JP2001126094A - Vehicle operation information collection device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] Operation information of contents useful for analyzing the driving attitude of a vehicle crew and the cause of an accident caused by a vehicle is provided.
To provide a vehicle operation information collection device that can be collected without upsizing. A vehicle operation information collection device that is mounted on a vehicle and collects operation information indicating a running state of the vehicle that changes every moment in a storage medium A in the form of digital data. A signal input unit 21 for taking in a traveling system equipment state signal indicating the state of the traveling system equipment of the vehicle operated by the occupant of the vehicle, and a traveling system equipment state signal taken in from the signal input unit 21. Information generating means 15A for generating composite operation information in which the state of the traveling system equipment of the vehicle is associated with the traveling state of the vehicle at the time of capturing the traveling system equipment state signal in the form of digital data as operation information. Features.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a vehicle mounted on a vehicle,
Operation information indicating the running state of the vehicle that changes every moment,
The present invention relates to a vehicle operation information collection device that collects information to be stored in a storage medium in the form of digital data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a commercial vehicle such as a truck, a taxi, a delivery vehicle, or the like, changes the driving condition of a crew during the operation from departure to entry to a change in the traveling state of the vehicle such as the traveling speed of the vehicle and the engine speed. A tachograph for recording the running state of these vehicles as operation information is provided for the purpose of grasping the traveling state.

[0003]

However, since the information recorded by the tachograph is only operation information indicating the running state of the vehicle as described above, for example, the driving attitude of the crew of the vehicle or the accident caused by the vehicle In order to analyze the cause of the occurrence, the information recorded by the tachograph is not sufficient.

In view of this, it is conceivable to record operation information including information other than the running state of the vehicle by a tachograph. A tachograph, which is generally widely used at present, is a disk-shaped chart paper. Since it is an analog type in which the information of the running state is written on the chart paper by the recording needle which reciprocates in the radial direction of the chart paper while rotating with the passage of time, it is difficult to cope with the following points.

That is, in the above-described analog tachograph, regardless of whether the amount or type of information that can be recorded on the chart paper is increased, it is possible to use a larger chart paper than before and increase the number of recording needles. However, major measures must be taken to fundamentally change the structure of the tachograph.

In view of the above circumstances, it is expected that the spread of a digital tachograph (vehicle operation information collection device) that stores operation information in the form of digital data on a storage medium such as an IC memory card will be expected in the future. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to collect operation information useful for analyzing the driving attitude of a crew of a vehicle and the cause of an accident caused by the vehicle without increasing the size. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle operation information collecting device that can perform the operation.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vehicle operation information collecting apparatus according to the present invention.
As shown in the basic configuration diagram of FIG. 1, vehicle operation information collection for collecting operation information that is mounted on a vehicle and indicating a running state of the vehicle that changes every moment in a storage medium A in the form of digital data. In the apparatus, a signal input unit 21 for capturing a traveling system accessory status signal indicating a status of a traveling system accessory of the vehicle operated by an occupant of the vehicle as the vehicle travels, and the signal input unit 21 The combined operation information relating the state of the traveling system equipment of the vehicle indicated by the traveling system equipment state signal captured from the traveling state of the vehicle at the time of capturing the traveling equipment state signal, to the operation information And information generating means 15A for generating digital data.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, wherein the traveling state of the vehicle is compared with a predetermined reference. The vehicle further includes a driving state determining unit 15B that determines whether the traveling state of the vehicle is a safe driving state, and the information generating unit 15A determines that the driving state determining unit 15B determines that the traveling state of the vehicle is not the safe driving state. Only when it is determined that the composite operation information is generated.

Further, according to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the storage medium A is portable. A storage medium for storing the operation information in the portable storage medium.

According to the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention, when the traveling system equipment state signal is taken in from the signal input section 21, it is stored in the form of digital data collected at that time. Complex operation information relating the traveling state of the vehicle indicated by the operation information to be stored in the medium A and the state of the traveling system accessories of the vehicle indicated by the traveling system equipment status signal is stored in the storage medium A. It is generated in the form of digital data by the information generating means 15A as operation information.

Further, according to the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 2, in the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 1, the traveling system accessory state signal is transmitted to the signal input section 21. The running state of the vehicle indicated by the operation information collected at the time when the vehicle is taken in from the vehicle is compared with a predetermined reference by the driving state determining unit 15B, and as a result, when it is determined that the vehicle is in the safe driving state, the information generating unit 15A
Is not generated, and only when it is determined that the vehicle is not in the safe driving state, the combined operation information is used as the operation information to be stored in the storage medium A by the information generating means 15.
A will be generated in the form of digital data.

Further, according to the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 3, in the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention according to claim 1 or 2, the traveling system equipment state signal is signal input. At the time when it is taken in from the unit 21,
The combined operation information generated as the operation information by the information generation means 15A is stored in the portable storage medium A by the information storage means 15C, and at other times, the collected operation information is directly stored in the portable storage medium. A will be stored.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A vehicle operation information collecting apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings together with a medium recording a program used when analyzing vehicle operation information in the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an external type vehicle operation information collecting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is mounted on a vehicle together with an existing analog tachograph or digital tachograph. An external type vehicle operation information collection device (corresponding to a vehicle operation information collection device in the claims, hereinafter, abbreviated as “external collection device”) according to the present embodiment, which is denoted by reference numeral 1, has a back on the front of its housing. It has a liquid crystal display 3 with a light, a display key 5, a function key 7, and a set key 9.

The liquid crystal display 3 includes:
The acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 (described later)
reference. ), The display of an alarm prompting the user to perform safe driving based on the detected value, and the display of various set values such as an internal clock are selectively performed.
The display key 5 is pressed when the display content is switched by the user.

The function key 7 is operated when the set value is changed, for example, when the time of the internal clock is changed, and the set key 9 is pressed when the function key 7 is pressed or when necessary. This operation is performed when the set value changed by the corresponding pressing operation of the display key 5 is determined.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical schematic configuration of the inside of the external collection device 1. In the inside of the external collection device 1, the acceleration in the traveling direction of the vehicle equipped with the external collection device 1 is shown. Acceleration sensor 11 for detecting
And an angular velocity sensor 13 for detecting acceleration in the turning direction of the vehicle, and a one-chip microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as “microcomputer”) for controlling the overall operation of the external collection device 1. Yes.) 15
A non-volatile memory (hereinafter abbreviated as “NVM”) 17 capable of retaining stored contents even when power supply is cut off;
A buzzer 19 for outputting an alarm sound is provided.

The microcomputer 15 includes a CPU 15a, an RA
M15b and a ROM 15c, of which the CPU 15a has a RAM 15b and a ROM 15c.
In addition, the liquid crystal display 3, the display key 5,
Function key 7, set key 9, acceleration sensor 1
1. An external input terminal of 4ch, which is connected to an angular velocity sensor 13, an NVM 17, and an electronic buzzer (hereinafter, abbreviated as "buzzer") 19 and provided on the back surface of the housing of the external collection device 1. 21a to 21d and R
The serial interface terminal 23 of S-232C is connected.

The RAM 15b has a data area for storing various data and a work area used for various processing operations. The ROM 15c stores a control program for causing the CPU 15a to perform various processing operations. .

The NVM 17 (corresponding to the storage medium A) reflects the contents of signals input from the connection destinations of the above-mentioned external input terminals 21b to 21d based on the detection values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13. The auxiliary operation information (corresponding to the composite operation information) generated by the acceleration sensor 1 is appropriately written, and is used as a criterion for determining a safe driving state.
1 and the safety threshold for the detection value of the angular velocity sensor 13 and the storage threshold for the detection value of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 used as a criterion for determining whether or not to store the auxiliary operation information, Pre-written together with the password to be verified.

The external input terminals 21a to 21d are provided with a night light dimming signal of an illumination light which is also input to a combination meter (not shown) of a vehicle equipped with the external collecting device 1, and a left turn blinker and a right turn blinker. When a tachograph mounted on a vehicle together with the external collection device 1 is of a digital type, a signal source indicating a state of wearing a seat belt is connected to the serial interface terminal 23. A digital tachograph is connected as needed.

In the external collection device 1 of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration, the following operations are generally performed by the processing performed by the CPU 15a according to the control program stored in the ROM 15c of the microcomputer 15.

First, when the function key 7 is pressed while the set key 9 is pressed, the mode shifts from the normal mode to the password input mode, and a password input request screen is displayed on the liquid crystal display 3. When the display key 5 or the function key 7 is pressed, the value of the password (numerical value) displayed on the liquid crystal display 3 is incremented or decremented by “1”, and when the set key 9 is pressed, The value displayed on the liquid crystal display 3 is input as a password.

Here, the entered password is NVM1
If it does not match the password pre-written in 7,
The mode is forcibly shifted to the normal mode, the display of the password input request screen of the liquid crystal display 3 is terminated, and when the input password matches the password of the NVM 17, the mode shifts to the set value change mode and is regarded as a safe driving state. The liquid crystal display 3 displays an upper limit allowable value of the detection value of the acceleration sensor 11, that is, a request screen for inputting a safety threshold value relating to rapid acceleration.

In this state, when the safety threshold for the rapid acceleration is determined by pressing the display key 5, the function key 7, and the set key 9 in the same manner as when inputting the password, it is written in the NVM 17 in advance. The safety threshold value relating to the rapid acceleration is changed to the determined value, and then the acceleration sensor 11 is assumed to be in a safe driving state.
Is displayed on the liquid crystal display 3.

When the safety threshold for the sudden braking is determined by pressing the display key 5, the function key 7 and the set key 9 in the same manner as the setting of the safety threshold for the sudden acceleration, it is written in the NVM 17 in advance. The safety threshold value for the sudden braking that has been changed is changed to the determined value, and then the upper limit of the detection value of the angular velocity sensor 13 assumed to be in a safe driving state, that is, the safety value for the sharp turning of the left turn. A threshold value input request screen is displayed on the liquid crystal display 3.

In this state, by pressing the display key 5, the function key 7, and the set key 9 in the same manner as when setting the safety threshold values for the sudden acceleration and the sudden braking, the safety threshold value for the left-hand turning sharp steering wheel is set. Then, the safety threshold (positive value) and a value obtained by adding a minus to this safety threshold are the lower limit of the detection value of the angular velocity sensor 13 which is assumed to be a safe driving state, that is, the right turn. It is automatically determined as a safety threshold for a sharp turn.

Then, the safety threshold value for left and right turns written in advance in the NVM 17 is changed to the determined value, and then the upper limit allowable value of the detection value of the acceleration sensor 11 that stores the auxiliary operation information, that is, Then, a screen for requesting input of a storage threshold value related to sudden acceleration is displayed on the liquid crystal display 3.

In this state, when the storage threshold value relating to the rapid acceleration is determined by pressing the display key 5, the function key 7 and the set key 9 in the same manner as when setting the safety threshold value, the data is written in the NVM 17 in advance. The storage threshold value related to the sudden acceleration is changed to the determined value. Next, the lower limit allowable value of the detection value of the acceleration sensor 11 that stores the auxiliary operation information, that is, the input request screen for the storage threshold value related to the sudden braking is displayed. It is displayed on the liquid crystal display 3.

When the storage threshold value for the sudden braking is determined by pressing the display key 5, function key 7 and set key 9 in the same manner as when setting the storage threshold value for the sudden acceleration, it is written in the NVM 17 in advance. The stored threshold value for the sudden braking is changed to the determined value, and then the upper limit allowable value of the detection value of the angular velocity sensor 13 that stores the auxiliary operation information, that is, the storage threshold value for the sudden turning left turn An input request screen is displayed on the liquid crystal display 3.

In this state, by pressing the display key 5, the function key 7 and the set key 9 in the same manner as when setting the storage threshold values for the sudden acceleration and the sudden braking, the storage threshold value for the left-hand turning sudden steering wheel is determined. Then, a value obtained by adding a minus to the storage threshold value (positive value) is automatically set as a lower limit allowable value of the detection value of the angular velocity sensor 13 that stores the auxiliary operation information, that is, as a storage threshold value for a sharp turning right turn. The stored threshold value for the left-turn and right-turn sharp steering wheel, which is fixed in advance and written in advance in the NVM 17, is changed to the determined value.

Thereafter, the mode is forcibly shifted to the normal mode, and the display of the storage threshold input request screen on the liquid crystal display 3 is terminated.

Incidentally, the above-mentioned storage threshold is usually set to a value whose absolute value is larger than the safety threshold.

When the function key 7 is pressed in the normal mode, the mode is changed from the normal mode to the internal clock time change mode or various other modes in accordance with the number of times the function key 7 is pressed. An input request screen corresponding to the shifted mode, such as a screen, is displayed on the liquid crystal display 3. When the display key 5 or the function key 7 is pressed in this state, the value such as the time displayed on the liquid crystal display 3 becomes " Increment or decrement by 1 ", and when the set key 9 is pressed,
At this time, the value displayed on the liquid crystal display 3 is set as the current time and various setting values.

The values except for the time set as described above are stored and held in the NVM 17.

If the night dimming signal input from the external input terminal 21a indicates that there is no dimming during the day, the backlight of the liquid crystal display 3 is caused to emit light at normal brightness, and the night dimming signal is output. In a state indicating that there is dimming at night, the backlight of the liquid crystal display 3 emits light at a lower brightness than usual.

Next, a process performed by the CPU 15a in accordance with the control program stored in the ROM 15c of the microcomputer 15, particularly a process related to the collection of operation information, will be described with reference to a flowchart of FIG.

When the microcomputer 15 is started and the program is started, the CPU 15a first performs an initial setting for setting the contents of various areas of the RAM 15b to an initial state (step S1), and thereafter, processes in steps S3 to S11 described later. Is repeated at predetermined intervals.

In step S3, the outputs of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 are fetched, and the detection values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 appearing in the outputs are both the safety thresholds written in the NVM 17. It is checked whether or not it is within the range, and if both the detection values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 are within the range of the safety threshold value of the NVM 17 (Y in step S3), step S3 is repeated.

On the other hand, at least one of the detection values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity
If it is not within the range of the safety threshold (N in step S3), the alarm buzzer 19 is sounded (step S3).
5) It is checked whether both the detection values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 are within the range of the storage threshold written in the NVM 17 (step S7).

If the detected values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 are both within the range of the storage threshold of the NVM 17 (Y in step S7), the process returns to step S3 and the detected values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 If at least one of them is not within the range of the storage threshold of the NVM 17 (N in step S7), auxiliary operation information is generated (step S9).

In step S9, the auxiliary operation information is generated by adding the left turn signal, the right turn signal, and the seat belt wearing signal input from the external input terminals 21b to 21d to the detection values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13. This is done by associating

When the generation of the auxiliary operation information in step S9 is completed, the generated auxiliary operation information is transmitted to the NVM.
17 (step S11), and thereafter, the process returns to step S3.

As is clear from the above description, in the present embodiment, step S9 in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is a process corresponding to the information generating means 15A in the claims. S3 and step S
7 corresponds to the operation state determination means 15B in the claims, and the external input terminals 21b to 21d correspond to the signal input unit 21 in the claims.

As is clear from the above description,
In the present embodiment, a left turn blinker, a right turn blinker, and
The seat belt corresponds to the traveling system equipment in the claims, and the left turn signal, the right turn signal, and the seat belt wearing signal input from the external input terminals 21b to 21d are the traveling equipment in the claims. It corresponds to a state signal.

Next, the operation (operation) of the external collection device 1 of the present embodiment configured as described above will be described.

While the vehicle is running, sudden acceleration outside the range of the safety threshold written in the NVM 17;
When one of sudden braking and sudden turning occurs, the alarm buzzer 19 sounds and an alarm is given to that effect.

If any of the generated sudden acceleration, sudden braking, and sudden turning is out of the range of the storage threshold value written in the NVM 17, the external input terminal at that point in time. Data of the state of each signal of left turn blinker, right turn blinker, and seat belt wearing of the vehicle equipped with the external collection device 1 and the detection values of the acceleration sensor 11 and the angular velocity sensor 13 are input from 21b to 21d. The auxiliary operation information having the data structure shown in the explanatory diagram of FIG.
Is written to.

Therefore, according to the collection device 1 of the present embodiment, the operation information of the contents useful for analyzing the driving attitude of the crew of the vehicle and the cause of the accident caused by the vehicle is converted into the conventional analog tachograph. As in the case where the amount or type of information is increased, the information can be collected without accompanying an increase in the size of the apparatus such as an increase in the size of chart paper and an increase in the number of recording needles.

The writing of the auxiliary operation information to the NVM 17 is performed by overwriting in which only the latest predetermined number of auxiliary operation information remains and the previous auxiliary operation information is deleted from the oldest one. The auxiliary operation information may be stored in the NVM 17, and all the auxiliary operation information may be left as a method of writing new auxiliary operation information in an empty area of the NVM 17.

Further, the writing of the auxiliary operation information to the NVM 17 is not performed only when a large sudden acceleration, a sudden braking, or a sudden turning that is out of the range of the storage threshold occurs as in the present embodiment. For example, if any of the sudden acceleration, the sudden braking, and the sudden turning that are out of the range of the safety threshold written in the NVM 17 occurs, the auxiliary operation information is unconditionally set to N.
You may comprise so that it may be written to VM17.

In such a configuration, step S7 in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is omitted, and the generation of the auxiliary operation information in step S9 is performed following step S5. The processing corresponding to the generation unit 15A is only step S3 in FIG.

Further, in the present embodiment, when a large sudden acceleration, a sudden brake, or a sharp turn occurs outside the range of the storage threshold value written in the NVM 17, the auxiliary operation information is written into the built-in NVM 17. The configuration was adopted.

However, as shown in the block diagram of the internal electric schematic configuration in FIG. 6, the NVM 17 is omitted, and instead, it is output to the digital tachograph 25 connected to the serial interface terminal 23, and the digital tachograph 25 is output. As a kind of operation information such as the traveling speed of the vehicle and the engine speed which the vehicle originally collects, auxiliary operation information input from the serial interface terminal 23 is collected, and the loaded IC card 27 (portable storage medium A (Equivalent).

In that case, the ROM 15 of the microcomputer 15
In the processing related to the collection of the operation information performed by the CPU 15a in accordance with the control program stored in the control program stored in the subroutine c, the writing of the auxiliary operation information to the NVM 17 in step S11 in the flowchart of FIG. What is necessary is just to change to output of auxiliary operation information to the serial interface terminal 23 of S11a.

As shown in the block diagram of the internal electric schematic configuration in FIG. 8, the NVM 17 is not omitted and the latest predetermined number of times of auxiliary operation information is stored in the NVM 17. The auxiliary operation information of the digital tachograph 25 connected to the serial interface terminal 23
And the digital tachograph 25 may collect the information as one type of operation information, such as the traveling speed and the engine speed, of the vehicle originally collected by the digital tachograph 25, and may store the information in the loaded IC card 27.

In that case, the ROM 15 of the microcomputer 15
c, the writing of the auxiliary operation information to the NVM 17 in step S11 in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is performed as shown in the flowchart of FIG. In S11b, it is changed to check whether the NVM 17 has a free space for writing the auxiliary operation information.

If there is an empty area in the NVM 17 (Y in step S11b), a later-described step S15 is performed.
If there is no free space in the NVM 17 (N in step S11b), the oldest auxiliary operation information written in the NVM 17 is output from the serial interface terminal 23 (step S13), and then the process proceeds to step S15. Become.

Further, in step S15, the auxiliary operation information generated in step S9 is written in the NVM 17, and thereafter, the process returns to step S3.

In the case described above, the step S11a in the flowchart of FIG. 7 and the step S13 in the flowchart of FIG. 9 and the configuration for executing the storage of the information in the IC card 27 in the digital tachograph 25 include: Information storage means 15C in claims
Is configured.

Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, the case where the traveling system equipment is the left-turn blinker, the right-turn blinker, and the seat belt has been described, but the steering-system equipment operated by the driver when driving the vehicle is described. It goes without saying that the article also corresponds to the traveling system equipment in the claims.

Further, in each of the embodiments described above, the external collecting device 1 mounted on the vehicle together with the existing analog tachograph or digital tachograph 25 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is integrated with the digital tachograph 25. Needless to say, the present invention can be implemented in the form of a vehicle operation information collection device that collects auxiliary operation information and stores the auxiliary operation information collected on an extension of the auxiliary operation information in a storage medium.

[0063]

As described above, according to the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention, the operation information that is mounted on the vehicle and indicates the running state of the vehicle that changes every moment is converted into digital data. In the vehicle operation information collection device collected for storage in a storage medium in the form of a vehicle, a traveling system equipment state indicating a state of the traveling system equipment of the vehicle operated by an occupant of the vehicle as the vehicle travels A signal input unit for capturing a signal, and combined operation information relating the traveling system equipment state signal input from the signal input unit to the traveling state of the vehicle at the time of input of the traveling system equipment state signal, And information generating means for generating the operation information in the form of digital data.

For this reason, when the traveling system equipment status signal is received from the signal input unit, the composite operation information generated in the form of digital data by the information generating means as the operation information to be stored in the storage medium, It is possible to check whether the change in the state of the running equipment is related to the change in the running state of the vehicle, that is, to analyze the driving attitude of the crew of the vehicle and the causes of accidents caused by the vehicle. Collecting operation information with useful contents without increasing the size of the device, such as increasing the size of chart paper or recording needles, as in the case of increasing the amount or type of information in an analog tachograph. Can be.

According to the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 2, in the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention, the running state of the vehicle is compared with a predetermined reference. Operating state determining means for determining whether or not the running state of the vehicle is a safe driving state; and wherein the information generating means determines that the driving state determining means determines that the running state of the vehicle is not the safe driving state. The configuration is such that the composite operation information is generated only when it is determined.

For this reason, the running state of the vehicle indicated by the operation information is determined by the driving state determining means to be in a safe driving state, and the change in the running state of the vehicle is related to the change in the running state of the vehicle. When it is not originally necessary to confirm whether or not the composite operation information is meaninglessly generated just because the traveling system equipment status signal is taken in from the signal input unit, the composite operation by the information generating means is prevented. Information can be efficiently generated.

Further, according to the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 3, in the vehicle operation information collecting apparatus of the present invention described in claim 1 or 2, the storage medium is portable. It is a storage medium, and further includes an information storage means for storing the operation information in the portable storage medium.

For this reason, it is possible to confirm whether or not the change in the state of the traveling system equipment is related to the change in the running state of the vehicle, that is, the driving attitude of the crew of the vehicle or the accident caused by the vehicle. The operation information having contents useful for analyzing the cause of occurrence is stored in a portable storage medium which is portable by the information storage means, and the portable storage medium is operated by the crew of the vehicle as necessary. It can be provided for analyzing the attitude and the cause of the accident caused by the vehicle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of a vehicle operation information collection device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an external vehicle operation information collection device according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is mounted on a vehicle together with an existing analog tachograph or digital tachograph.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical schematic configuration inside the external collection device of FIG. 2;

4 is a flowchart showing processing performed by a CPU in accordance with a control program stored in a ROM of the microcomputer of FIG. 3, particularly processing related to collection of operation information.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a data structure of auxiliary operation information generated by the microcomputer of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an electrical schematic configuration inside an external collection device according to a modified embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a flowchart showing a process performed by the CPU according to a control program stored in the ROM of the microcomputer in FIG. 6, particularly, a process related to collection of operation information.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an electrical schematic configuration inside an external collection device according to a modified embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a flowchart showing processing performed by the CPU according to a control program stored in the ROM of the microcomputer in FIG. 8, particularly processing related to collection of operation information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 15 microcomputer 15a CPU 15b RAM 15c ROM 15A information generation means 15B operating state determination means 15C information storage means 21 signal input section A storage medium

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle operation information collection device that is mounted on a vehicle and collects operation information indicating a running state of the vehicle that changes every moment in a storage medium in the form of digital data. A signal input unit for taking in a traveling system equipment status signal indicating a state of the traveling system equipment of the vehicle operated by an occupant of the vehicle, and the traveling system equipment acquired from the signal input unit Information for generating composite operation information in which the state of the traveling system equipment of the vehicle indicated by the state signal is associated with the traveling state of the vehicle at the time of capturing the traveling system equipment state signal, in the form of digital data as the operation information; A vehicle operation information collection device comprising: a generation unit. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising: a driving state determination unit configured to determine whether the traveling state of the vehicle is a safe driving state by comparing the traveling state of the vehicle with a predetermined reference. The vehicle operation information collection device according to claim 1, wherein the combined operation information is generated only when the driving state determination unit determines that the traveling state of the vehicle is not the safe driving state. 3. The vehicle operation information collection device according to claim 1, wherein the storage medium is a portable storage medium, and further includes an information storage unit configured to store the operation information in the portable storage medium.