Parking assistance method, parking assistance apparatus, and non-transitory computer readable recording medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12424095-B2
Application number	US-202318201335-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2023
Priority date	Jun 20, 2022
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

A method for assisting parking of a vehicle in a parking lot is proposed. The method comprises the steps of generating node information from a start position to an end position of a leaving operation of the vehicle, calculating a reference distance between a start node and a reference node which is a node located in front of the vehicle among nodes located on a drive aisle of the parking lot, calculating, for respective target nodes, an aisle distance which is a distance from the reference node, the target nodes being nodes from the reference node to an end node, identifying a specific node which is a node whose the aisle distance is most approximate to the reference distance among the target nodes, and transmitting, to the vehicle, the node information regarding the start node and regarding the target nodes from the specific node to the end node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for assisting parking of a vehicle in a parking lot, the method comprising the steps of:
generating node information from a start position to an end position of a leaving operation of the vehicle when a leaving of the vehicle from the parking lot is started;
generating, based on the node information, a travel trajectory;
calculating a reference distance which is a distance between a start node being a node corresponding to the start position and a reference node being a node located in front of the vehicle among nodes located on a drive aisle of the parking lot;
calculating, for respective target nodes, an aisle distance which is a distance from the reference node to a respective target node, the target nodes being nodes from the reference node to an end node being a node corresponding to the end position;
identifying a specific node which is a node whose aisle distance is most approximate to the reference distance among the target nodes;
transmitting, to the vehicle, the node information regarding the start node and regarding the target nodes from the specific node to the end node; and
controlling a vehicle to travel in accordance with the travel trajectory, the travel trajectory reaching a center of the drive aisle with a constant curvature from the start node.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating the aisle distance includes the steps of:
calculating the aisle distance sequentially for the target nodes in an order closer to the reference node; and
terminating the calculating the aisle distance when the calculated aisle distance is greater than or equal to the reference distance.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the step of identifying the specific node includes the step of selecting, as the specific node, one of a first node and a second node whose aisle distance is closer to the reference distance, the first node being a node to be a calculated target when the aisle distance is calculated greater than or equal to the reference distance, the second node being a node to be the calculated target just before the calculation for the first node.

4. An apparatus for assisting parking of a vehicle in a parking lot, the apparatus configured to execute:
generating node information from a start position to an end position of a leaving operation of the vehicle when a leaving of the vehicle is started;
generating, based on the node information, a travel trajectory;
calculating a reference distance which is a distance between a start node being a node corresponding to the start position and a reference node being a node located in front of the vehicle among nodes located on a drive aisle of the parking lot;
calculating, for respective target nodes, an aisle distance which is a distance from the reference node to a respective target node, the target nodes being nodes from the reference node to an end node being a node corresponding to the end position;
identifying a specific node which is a node whose aisle distance is most approximate to the reference distance among the target nodes;
transmitting, to the vehicle, the node information regarding the start node and regarding the target nodes from the specific node to the end node; and
controlling a vehicle to travel in accordance with the travel trajectory, the travel trajectory reaching a center of the drive aisle with a constant curvature from the start node.

5. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium on which a computer program for assisting parking of a vehicle in a parking lot is recorded, the computer program, when executed by a computer, causing the computer to execute:
generating node information from a start position to an end position of a leaving operation of the vehicle when a leaving of the vehicle is started;
generating, based on the node information, a travel trajectory;
calculating a reference distance which is a distance between a start node being a node corresponding to the start position and a reference node being a node located in front of the vehicle among nodes located on a drive aisle of the parking lot;
calculating, for respective target nodes, an aisle distance which is a distance from the reference node to a respective target node, the target nodes being nodes from the reference node to an end node being a node corresponding to the end position;
identifying a specific node which is a node whose aisle distance is most approximate to the reference distance among the target nodes;
transmitting, to the vehicle, the node information regarding the start node and regarding the target nodes from the specific node to the end node; and
controlling a vehicle to travel in accordance with the travel trajectory, the travel trajectory reaching a center of the drive aisle with a constant curvature from the start node.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Sugano Tatsuya

Classifications

• G08G1/143

  inside the vehicles · CPC title

• G08G1/144

  on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA] · CPC title

• G08G1/146

  where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space · CPC title

• B60W2556/45

  External transmission of data to or from the vehicle · CPC title

• G08G1/145 Primary

  where the indication depends on the parking areas · CPC title