SAFE AND PRACTICABLE ROAD CONDITIONS.

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The present invention regards a computer system and related process supporting acquisition and storage of a vehicle dynamics, GPS location, driving behavior, and supporting remote trasmission of the same data by using a mobile phone.

The recording of data related to the motion of vehicle can achieve, under a proper authorisation by user, the tracing of the so called driving behavior. The reconstruction of such a profile allows the insurance companies to associate the drivers in proper classes, according to their driving style, and to apply different contracts with different fees, rewarding that people driving with a cautious style. Furthermore, the monitoring of some parameters related to the motion of vehicle permits to detect immediately the happening of a possible accident and to send immediately an alarm signal to a national Headquarter.

The system, by using an electronic device called memory box, properly equipped by sensors, is able to collect kinematic, dynamic and GPS location data, related to the motion of vehicle on which the same device is installed and where it is placed. Said data are saved in an internal memory of the same memory box device, in a specific part of memory that cannot be modified by user. By using a specific algorithm said data related to the motion of vehicle are immediately encoded, encrypted and - where the communication protocols are activated and authorised - sent in real time to the Headquarter, so that safe and unchangeable data is achieved, function that cannot be achieved by a black box because in that case data are kept resident within.

The data communication is achieved by using a mobile phone, in example a smartphone, able to receive data from the memory box, and to send them to the Headquarter by the national telecommunication network.

In a situation where a road accident has happened, the memory box is able to recognize the event, detecting immediate and quick variations in the dynamic and kintematic parameters of the vehicle. In this case, a signal of alarm is generated by the memory box. This signal is transmitted from the memory box to the mobile phone, by which the Headquarter is informed. The Headquarter can dispatch the request to the proper resources available on the territory, by reaching properly the most qualified operators in order to achieve an intervention on site, to rescue possible people involved in the accident and to reestablish the standard safe and practicable road conditions, as quickly as possible.

Furthermore, in a particular embodiment, the computer system and related process of communication, subject of the present invention, can permit to collect and send data in real time to the Headquarter, said data being useful to reconstruct the road accident, by using tablet PCs that are available to the operators in charge of intervention and/or in charge of the data transmission related to a road accident.

In the state of the art some attempts are known in order to achieve a device able to detect data from motion of a vehicle and transmit them to a remote site. This device is described in the US patent application US 2012/0161952, and regards a black box that, placed on a vehicle on board, is able to acquire data related to the motion of the same vehicle and to detect, by using the same data, the event of a road accident, generating and sending therefore an emergency signal in order to request an intervention. However, said invention presents some drawbacks: it detect just an impact and, in case of a road accident, cannot define a driver profile; it is not able to save dynamic and kinematic data related to the motion of vehicle at the time before the accident; it just sends a generic alarm signal.

The Italian patent application RM2012A000611 , filed on 4 Dec 2012 by the same here undersigned inventor, describes a computer system and a related process supporting the automatic request, by a mobile phone, of an intervention related to a road accident and/or the transmission of data related to the same accident. However, the same invention cannot save data related to the driver profile, but it can just detect possible road accidents.

The Italian patent application RM2013A000723, filed on 30 Dec 2013 by the same here undersigned inventor, describes a computer system and a related process supporting the acquisition, recording and transmission of data related to motion of a vehicle, to GPS location, and to driver behavior. However, said invention presents the drawback of using directly a mobile phone - in example a smartphone - in order to detect the dynamic data related to the motion of vehicle and to the GPS location. That implies that, in case the mobile phone is not present on the vehicle on board, the driver behavior cannot being monitored continuously.

The Italian patent application RM2013A000045, filed on 25 Jan 2013 by the same here undersigned inventor, describes a computer system and a related process of communication by using respective tablet PCs that are available to local operators in charge of intervention. The local operators provide data transmission, related to a road accident, to a national Headquarter that receives a signal of alarm and manages the due intervention. However, said invention is not able to detect the driver behavior and to communicate the same data to the national Headquarter.

The present invention overcomes all the above drawbacks, because: it makes it possible to save dynamic and kinematic data related to the motion of vehicle, to transmit said data automatically to a national Headquarter, permitting to define a user's driving profile; it is able to generate automatically an alarm signal in case that an impact has been detected; said alarm signal is despatched immediately from the Headquarter to the proper local operators able to manage the emergency.

Therefore, the main objective of the present invention is to propose a computer system and a related process supporting the acquisition and storage of data related to motion of a vehicle, GPS location, driving behavior, and supporting remote trasmission of the same data by using a mobile phone. That permits, by tracing the data related to the motion of vehicle, to identify a risk profile connected to the driving style of the person driving the same vehicle.

Another objective is that the computer system and related process is able to detect a car accident and consequently to generate automatically a signal of alarm and a request of intervention to a Headquarter, by using a mobile phone, like in example a smartphone, on which a specific software application - APP - is installed.

Another further objective is that the request of intervention can be forwarded immediately from said Headquarter to a Logistical Operative Center (L.O.C.), that is locally in charge on the territory, and where qualified operators are available in order to provide intervention to rescue and/or to re-establish standard and safe road conditions.

Therefore, it is specific subject of the present invention a computer system and related process supporting acquisition and storage of a vehicle's kinematic and dynamic data, GPS location, driving behavior, and supporting remote trasmission, said system characterized in that comprising:

at least an electronic device, called memory box, comprising: means for data acquisition from sensors; means for processing and storage of data; means for communication with a mobile local device, for example a mobile phone;

a mobile device, for example a mobile phone placed inside the vehicle, this mobile device hosting a software application, said APP, able to communicate automatically with said electronic device, or memory box, and to periodically send the acquired data to a remote server through the national mobile phone or wireless network;

at least a remote server, preferably placed at a national Headquarter, and in charge to acquire and save said data, coming from said vehicles located all over the national area;

a computer network able to let the mobile phone, the remote server and the Headquarter, to communicate,

so that: the memory box acquires data about the vehicle's dynamics, saves them in order to trace a driving profile and reveals a possible accident; the mobile phone receives wireless data from the memory box, about the driving profile and any possible accident alert and sends these data to said Headquarter by said computer network; information and directives may be immediately processed from the Headquarter, in order to archive data on said remote server about the driving profile and, in case of accident, to alert operators in charge from a Logistical Center and send them to the place where the accident happened, so that thay may acquire information about the accident.

The present invention will now be described for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, with particular reference to figures of the enclosed drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view of an architecture of a computer system supporting acquisition, storage and transmission, by using a mobile phone, of data related to motion of a vehicle, GPS position and driver behavior;

Figures 2 and 3 are two respective lateral views of a memory box;

Figure 4 is a view of a flow diagram related to operations of installation of a memory box;

Figure 5 is a view of a flow diagram related to operations of data acquisition; Figure 6 is a view of a flow diagram related to operations of installation and activation of a APP managing the system;

Figure 7 is a view of a flow diagram related to functions of the system according to activation of different options;

Figure 8 is a view of a flow diagram related to steps making the device able to detect a road accident and assigning it to a class of respective relevance;

Figure 9 is a view of a flow diagram related to operations achieved by the Headquarter according to an input of data from the memory box; Figure 10 is a view of a flow diagram related to operations achieved by the Logistical Operative Center according to a request of rescue and re-establishment of standard road conditions.

It is here underlined that only few of the many conceivable embodiments of the present invention are described, which are just some specific non-limiting examples, having the possibility to describe many other embodiments based on the disclosed technical solutions of the present invention.

Figure 1 shows an architecture of a computer system 100 supporting acquisition and storage of a vehicle 109 kinematic and dynamic data, GPS location, driving behavior, and supporting remote trasmission.

In particular, the computer system 100 includes an electronic device 107, called memory box, that is installed inside a vehicle, in example a car, and that is able to detect and storage data related to the motion of the vehicle 109. Data are recorded and saved in an internal memory of the memory box 107, and that can be used to trace the driving profile of a user. By using a specific algorithm, the memory box 107 is able to detect the happening of a possible road accident.

The memory box 107 can establish a wireless communication 108 (in example via bluetooth) with mobile phone 105, in example a smartphone, having a software application (APP) installed inside in order to manage data of registered users.

The computer system 100 further includes a Headquarter 102 that collects data detected by the memory box 107 and transmitted by smartphone 105 on a computer or telecommunication network 104. The Headquarter 102 collects data recorded in order to reconstruct the driving profile of a user, collects alarm signals related to accidents, using a central PC 106 as terminal of data acquisition.

The computer system 100 further includes at least a remote server 103, containing a database able to acquire, storage and retrieval of saved data, or sent by one or more operators belonging to the Headquarter 102.

The computer system 100, in a specific embodiment, can further include a series of tablet PCs 101 , placed in Logistical Operative Centers (L.O.C.) that are on the national territory and being available to operators in charge to rescue and to provide re-establishment of safe road conditions in case of accident, so that an immediate despatching of information and directives is provided by the Headquarter 102, minimizing the time of arrival on site.

The computer system 100 further supports a service of data transmission and of automatic intervention request in case of road accident, achieved by using an applicative software, installed on the mobile phone 105, or smartphone.

Figures 2 and 3 show two respective lateral views of a memory box 107. The memory box 107 comprises at least: a microprocessor and a Real Time Clock; a storage memory, for example a SD; a GPS receiver; a tri-axial accelerometer; a wireless transmitter, for example a bluetooth transmitter, to communicate with the mobile phone 105; a control microswitch; alert LEDs 117; a rechargeable battery; solar cells 110 to recharge the battery; a USB interface 116 to recharge the battery and to access data in the storage memory, read-only memory; a button 118 to ask manually some base functions of the memory box 107.

Figure 4 shows a flow diagram 119 related to operations of installation of a memory box 107, that is strongly fixed on the vehicle 109, in example on the front windscreen. Once the memory box 120 is fixed, a protection wrap is removed from the battery's contacts so that the electronic device memory box 107 may be powered 121 and a microswitch is powered 122. In case the memory box 107 is removed from its place, said microswitch would be deactivated 125 and the memory box 107 would be deactivated too 126.

Figure 5 shows a flow diagram 127 related to data flow from the detecting sensors to the memory box 107. Data come from a tri-axial accelerator 128 and processed by an accident-revealing algorithm to find out if there was an accident 129. Further data come from a GPS device 130 and from an internal clock, if the signal is lost a system reconstructs the most probable path run by the vehicle. Said data are sampled with a 100 ms period 132; and then, after digitized, they are encrypted and archived in the mass storage 133 of the memory box 107, and then they are available to be sent to the mobile phone 105 via bluetooth or wifi 134.

The communication between memory box 107 and smartphone 105 can be established once an applicative software (App) has been installed in the smartphone, like it is specified in flow diagram 135 with reference to Figure 6. The user makes the registration and fills out the required data 136, so that a remote system sends back to the user an activation code 137, able to identify him unambiguously. Once the user receives said code, the user downloads and installs the App on the mobile device 105. When the user opens the App 139, if the App was still not enabled, it will be required said activation code 142. Otherwise, once the App will be enabled, it will be possible to use it without need to insert the activation code 141.

Figure 7 shows a flow diagram 143 related to functions of the computer system 100 according to activation of different options on the applicative software. In particular, the user can choose to activate or not the option "driving profile" 144, in order to record continuously of data related to motion of vehicle.

If the option "driving profile"has been activated, the memory box 107 will send real time data 145 to the smartphone 105, and the smartphone 105 sends real time data 146 to the Headquarter 102. Otherwise, if the option "driving profile" has not been activated, but bluetooth has been enabled, the memory box 107 will send data to the mobile phone only in case of accident 148, and the smartphone 105 sends a real time emergency alert to the Headquarter 102. if nor the "driving profile" option has been activated neither the bluetooth has been enabled, data will be anyway saved in the mass storage of the memory box 149, and they could be available later in the future.

Figure 8 shows a flow diagram 150 related to steps making the device able to detect a road accident. In fact, the memory box 107 is able to acquire acceleration components on the three axis. If the values detected do not exceed a minimum threshold, no accident has happened 153. Otherwise, if the values exceed said minimun threshold but do not exceed a medium threshold, a minimun gravity accident has happened 155. If the values exceed said medium threshold but do not exceed a high threshold, a medium gravity accident has happened 157. If the values exceed said high threshold, a high gravity accident has happened 158. The emergency signal sent to the Headquarter 102 contains the respective information.

With reference to the flow diagram 159 of Figure 9 the Headquarter 102 receives data from the mobile phone 105 if the option "driving profile" has been activated (Figure 7). If no accident happened, data are saved in the server 103 to trace the driving profile 162. If an accident happened, data are however saved and the software opens a new file called "Trasparenza" 163. The Headquarter 102 chooses the nearest Logistical Center to the place where the accident happened 164 and it sends an intervention request to the chosen Logistical Center 165.

With reference to the flow diagram 166 of Figure 10 the Headquarter 102, after it receives the notice of accident, alerts the Logistical Center 167. The Logistical Center receives the notification of the accident and accepts the file 168. An operator from the Logistical Center goes where the accident happened 169 and fills out the file inserting the necessary data 170.

Therefore, the operator fills out the file giving: general information 171 about time, place, personal data of people involved in the accident, and any other information useful to recostruct the dynamics of accident 171 ; information about involved vehicles involved: plate numbers, insurance numbers, reports of damage 172; photographic documents 173. Once the operator has given all these information, the file has been completely filled 174 and it is sent back to the Headquarter 102 that archives the data 175.

Therefore, the above examples show that the present invention achieves all the proposed objectives. In particular, it permits to obtain a computer system and a related process supporting the acquisition and storage of data related to motion of a vehicle, GPS location, driving behavior, and supporting remote trasmission of the same data by using a mobile phone. That permits, by tracing the data related to the motion of vehicle, to identify a risk profile connected to the driving style of the person driving the same vehicle.

Furthermore, the computer system and related process is able to detect a car accident and consequently to generate automatically a signal of alarm and a request of intervention to a Headquarter, by using a mobile phone, like in example a smartphone, on which a specific software application - APP - is installed.

The request of intervention is forwarded immediately from said Headquarter to a Logistical Operative Center (L.O.C.), that is locally in charge on the territory, and where qualified operators are available in order to provide intervention to rescue and/or to re-establish standard and safe road conditions. The same operators can collect technical and photograhic documents in a digital format, directly on the site of accident, and said documents can be transmitted in real time to the Headquarter in order to be used later in a future time.

It is here underlined that only few of the many conceivable embodiments of the present invention are described, which are just some specific non-limiting examples, having the possibility to describe many other embodiments based on the disclosed technical solutions of the present invention.