METHOD OF SELECTING ACCIDENT IMAGE BASED ON SPEED PROFILE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method of selecting an accident image by using speed profile analysis, which can sufficiently secure an available capacity of a storage medium, can reduce the amount of transmission data and a fee therefor, and can prevent a loss of unnecessary management expenses, by selecting an actual accident image by using speed profile analysis before and after the occurrence of an impact event and deleting, from the storage medium, an image having a grade determined to have a low accident possibility or changing a state of the image into an overwritable state or taking measures for preventing the transmission of the image to a cloud server.

Claims

1. A method of selecting an accident image based on speed profile analysis by detecting, by a blackbox installed in a vehicle, detecting an impact applied to the vehicle, storing an image before or after impact detection timing T0 as an impact detection image, and then selecting whether the impact detection image is an accident image, the method comprising steps of: (a) detecting a deceleration ratio of the vehicle in a section between first timing T1 before the impact detection timing T0 and second timing T2 after the impact detection timing T0, and determining whether i) the deceleration ratio is less than a predetermined safe deceleration ratio (SDR), ii) the deceleration ratio is the SDR or more and an accident deceleration ratio (ADR) or less predetermined as a value greater than the SDR, or iii) the deceleration ratio is greater than the ADR; (b) determining the impact detection image as an image having a low accident possibility, when the determination result of the step (a) indicates that i) the deceleration ratio is less than the SDR or ii) the deceleration ratio is the SDR or more and the ADR or less; and (c) determining the impact detection image as an accident image when the determination result of the step (a) indicates that iii) the deceleration ratio is greater than the ADR.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the impact detection image is determined as the image having a low accident possibility in the step (b), the impact detection image is deleted from a storage medium of the blackbox or moved to an overwriteable region.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: after the step (c), (d) selecting a sudden deceleration section in which the vehicle is decelerated most suddenly among a plurality of divided sections obtained by equally dividing the section between the first timing T1 and the second timing T2, and determining whether the sudden deceleration section is located i) before the impact detection timing T0, ii) before and after the impact detection timing T0 while overlapping the impact detection timing T0, or iii) after the impact detection timing T0; (e) determining the impact detection image as a first-grade accident image indicative of a highest accident possibility when the determination result of the step (d) indicates that the sudden deceleration section is located i) before the impact detection timing T0; (f) determining the impact detection image as a second-grade accident image indicative of a lower accident possibility than the first-grade accident image when the determination result of the step (d) indicates that the sudden deceleration section is located ii) before and after the impact detection timing T0 while overlapping the impact detection timing T0; and (g) determining the impact detection image as a third-grade accident image indicative of a lower accident possibility than the second-grade accident image when the determination result of the step (d) indicates that the sudden deceleration section is located iii) after the impact detection timing T0.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein when the impact detection image is determined as the first-grade accident image, the second-grade accident image, or the third-grade accident image, tag information of a corresponding grade accident image is included in the impact detection image, and the impact detection image including the tag information is preserved in a storage medium within the blackbox or moved to a region incapable of being overwritten.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein when the impact detection image is determined as the first-grade accident image, the second-grade accident image, or the third-grade accident image, the impact detection image is immediately transmitted to a remote control server.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein when the determination result of step (a) indicates that ii) the deceleration ratio is the SDR or more and the ADR or less, the impact detection image is determined as a fourth-grade accident image indicative of a lower accident possibility than the third-grade accident image, and temporarily preserved in the storage medium within the blackbox or moved to an overwriteable region.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein when the impact detection image is determined as the fourth-grade accident image, the fourth-grade accident image is transmitted to a remote control server when the remote control server requests the transmission of the fourth-grade accident image.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein when the determination result of the step (a) indicates that i) the deceleration ratio is less than the SDR, the impact detection image is determined as a fifth-grade accident image indicative of a lower accident possibility than the fourth-grade accident image, and deleted from the storage medium or moved to an overwriteable region.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0012] FIG. 1 is a speed change graph illustrating an example of a speed profile when an impact event occurs in an actual accident situation,

[0013] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example in which an accident deceleration ratio (ADR) is set through the analysis of the speed profile in FIG. 1,

[0014] FIG. 3 is a speed change graph illustrating an example of a speed profile when an impact event occurs due to an obstacle impact, not an accident,

[0015] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a safe deceleration ratio (SDR) is set through the analysis of the speed profile in FIG. 3,

[0016] FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating an example in which a speed profile analysis section is set in the present disclosure,

[0017] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a basic flow of a method of selecting an accident image based on speed profile analysis according to the present disclosure,

[0018] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of determining an accident grade of an image by determining sudden deceleration timing in the present disclosure, and

[0019] FIG. 8 is a diagram conceptually depicting the entire flow of a method of selecting an accident image based on speed profile analysis according to the present disclosure.

BEST MODE

[0020] Hereinafter, detailed embodiments according to the present disclosure are described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is however to be understood that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments and includes all changes, equivalents and substitutions which fall within the spirit and technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0021] The same reference numeral is assigned to a portion having a similar element and operation throughout the specification. Furthermore, the accompanying drawings of the present disclosure are for convenience of description, and shapes and relative criteria thereof may be exaggerated or omitted.

[0022] In specifically describing the embodiments, a redundant description or a description of a technique evident in a corresponding field has been omitted. Furthermore, in the following description, when it is said that one element “includes” the other element, the word “include” means that the one element may further include an element other than the describe element unless explicitly described to the contrary.

[0023] Furthermore, a term, such as “ . . . unit”, “ . . . er (or . . . or)”, or “ . . . module” described in the specification, means a unit for processing at least one function or operation, and this may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination thereof. Furthermore, when it is described that one part is electrically connected to another part, it should be understood that the two parts may be directly connected to each other, or may be connected to each other with a third part interposed therebetween.

[0024] Terms, such as a “first” and a “second”, may be used to describe various elements, but the elements are not limited by the terms. The terms are used to only distinguish one element from the other element. For example, a first element may be named a second element without departing from the scope of a right of the present disclosure. Likewise, a second element may be named a first element.

[0025] The present disclosure relates to a method of selecting an accident image based on speed profile analysis, which determines whether an impact detection image stored due to an impact event is an actual accident image by analyzing a speed profile before or after the occurrence of the impact event. The method of selecting an accident image according to the present disclosure may be an algorithm performed by a blackbox for a vehicle, and may be a processing routine executed after an impact event occurs and an impact detection image is stored in response to the impact event. The method of selecting an accident image according to the present disclosure may be a computer-readable program stored in a read-only storage device (e.g., such as a ROM) within a blackbox, and may be a processing routine invoked and executed by a processor. In the method of selecting an accident image according to the present disclosure, a blackbox does not change a collision detection reference value for detecting a collision against a vehicle. In the method of selecting an accident image according to the present disclosure, an impact detection image is stored, and then it is only determined whether the corresponding image is an actual accident image or a fake accident image, but an image selected as a fake accident after the image is selected may be deleted or moved to an overwritable region. The image selected as an actual accident may be permanently preserved in a storage medium or may be immediately or periodically transmitted to a remote control server. Prior to a detailed description of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a process of setting reference values for analyzing a speed profile and a process of setting a sampling section for analyzing a speed profile in the present disclosure are described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

[0026] FIG. 1 is a speed change graph illustrating an example of a speed profile when an impact event occurs in an actual accident situation.

[0027] Referring to FIG. 1, a blackbox for a vehicle determines whether an impact event has occurred in response to an impact detection signal received through an impact detection sensor (e.g., an acceleration sensor) or a car area network (CAN) included the blackbox. The blackbox may determine that an impact event has occurred in a section in which amplitude of a signal is increased at the bottom of the graph of FIG. 1.

[0028] If the impact event is an actual accident situation and a vehicle driver has recognized an accident possibility prior to the collision, it is highly likely that the vehicle will be suddenly decelerated prior to the impact event and will be completely stopped as in (1) illustrated as a solid line in the driving speed graph of FIG. 1. That is, the driving speed graph shown in (1) of FIG. 1 indicates an accident situation in which it is highly likely that the vehicle has actually collided against a moving object.

[0029] In (2) and (3) of FIG. 1, a sudden deceleration section is formed over timing at which the impact event occurred. This indicates a situation in which it is highly likely that a vehicle driver has checked a collision target late and pressed a brake pedal. For example, a speed profile shown in (2) and (3) of FIG. 1 is obtained in an accident in which a vehicle collided against a stationary object or collided against a moving object that suddenly appeared.

[0030] (4) of FIG. 1 illustrates sudden deceleration of the vehicle after the impact event occurred. This indicates a situation in which it is highly likely that a vehicle driver pressed a brake pedal after a collision without recognizing the collision against an object. For example, a speed profile shown in (4) of FIG. 1 is obtained in a situation in which a rear-end accident occurred due to a vehicle behind or a vehicle stopped for handling a collision accident in a situation in which a driver had not recognized the collision.

[0031] Common points in the speed profiles shown in (1) to (4) of FIG. 1 are that the driving speed of the vehicle has dropped to zero close to a stop at close timing before and after the occurrence of the impact event and the driving speed has suddenly decelerated.

[0032] A deceleration ratio during the time (ΔT.sub.deceleration) from timing at which deceleration occurs to timing at which the deceleration ends may be calculated as in FIG. 2. An accident deceleration ratio (ADR) capable of estimating an actual accident during the time before and after the occurrence of an impact event may be estimated by obtaining an average of deceleration ratios by taking the examples of (1) to (4) of FIG. 1 altogether. The present disclosure includes a process of determining whether an impact detection image is an actual accident image by comparing deceleration ratios before and after an impact event with a predefined ADR.

[0033] FIG. 3 is a speed change graph illustrating an example of a speed profile when an impact event occurs due to an obstacle impact, not an accident, and illustrates a speed change when a vehicle is collided with an obstacle (such as a speed bump, a pothole, or a fallen object) on a road.

[0034] As described in the Background, a blackbox generates an impact event even in a small impact occurring when a vehicle passes an obstacle on a road. For example, there may be a case where a driver passes a speed bump without deceleration as in (1) of FIG. 3 without recognizing a speed bump. (2) of FIG. 3 corresponds to a speed profile for a situation in which a driver recognized an obstacle, but expects that an impact will not be great, and passes the speed bump by slightly decelerating the speed. (3) of FIG. 3 corresponds to a situation in which a vehicle passes a high speed bump installed in a school zone, and corresponds to a speed profile for a situation in which a driver passes an obstacle at low speed.

[0035] The situations (1) to (3) of FIG. 3 are situations in which deceleration was performed before and after the impact event, but sufficient deceleration to stop the vehicle was not performed. As in FIG. 4, a deceleration ratio during the time (ΔT.sub.deceleration) from timing at which deceleration occurs to timing at which the deceleration ends will appear as a very gentle slope compared to FIG. 2. A safe deceleration ratio (SDR) in a state not an actual accident during the time before and after the occurrence of an impact event may be estimated by obtaining an average of deceleration ratios by taking the examples of (1) to (3) of FIG. 3 altogether. The SDR will be set as a very lower value than the ADR. The present disclosure includes a process of determining whether an impact detection image is a fake accident (not required to store and process the impact detection image as an accident image) by comparing deceleration ratios before and after an impact event with a predefined SDR.

[0036] FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating an example in which a speed profile analysis section is set in the present disclosure. When a deceleration ratio before or after timing at which an impact event occurred was greater than the ADR described with reference to FIG. 2, it may be estimated that it is highly likely that an accident occurred. When a deceleration ratio before or after timing at which an impact event occurred was less than the SDR described with reference to FIG. 4, it may be estimated that the impact event is highly likely to be not an actual accident but a fake accident situation in which a vehicle went over a speed bump or passed a pothole. Moreover, whether a section in which sudden deceleration occurs is located before impact detection timing T0, before and after T0 while overlapping T0, or after T0 may also be used as a criterion for determining an actual accident possibility. Moreover, as described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, whether a vehicle has stopped (or the vehicle travels at a very low speed to the extent close to a stop) before and after an impact event may act as an assistant factor in determining whether the impact event is an actual accident situation.

[0037] In a method of selecting an accident image according to the present disclosure, a blackbox sets first timing T1 before T0 and second timing T2 after T0 on the basis of timing at which an impact event occurs (hereinafter referred to as impact detection timing T0). An optimal section for the section T1 to T2 in which a speed profile is analyzed may be found and set through the analysis of data in FIGS. 1 and 3, but each of the timings T1 and T2 has only to be close to T0.

[0038] Next, a reference speed V.sub.TH at which it may be considered that a vehicle stopped is set. The reference speed V.sub.TH may be determined in the range of approximately 0 to 5 km/h, and is preferably set to zero. Next, a reference ΔT.sub.stop for a stop time when it may be considered that a vehicle stopped is set. For example, if a stop state is maintained for five seconds in the section (T1, T2) before and after the impact detection timing T0, it is highly likely that an actual collision accident has occurred. The reference ΔT.sub.stop for the stop time may be set in the range of approximately three seconds to ten seconds.

[0039] A method of selecting an accident image based on speed profile analysis according to the present disclosure is described as follows with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

[0040] FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a basic flow of a method of selecting an accident image based on speed profile analysis according to the present disclosure. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process of determining an accident grade of an image by determining sudden deceleration timing in the present disclosure. FIG. 8 is a diagram conceptually depicting the entire flow of a method of selecting an accident image based on speed profile analysis according to the present disclosure.

[0041] Referring to FIG. 6, the method starts with a step in which a blackbox detects an impact (ST610). The blackbox stores an image before or after impact detection timing T0 as an impact detection image (ST620). The impact detection image may be a moving image, and may be images in which a plurality of still images is combined.

[0042] Next, the blackbox detects a deceleration ratio of a vehicle in a section (T1, T2), and determines whether the detected deceleration ratio is i) less than a predetermined SDR, ii) the SDR or more and an ADR or less predetermined as a value greater than the SDR, or iii) greater than the ADR (ST630).

[0043] When determining in step ST630 that the deceleration ratio in the section (T1, T2) is i) less than the SDR, the blackbox determines the corresponding impact detection image as an image having a low accident possibility (ST640). In step ST640, the blackbox determines the impact detection image as a fifth-grade accident image having the lowest accident possibility. Next, the blackbox deletes the fifth-grade accident image from a storage medium of the blackbox or moves the fifth-grade accident image to an overwriteable region (ST650).

[0044] When determining in step ST630 that the deceleration ratio in the section (T1, T2) is the SDR or more and the ADR or less, the blackbox also determines the corresponding impact detection image as an image having a low accident possibility (ST660). In this case, in step ST660, the blackbox determines the impact detection image as a fourth-grade accident image having a higher accident possibility than the fifth-grade accident image. Subsequently, the blackbox temporarily preserves the fourth-grade accident image in the storage medium of the blackbox, unlike the fifth-grade accident image (ST670). The temporarily preserved fourth-grade accident image may be transmitted through a wireless communication network only when a remote control server requests the transmission of the fourth-grade accident image. for another example, the temporarily preserved fourth-grade accident image may be moved to an overwriteable region.

[0045] When determining in step ST630 that the deceleration ratio in the section (T1, T2) is greater than the ADR, the blackbox determines the corresponding impact detection image as an accident image (ST680).

[0046] Meanwhile, although not illustrated, the method of selecting an accident image according to the present disclosure may further include a process of determining whether the vehicle has stopped before and after impact detection timing T0 as described with reference to FIG. 5, after the process of determining an accident image by comparing the deceleration ratio of the vehicle in the section (T1, T2) with the ADR and the SDR. The blackbox may additionally determine whether a driving speed of the vehicle maintains a reference speed V.sub.TH or less during a reference ΔT.sub.stop for a stop time in the section (T1, T2) after step ST630.

[0047] For example, when it is determined that the deceleration ratio of the vehicle is less than the SDR, and at the same time, the driving speed of the vehicle does not maintain the reference speed V.sub.TH or less during the reference ΔT.sub.stop for the stop time in the section (T1, T2), the blackbox may classify the corresponding impact detection image as a sixth-grade accident image lower than the fifth-grade accident image, and may finalize that there is no accident possibility.

[0048] For another example, when it is determined that the deceleration ratio of the vehicle is greater than the ADR, and at the same time, the driving speed of the vehicle maintains the reference speed V.sub.TH or less during the reference ΔT.sub.stop for the stop time in the section (T1, T2), the blackbox may classify the corresponding impact detection image as the highest-grade accident image indicative of the highest accident probability.

[0049] Referring to FIG. 7, subsequently to step ST680, the blackbox may select a sudden deceleration section in which the vehicle has decelerated most suddenly among a plurality of division sections obtained by equally dividing the section (T1, T2), and may determine whether the sudden deceleration section is located i) before the impact detection timing T0, ii) before and after the impact detection timing T0 while overlapping the impact detection timing T0, or iii) after the impact detection timing T0 (ST710).

[0050] If the determination of step ST710 indicates that the sudden deceleration section is located i) before the impact detection timing T0, the blackbox determines the corresponding impact detection image as a first-grade accident image indicative of the highest accident possibility (ST720). The reason why the corresponding impact detection image is determined as the first-grade accident image is that, as described with reference to the speed profile of FIG. 1, the corresponding impact detection image means that a driver has recognized a collision situation before a collision against a moving object and has performed sudden deceleration, and thus it is highly likely that the accident will correspond to an actual collision accident.

[0051] If the determination result of step ST710 indicates that the sudden deceleration section is located ii) before and after the impact detection timing T0 while overlapping the impact detection timing T0, the blackbox determines the corresponding impact detection image as a second-grade accident image indicative of a lower accident possibility than the first-grade accident image (ST730). The reason why the corresponding impact detection image as the second-grade accident image is that the corresponding impact detection image means that it is highly likely that a driver has collided against a stationary object or a moving object that suddenly appears as described with reference to the speed profile of FIG. 1.

[0052] If the determination result of step ST710 indicates that the sudden deceleration section is located iii) after the impact detection timing T0, the blackbox determines the corresponding impact detection image as a third-grade accident image indicative of a lower accident possibility than the second-grade accident image (ST740). The reason why the corresponding impact detection image as the third-grade accident image is that, as described with reference to the speed profile of FIG. 1, the corresponding impact detection image means that it is highly likely that the vehicle of a driver was rear-ended by another vehicle behind and was suddenly decelerated after the rear end or the driver stopped the vehicle for handling the collision accident that the driver did not recognize in advance, and thus the corresponding accident may be determined as an actual accident with a relatively high probability.

[0053] Finally, any of the first-grade accident image, the second-grade accident image, and the third-grade accident image is permanently (until a user deletes the image or the storage medium is physically damaged) preserved in the storage medium of the blackbox (ST750). Furthermore, in step ST750, the first-grade accident image, the second-grade accident image, or the third-grade accident image may be moved to a region of the storage medium on which overwrite is impossible or may be immediately transmitted to a remote control server.

[0054] FIG. 8 is a diagram conceptually depicting the entire flow of a method of selecting an accident image based on speed profile analysis according to the present disclosure. The processes of the present disclosure described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 are described in brief with reference to FIG. 8.

[0055] After the blackbox of the vehicle stores the impact detection image at the impact detection timing T0, a method of selecting an accident image according to the present disclosure is performed. The method of selecting an accident image according to the present disclosure starts with a step of detecting the deceleration ratio of the vehicle in the section (T1, T2) and determining an accident image by comparing the detected deceleration ratio with the ADR and the SDR (ST810). When the deceleration ratio is greater than the ADR, the blackbox may recognize the corresponding impact detection image as an image having a high accident possibility, and finalizes the corresponding image as an accident image.

[0056] When the impact detection image is finalized as the accident image, the process proceeds to step ST820 of determining at which point the sudden deceleration section is located on the basis of T0 (ST820).

[0057] If the sudden deceleration section is located before T0, the impact detection image is determined as the first-grade accident image indicative of the highest accident possibility. Referring to FIG. 8, an accident grade of the corresponding image may be indicated as a first accident possibility indication bar 810 whose five divided boxes are all filled. The blackbox includes tag information indicative of the first-grade accident image in the impact detection image, and permanently preserves the impact detection image, including the tag information, in the storage medium (ST830). The first-grade accident image may be immediately transmitted to the remote control server. When a user or a manager of the control server checks the first-grade accident image, the first accident possibility indication bar 810 may be displayed with the first accident possibility indication bar 810 overlaid with the corresponding image. Furthermore, for example, text information indicative of the first-grade accident image may be displayed along with the corresponding image.

[0058] If the sudden deceleration section is located while overlapping T0, the impact detection image is determined as the second-grade accident image, and an accident possibility of the corresponding image may be indicated as a second accident possibility indication bar 820 of FIG. 8 whose four boxes are filled. When the sudden deceleration section is located after T0, the impact detection image is determined as the third-grade accident image, and an accident possibility of the corresponding image may be indicated as a third accident possibility indication bar 830.

[0059] When the deceleration ratio is determined as a value between the SDR and the ADR in the process ST810 of determining the deceleration ratio, the corresponding impact detection image is determined as the fourth-grade accident image, and a process ST840 of preserving the image (or transmitting the image upon request from the control server) may be subsequently performed. The fourth-grade accident image may be indicated as a fourth accident possibility indication bar 840 whose two boxes are filled. When the deceleration ratio is determined to be less than the SDR in the process ST820 of determining the deceleration ratio, the corresponding impact detection image is determined the fifth-grade accident image having the lowest accident possibility. The fifth-grade accident image and the sixth-grade accident image may be deleted from the storage medium or moved to an overwriteable region through a process of step ST850 (ST850). In FIG. 8, a fifth accident possibility indication bar 850 is an item indicative of an accident possibility of the fifth-grade accident image, and is indicated in the form of a bar whose only one box is filled.

[0060] The disclosed disclosure may be modified in various ways within a range that does not impair a basic spirit of the present disclosure. That is, all the embodiments should be interpreted as being illustrative and are not interpreted as being limitative. Accordingly, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be determined by the accompanying claims, not the above embodiments. If a limited element in the accompanying claims is substituted with an equivalent thereto, the substitution should be construed as belonging to the scope of the protection of the present disclosure.