DEVICE, SYSTEM, AND METHOD FOR ORIENTING AN ACCELEROMETER

1 . A method of orienting an accelerometer, comprises:

properly filtering accelerometer data;

selecting accelerometer/OBD data for vertical alignment;

selecting accelerometer/OBD data for horizontal alignment;

calculating an alignment matrix;

calculating an RMS deviation of the alignment matrix to determine accuracy of alignment;

using the aligned data to determine driver behavior (braking, turning, accelerating, . . . );

sending the aligned or unaligned data, with or without alignment accuracy to a server application on a periodic basis, or upon detection of specified driver behavior; and

continuously monitoring and fine tuning the alignment matrix based upon ongoing measurements.

2 . A method for orienting an accelerometer, comprising:

using accelerometer data for calculations;

using permutations of OBD, GPS, accelerometer and gyro data to qualify data for use in determining orientation;

calculating vertical alignment based upon long term averages of a gravity vector;

calculating lateral alignment based upon sample collected during straight line acceleration and deceleration;

creating a rotation matrix based upon alignment buffers;

determining the quality of alignment by monitoring variation in the rotation matrix; and

using aligned data if the matrix quality is above a configurable threshold.

3 . A method for orienting an accelerometer for a driver behavior device, the method comprising:

inserting accelerometer data in a lateral data buffer in order to determine a gravity vector based upon information from any one or more of the following:

inserting data in a vertical data buffer, based upon information from any one or more of the following: GPS heading change of less than a configurable amount; GPS speed change of greater than a configurable amount; OBD speed change of greater than a configurable amount; and/or gyro rotation of less than a configurable amount;

calculating a rotation matrix based upon the data stored in the lateral and vertical data buffers;

calculating a deviation of the rotation matrix, and if deviation is less than a configurable amount, allowing driver behavior monitoring.