Apparatus for parking vehicle and vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017132482-A1
Application number	US-201615345906-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 8, 2016
Priority date	Nov 9, 2015
Publication date	May 11, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An apparatus configured to park a vehicle includes a plurality of cameras configured to acquire images of surroundings of the vehicle; a display configured to display an around-view image showing a view around the vehicle that is generated by combining the images acquired by the plurality of cameras; and a processor. The processor is configured to determine a first input that is applied on the around-view image displayed on the display; display, according to the first input that has been applied on the around-view image, a parking guide image representing a user-specified parking region for the vehicle; determine whether there is an actual parking region that matches the displayed parking guide image representing the user-specified parking region; and based on a determination that there is an actual parking region that matches the displayed parking guide image, provide a signal that controls a parking operation of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus configured to park a vehicle comprises:
a plurality of cameras configured to acquire images of surroundings of the vehicle; a display configured to display an around-view image showing a view around the vehicle that is generated by combining the images acquired by the plurality of cameras; and a processor configured to:
determine a first input that is applied on the around-view image displayed on the display;
display, according to the first input that has been applied on the around-view image, a parking guide image representing a user-specified parking region for the vehicle;
determine whether there is an actual parking region that matches the displayed parking guide image representing the user-specified parking region; and
based on a determination that there is an actual parking region that matches the displayed parking guide image, provide a signal that controls a parking operation of the vehicle.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first input is a touch-and-drag input received through the display while the around-view image is displayed.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the touch-and-drag input comprises a drag input starting from a touched first point on the around-view image and extending to a second point having a horizontal axis and a vertical axis that are different from the first point,
wherein the parking guide image has a rectangular shape and comprises a diagonal line connecting the first point and the second point.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to provide the signal that controls the parking operation the vehicle such that a front side of the vehicle is parked at a location corresponding to the first point of the touch-and-drag input and a rear side of the vehicle is parked at a location corresponding to the second point of the touch-and-drag input.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine that a second input is applied on the around-view image displayed on the display; and based on the second input is applied on the around-view image, control a position, a size, a direction, or a shape of the parking guide image displayed on the around view image.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
based on the determination that there is an actual parking region that matches the displayed parking guide image, control a parking availability notice to be output through the display.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
based on a determination that there is not an actual parking region that matches the displayed parking guide image, control a parking unavailability notice to be output.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
based on the determination that there is not an actual parking region that matches the displayed parking guide image, control a recommended parking space to be displayed on the display.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to control the recommended parking space to be displayed on the display by:
determining at least one available parking space; determining, from among the at least one available parking space, a parking space having a largest region overlapping with the parking guide image; and display the parking space having the largest region overlapping with the parking guide image as the recommended parking space.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine that a third input is applied to the display; and based on the determination that the third input has been applied, provide the signal that controls the parking operation of the vehicle such that the vehicle is parked in the recommended parking space.

11 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine that the first input is a long touch input received through the display while the around-view image is displayed; determine a duration of the long touch input; and control a size of the parking guide image to be changed in proportion to the duration of the long touch input.

12 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to determine the first input by:
determining a position and a posture of a mobile terminal that is in contact with or in proximity to the display while the around view image is displayed; and determining the first input based on the position and the posture of the mobile terminal.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a communication unit configured to exchange data with the mobile terminal,
wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive information regarding the position and the posture of the mobile terminal through the communication unit; and
control the parking guide image to be displayed on the display according to the information regarding the position and the posture of the mobile terminal.

14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to control the displayed parking guide image to be changed according to a change in at least one of the position or the posture of the mobile terminal.

15 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
determine a recommended parking space according to at least one of a parking history, a detected surrounding environment, or a detected object; and control the display to display, on the around-view image, the recommended parking space.

16 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
detect at least one object located near the parking region; determine at least one distance between the at least one object and an estimated parked state of the vehicle in the parking region; and control the display to display an indication of the at least one distance between the at least one object and the estimated parking state of the vehicle in the parking region.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to provide the signal that controls the parking operation of the vehicle such that a distance between the at least one object and a driver-side door of the vehicle exceeds a threshold.

18 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
detect a change in a surrounding environment of the vehicle while the vehicle is in a parked state; and based on the detection of the change in the surrounding environment while the vehicle is in the parked state, provide a second signal that controls the vehicle to move and perform a second parking operation based on the change in the surrounding environment.

19 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the processor is configured to detect the change in the surrounding environment by detecting a change in a rainfall, a snowfall, or an intensity of sunlight radiated on the vehicle.

20 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine that a second parking region is available while the vehicle is in a parked state; and based on the determination that the second parking region is available while the vehicle is in a parked state, provide a second signal controls the vehicle to move and perform a second parking operation into the second parking region.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Kim Ilho
• Oh Nami

Classifications

• G06T7/246

  using feature-based methods, e.g. the tracking of corners or segments · CPC title

• B62D15/0285 Primary

  Parking performed automatically · CPC title

• G06T2207/30264

  Parking · CPC title

• H04N7/181

  for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources · CPC title

• G06F3/0486

  Drag-and-drop · CPC title