Automatic parking system and automatic parking method

• US 10,606,257 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2017
• Issued: 03/31/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group), Kia Motors Corporation (Kia Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Hyundai Motor Company (Hyundai Motor Group)
• Inventors: Kim, Yoon Soo, Yoon, Dae Joong, Park, Seung Wook, Choi, Jae Seob, Lee, Min Byeong, Kim, Jong Gyu, Jung, In Yong
• Primary Examiner(s): Shudy, Angelina
• Application Number:
  US15/833,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20180107207A1
• Time in Patent Office: 846 Days
• Field of Search: 701 2
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/06 Automatic manoeuvring for parking
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2400/3015 Optical cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0016 characterised by the operator's input device input arrangements for computing systems in general G06F3/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0044 by providing the operator with a computer generated representation of the environment of the vehicle, e.g. virtual reality, maps maps used for automatic navigation G05D1/0274; flight directors G01C23/005
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0231 using optical position detecting means position-fixing by using electromagnetic waves other than radio waves, e.g. optical position detecting means G01S5/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/586 of parking space
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/14 indicating individual free spaces in parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space

Abstract

There is provided an automatic parking system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The automatic parking system includes: a smart key recognition processor recognizing a smart key positioned in a first area; a sensor unit acquiring images around a subject vehicle if the smart key is recognized, and converting the acquired image into external images and synthesizing the images; a parking space recognizing sensor periodically receiving the external images and sequentially comparing the consecutive external images using an image recognition technology to recognize parking areas; and a controller calculating a moving path between a current position of the subject vehicle and an optimal parking area among the parking areas and controlling the subject vehicle based on the moving path, in which the parking space recognizing sensor may detect the parking areas in consideration of a length and a width of the subject vehicle.

Claims

1. An automatic parking system, comprising:

a smart key recognition processor recognizing a smart key positioned in a first area and initiating an automatic parking mode upon recognition of the smart key;

a sensor unit acquiring images of an area surrounding a subject vehicle upon initiating of the automatic parking mode, and converting the acquired images into external images and synthesizing the external images;

a parking space recognizing sensor periodically receiving the external images and sequentially comparing consecutive external images using an image recognition technology to recognize parking areas; and

a controller calculating, a moving path between a current position of the subject vehicle and an optimal parking area among the parking areas and controlling the subject vehicle based on the moving path,

wherein the parking space recognizing sensor detects the parking areas in consideration of a length and a width of the subject vehicle,

wherein a length of the optimal parking area is determined based on the length of the subject vehicle and a width of the optimal parking area is determined based on the width of the subject vehicle.

2. The automatic parking system of claim 1, wherein the parking space recognizing sensor extracts feature points of the consecutive images using the image recognition technology, matches the feature points of two consecutive images, deletes mismatched feature points, and matches valid feature points to recognize the parking areas.

3. The automatic parking system of claim 1, wherein the controller controls the subject vehicle to prevent the subject vehicle from colliding with obstacles using data acquired by the sensor processor and the camera processor, while the subject vehicle moves along the moving path.

4. The automatic parking system of claim 1, wherein the smart key performs an automatic parking mode control to perform a start control and an automatic parking of the subject vehicle within a second area, and

the second area is an area larger than the first area.

5. The automatic parking system of claim 4, wherein the automatic parking mode is released by using the smart key.

6. The automatic parking system of claim 1, wherein the sensor unit detects surrounding parking around the optimal parking area and a parking line.

7. The automatic parking system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display controller informing a driver of the parking areas,

wherein the controller controls the vehicle to be driven in the optimal parking area selected by the driver.

8. The automatic parking system of claim 1, wherein the controller controls steering, acceleration, brake, gear shift, and parking brake of the subject vehicle.

9. The automatic parking system of claim 1, wherein the external images are top view images of the subject vehicle viewed from a top of the subject vehicle.

10. An automatic parking method for automatically parking a subject vehicle, the automatic parking method comprising:

activating an automatic parking mode upon recognizing a smart key positioned in a first area;

obtaining images of an area surrounding the subject vehicle upon recognition of the smart key, and converting the acquired images into external images and synthesizing the external images;

detecting parking areas using the external images around the subject vehicle and a length and a width of the subject vehicle;

selecting an optimal parking area among the parking areas; and

automatically parking the subject vehicle in the optimal parking area,

wherein in the detecting of the parking areas, the parking areas are recognized by sequentially comparing consecutive external images using an image recognition technology,

wherein a length of the optimal parking area is determined based on the length of the subject vehicle and a width of the optimal parking area is determined based on the width of the subject vehicle.

11. The automatic parking method of claim 10, further comprising:

terminating the automatic parking mode, after the automatically parking of the subject vehicle,

wherein the terminating of the automatic parking mode is performed by turning off an automatic parking mode switch or shifting a gear to parking.

12. The automatic parking method of claim 10, wherein in the automatically parking of the subject vehicle, when an automatic parking mode switch is turned off or a gear is shifted to parking, the automatic parking mode is terminated.

13. The automatic parking method of claim 10, further comprising:

terminating the automatic parking mode, after the automatically parking of the subject vehicle,

wherein when a button of the smart key is in an on state, the subject vehicle is automatically parked, and when the button of the smart key is in an off state, the automatic parking mode is terminated.

14. The automatic parking method of claim 10, wherein in the automatically parking of the subject vehicle, when any one of gear shift, steering change, and brake operation is performed, the automatic parking mode is stopped.

15. The automatic parking method of claim 10, wherein the detecting of the parking areas includes:

extracting feature points of the consecutive external images using the image recognition technology;

deleting mismatched feature points by matching the feature points of two consecutive images; and

matching images based on valid feature points.