claims20
A surveillance apparatus for policing cell phone violations, comprising:
- two or more imaging devices removably mounted on an exterior surface of a first vehicle, the two or more imaging devices configured to record driver characteristics and vehicle information corresponding to a second vehicle, wherein, in response to detecting the second vehicle, at least one or more of said imaging devices is motorized and configured to facilitate a 360 degree field of view in relation to said first vehicle for recording the driver characteristics and vehicle information;
- data processing logic operatively coupled to a non-volatile, non-transitory memory and the one or more imaging devices, the data processing logic operative to:
- access the recorded driver characteristics and the vehicle information;
- process the vehicle information to extract characteristics of the second vehicle;
- analyze the driver characteristics to detect one or more objects corresponding to an occupant of the second vehicle;
- and
- preserve, in response to the detection of the one or more objects, in said memory the recorded driver characteristics and vehicle information corresponding to the second vehicle for generating an evidentiary record for use in policing cell phone and seat belt violations, wherein the imaging devices are configured to be removably mounted to the exterior surface of the first vehicle for retrieval of said evidentiary record for use in policing cell phone and seat belt violations.
A method of a surveillance apparatus for policing cell phone violations, the method comprising:
- monitoring surroundings via two or more imaging devices removably mounted on an exterior surface of a first vehicle, wherein the imaging devices are configured to be removably mounted to the exterior surface of the first vehicle for retrieval of an evidentiary record for use in policing cell phone violations;
- collecting, via the imaging devices, vehicle information and driver characteristics associated with a second vehicle moving in a same or an opposite direction of the first vehicle, wherein, in response to detecting the second vehicle, at least one or more of said imaging devices is motorized and configured to facilitate a 360 degree field of view in relation to said first vehicle for recording the driver characteristics and vehicle information;
- processing the vehicle information to extract characteristics corresponding to the second vehicle;
- analyzing the driver characteristics to detect one or more objects;
- preserving, in response to the detection of the one or more objects, in said memory the recorded driver characteristics and vehicle information corresponding to the second vehicle for generating an evidentiary record for use in policing cell phone and seat belt violations, wherein the imaging devices are configured to be removably mounted to the exterior surface of the first vehicle for retrieval of said evidentiary record for use in policing cell phone and seat belt violations;
- determining one or more violations based on the one or more detected objects;
- and
- communicating the violations and vehicle information to a user for display.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.