Parking control apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018339701-A1
Application number	US-201815983020-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 17, 2018
Priority date	May 26, 2017
Publication date	Nov 29, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for controlling a parking operation of a vehicle, and more specifically, to a specific method and apparatus for controlling a parking operation of a vehicle using a radar sensor and an ultrasonic sensor of the vehicle to reduce parking time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A parking control apparatus comprising:
a parking control initiator which acquires an input signal for parking control and determines whether to start a parking control operation; a sensor controller which sets a first sensor mounted in a vehicle to detect a candidate parking space when the parking control operation is started; a candidate parking space detector which detects the candidate parking space using first sensing information acquired from the first sensor; a parking space determiner which determines a parking space by computing presence or absence of an obstacle in the candidate parking space and size information of the candidate parking space using second sensing information acquired from a second sensor mounted in the vehicle; and a vehicle control signal outputer which outputs at least one of a steering control signal, a speed control signal, and a gear shifting control signal for parking the vehicle in the parking space.

2 . The parking control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when the parking control operation is started, the sensor controller sets a detection angle or a detection range of the first sensor to be adjusted in a direction of the candidate parking space.

3 . The parking control apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the input signal for parking control further includes information about a search direction in which the vehicle performs a search; the detection angle or the detection range of the first sensor is changed according to the search direction; the detection angle is set to be turned in the search direction by a predetermined angle with respect to a direction of travel of the vehicle; and the detection range is changed to be narrower than the detection range before input of the input signal.

4 . The parking control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the first sensor includes a long-range detection antenna and a short-range detection antenna; and the sensor controller controls one of the long-range detection antenna and the short-range detection antenna to be changed for detection of the candidate parking space.

5 . The parking control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the candidate parking space detector detects positions of a plurality of objects by extracting edge information included in the first sensing information and calculates a spacing distance between the objects to detect the candidate parking space.

6 . The parking control apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the candidate parking space detector groups the extracted pieces of edge information into one or more edge groups according to a preset criterion and calculates the spacing distance between the objects using a spacing distance between the edge groups.

7 . The parking control apparatus of claim 5 , wherein, when the spacing distance between the objects is greater than or equal to a reference distance, the candidate parking space detector detects a space between the objects as the candidate parking space wherein the reference distance is determined based on at least one of width information of the vehicle, passenger information, and mode input information of a driver.

8 . The parking control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when the vehicle enters within a predetermined distance to the candidate parking space, the candidate parking space determiner controls the second sensor, which detects a lateral side of the vehicle, to start operating.

9 . The parking control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when it is determined that an object does not exist in the candidate parking space or a size of the candidate parking space is sufficient to park the vehicle, the parking space determiner determines the candidate parking space to be the parking space.

10 . The parking control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when a driver selection signal for the candidate parking space is input, the parking space determiner determines a candidate parking space indicated by the driver selection signal to be the parking space.

11 . The parking control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the parking control signal outputting unit controls a speed of the vehicle to be set to a first speed when the candidate parking space is detected, and when the vehicle enters within a predetermined distance to the candidate parking space, the vehicle control signal outputer outputs the speed control signal to control the speed of the vehicle to be set to a second speed wherein the first speed is set to higher than the second speed.

12 . The parking control apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when the parking space is determined, the vehicle control signal outputer generates a parking path along which the vehicle is parkable in the parking space at a point in time when the parking space is determined and the parking path is set such that a driving angle of the vehicle is changed at the point in time when the parking space is determined.

13 . A parking control method comprising:
a parking control operation of acquiring an input signal for parking control and determining whether to start a parking control operation; a sensor control operation of setting a first sensor mounted in a vehicle for detecting a candidate parking space when the parking control operation is started; a parking space determination operation of determining a parking space by computing at least one of presence or absence of an obstacle in the candidate parking space and size information of the candidate parking space using second sensing information acquired from a second sensor mounted in the vehicle; and a parking control signal output operation of outputting at least one of a steering control signal, a speed control signal, and a gear shifting control signal.

14 . The parking control method of claim 13 , wherein the sensor control operation includes setting a detection angle or a detection range of the first sensor to be adjusted in a direction of the candidate parking space when the parking control operation is started.

15 . The parking control method of claim 13 , wherein the candidate parking space detection operation includes detecting positions of a plurality of objects by extracting edge information included in the first sensing information, calculating a spacing distance between the objects, and, when the spacing distance between the objects is greater than or equal to a reference distance determined based on at least one of width information of the vehicle, passenger information, and mode input information of a driver, detecting a space between the objects to be the candidate parking space.

16 . The parking control method of claim 13 , wherein the parking space determination operation includes controlling the second sensor, which detects a lateral side of the vehicle, to start operating when the vehicle enters within a predetermined distance to the candidate parking space.

Assignees

• Mando Corp

Inventors

• Kwon Young Ju

Classifications

• B60W2554/801

  Lateral distance · CPC title

• B60W2554/4049

  Relationship among other objects, e.g. converging dynamic objects · CPC title

• B60W2420/54

  Audio sensitive means, e.g. ultrasound · CPC title

• B60W30/06 Primary

  Automatic manoeuvring for parking · CPC title

• B60W2554/00

  Input parameters relating to objects · CPC title