Vehicle-mounted device

Abstract

To back up data with high reliability and at a low cost in a case where a loss risk of the data is high.SOLUTION: An information recording device according to an embodiment is an information recording device to be mounted on a vehicle, including a sensor unit, a storage unit, and a control unit. The control unit calculates a loss risk of data to be recorded in the storage unit based on a surrounding situation indicated by sensor data of the sensor unit, and in a case where the loss risk satisfies a determination condition indicating that the loss risk is high, operates in a redundant mode of saving the data to another device.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The disclosed embodiments include: In-vehicle outfit Place Regarding. [Background technology]

[0002] A drive recorder is a type of in-vehicle information recording device that is required to reliably record video data of the vehicle and its surroundings, particularly video data of accidents and incidents.

[0003] However, when a vehicle is damaged in an accident or other incident, the internal storage area of ​​the drive recorder or removable external storage areas such as SD memory cards can be physically damaged, making it impossible to retrieve the recorded video data.

[0004] To prepare for such a case, a drive recorder has been proposed that can constantly transmit video data to a data center via a communication network (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2019-032725 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] However, the above-mentioned conventional techniques have room for further improvement in terms of backing up data with high reliability and at low cost, especially when there is a high risk of data loss.

[0007] First, when using the above-mentioned conventional technology, there is a risk that the costs for communication expenses and maintenance and management of data center storage areas will become enormous. Also, it is desirable to back up drive recorder data with high reliability especially when there is a high risk of not being able to retrieve the data from the drive recorder, i.e., when there is a high risk of data loss.

[0008] One aspect of the embodiment has been made in consideration of the above, and aims to provide an information recording device, an information recording system, and an information recording method that can back up data with high reliability and at low cost, especially when there is a high risk of data loss. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] An in-vehicle device according to one aspect of an embodiment includes: It is mounted on a vehicle, The device includes a storage unit and a control unit. The aforementioned The control unit stores image information from a camera mounted on the vehicle and sensor information from a sensor provided on the vehicle as recorded data, and when the situation indicated by the image information and the sensor information matches a predetermined determination criterion, the control unit stores the recorded data. mounted on the vehicle Provided to other in-vehicle devices. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to one aspect of the embodiment, data can be backed up with high reliability and at low cost especially when there is a high risk of data loss. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an information recording method according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information recording system according to the embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the ECU information. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a determination condition when the risk of loss is high. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of the first selection example. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the second selection example. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of the third selection example. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure executed by the drive recorder according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Hereinafter, embodiments of an information recording apparatus, an information recording system, and an information recording method disclosed in the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described below.

[0013] First, an overview of the information recording method according to the embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating the overview of the information recording method according to the embodiment.

[0014] As shown in FIG. 1, the information recording system 1 according to the embodiment includes a drive recorder 10, one or more ECUs (Electronic Control Units) 50, and a center server 100.

[0015] The drive recorder 10 and the ECU 50 are communicably connected via an in-vehicle network VN such as a CAN (Controller Area Network). The drive recorder 10 and at least one ECU 50 are communicably connected via a dedicated line LL. The dedicated line LL is a serial line or a USB (Universal Serial Bus) line. The drive recorder 10 and the center server 100 are communicable via wireless communication via a mobile phone network or the like.

[0016] The drive recorder 10 also has a sensor unit 5 that includes various sensors including a camera 5a. The drive recorder 10 records, in a memory unit 14, video information captured by the camera 5a and vehicle information indicated by sensor data from sensors other than the camera 5a included in the sensor unit 5. The memory unit 14 includes an internal storage area of ​​the drive recorder 10 itself and a removable external storage area such as an SD memory card.

[0017] 1, the drive recorder 10 has a normal mode and a redundant mode. The drive recorder 10 is configured to be able to calculate a loss risk, which indicates the risk of losing data recorded by the drive recorder 10 due to damage to the drive recorder 10, based on the surrounding conditions indicated by various sensor data from the sensor unit 5.

[0018] If it is determined that the risk of such loss is low, the drive recorder 10 operates in the normal mode. In the normal mode, the drive recorder 10 records the video information and the vehicle information only in the storage unit 14 of the drive recorder 10.

[0019] On the other hand, if it is determined that the risk of loss is high, the drive recorder 10 transitions to the redundancy mode. In the redundancy mode, the drive recorder 10 records the video information and vehicle information in the storage unit 14 of the drive recorder 10, and also saves the same data to the ECU 50 via the dedicated line LL or the in-vehicle network VN (see arrows a1 and a2 in the figure).

[0020] At this time, the drive recorder 10 saves the data in the storage unit 54 of the ECU 50. The storage unit 54 has a dedicated area for the ECU 50 and a shared area that can be shared with the drive recorder 10 in redundancy mode, and the drive recorder 10 saves the data in this shared area. Note that if there is no free area in the shared area, the oldest data is overwritten.

[0021] At the same time, the drive recorder 10 also saves the same data to the center server 100 via a mobile phone network or the like (see arrow a3 in the figure).

[0022] Examples of cases where the risk of loss is high include when a strong G-value is detected by the acceleration sensor included in the sensor unit 5, or when the location information indicates that the vehicle has passed through a high-accident location. These are situations where an accident due to a collision, rollover, etc. is expected. Other examples of conditions for determining when the risk of loss is high will be described later with reference to FIG. 4.

[0023] In this way, when the risk of loss is high, the drive recorder 10 automatically switches to a redundancy mode in which data is saved to a nearby ECU 50, thereby preventing the loss of recorded data in the event of damage to the drive recorder 10. Furthermore, by uploading recorded data to the center server 100 via the communication network only when the drive recorder switches to the redundancy mode, the amount of communication data does not need to be increased more than necessary, which contributes to reducing communication costs.

[0024] Moreover, the information recording process corresponding to the information recording method according to the embodiment is executed by a control unit 15 (see FIG. 2) included in the drive recorder 10. Details of the information recording process executed by the control unit 15 will be described later with reference to FIG. 2 and subsequent figures.

[0025] As described above, in the information recording method according to the embodiment, the control unit 15 of the drive recorder 10 calculates the risk of loss of data to be recorded in the memory unit 14 based on the surrounding conditions indicated by the sensor data of the sensor unit 5, and if the risk of loss satisfies a judgment condition indicating that the risk of loss is high, the drive recorder operates in a redundant mode in which the data is evacuated to another device.

[0026] Therefore, according to the information recording method of the embodiment, it is possible to back up data with high reliability and at low cost especially when there is a high risk of data loss. Below, a more specific description will be given of an example configuration of the information recording system 1 to which the information recording method according to the embodiment described above is applied.

[0027] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an information recording system 1 according to an embodiment. Note that Fig. 2 shows only components necessary for explaining the features of this embodiment, and omits descriptions of general components.

[0028] In other words, the components shown in Figure 2 are conceptual functional components and do not necessarily have to be physically configured as shown. For example, the specific form of distribution and integration of each block is not limited to that shown in the figure, and all or part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit depending on various loads, usage conditions, etc.

[0029] In addition, in the description using FIG. 2, the description of components that have already been described may be simplified or omitted.

[0030] 2, the information recording system 1 according to the embodiment includes a drive recorder 10, one or more ECUs 50, and a center server 100. The drive recorder 10 includes a sensor unit 5, a dedicated communication unit 11, an in-vehicle communication unit 12, an out-vehicle communication unit 13, a storage unit 14, and a control unit 15.

[0031] The sensor unit 5 includes a camera 5a, an acceleration sensor 5b, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor 5c. The sensor unit 5 may be integrated with the drive recorder .

[0032] The dedicated communication unit 11 is a connection interface for the dedicated line LL. The dedicated communication unit 11 is connected to at least one ECU 50 via the dedicated line LL, and transmits and receives information to and from the connected ECU 50.

[0033] The in-vehicle communication unit 12 is realized by a network adapter or the like. The in-vehicle communication unit 12 is connected to the above-mentioned in-vehicle network VN by wire, and transmits and receives information to and from each ECU 50. Note that the in-vehicle communication unit 12 may transmit and receive information to and from each ECU 50 by wireless communication using Wi-Fi (registered trademark), Bluetooth (registered trademark), UWB (Ultra Wide Band), or the like.

[0034] The vehicle exterior communication unit 13 is realized by a network adapter, etc. The vehicle exterior communication unit 13 is wirelessly connected to the network N, which is the above-mentioned mobile phone network, etc., and transmits and receives information to and from the center server 100.

[0035] The storage unit 14 is realized by an internal storage device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), a flash memory, or a disk drive, or an external storage device such as an SD memory card, etc. In the example of Fig. 2, the storage unit 14 stores ECU information 14a and recording information 14b.

[0036] The ECU information 14a is information relating to peripheral ECUs 50 that are candidates for data evacuation destinations in the redundancy mode. Fig. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the ECU information 14a. As shown in Fig. 3, the ECU information 14a includes a record for each peripheral ECU 50 that is a candidate for data evacuation destinations.

[0037] Each record defines the overwrite priority, ECU name, domain, address, etc. of each ECU 50. The overwrite priority indicates the priority of overwrite possible as a data save destination as seen from the drive recorder 10. In the example of Fig. 3, the smaller the overwrite priority number, the higher the overwrite possible priority.

[0038] The ECU name is identification information for each ECU 50. Here, for convenience of explanation, it is referred to as a name. The belonging domain refers to the domain to which the ECU belongs in the in-vehicle network VN. As shown in the figure, it is assumed that domain A is the same domain as the drive recorder 10.

[0039] 3, the multimedia ECU is closer to the drive recorder 10 in terms of networking than the backup ECU. The address is address information of each ECU 50 in the in-vehicle network VN. The domain to which the ECU belongs may be included in the address.

[0040] Returning to the explanation of Fig. 2, the recorded information 14b is information including a recorded data group in which vehicle information indicated by sensor data from various sensors other than the camera 5a is recorded in synchronization with the video information captured by the camera 5a.

[0041] The control unit 15 is a controller, and is realized by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or the like executing various programs (not shown) stored in the storage unit 14 using RAM as a work area. The control unit 15 can also be realized by an integrated circuit such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array).

[0042] The control unit 15 has an acquisition unit 15a, a calculation unit 15b, a determination unit 15c, an operation mode switching unit 15d, a recording unit 15e, and a transmission unit 15f, and realizes or executes the functions and actions of information processing described below.

[0043] The acquisition unit 15a acquires various types of sensor data, including video information and vehicle information, from the sensor unit 5. The acquisition unit 15a also acquires information transmitted from the ECU 50 via the dedicated communication unit 11 or the in-vehicle communication unit 12. The acquisition unit 15a also acquires information transmitted from the center server 100 via the out-vehicle communication unit 13.

[0044] The calculation unit 15b calculates the above-mentioned risk of loss based on the sensor data acquired by the acquisition unit 15a from the sensor unit 5. The determination unit 15c determines whether the risk of loss calculated by the calculation unit 15b is high or not.

[0045] 4 is a diagram showing examples of determination conditions when the loss risk is high. The determination unit 15c determines that the loss risk is high when various determination conditions shown as examples in FIG.

[0046] Since the example of the determination condition No. 1 in Fig. 4 has already been described, we will start with No. 2 here. The example of the determination condition No. 2 is when ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) activation information, airbag deployment information, pre-crash safety, or other safety driving support system activation information is received. This is a situation in which an accident due to a collision, rollover, etc. is expected.

[0047] An example of a judgment condition for No. 3 is when image recognition is used to detect a traffic light, stop sign, or one-way sign from the acquired video information and judges it to be a traffic violation. This is an assumed situation where image recognition is used to detect a traffic light, stop sign, or one-way sign from the acquired video information and judges it to be a traffic violation.

[0048] An example of the condition for No. 4 is when the write limit for the internal storage area or external storage area is exceeded. This is a situation where memory corruption is expected.

[0049] An example of the judgment condition No. 5 is when vehicle horn activation information is received. This is a situation where an accident is expected due to sudden braking or sudden steering caused by a vehicle or person suddenly jumping out.

[0050] An example of the judgment condition No. 6 is when a car security alert is received. This is a situation where the vehicle or items inside the vehicle are likely to be stolen or vandalized by a suspicious person.

[0051] An example of the judgment condition No. 7 is when a wearable device or other device receives a signal that the driver is in a dangerous state. This is a situation in which the driver is likely to be dozing off, looking away, or experiencing abnormalities in their vital signs.

[0052] An example of a judgment condition for No. 8 is when the driver detects the pressing of the emergency call switch when he is harmed by a passenger or other person. From the outside, for example, in the case of a taxi, this is observed as the blinking of the company name display light (a so-called "lantern"). This is a situation that can be assumed when a taxi or bus is hijacked. Note that Figure 4 is merely an example and does not limit the judgment conditions for determining that the risk of loss is high.

[0053] Furthermore, to summarize each example in Figure 4, it can be said that the calculation unit 15b calculates the loss risk based on at least one of vehicle information regarding the vehicle behavior, video information capturing images of the inside and outside of the vehicle, and personal information regarding the vehicle occupants, which are included in the sensor data.

[0054] It can also be said that the calculation unit 15b calculates the loss risk regarding the accident (see Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5 in the figure).

[0055] It can also be said that the calculation unit 15b calculates the risk of loss regarding damage to the storage unit 14 (see No. 4 in the figure).

[0056] It can also be said that the calculation unit 15b calculates the risk of loss related to human causes including destruction or theft (see Nos. 6 and 8 in the figure).

[0057] It can also be said that the calculation unit 15b calculates the risk of loss related to an abnormality in the vital signs of the occupant (see No. 7 in the drawing).

[0058] Returning to the description of Fig. 2, when the determining unit 15c determines that the loss risk is high, the operation mode switching unit 15d switches the operation mode of the drive recorder 10 to the redundancy mode. When the determining unit 15c determines that the loss risk is low, the operation mode switching unit 15d switches the operation mode of the drive recorder 10 to the normal mode.

[0059] The determination unit 15c determines the risk of loss every time the acquisition unit 15a acquires new video information and vehicle information, and the operation mode switching unit 15d switches the operation mode as needed depending on the determination result of the determination unit 15c.

[0060] The recording unit 15e generates recording data by synchronizing the vehicle information with the video information captured by the camera 5a, and records the generated recording data in the recording information 14b. When the drive recorder 10 transitions to the redundancy mode, the transmission unit 15f transmits the recording data generated by the recording unit 15e to the ECU 50, which is the destination for saving the data, based on the ECU information 14a. At the same time, the transmission unit 15f transmits the same recording data to the center server 100.

[0061] Next, examples of selecting an ECU 50 as a data save destination and its save area when the drive recorder 10 transitions to redundancy mode will be described with reference to Figs. 5 to 7. Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a first selection example. Fig. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a second selection example. Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a third selection example.

[0062] As a premise for the explanation using FIGS. 5 to 7, it is assumed that the ECUs 50 that are candidates for the save destination are the multimedia ECU 50-1 and the airbag ECU 50-2, in accordance with the example of the ECU information 14a shown in FIG.

[0063] The multimedia ECU 50-1 is connected to an in-vehicle network VN-A that belongs to the same domain as the drive recorder 10. The multimedia ECU 50-1 is also connected to the drive recorder 10 via a dedicated line LL.

[0064] The airbag ECU 50-2 is connected to an in-vehicle network VN-B, which belongs to a different domain from the drive recorder 10. As shown in Fig. 3, the above-mentioned overwrite priority of the multimedia ECU 50-1 is higher than that of the airbag ECU 50-2. In the following, when there is no need to distinguish between the in-vehicle networks VN-A and VN-B, they will be collectively referred to as the in-vehicle network VN.

[0065] Based on the above, in the first selection example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the control unit 15 of the drive recorder 10 transitions to the redundancy mode (step S11), it notifies the multimedia ECU 50-1 and the airbag ECU 50-2 of the mode transition via the in-vehicle network VN (step S12).

[0066] Then, the control unit 15 overwrites and saves the data to be saved in the ECU 50 with the highest overwrite priority (here, the multimedia ECU 50-1) without waiting for a response from each ECU 50 (step S13).

[0067] That is, even if there is no free space in the shared area of ​​the multimedia ECU 50-1 and there is free space in the airbag ECU 50-2 as shown in Fig. 5, the control unit 15 forcibly overwrites and saves the data in the shared area of ​​the multimedia ECU 50-1 (see part M1 in the figure). Such a first selection example is effective when speed is given top priority in an emergency, etc.

[0068] At this time, the control unit 15 overwrites and saves the data to be saved in the shared area of ​​the multimedia ECU 50-1 via the dedicated line LL, thereby avoiding data collisions in an emergency and improving robustness.

[0069] Also, as shown in FIG. 6, in the second selection example, when the control unit 15 of the drive recorder 10 transitions to the redundancy mode (step S21), it notifies the multimedia ECU 50-1 and the airbag ECU 50-2 of the mode transition via the in-vehicle network VN (step S22).

[0070] In response to the notification, the multimedia ECU 50-1 and the airbag ECU 50-2 return the free space in the shared area of ​​their respective storage units 54 to the drive recorder 10 via the in-vehicle network VN (step S23).

[0071] Then, the control unit 15 saves the data to the ECU 50 (here, the airbag ECU 50-2) with the largest free space (see part M2 in the drawing) (step S24). Such a second selection example is effective when it is desired to efficiently use the entire logical shared space shared by the ECUs 50 as viewed from the drive recorder 10.

[0072] 6, if there is no free space in the shared area of ​​the airbag ECU 50-2, data can be overwritten and saved starting from the shared area of ​​the ECU 50 with the highest overwrite priority. A similar example to this is the third selection example.

[0073] As shown in FIG. 7, in the third selection example, when the control unit 15 of the drive recorder 10 transitions to the redundancy mode (step S31), it notifies the multimedia ECU 50-1 and the airbag ECU 50-2 of the mode transition via the in-vehicle network VN (step S32).

[0074] In response to the notification, the multimedia ECU 50-1 and the airbag ECU 50-2 return the free space in the shared area of ​​their respective storage units 54 to the drive recorder 10 via the in-vehicle network VN (step S33).

[0075] If there is no free space in any of the ECUs 50 (see M3 in the figure), the control unit 15 overwrites and saves the data to be saved in the ECU 50 with the highest overwrite priority (here, the multimedia ECU 50-1) (step S34). This third selection example is effective when you want to reliably save data even if there is no free space in the entire logical shared area through each ECU 50 as seen from the drive recorder 10.

[0076] Next, the processing procedure executed by the drive recorder 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 8. Fig. 8 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure executed by the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment.

[0077] 8, the acquisition unit 15a of the control unit 15 acquires the video information and the vehicle information from the sensor unit 5 (step S101). Then, the calculation unit 15b of the control unit 15 calculates the loss risk based on the video information and the vehicle information acquired by the acquisition unit 15a (step S102).

[0078] Then, the determination unit 15c of the control unit 15 determines whether the loss risk calculated by the calculation unit 15b is high (step S103). If the loss risk is high (step S103, Yes), the operation mode switching unit 15d of the control unit 15 operates the drive recorder 10 in the redundancy mode (step S104).

[0079] On the other hand, if the risk of loss is low (No at step S103), the operation mode switching unit 15d operates the drive recorder 10 in the normal mode (step S105).

[0080] Then, the control unit 15 determines whether or not there is an end event (step S106). An end event is when the power to the drive recorder 10 is turned off. Such a power-off event includes not only when the power to the vehicle is turned off as usual, but also when the power supply from all power sources, including backup power sources, is completely cut off due to an accident or the like. Conversely, if the power supply is not completely cut off, there is no end event.

[0081] If there is no end event (step S106, No), the control unit 15 repeats the process from step S101. If there is an end event (step S106, Yes), the control unit 15 ends the process.

[0082] As described above, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment is an information recording device mounted on a vehicle, and includes a sensor unit 5, a storage unit 14, and a control unit 15. The control unit 15 calculates the risk of loss of data to be recorded in the storage unit 14 based on the surrounding conditions indicated by the sensor data of the sensor unit 5, and operates in a redundancy mode in which the data is saved to another device when the risk of loss satisfies a determination condition indicating that the risk of loss is high.

[0083] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment can back up data with high reliability and at low cost especially when there is a high risk of data loss.

[0084] Furthermore, the control unit 15 calculates the risk of loss based on at least one of vehicle information relating to the behavior of the vehicle, video information capturing images of the inside and outside of the vehicle, and personal information relating to the vehicle occupants, which are included in the sensor data.

[0085] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment can calculate the risk of loss based on at least one of vehicle information, video information, and personal information, and perform backup in accordance with the risk of loss.

[0086] Furthermore, the control unit 15 calculates the risk of loss in relation to an accident.

[0087] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment can perform backup corresponding to the risk of loss in a situation that may occur due to a vehicle accident.

[0088] Furthermore, the control unit 15 calculates the risk of loss in relation to damage to the storage unit 14 .

[0089] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment can perform backup to deal with the risk of loss in a situation that may arise from damage to the storage unit 14.

[0090] The control unit 15 also calculates the risk of loss due to human causes, including vandalism or theft.

[0091] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment can perform backups that address the risk of loss in situations that may arise from human causes, including destruction or theft.

[0092] Furthermore, the control unit 15 calculates the risk of loss related to an abnormality in the vital signs of the occupant.

[0093] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment can perform backup corresponding to the risk of loss in a situation that is expected from an abnormality in the vital signs of an occupant.

[0094] In addition, the other devices are an ECU 50 other than the drive recorder 10 (corresponding to an example of an "other vehicle device") that is configured to be able to communicate with the drive recorder 10, and a center server 100 (corresponding to an example of a "server device") that is configured to be able to communicate wirelessly with the drive recorder 10.

[0095] Therefore, according to the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment, when the drive recorder 10 is switched to the redundancy mode, it is possible to perform backup using the ECU 50 and the center server 100 as the save destination.

[0096] Furthermore, the control unit 15 selects the ECU 50 to be the destination for saving data in accordance with a predetermined overwrite priority in the redundancy mode.

[0097] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment can select the most suitable ECU 50 based on the overwrite priority according to the domain to which the ECU belongs.

[0098] At least one of the ECUs 50 is provided so as to be able to communicate with the drive recorder 10 via a dedicated line LL.

[0099] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment makes it possible to avoid data collisions in an emergency and perform backup with improved robustness.

[0100] Furthermore, when the control unit 15 shifts to the redundancy mode, the control unit 15 forcibly causes the ECU 50 with the high overwrite priority to save the data via the dedicated line LL.

[0101] Therefore, the drive recorder 10 according to the embodiment can perform an effective backup when speed is the top priority in an emergency or the like.

[0102] Moreover, the information recording system 1 according to the embodiment includes a drive recorder 10 mounted on a vehicle, an ECU 50 (corresponding to an example of an "other vehicle-mounted device") other than the drive recorder 10, and a center server 100 (corresponding to an example of a "server device"). The ECU 50 is provided to be able to communicate with the drive recorder 10. The center server 100 is provided to be able to communicate wirelessly with the drive recorder 10. The drive recorder 10 includes a sensor unit 5, a storage unit 14, and a control unit 15. The control unit 15 calculates a risk of loss of data to be recorded in the storage unit 14 based on the surrounding conditions indicated by sensor data from the sensor unit 5, and operates in a redundancy mode in which the control unit 15 saves the data to the ECU 50 and the center server 100 when the risk of loss satisfies a determination condition indicating that the risk of loss is high.

[0103] Therefore, the information recording system 1 according to the embodiment can back up data with high reliability and at low cost, especially when the risk of data loss is high.

[0104] In addition, the information recording method of the embodiment is an information recording method executed by a drive recorder 10 mounted on a vehicle and having a sensor unit 5 and a memory unit 14, and includes calculating the risk of loss of data recorded in the memory unit 14 based on the surrounding conditions indicated by the sensor data of the sensor unit 5, and operating in a redundancy mode in which the data is evacuated to another device when the risk of loss satisfies a judgment condition indicating that the risk of loss is high.

[0105] Therefore, according to the information recording method of the embodiment, it is possible to back up data with high reliability and at low cost especially when there is a high risk of data loss.

[0106] Further advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described above. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0107] 1. Information Recording System 5 Sensor section 5a Camera 5b Acceleration sensor 10 Drive Recorder 11 Dedicated communication unit 12 In-vehicle communication unit 13 External communication unit 14 Storage section 14a ECU information 14b Record Information 15 Control Unit 15a Acquisition part 15b Calculation part 15c Judgment section 15d Operation mode switching section 15e Recording section 15f Transmitter 50 ECU 50-1 Multimedia ECU 50-2 Airbag ECU 54 Storage section 100 Center Server LL Dedicated Line

Claims

1. An in-vehicle device mounted on a vehicle and having a memory unit and a control unit, the storage unit stores image information from a camera mounted on the vehicle and sensor information from a sensor provided on the vehicle as recorded data; the control unit provides the recorded data to another in-vehicle device mounted on the vehicle when the situation indicated by the video information and the sensor information matches a predetermined determination criterion. In-vehicle device.

2. The control unit If an accident occurs, or a human act including damage, destruction, or theft of the storage unit is detected, or an abnormality in the vital signs of an occupant of the vehicle is detected from the video information and the sensor information, the recorded data is provided to the other in-vehicle device. The in-vehicle device according to claim 1 .

3. The control unit providing the recorded data to an in-vehicle device having a high predetermined priority from among the plurality of other in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle; The in-vehicle device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. The control unit selecting an in-vehicle device having the largest free space in a storage unit from among the plurality of other in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle; providing the recorded data to the selected in-vehicle device; The in-vehicle device according to claim 1 or 2.

5. The control unit If the free space in the storage unit of the other in-vehicle device is less than the capacity of the recorded data, the recorded data is overwritten and saved in an in-vehicle device having a preset high priority among the plurality of other in-vehicle devices mounted on the vehicle. The in-vehicle device according to claim 1 or 2.

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