System and method for enhancing driver situational awareness in a transportation vehicle
A method for enhancing situational awareness in a transportation vehicle includes locating at least one camera on the vehicle. Upon activation of a vehicle brake, the camera is automatically paired with a computing device located inside the vehicle.
1 . A method for determining a situational environment of a transportation vehicle, said method comprising:
locating at least one camera on the vehicle;
upon activating a vehicle brake when the vehicle is at rest, automatically pairing the camera with a computing device located inside the vehicle; and
upon activating an ABS braking system of the vehicle when the vehicle is in motion, automatically performing at least one of:
(i) a using the video camera, capturing video data of an environmental area on which the camera is focused at a time the ABS braking system is activated; and
(ii) using the video camera and computing device, capturing video data of an environmental area on which the camera is focused at a time the ABS braking system is activated, and storing the video data in memory of the computing device; and
(iii) using the video camera and computing device, capturing video data of an environmental area on which the camera is focused at a time the ABS braking system is activated, and transmitting the video data to a remote computing device.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera comprises a video camera.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera comprises a CCTV.
4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera comprises an IP-based digital still camera.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a tablet computer with an integrated display screen.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises a web-enabled smartphone.
7 . The method according to claim 1 , and comprising enrolling the camera on a user network in a secured online user account.
8 . The method according to claim 7 , and comprising logging in to the user account via a security password.
9 . The method according to claim 1 , and comprising capturing realtime vehicle information using the camera.
10 . The method according to claim 9 , and comprising wirelessly transmitting the realtime vehicle information captured by the camera to a remote server.
11 . The method according to claim 9 , and comprising recording and storing the realtime vehicle information captured by the camera using an onboard network-attached digital video recorder.
12 . The method according to claim 9 , and comprising recording and storing the realtime vehicle information captured by the camera using internal flash memory.
13 . The method according to claim 9 , and comprising using Video Content Analysis (VCA) for automatically analyzing the realtime vehicle information captured by the camera.
14 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera is activated automatically without user intervention.
15 . The method according to claim 1 , and comprising combining a plurality realtime vehicle data signal feeds of respective user networks in a single networked multi-user system.
16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the camera utilizes facial recognition technology.
17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises application software for enabling a dashboard-centric interface with icon tabs for manually activating the camera on a user network, such that when the user clicks on an icon tab, realtime vehicle information transmitted by the camera is output to the user.
18 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the computing device comprises an onboard electronic recorder.
19 . A method for determining a situational environment of a transportation vehicle, said method comprising:
locating at least one camera on the vehicle;
upon activating a vehicle brake when the vehicle is at rest, automatically pairing the camera with a computing device located inside the vehicle; and
upon activating an ABS braking system of the vehicle when the vehicle is in motion:
(i) using a vehicle data bus operatively connected to the ABS braking system to communicate vehicle braking information to the computing device;
(ii) using the camera to automatically capture video data of an environmental area on which the camera is focused at a time the ABS braking system is activated; and
(iii) at the time the ABS braking system is activated, using the computing device to perform at least one of storing the video data, transmitting the video data to a remote computing device, storing GPS location data, and transmitting GPS location data to a remote computing device.
20 . A method for determining a situational environment of a transportation vehicle, said method comprising:
locating a plurality of cameras on the vehicle;
upon activating a vehicle brake when the vehicle is at rest, automatically pairing the cameras with a computing device located inside the vehicle; and
upon activating an ABS braking system of the vehicle when the vehicle is in motion:
(i) using a vehicle data bus operatively connected to the ABS braking system to communicate vehicle braking information to the computing device;
(ii) using the cameras to automatically capture video data of an environmental area on which the cameras are focused at a time the ABS braking system is activated; and
(iii) at the time the ABS braking system is activated, using the computing device to perform at least one of storing the video data, transmitting the video data to a remote computing device, storing GPS location data, and transmitting GPS location data to a remote computing device.