Method for providing parking location information of vehicle and electronic device thereof

• US 10,520,329 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2017
• Issued: 12/31/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Du Seok, Park, Hyun-Cheol, Jang, Ji Hoon
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y
• Application Number:
  US15/672,224
• Publication Number:
  US 20180045535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 875 Days
• Field of Search: 701444
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/206 specially adapted for indoor navigation
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3602 Input other than that of destination using image analysis, e.g. detection of road signs, lanes, buildings, real preceding vehicles using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3685 the POI's being parking facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/63 Scene text, e.g. street names
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 2201/08 Detecting or categorising vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A method for operating of an electronic device includes detecting when a vehicle enters a parking lot and obtaining image information when the vehicle is detected. The method also includes generating image information of an object including information indicating a parking section based on the obtained image information and identifying information related to a parking location of the vehicle based on the image information of the object. The information related to the parking location of the vehicle is outputted. The electronic device provides a parking location of the vehicle without a device pre-installed in a parking lot.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions to;

detect that a vehicle enters a parking lot,

responsive to detecting that the vehicle enters the parking lot, obtain image information,

generate image information of an object comprising information indicating a parking section based on the obtained image information,

identify information related to a parking location of the vehicle based on an analysis of the image information of the object, and

output the information related to the parking location of the vehicle, and

store at least one of the obtained image information, the image information of the object, or the information related to the parking location of the vehicle.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to:

determine a candidate region regarding the object in the obtained image information,

determine whether the object is located in the candidate region, and

when the object is located in the candidate region, determine the candidate region as the image information of the object.

3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to:

extract at least one edge from the obtained image information,

select at least one edge related to a morphological characteristic of the object from the extracted at least one edge, and

determine a region which falls within a predetermined value from the selected at least one edge as the candidate region regarding the object.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to:

extract character information from the image information of the object, and

identify the information related to the parking location of the vehicle based on a pattern of the extracted character information.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to identify information indicating a floor and information regarding a section regarding the parking location of the vehicle.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising an input and output unit,

wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:

obtain a user'"'"'s request using the input and output unit, and

when the user'"'"'s request is obtained, output the information related to the parking location of the vehicle in response to the user'"'"'s request using the input and output unit.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a communication unit:

wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to transmit the information related to the parking location of the vehicle to a wearable device for display using the communication unit.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a camera module:

wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to obtain the image information using the camera module.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a communication unit:

wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to receive the image information from an external device using the communication unit.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a communication unit:

wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to transmit the information related to the parking location of the vehicle to a server using the communication unit.

11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the information related to the parking location of the vehicle comprises at least one of character information, voice information, and image information.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor comprises:

a state detector configured to detect at least one of whether the vehicle enters the parking lot and whether the vehicle is parked; and

an image analyzer configured to analyze the obtained image information.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the image analyzer comprises:

an object extraction module configured to generate the image information of the object comprising the information indicating the parking section based on the image information;

a character extraction module configured to extract character information from the generated image information of the object; and

a character analysis module configured to identify the information related to the parking location of the vehicle based on a pattern of the extracted character information.

14. An electronic device comprising:

a communication unit;

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions to;

detect that a vehicle enters a parking lot, and

responsive to detecting that the vehicle enters the parking lot, obtain image information; and

transmit the image information to a server using the communication unit;

receive information comprising a result of analyzing the image information from the server using the communication unit;

identify information related to a parking location of the vehicle based on the information comprising the result of analyzing;

output the information related to the parking location of the vehicle; and

store at least one of the image information, the information comprising the result of analyzing, or the information related to the parking location of the vehicle.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to, using the communication unit, receive the result of analyzing the image information.

16. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to, using the communication unit, transmit the information related to the parking location of the vehicle to the server.

17. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to identify information indicating a floor and information indicating a section regarding the parking location of the vehicle.

18. A method for operating of an electronic device, the method comprising:

detecting that a vehicle enters a parking lot;

responsive to detecting that the vehicle enters the parking lot, obtaining image information;

generating image information of an object comprising information indicating a parking section based on the obtained image information;

identifying information related to a parking location of the vehicle based on an analysis of the image information of the object; and

outputting the information related to the parking location of the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein generating the image information of the object comprising the information indicating the parking section based on the obtained image information comprises:

determining a candidate region regarding the object in the obtained image information;

determining whether the object is located in the candidate region; and

when the object is located in the candidate region, determining the candidate region as the image information of the object.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining the candidate region regarding the object in the obtained image information comprises:

extracting at least one edge from the obtained image information;

selecting at least one edge related to a morphological characteristic of the object from the extracted at least one edge; and

determining a region which falls within a predetermined value from the selected at least one edge as the candidate region regarding the object.