Ship docking assistance device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12481297-B2
Application number	US-202017773481-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2020
Priority date	Oct 29, 2019
Publication date	Nov 25, 2025
Grant date	Nov 25, 2025

Abstract

A ship docking assistance device includes a position azimuth information acquisition unit; a LIDAR; a map generation updating unit; a high-point acquisition unit; and a position azimuth estimation unit. The LIDAR acquires point-group data three-dimensionally indicating the environment around a ship. The map generation updating unit generates a map around the ship based on the point-group data. The high-point acquisition unit acquires, from within the point-group data, a high point having a prescribed height or more. The position azimuth estimation unit estimates the position and the azimuth of the ship through matching between the position of the high point acquired by the high-point acquisition unit and the position of the high point in the map. The map generation updating unit updates the map by placing the point-group data in the map using, as references, the position and the azimuth of the ship estimated by the position azimuth estimation unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A ship docking assistance device, comprising:
a position acquisition unit configured to acquire, based on a satellite positioning system, position data of a ship; a surrounding environment sensor configured to generate surrounding environment data associated with an environment around the ship in three dimensions; a map generation unit configured to generate a map associated with an area around the ship based on the position data and the surrounding environment data; a landmark position acquisition unit configured to: determine a point in the surrounding environment data that is positioned at a height above the water in which the ship travels that is greater than or equal to a predetermined height; and acquire a position of the point, wherein the position of the point is indicative of a position of a landmark; an estimation unit configured to estimate a position of the ship and an azimuth by matching the position of the landmark acquired by the landmark position acquisition unit with a position of the landmark in the map, wherein the map generation unit is further configured to generate a second map by placing the surrounding environment data on the map based on the position and the azimuth estimated by the estimation unit; and an automatic docking control unit that controls an engine or motor of the ship to drive a steering component of the ship based on the second map such that the ship is moved into a position to be docked at a dock.

2 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 1 , wherein the map generation unit is configured to generate the second map by placing the surrounding environment data on the map independent of whether the surrounding environment data corresponds to the landmark.

3 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 1 , wherein the landmark position acquisition unit is configured to exclude, from a target to be acquired as the landmark, a portion of the surrounding environment data that corresponds to a moving object, the moving object recognized based on image recognition performed on an image captured by a camera of the ship.

4 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 1 , wherein the map generation unit is configured to exclude, from a target to be placed on the map, a portion of the surrounding environment data having a distance from the ship less than a predetermined distance.

5 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 1 , wherein the estimation unit is configured to estimate the position of the ship and the azimuth based on the position data acquired by the position acquisition unit and received by the estimation unit as a first input.

6 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 5 , comprising:
an azimuth acquisition unit configured to acquire azimuth data of the ship, wherein the estimation unit is configured to estimate the position of the ship and the azimuth based on the azimuth data acquired by the azimuth acquisition unit and received by the estimation unit as a second input.

7 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 6 , wherein:
the azimuth acquisition unit is configured to acquire the azimuth data of the ship based on the satellite positioning system, the ship docking assistance device comprises an azimuth change acquisition unit that is configured to acquire a relative change in the azimuth of the ship, and the azimuth data of the ship acquired by the azimuth acquisition unit is corrected based on a result of acquiring, by the azimuth change acquisition unit, the relative change in the azimuth of the ship from a time of acquiring the azimuth data to a time of acquiring the surrounding environment data, and thereafter the corrected azimuth data is input to the estimation unit.

8 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 1 , comprising:
an attitude acquisition unit configured to acquire an attitude of the ship in a pitch direction and a roll direction, wherein, based on the attitude acquired by the attitude acquisition unit, the surrounding environment data is corrected so as to remove an influence of the attitude of the ship.

9 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 1 , wherein the automatic docking control unit is configured to control steering of the ship so as to automatically dock the ship.

10 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 1 , wherein the surrounding environment sensor is a ranging sensor and the surrounding environment data is point-group data.

11 . A ship docking assistance device, comprising:
a processor; and a memory storing processor-executable code, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations including: receiving, from a satellite positioning system, position data of a ship; receiving point-group data representing an area around the ship; determining a first point of the point-group data that is positioned at a height above the water in which the ship travels that meets a predetermined threshold, wherein the first point is indicative of a position of an object; determining a first map based on the position data of the ship and the point-group data, wherein the map includes a second point representing the position of the object; determining a position of the ship and an azimuth of the ship by matching the first point with the second point; determining a second map based on the first map, the point-group data, and the position of the ship and the azimuth of the ship that are determined; and controlling steering of the ship based on the second map.

12 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 11 , wherein the point-group data is received from a ranging sensor, and wherein the second map is determined by combining the first map and the point-group data independent of whether the point-group data corresponds to the object.

13 . The ship docking assistance device according to claim 11 , wherein the operations further include determining that the object is a stationary object based on a captured image of the object.

14 . A method comprising:
receiving, from a satellite positioning system, position data of a ship; receiving point-group data representing an area around the ship; determining a first point of the point-group data that is positioned at a height above the water in which the ship travels that meets a predetermined threshold, wherein the first point is indicative of a position of an object; determining a first map based on the position data of the ship, wherein the map includes a second point representing the position of the object;
determining a position of the ship and an azimuth of the ship by matching the first point with the second point;
determining a second map based on the first map, the point-group data, and the position of the ship and the azimuth of the ship that are determined; and

controlling steering of the ship based on the second map.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the point-group data is received from a ranging sensor, and wherein the second map is determined by combining the first map and the point-group data independent of whether the point-group data corresponds to the object.

16 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving an image of the object captured by a camera disposed on the ship; and determining that the object is a stationary object based on the image.

Assignees

• Yanmar Power Technology Co Ltd

Inventors

• Dake Yuichiro
• Hara Naohiro
• Fukukawa Tomoya
• Wakabayashi Isao
• Yokoue Toshiyuki

Classifications

• G05D1/2462

  using feature-based mapping · CPC title

• G05D1/248

  generated by satellites, e.g. GPS · CPC title

• B63B49/00

  Arrangements of nautical instruments or navigational aids (nautical measuring instruments G01C; radio navigation, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S) · CPC title

• G01C21/3848

  Data obtained from both position sensors and additional sensors · CPC title

• G01C21/203

  specially adapted for water-borne vessels · CPC title