“Method For Collecting And Managing Event Data Of A Vehicle” in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20200220737)

2020 JUL 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Information Technology Business Daily -- A patent application by the inventors Ryu, Jung Hei (Hwaseong-si, South Korea); Park, Seung Wook (Yongin-si, South Korea); Lim, Wha Pyeong (Seongnam-si, South Korea), filed on January 9, 2020, was made available online on July 9, 2020, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx correspondents.

This patent application is assigned to Kia Motors Corporation (Seoul, South Korea).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

“In general, an event data recorder (EDR) is configured to detect an accident or the like and store information about a driving state of a vehicle or an operation by a driver within a predetermined period from a time before the corresponding time to a time after the corresponding time. At least several parameters, including speed, seat belt status and airbag inflation status, are stored such that they may be retrieved in a forensic investigation.

“The forensic investigation is generally performed by reading data through an OBD-II port or by physically extracting the data memory of the EDR. The data in the EDR may be damaged or altered due to incorrect reading techniques, or may be maliciously manipulated or deleted after being stored. Accordingly, it may be difficult to perfectly ensure integrity of the stored data.

“In investigating the situation surrounding a traffic event (e.g., a traffic accident), investigators from government agencies or private organizations, such as insurance companies and car manufacturers, identify and track specific data sources (e.g., vehicles involved in an accident), and then independently collect the information they need from each data source to identify the causes of the accident, defects, exacerbations, and mitigations. Such information may include data in the EDR. Unfortunately, collecting information in this manner may take lots of time and effort. Moreover, some data sources may be unidentified, may be no longer available at the time they are identified, or may have already been deleted. Therefore, there is a need for a system and related method for collecting and storing data that is in an EDR of a vehicle so as to automatically identify a data source having data relating to a traffic event and acquire such data in a timely manner.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “A cloud storage or remote server may be a secure space that may prevent unauthorized access and prevent data corruption. That is, in order to maintain the integrity of the EDR data, it may be considered to store the EDR data in a reliable cloud storage. However, to store EDR data in the cloud storage, measures to protect the privacy of individuals needs to be considered as well. In this context, the present disclosure proposes a cloud-based EDR data management system that may protect the privacy of individuals.

“Embodiments relate to a method and system for collecting and managing event data of a vehicle or multiple vehicles. Embodiments can relate to a method and system for managing EDR data in a cloud-based manner.

“In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a method for collecting and managing event data of a vehicle is performed by one or more computing systems. The method includes acquiring event data recorded by an event data recorder equipped in a vehicle and a first certificate assigned to the vehicle, associating the event data with the first certificate and storing the event data in a first database, acquiring the first certificate and a second certificate assigned to the vehicle, and associating the first certificate with the second certificate and storing the first certificate in a second database.

“Embodiments of the method may further include one or more of the following features.

“In some embodiments, the first certificate may be one of a plurality of short-term certificates assigned to the vehicle, and the second certificate may be a long-term certificate assigned to the vehicle. Unlike the long-term certificate, the short term certificates do not contain information that may be easily associated with the vehicle (or an owner thereof).

“In some embodiments, the method may further include verifying validity of the first certificate before storing the event data in the first database.

“In some embodiments, the method may further include verifying validity of the second certificate before storing the first certificate in the second database.

“In some embodiments, the acquiring of the event data may include receiving a first message from the vehicle, the first message containing a geographical location of the event, the event data, and the first certificate. The first message may further contain an electronic signature generated using a private key related to the first certificate for the event data and the geographical location.

“In some embodiments, the first database and the second database may be managed by different service providers.

“In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for collecting and managing event data of a vehicle is performed by one or more computing systems. The method includes acquiring event data recorded by an event data recorder equipped in a vehicle, and a first certificate and a second certificate assigned to the vehicle, associating the event data with the first certificate and storing the event data in a first database, and associating the first certificate with the second certificate and storing the first certificate in a second database.

“In accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure, a system can be used for collecting and managing event data of a vehicle. The system includes a first database, a first database server configured to manage the first database, a second database, and a second database server configured to manage the second database. The first database server is configured to receive event data recorded by an event data recorder equipped in a vehicle and a first certificate assigned to the vehicle and associate the event data with the first certificate and store the event data in a first database. The second database server is configured to receive the first certificate and a second certificate assigned to the vehicle and to associate the first certificate with the second certificate and store the first certificate in the second database.

“Embodiments of the system may further include one or more of the following features.

“In some embodiments, the first certificate may be one of a plurality of short-term certificates assigned to the vehicle, and the second certificate may be a long-term certificate assigned to the vehicle.

“In some embodiments, the first database server may be configured to verify validity of the first certificate before storing the event data in the first database.

“In some embodiments, the second database server may be configured to verify validity of the second certificate before storing the first certificate in the second database.

“In some embodiments, the first database server may be configured to receive a first message from the vehicle, the first message containing the first certificate, the event data, and a geographical location of the event. The message may further contain an electronic signature generated using a private key related to the short-term certificate for the event data and the geographical location.

“In some embodiments, the first database and the second database may be managed by different service providers.

“In some embodiments, the system may further include a data acquisition server communicatively coupled to the first database server and the second database server. The data acquisition server may be configured to acquire the event data, the short-term certificate, and the long-term certificate from the vehicle and distribute the event data, the short-term certificate, and the long-term certificate to the first database server and the second database server.

“According to the proposed method and system, data (e.g., EDR data) about an event of interest may be easily obtained in a timely manner by searching a database on a network where event data is stored. In addition, the event data stored in a storage on a reliable network may be useful for forensic investigations where the integrity of event data is required.

“Further, according to the proposed method and system, collected event data is stored in a database in association with a short-term certificate (or an identifier extracted therefrom). The short-term certificate does not contain information that may be easily associated with a vehicle (or its owner), and therefore use of a short-term certificate anonymizes the event data in the database. However, the pseudonym certificate is managed in a separate database in association with a long-term certificate that may identify a relevant vehicle such that an authorized person may selectively acquire event data generated by a specific vehicle. No database stores event data and information for identifying the vehicle associated therewith. Thus, protection of privacy may be further enhanced.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for collecting and managing event data of a vehicle, performed by one or more computing systems, the method comprising: acquiring event data recorded by an event data recorder equipped in a vehicle and a first certificate assigned to the vehicle; associating the event data with the first certificate; storing the event data in a first database; acquiring the first certificate and a second certificate assigned to the vehicle; associating the first certificate with the second certificate; and storing the first certificate in a second database.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first certificate is one of a plurality of short-term certificates assigned to the vehicle, and wherein the second certificate is a long-term certificate assigned to the vehicle.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein the event data is stored in the first database in association with a pseudonym extracted from the first certificate.

“4. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying validity of the first certificate before storing the event data in the first database.

“5. The method of claim 1, further comprising verifying validity of the second certificate before storing the first certificate in the second database.

“6. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring the event data comprises receiving a first message from the vehicle, the first message containing a geographical location of the event, the first certificate, and the event data.

“7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first message further contains an electronic signature generated using a private key related to the first certificate for the event data and the geographical location.

“8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first database and the second database are managed by different service providers.

“9. A method for collecting and managing event data of a vehicle, performed by one or more computing systems, the method comprising: acquiring event data recorded by an event data recorder equipped in a vehicle as well as a first certificate and a second certificate assigned to the vehicle; associating the event data with the first certificate; storing the event data in a first database; associating the first certificate with the second certificate; and storing the first certificate in a second database.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first certificate is one of a plurality of short-term certificates assigned to the vehicle, and wherein the second certificate is a long-term certificate assigned to the vehicle.

“11. The method of claim 9, further comprising verifying validity of the first certificate before storing the event data in the first database and verifying validity of the second certificate before storing the first certificate in the second database.

“12. The method of claim 9, wherein acquiring the event data comprises receiving a first message from the vehicle, the first message containing a geographical location of the event, the first certificate, and the event data.

“13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first message further contains an electronic signature generated using a private key related to the first certificate for the event data and the geographical location.

“14. A system for collecting and managing event data of a vehicle, a first database; a first database server configured to manage the first database; a second database; and a second database server configured to manage the second database; wherein the first database server is configured to receive event data recorded by an event data recorder equipped in a vehicle and a first certificate assigned to the vehicle, to associate the event data with the first certificate and to store the event data in a first database; and wherein the second database server is configured to receive the first certificate and a second certificate assigned to the vehicle, to associate the first certificate with the second certificate, and to store the first certificate in the second database.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first certificate is one of a plurality of short-term certificates assigned to the vehicle, and wherein the second certificate is a long-term certificate assigned to the vehicle.

“16. The system of claim 14, wherein the first database server is configured to verify validity of the first certificate before storing the event data in the first database.

“17. The system of claim 14, wherein the second database server is configured to verify validity of the second certificate before storing the first certificate in the second database.

“18. The system of claim 14, wherein the first database server is configured to receive a first message from the vehicle, the first message containing the first certificate, the event data, and a geographical location of the event.

“19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first message further contains an electronic signature generated using a private key related to the first certificate for the event data and the geographical location.

“20. The system of claim 14, wherein the first database and the second database comprise databases managed by different service providers.

“21. The system of claim 14, further comprising a data acquisition server communicatively coupled to the first database server and the second database server, wherein the data acquisition server is configured to: acquire the event data, the short-term certificate, and the long-term certificate from the vehicle; transmit the event data and the short-term certificate to the first database server; and transmit the short-term certificate and the long-term certificate to the second database server.”

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Ryu, Jung Hei; Park, Seung Wook; Lim, Wha Pyeong. Method For Collecting And Managing Event Data Of A Vehicle. Filed January 9, 2020 and posted July 9, 2020. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220200220737%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20200220737&RS=DN/20200220737

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