Parking operating assisting system

• US 20040201670A1
• Filed: 01/26/2004
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Hirama, Yuichi, Okamato, Syusaku, Mizusawa, Kazufumi
• Granted Patent: US 6,999,002 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/136
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/10 Automatic or semi-automatic parking aid systems
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0275 by overlaying a vehicle path based on present steering angle over an image without processing that image
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/166 for active traffic, e.g. moving vehicles, pedestrians, bikes
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a parking assistance system capable of intuitively and easily deciding operation points in the parallel parking.

In the parking assistance system according to the present invention, a guide line (43), which is extended from a vehicle (20) in an oblique backward direction and indicates a boundary line used to decide whether or not the vehicle touches other vehicle (31) existing in front of a parking space (30) when parallel parking operations are started, and a guide line (51), which is separated backward from the guide line (43) and indicates another boundary line used to decide whether or not the vehicle touches other vehicle (53) existing at rear of the parking space (30) when the parallel parking operations are completed, are decided previously, and these guide lines as well as a backward picked-up image are displayed on a monitor screen in the parallel parking. Accordingly, the vehicle can be parked on the parking space (30) not to touch other vehicles (31), (53).

Claims

1. A parking assistance system comprising:

imaging means for picking up a backward image of a vehicle;

monitoring means for displaying an image picked up by the imaging means; and

controlling means for superposing an image of a tangent line of a boundary line of an area through which the vehicle may pass when a steering wheel of the vehicle is operated, or a line which is at a predetermined distance outward from the tangent line as a first guide to display on the monitoring means.

2. The parking assistance system according to claim 1, wherein the controlling means includes means for superposing an image of a second guide line which has an inclination angle opposite in direction to an inclination angle of the first guide with respect to a center line in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle, or a line which is at a predetermined distance from the second guide line in direction apart from the vehicle to display on the monitoring means.

3. The parking assistance system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the area through which the vehicle may pass is an area through which a front left corner portion of the vehicle may pass when the vehicle parks in parallel on a left side, and an area through which a front right corner portion of the vehicle may pass when the vehicle parks in parallel on a right side.

4. The parking assistance system according to any of claim 1 to claim 3, wherein the area through which the vehicle may pass is an area through which the vehicle passes when a steering wheel is turned at a maximum steering angle.

5. A parking assistance system comprising:

imaging means for picking up a backward image of a vehicle;

monitoring means for displaying an image picked up by the imaging means; and

controlling means for superposing an image of a tangent line of a boundary line of an area through which the vehicle may pass when a steering wheel of the vehicle is operated, or a line which is at a predetermined distance outward from the tangent line as a first guide to display on the monitoring means, and also superposing a second guide which is at a distance of one vehicle space backward from the first guide to display on the monitoring means.

6. A parking assistance system comprising:

imaging means for picking up a backward image of a vehicle;

monitoring means for displaying an image picked up by the imaging means; and

controlling means for superposing a guide line, which extends from the vehicle in an oblique backward direction, to be a boundary line indicating a criterion used to decide whether or not the vehicle touches an obstacle existing in front of a parking space when parallel parking operations are started on the picked-up image displayed on the monitoring means to display the superposed image on the monitoring means.

8. The parking assistance system according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein boundary lines used to decide whether or not the vehicle touches the obstacle are defined by specifying a steering angle of a steering operation executed in the parallel parking operations to a maximum steering angle.

9. The parking assistance system according to any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the controlling means superposes an auxiliary guide line to be a criterion which is used when the vehicle straight backs in an oblique direction to a side line of a parking space in the parallel parking operations to display on the monitoring means.

10. The parking assistance system according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein the controlling means superposes another guide line, which has a margin of a predetermined distance from the guide line in a direction apart from the vehicle, in place of the guide line, to display on the monitoring means.

7. A parking assistance system comprising:

imaging means for picking up a backward image of a vehicle;

monitoring means for displaying an image picked up by the imaging means; and

controlling means for superposing a first boundary line, which extends from the vehicle in an oblique backward direction, indicating a criterion used to decide whether or not the vehicle touches an obstacle existing in front of a parking space when parallel parking operations are started, and a second boundary line, which is apart backward from the first boundary line, indicating a criterion used to decide whether or not the vehicle touches an obstacle existing at rear of the parking space when the parallel parking operations are completed on the picked-up image displayed on the monitoring means to display the superposed image on the monitoring means.