Parking assist apparatus

• US 8,599,043 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2010
• Issued: 12/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Aisin Corp.)
• Inventors: Kadowaki, Jun, Watanabe, Kazuya, Kodera, Kenji, Tanaka, Yu, Sato, Kosuke, Fukaya, Atsuo, Tachibana, Hiroyuki, Tomozawa, Motokatsu
• Primary Examiner(s): CROSLAND, DONNIE L
• Application Number:
  US13/202,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20110298639A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,387 Days
• Field of Search: 340/932.2
• US Class Current: 340/932.2
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/027 Parking aids, e.g. instruction means
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/028 Guided parking by providing commands to the driver, e.g. acoustically or optically
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space

Abstract

A parking assist apparatus includes a parking target position setting section for setting a parking target position when a vehicle is to be parked by reversing, a parking pathway determining section for determining possibility/impossibility of direct parking for parking the vehicle to the parking target position without turnaround, and a report outputting section for effecting reporting to allow a driver engaged in parking to recognize the possibility/impossibility of the direct parking based on the result of determination by the parking pathway determining section.

Claims

1. A parking assist apparatus comprising:

a parking target position setting section for setting a parking target position when a vehicle is to be parked by reversing;

a parking pathway determining section for determining possibility/impossibility of direct parking for parking the vehicle to the parking target position without turnaround;

a report outputting section for effecting reporting to allow a driver engaged in parking to recognize the possibility/impossibility of the direct parking based on the result of determination by the parking pathway determining section; and

a turnaround parking pathway generating section for generating a turnaround parking pathway for parking to the parking target position via turnaround traveling and turnaround parking pathway information when said parking pathway determining section has determined that direct parking is not possible;

wherein said report outputting section reports said turnaround parking pathway information generated by said turnaround parking pathway generating section.

2. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said turnaround parking pathway generating section generates turnaround point information for specifying a turnaround point in the turnaround parking and said report outputting section reports a turnaround point based on said turnaround point information.

3. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said report outputting section effects said reporting for making the driver recognize the possibility/impossibility of the direct parking by image displaying on a monitor and/or outputting of a sound.

4. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a guiding control section for effecting either one or both of said direct parking and said turnaround parking by automatic steering of the vehicle.

5. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said direct parking and said turnaround parking are effected by a manual steering by the driver.

6. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said report outputting section issues a reversing sound when the direct parking is possible and issues an alarm sound different from said reversing sound when the direct parking is not possible.

7. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said parking target position setting section calculates said parking target position from vehicle periphery information detected during forwarding of the vehicle.

8. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said report outputting section is configured to report the possibility of direct parking to a driver currently engaged in forwarding, when said parking pathway determining section determines that the direct parking is possible.

9. The parking assist apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said parking target position setting section detects an estimated parking area based on photographic image obtained from at least one camera.