Method for finding a parked vehicle in a parking structure, and parking structure

• US 10,467,894 B2
• Filed: 02/07/2017
• Issued: 11/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG)
• Inventors: Neumayer, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Quang
• Application Number:
  US16/078,412
• Publication Number:
  US 20190057599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3661 Guidance output on an external device, e.g. car radio
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 7/066 guiding along a path, e.g. evacuation path lighting strip
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

The disclosure relates to systems and methods for finding a parked vehicle in a parking structure, wherein a parked position of the vehicle is stored in a parking structure, a mobile terminal is coupled to the parking structure in order to provide a radio transmission path, navigation to the parked vehicle is requested from the parking structure using the mobile terminal, and the parking structure produces light trajectories in order to navigate a user to the parked position of the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for finding a parked vehicle in a parking structure performed by a central computer of the parking structure, the method comprising:

storing, by the central computer, a parked position of the parked vehicle in the parking structure,

coupling, by the central computer, a mobile terminal, carried by a user of the parked vehicle, to the parking structure in order to provide a radio transmission path via one or more sensors coupled to the central computer,

requesting, by the mobile terminal, navigation to the parked vehicle from the central computer of the parking structure,

responsive to the request for the navigation to the parked vehicle, determining, by the central computer, a current position of the mobile terminal based on the radio transmission path via the one or more sensors coupled to the central computer,

determining, by the central computer, a path from the current position of the mobile terminal to the stored parked position, and

producing, by the central computer of the parking structure, light trajectories in order to navigate the user to the parked position of the vehicle, wherein the light trajectories are produced based on the determined path from the current position of the mobile terminal to the stored parked position, wherein a multiplicity of light sources of the parking structure are correspondingly controlled for producing the light trajectories, and wherein the light sources present for illuminating the parking structure are developed such that they can be used for producing the light trajectories,

wherein the central computer of the parking structure follows the determined path of the user along the light trajectories via the one or more sensors communicating with the mobile terminal using the radio transmission path and the production of the light trajectories with regard to their local expansion is adjusted to the current position of the user such that the corresponding light trajectories are only produced in a definable area around the user.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the mobile terminal, the parked position of the vehicle, and

transmitting, by the mobile terminal, the parked position of the vehicle to the central computer of the parking structure using the radio transmission path via the one or more sensors.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the vehicle, the parked position of the vehicle, and

transmitting, by the vehicle, the parked position of the vehicle to the central computer of the parking structure directly or via the mobile terminal using the radio transmission path via the one or more sensors.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the parking structure produces different light trajectories for different users.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the light trajectories for different users differ from one another in different light patterns and/or different colors.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the production of the light trajectories with regard to their local expansion is adjusted to the current position of the user such that the corresponding light trajectories are only produced in an area between 1 m and 20 m in front of the user on the determined path to the parked vehicle.

7. A parking structure for finding a parked vehicle in the parking structure, comprising:

a central computer,

a memory apparatus for storing a parked position of the parked vehicle, and

a communication interface comprising one or more sensors connected to the central computer and being configured to communicate with a mobile terminal associated with a user of the parked vehicle via a radio transmission path,

wherein the central computer of the parking structure is configured, following a request for navigation to the parked vehicle via the communication interface from the mobile terminal, to determine a current position of the mobile terminal based on the radio transmission path via the one or more sensors, determine a path from the current position of the mobile terminal to the stored parked position, and to produce light trajectories in such a manner that the user is navigated to the parked position of the vehicle, wherein the light trajectories are produced based on the determined path from the current position of the mobile terminal to the stored parked position, wherein the parking structure has a multiplicity of light sources for producing the light trajectories, and wherein the light sources present for illuminating the parking structure are developed such that they can be used for producing the light trajectories,

wherein the central computer of the parking structure follows the determined path of the user along the light trajectories via the one or more sensors communicating with the mobile terminal using the radio transmission path and to adjust the production of the light trajectories with regard to their local expansion to the current position of the user such that the corresponding light trajectories are only produced in a definable area around the user.