Patent ID: 8229621

Claim:
A method of storing accident data for a vehicle implemented in an apparatus for storing accident data for a vehicle, the apparatus including a camera unit, a frame grabber, an accident detecting sensor, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and a controller, the method comprising: acquiring, by the controller, driving data including image data every pre-determined interval; setting a weight value corresponding to an average impulse value included in the acquired driving data, and calculating a priority index; sequentially storing the driving data if a capacity of the volatile memory is not full, and selecting a block having a lowest priority index from the volatile memory and storing the driving data in the selected block if the capacity of the volatile memory is full; determining, by the controller, whether a timer starts, checking if an impulse value acquired in real time is greater than a predetermined threshold if the timer does not start, and starting the timer if the impulse value is greater than the pre-determined threshold; if the timer starts, determining whether a predetermined amount of time has elapsed from a point-in-time at which the timer starts; and reading out all data stored in the volatile memory and storing the read data in the non-volatile memory as accident-related data if the predetermined amount of time has elapsed from the point-in-time at which the timer starts.