Vehicle surveillance

1. A vehicle monitoring apparatus, comprising:

a vehicle state detector configured to detect whether the vehicle is in a parking state;

a motion detection sensor configured to detect whether an object is moving relative to the vehicle;

an image recorder configured to record image data relating to the surrounding environment of the vehicle;

a touch sensor configured to sense whether the object is touching the vehicle;

a main control unit configured to:

start the motion detection sensor when the vehicle state detector detects that the vehicle is in a parking state,

turn on the image recorder and the touch sensor when the motion detection sensor detects that an object is moving with respect to the vehicle, and

trim the image data recorded by the image recorder during a predetermined time period when the touch sensor senses that the object is touching the vehicle, the predetermined time period comprising a time period t 1 before the touch, a time period t 2 representing the duration of the object being in touch with the vehicle, and a time period t 3 after the end of the touch;

a storage configured to store the trimmed image data.

2. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the touch sensor comprises a capacitive proximity sensor.

3. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the capacitive proximity sensor comprises a first capacitor (C 1 ), and wherein the first capacitive plate of the first capacitor (C 1 ) is the chassis of the vehicle, and the second capacitive plate of the first capacitor (C 1 ) is the earth ground or is capacitively coupled to the earth ground.

4. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the object is a human or another vehicle and forms a second capacitor (C 2 ) with the chassis of the vehicle, wherein the first capacitive plate of the second capacitor (C 2 ) is the chassis of the vehicle, and the second capacitive plate of the second capacitor (C 2 ) is the body of the human or the chassis of said another vehicle.

5. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the capacitive proximity sensor is configured to sense whether the object is touching the vehicle by detecting a change in capacitance of the second capacitor (C 2 ).

6. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising an environmental sensor for sensing environmental factors that may interfere to the capacitive proximity sensor, such as rain, ice or snow existing near a body of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the vehicle monitoring apparatus is fixed to the vehicle through a bracket, and the environmental sensor is integrated with the bracket.

8. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the capacitive proximity sensor is configured to detect the change in capacitance of the second capacitor (C 2 ) by monitoring the potential of a pin of an OBD interface of the vehicle.

9. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a wireless communication module configured to transmit a warning message to a receiver of an owner of the vehicle when the touch sensor senses that the object is touching the vehicle.

10. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the main control unit is configured to notify a controller of the vehicle to issue an alarm signal when the touch sensor senses that the object is touching the vehicle.

11. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle state detector detects that the vehicle is in a parking state when the distance from an owner of the vehicle to the vehicle is larger than a predetermined distance threshold.

12. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the main control unit is further configured to turn off the image recorder and the touch sensor when the motion detection sensor does not detect any object moving relative to the vehicle for a defined time period.

13. The vehicle monitoring apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the main control unit is configured to turn off the motion detection sensor and the touch sensor and turn on the image recorder when the vehicle state detector detects that the vehicle is in a non-parking state.

14. A method of monitoring a vehicle, comprising:

detecting whether the vehicle is in a parking state;

detecting whether an object is moving relative to the vehicle in response to detecting that the vehicle is in a parking state;

recording image data relating to the surrounding environment of the vehicle in response to detecting the object is moving relative to the vehicle;

sensing whether the object is touching the vehicle; and

trimming and storing the image data recorded during a predetermined time period in response to sensing that the object is touching the vehicle, the predetermined time period comprising a time period t 1 before the touch, a time period t 2 representing the duration of the object being in touch with the vehicle, and a time period t 3 after the end of the touch.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-useable instructions that, when used by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform the method of claim 14 .