US 5,899,956 AGranted

Vehicle mounted navigation device

AssigneeAdvanced Future Technologies, Inc.

InventorChuk David Chan

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Abstract

A vehicle mounted, navigation device is disclosed. This invention combines a global position system (GPS) with an image capturing system into a portable device that can be optimally mounted within a vehicle. The image capturing system detects and interprets visual information in the vicinity of the vehicle to provide the vehicle operator with appropriate navigational guidance assistance and to compensate for the positioning errors embedded in commercial GPS signals. Additionally, the device has the capability to store consecutive frames of detected, visual information so as to enable the device to be used for accident aftermath analysis and the documentation of an event or scene that occurs within the vicinty of the vehicle. The device includes a mounting assembly which enables the device to be used in most automotive vehicles, with the device usually being mounted behind the vehicle's rearview mirror such that a set of directional turning indicators naturally fall within the vehicle operator's field of view.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A digital in-vehicle device comprising:

an image capturing device for continuously capturing actual road scene that comes within the vicinity of vehicle in real-time,
a vision microprocessor coupled to said image capturing device for controlling the operation of said image capturing device,
a vision memory device coupled to said vision microprocessor,
a persistent memory device coupled to said vision microprocessor, wherein said persistent memory device is a non-volatile storage device,
means connected to said vision microprocessor for automatically triggering a permanent storage, in said persistent memory device, of a plurality of consecutive frames of captured visual scene that comes within the vicinity of said vehicle, wherein said permanent storage of a plurality of consecutive frames is achieved by means of prohibiting the current content in said persistent memory from being over-written by new images after a pre-programmed elapsed time period such that said plurality of consecutive frames stored are composed of a number of images captured so many seconds before and after said triggering occurs, wherein the number of said images stored is a function of the size of said persistent memory, wherein said persistent memory consisting of a finite number of storage elements overwritten repeatedly by said vision microprocessor in a first-in-first-out fashion so that a finite storage can be used to buffer up a plurality of said images continuously, and
means connected to said vision microprocessor for manually triggering the said permanent storage, in said persistent memory device, of frames of said visual scene that comes within the vicinity of said vehicle, wherein said manually triggering can be an action selected from the group consisting of taking snap shots of visual scene, taking a sequence of continuous images of visual scene, and freezing the activity of said continuously capturing visual information so as to prevent existing said images in said persistent memory of being replaced by new images in order to preserve existing said images,
wherein said stored frames can be used for various purposes, including accident aftermath analysis and documentation of the visual aspects of an event or scene that occurs within the vicinity of the vehicle.

4 more elements

A method for digitally capturing an actual scene on a road in real-time so that captured images can be used for various purposes, including accident aftermath analysis, documentation of the visual aspects of an event or scene that occurs within a vicinity of a vehicle and navigation assistance, said method comprises steps of:

continuously capturing actual road scene that comes within the vicinity of vehicle in real-time on the road and converting said scene into digital form,
controlling the operation and timing of said capture process,
permanently storing up captured said images so that said images can be retrieved for viewing at a later time,
continuously buffering up a plurality of captured images using a first-in-first-out mechanism so that said buffered images can be preserved permanently if so desired,
automatically triggering a permanent storage of a plurality of consecutive frames of captured visual information that comes within the vicinity of said vehicle, wherein said permanent storage of a plurality of consecutive frames is achieved by prohibiting older said images from being erased and replaced by newer images after a pre-programmed elapsed time period such that said plurality of consecutive frames stored are composed of a number of images captured so many seconds before and after said automatic triggering, and
manually triggering the storage in a persistent memory device of consecutive frames of detected visual information that comes within the vicinity of said vehicle, wherein said manually triggering can be an action selected from the group consisting of taking snap shots of visual scene, taking a sequence of continuous images of visual scene, and freezing the activity of said continuously capturing visual information so as to prevent existing said images in said persistent memory be replaced by new images in order to preserve existing said images.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.