Vehicle control device for controlling a vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10921808-B2
Application number	US-201816206412-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2018
Priority date	Dec 1, 2017
Publication date	Feb 16, 2021
Grant date	Feb 16, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle control device for controlling a vehicle can include a sensor to detect an occupant of the vehicle getting out of the vehicle at a drop-off location; an interface unit; and a processor to determine a target parking spot for the vehicle based on information acquired through the interface unit, and in response to detecting the occupant getting out of the vehicle, transmit a control signal to a vehicle drive apparatus, via the interface unit, to park the vehicle at the target parking spot.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle control device for controlling a vehicle, comprising:
a sensor configured to detect an occupant of the vehicle getting out of the vehicle at a drop-off location;
an interface unit; and
a processor configured to:
determine a target parking spot for the vehicle based on information acquired through the interface unit, and
in response to detecting the occupant getting out of the vehicle, transmit a control signal to a vehicle drive apparatus, via the interface unit, to park the vehicle at the target parking spot,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine a travel time period for moving from the drop-off location to the target parking spot and from the target parking spot back to the drop off location,
determine a return time period for an amount of time between the occupant getting out of the vehicle at the drop-off location and returning to the vehicle, and
in response to determining whether to perform an autonomous parking operation, a moving operation or a waiting operation based on the travel time period and the time return period, control the vehicle driver apparatus to move the vehicle or maintain a current position of the vehicle, and
wherein the processor is further configured to:
in response to the return time period being greater than or equal to a preset value, control the vehicle drive apparatus to perform the autonomous parking operation, and
in response to the return time period being less than the preset value, control the vehicle drive apparatus to maintain the current position of the vehicle or automatically cruise around the drop-off location without a driver.

2. The vehicle control device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
in response to detecting that the occupant has gotten out of the vehicle and moved a predetermined distance away from the vehicle or detecting that the occupant has gotten out of the vehicle and a predetermined period of time has elapsed since the occupant has gotten out of the vehicle, control the vehicle drive apparatus to move the vehicle,
wherein the detecting that the occupant has gotten out of the vehicle is based on information acquired via the interface unit from at least one of a sensing unit, an object detection apparatus, and a communication apparatus provided in the vehicle.

3. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
acquire user input information regarding a place of visit from an input unit of the vehicle or the communication apparatus, via the interface unit, and
determine the return time period based on the user input information.

4. The vehicle control device according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive information regarding a visit time of the occupant at the place of visit from the communication apparatus through vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication with infrastructure disposed at the place of visit, via the interface unit, and
determine the return time period based on the information regarding the visit time and the user input information.

5. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive navigation information including location information of a facility located within a predetermined distance away from the vehicle,
determine a predicted place of visit which is a place that the occupant is predicted to visit based on the navigation information, and
determine the return time period based on a distance to the predicted place of visit from the drop-off location, a current location of the vehicle or the target parking spot.

6. The vehicle control device according to claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive at least one of schedule information and place-of-visit history information of the occupant from a memory of the vehicle or from a mobile terminal of the occupant, via the interface unit, and
determine the predicted place of visit based on the at least one of the schedule information and the place-of-visit history information of the occupant, and the distance to the predicted place of visit from the drop-off location, the current location of the vehicle or the target parking spot.

7. The vehicle control device according to claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
detect a plurality of occupants getting out of the vehicle,
determine a representative occupant from among the plurality of occupants, and
determine the return time period based on the representative occupant.

8. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
after the occupant has gotten out of the vehicle, start a calculation of the return time period and control the vehicle drive apparatus to cause the vehicle to automatically cruise around the drop-off location without a driver until the calculation of the return time period has been completed.

9. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive road information for a road near or around the vehicle from at least one of the object detection apparatus, the communication apparatus, and a navigation system, via the interface unit,
determine whether the vehicle is located in an area where the vehicle is allowed to stop based on the road information, and
in response to determining that the vehicle is located in the area where the vehicle is allowed to stop, control the vehicle drive apparatus to stop the vehicle or maintain the current position of the vehicle.

10. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
in response to the return time period being greater than the travel time period, perform the autonomous parking operation.

11. The vehicle control device according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
in response to a plurality of parking allowed spots being available where parking of the vehicle is allowed, select the target parking spot from among the plurality of parking allowed spots based on a distance of each of the plurality of parking allowed spots from the vehicle or the drop-off location.

12. The vehicle control device according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive parking rate information for each of the plurality of parking allowed spots from at least one of a navigation system, the communication apparatus, and a memory of the vehicle, via the interface unit, and
select the target parking spot from among the plurality of parking allowed spots based on the parking rate information and the distance of each of the plurality of parking allowed spots from the vehicle or the drop-off location.

13. The vehicle control device according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
generate a first travel path from a current location of the vehicle or the drop-off location to the target parking spot and from the target parking spot back to the drop-off location based on map data acquired via the interface unit,
receive surrounding environment information regarding surroundings of the first travel path from at least one of a navigation system of the vehicle and the communication apparatus via the interface unit, and
determine the travel time period based on the first travel path and the surrounding environment information.

14. The vehicle control device according to claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit, while the vehicle is parked, a control signal to the vehicle drive app

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Lee Jinkyo
• Oh Nami
• Ha Seongju

Classifications

• B60W2050/0005

  Processor details or data handling, e.g. memory registers or chip architecture · CPC title

• B60W2556/50

  of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data · CPC title

• B60W60/001

  Planning or execution of driving tasks · CPC title

• Y02T90/16

  Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles · CPC title

• Y02T90/12

  Electric charging stations · CPC title