Patent ID: 8836784

Claim:
A system for automatically reporting exception events, the system comprising: an image capture device having a first function to monitor operation of a motor vehicle, wherein the image capture device comprises a digital camera configured to capture a video sequence of digital images; an image memory system configured to store digital images captured by the image capture device; an exception event detection mechanism configured to detect an exception event for the motor vehicle, wherein the exception event detection mechanism is configured to process inputs received from a plurality of sensing devices; and a processing system configured to: periodically use the image capture device in a second function different from the first function to capture digital images at a first capture frequency; store the captured digital images in the image memory system; receive an input indicating a detection of the exception event from the exception event detection mechanism; determine a type of the exception event based on data captured by the image capture device in the second function; store metadata with the captured digital images, wherein the metadata comprises the determined type of the exception event; and provide a response to the exception event.