Drive Recorder Ring Buffer for Extended Event Capture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional drive recorders are inadequate in recording the state of a target vehicle or pedestrian after an event, as they typically only prohibit overwriting of moving image data for a minute including the event occurrence time, which is insufficient to capture the entire image or situation, leading to incomplete information for identifying the target or assessing damage.
Innovation Solution
The drive recorder extends the recording period to include the time until a predetermined positional relation is satisfied, such as a target vehicle being separated from the camera's view or a pedestrian getting up, by using a ring buffer and non-volatile buffer configuration to prevent overwriting of moving image files, ensuring the capture of the entire image and additional context.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If the recording period is extended to capture the entire target image and accident scene, then the information completeness is improved, but the memory storage capacity is consumed faster
Solution Approach 1:
The memory buffer is segmented into multiple storage areas: a first storage area for normal moving image data and a second storage area for still image data. This segmentation allows the system to store different types of data in optimized ways, preserving complete information while managing memory capacity effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The system preliminarily stores a plurality of still images in the memory buffer before an accident occurs. When an accident is detected, these pre-stored images are immediately protected from overwriting, ensuring complete capture of the target and scene without needing to extend the recording period dynamically.
2Reliability
If the recording period is extended to include time after the event, then the utility value of recorded images is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The memory buffer serves multiple functions: it stores normal moving image data during regular operation, stores pre-accident still images, and protects post-accident images from overwriting. This multi-functionality allows the system to extend recording utility without adding separate dedicated storage systems, thereby managing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the protection status of memory buffer areas based on accident detection. Before an accident, the system stores images normally; upon detecting an accident, it immediately protects relevant storage areas from overwriting. This dynamic approach enables extended recording utility while maintaining simple control logic.
Data Source
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Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
An image recording apparatus including: an image-data acquiring unit that sequentially acquires image data obtained by imaging a periphery of a vehicle, an event-signal acquiring unit that acquires an event signal indicating detection of occurrence of a predetermined event to the vehicle, a condition detecting unit that detects, when the event-signal acquiring unit acquires the event signal, whether a positional relation of a target with the vehicle satisfies a predetermined condition, and a writing controller that writes, when the event-signal acquiring unit does not acquire the event signal, the image data in a memory in a ring buffer format, or writes, when the event-signal acquiring unit acquires the event signal, the image data including a period from when the event signal has been acquired until the condition detecting unit has detected that the condition is satisfied in the memory so that the image data is not overwritten.