DESCRIPTION

Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to a system and method for calibrating a device for the detection of accidents, driving styles and location of ground vehicles.

In the following description, ground vehicles are intended as mobile industrial and/or agricultural vehicles and machinery.

Prior art

In recent years, devices have been developed for the detection of accidents, driving and use styles and the location of ground vehicles also known in the sector as “Telematics Box” or “Telemetry Box” or, in jargon, "Blackbox” or “BlueBox”. For brevity, a “Blackbox” or “device for the detection of accidents, driving styles and location” will be referred to as a “telematic device” in the following description and claims.

Blackboxes are electronic devices designed to be installed on industrial machines and monitor the operating features thereof. Blackboxes of a known type are equipped with accelerometers and other sensors, thanks to which analyses and considerations are carried out on the movements to which they are subjected when installed on a ground vehicle.

One of the main features of Blackboxes is the possibility to detect any impacts on a given ground vehicle. Following an impact, the Blackbox is able to communicate information about the direction and intensity of the impact which has occurred.

Blackboxes of a known type have a substantially parallelepiped shape and use their own reference system. For example, the reference system chosen for the machines on which Blackboxes are installed is as follows: · The Y axis points in the front direction of the forklift, according to the driving direction;

• The X axis points in the right direction of the driving direction;

• The Z axis exits the plane and points upwards. The information on any impacts provided by the Blackbox is consistent with the reference system of the ground vehicle only if the two reference systems coincide. However this is not always possible, as Blackboxes are mounted in different manners depending on the type of ground vehicle and the free space available for installation. When installing a Blackbox on a given ground vehicle, great care must be taken to ensure that the spatial reference system of the Blackbox perfectly matches with that of the ground vehicle on which it is installed.

Great precision is therefore required when installing the Blackbox on the ground vehicle. In addition, often for logistical or space reasons, it is not always possible to install the Blackbox in the same optimal position on the ground vehicle, so as to perfectly match the Blackbox's spatial reference system with that of the ground vehicle on which it is installed.

It therefore became necessary to have a way to return the information provided by the Blackbox in the coordinate system thereof to the coordinate system of the machine, so as to have data consistent with the direction of impact and accelerations in general for the analysis of the driving and use style according to the driving reference system. The Applicant has observed that the solutions of the prior art have the following drawbacks:

- little or no installation flexibility;

- impossibility to determine the reference coordinate system of the Blackbox with respect to that of the vehicle on which it is installed;

- the consequent impossibility of managing a fleet of vehicles in a homogeneous manner with respect to the need to have an account of the reference coordinate system on which the acceleration measurements are carried out by the Blackbox sensors.

Brief summary of the invention

The present invention relates to a calibration system of a telematic device as defined in accompanying claim 1 and the preferred embodiments thereof disclosed in dependent claims 2 to 8.

The Applicant sustains that the calibration system of a telematic device according to the present invention has the following advantages: it reduces the complexity of installing a telematic system on a ground vehicle, thus reducing installation costs; it increases the accuracy of the telematic system, with a significant reduction in errors; it greatly simplifies the calibration of the telematic device for the system user; it greatly facilitates user interaction with the calibration system of the telematic device, in order to monitor and/or modify the operation thereof, exploiting the advanced features and functionalities of modern mobile devices; it allows managing a fleet of vehicles in a homogeneous manner with respect to the need to have an account of the reference coordinate system on which the acceleration measurements are carried out by the Blackbox sensors;

- it ensures a high level of safety,

- it provides an efficient system and method for calibrating a device for the detection of accidents, driving styles and location of ground vehicles;

- it provides a system and method for calibrating a device for the detection of accidents, driving styles and location of ground vehicles which is highly reliable, easy to create and simple to use.

A calibration system of a telematic device for ground vehicles as defined in the appended claim 9 also constitutes an object of the present invention.

Brief description of the drawings

Additional features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the description which follows of a preferred embodiment and the variants thereof, provided by way of example with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

Figure 1 schematically shows a calibration system of a telematic device according to the invention;

Figure 2 schematically shows the reference axes of the telematic device used in the calibration system of Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 schematically shows the reference axes of a ground vehicle on which the telematic device of Figure 2 is installed, used in the calibration system of Figure 1 ; Figure 4 schematically shows the reference axes of a mobile electronic device used in the calibration system of Figure 1 ;

Figures 5 to 9 illustrate screenshots of the various steps of the calibration method according to the present invention.

Detailed description of the invention It should be observed that in the following description, identical or analogous blocks, components or modules are indicated in the figures with the same numerical references, even where they are illustrated in different embodiments of the invention. With reference to Figure 1 , a calibration system of a telematic device 1 according to the invention is shown.

The calibration system 1 of a telematic device 10 may be mounted in a fixed position of the ground vehicle 2, such as on the roof of the vehicle, and possibly in part within the vehicle compartment.

The calibration system 1 of a telematic device 10 according to the present invention comprises: a telematic device 10; a processing unit 20;

- a mobile electronic device 30.

The telematic device 10 is installable on a ground vehicle 2 and is configured to detect accidents, driving and use styles, and locate ground vehicles 2 and has spatial orientation q1 by means of suitable sensors.

The mobile electronic device 30 is configured to acquire the spatial orientation qm thereof, by means of suitable sensors of a known type, and to transmit and receive wireless data. In particular, the mobile electronic device is configured to transmit the acquired spatial orientation qm to a remote server 40.

The mobile electronic device 30 comprises a user interface 35 (e.g., a display) configured to display the various calibration steps to a user (see the sequence shown in figures 5 to 9).

The processing unit 20 comprises a first acquisition module 21 configured to acquire the spatial orientation q1 of said mobile electronic device 30 placed on said telematic device 10 installed on the ground vehicle 2 and a second acquisition module 22 configured to acquire the spatial orientation q2 of said mobile electronic device 30 placed on said ground vehicle 2, oriented according to the direction of travel thereof according to a given mode.

Furthermore, the processing unit 20 comprises a calculation module 23 configured to calculate the rotation w to be applied to the spatial orientation q1 of said telematic device 10 in order to align it with the spatial orientation q2 of said ground vehicle 2.

In general, it should be noted that in the present context and in the subsequent claims, the processing unit 20 is considered to be split into distinct functional modules (storage modules or operating modules) for the sole purpose of describing its functionalities clearly and completely.

Such processing unit can consist of a single electronic device, appropriately programmed to perform the functionalities described, and the different modules can correspond to hardware entities and/or routine software that are part of the programmed device.

Alternatively or additionally, these functionalities can be performed by a plurality of electronic devices on which the aforesaid functional modules can be distributed.

The processing unit 20 can also make use of one or more processors for executing the instructions contained in the memory modules.

Preferably, the mobile electronic device is one among a smartphone, a tablet or a portable computer.

The native operating system of the mobile electronic device 30 is Android or iOS. Alternatively, the mobile electronic device 30 is a device designed ad hoc which is capable of calibrating the telematic device 10.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a method for calibrating a telematic device 10 installable on a ground vehicle 2 by means of a mobile electronic device 30, comprising the steps of: a) installing said telematic device 10 on a ground vehicle 2 according to a first spatial orientation q1 ; b) placing the mobile electronic device 30 on said telematic device 10 installed on the ground vehicle 2 according to a predetermined orientation, so that the orientation of the mobile electronic device 30 coincides with the first spatial orientation q1 of the telematic device 10; c) acquiring the first spatial orientation q1 of said mobile electronic device 30 placed on said telematic device 10; d) placing the mobile electronic device 30 on said ground vehicle 2, orienting it according to the direction of travel thereof; e) acquiring a second spatial orientation q2 of said mobile electronic device 30 placed on said ground vehicle 2 and oriented according to the direction of travel thereof; f) calculating the angular rotation w to be applied to the first spatial orientation q1 of said telematic device 10 in order to align it with the second spatial orientation q2 of said ground vehicle 2.

Preferably, the mobile electronic device 30 is placed on the ground vehicle 2 by orienting it planarly with respect to the plane XY (ground or supporting surface of the ground vehicle) and/or indicating the inclination with respect thereto.

The mobile electronic device 30 is placed planarly with the screen facing upwards. Preferably, the calibration method comprises the step of calculating the rotation to be applied to the vectors expressed in spatial coordinates q1 of the telematic device 10 in order to align them with the spatial coordinates of the ground vehicle 2.

Preferably, in step b) the mobile electronic device 30 is placed on the telematic device 10 so as to match a visible label or reference present on a surface of the telematic device 10 so that the orientation thereof is known and predetermined. In this way, the orientation of the mobile electronic device 30 coincides with the first spatial orientation q1 of the telematic device 10.

The calculation of the rotation to be applied to the vectors expressed in spatial coordinates q1 of the telematic device 10 in order to align them with the spatial coordinates of the ground vehicle 2 is carried out using quaternions.

Having to carry out readings from sensors automatically, the most robust mathematical formalism for the case is that of quaternions.

A quaternion is a vector magnitude defined by four coefficients [x,y,z,w] which is used to define orientations in space.

The object of the method and system according to the invention is to automatically and precisely identify the coefficients which express the rotation w to which to subject the impact vector returned by the telematic device 10 to return it to the coordinate system of the ground vehicle 2.

The calculation is carried out using two quaternions. In particular, given the two quaternions: and q-i ^~ q _2x x + q ₂ y + q ₂ + q _2w w is the quaternion which represents the spatial orientation of the box. is the quaternion which represents the spatial orientation of the forklift according to a given orientation, so that the orientation of the mobile electronic device 30 coincides with the first spatial orientation q1 of the telematic device 10. Quaternions express rotations, the rotation to be applied to to align it with is also representable as a quaternion.

In particular, the resulting quaternion will be:

Where the operator represents the conjugation of the quaternion.

Advantageously, the method comprises the step of acquiring the unique identification number ID_A of the telematic device 10 which is being calibrated.

The unique identification number ID_A of the telematic device 10 which is being calibrated is acquired by entry in a text box or by scanning an identification code.

The scanned identification code is selected from at least a barcode; a code of an optical type; a radiofrequency code, such as a QR-code, RFID or NFC.

The method comprises sending to a remote server 40 the unique identification number ID_A of the telematic device 10 which is being calibrated and the rotation w to be applied to the vectors expressed in spatial coordinates q1 of the telematic device 10 in order to align them with the spatial coordinates of the ground vehicle 2.

Figures 5 to 9 illustrate the five steps of the calibration procedure.

In step 1 shown in figure 5, the application acquires (by text box or barcode scanning) the serial number of the box being calibrated.

In step 2, the application records the spatial orientation of the mobile electronic device 30, initially placed on the telematic device 10 according to the orientation shown in figure 6.

In step 3, the application records the spatial orientation q2 of the ground vehicle 2, according to the orientation shown in figure 7.

In step 4, the application calculates the rotation w to be applied to the vectors expressed in spatial coordinates q1 of the telematic device 10 in order to align them with the spatial coordinates of the ground vehicle 2.

If the setting is saved, the application sends the data to the portal present on the remote server 40.

If the orientation of the mobile device 30 does not allow tapping on the "Next" button displayed by a user interface 35, it is also possible to advance between the steps by pressing the volume keys of the mobile device 30. The username, password and address of the portal hosting the save APIs can be set from the Server Settings section, which can be selected from the main menu of the user interface 30.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a system for calibrating a telematic device 10 installable on a ground vehicle 2 by means of a mobile electronic device 30, comprising: a telematic device 10 installed on a ground vehicle 2 and configured to detect accidents and driving styles and locate ground vehicles 2 and having a spatial orientation q1 ; a mobile electronic device 30 configured to acquire a spatial orientation qm and to transmit and receive wireless data; a processing unit 20 comprising: o a first acquisition module 21 configured to acquire the spatial orientation q1 of said mobile electronic device 30 placed on said telematic device 10 installed on the ground vehicle 2; o a second acquisition module 22 configured to acquire the spatial orientation q2 of said mobile electronic device 30 placed on said ground vehicle 2 and oriented according to the direction of travel thereof; o a calculation module 23 configured to calculate the rotation w to be applied to the spatial orientation q1 of said telematic device 10 in order to align it with the spatial orientation q2 of said ground vehicle 2.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a computer program which, when running on a computer, implements at least one or more steps of the method described above.

It is clear that the specific features are described in relation to different embodiments of the invention with an exemplary and non-limiting intent.

Obviously a person skilled in the art can make further modifications and variants to the present invention, in order to satisfy contingent and specific needs. For example, the technical features described in relation to an embodiment of the invention can be extrapolated therefrom and applied to other embodiments of the invention. Such modifications and variations are moreover embraced within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.