Directional parking availability visualization system

• US 9,286,803 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2014
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG), Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG), Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Lobato Fregoso, Marco Antonio, Tippelhofer, Mario, Maiwand, Heiko, Shannon, Trevor
• Primary Examiner(s): Lieu, Julie
• Application Number:
  US14/318,623
• Publication Number:
  US 20150379873A1
• Time in Patent Office: 626 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3685 the POI's being parking facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/143 inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre

Abstract

An in-vehicle system and method for presenting an abstraction of available parking spaces proximate the vehicle, including information conveying the quantity and heading of the available spaces. The available parking information is presented in a format that can be understood at a glance, for use in making navigation decisions while cruising for an available parking space.

Claims

1. An in-vehicle system for presenting information of available parking spaces proximate the vehicle, comprising:

a processor in data communication with;

a graphical display device operative to present a graphical abstracted visualization of available parking spaces proximate the vehicle, including an indication of a quantity of available spaces and their general heading and distance relative to a current orientation and position of the vehicle;

a transceiver operative to communicate with at least one source of available parking information;

a global positioning system (GPS) module operative to determine a geographic location of the vehicle; and

a non-transitory data storage device on which is stored computer code which, when executed on the processor, implements;

a database that stores information of available parking spaces obtained from the transceiver; and

instructions which, when executed on the processor, cause the system to;

obtain a geographic location of the vehicle from the GPS module;

determine an orientation of the vehicle;

identify available parking spaces proximate the vehicle based on the vehicle location;

determine an estimated distance and heading to each of the select parking spaces from the current vehicle location and orientation;

present on the display an abstracted graphical visualization indicative of the general amount and general direction of the available parking spaces proximate the vehicle for use by a driver while driving to determine which direction is most likely to lead to available parking spaces; and

dynamically obtain updated information of available proximate parking spaces and refresh the display with the updated information; and

means for generating the abstracted graphical visualization indicative of the proximate available parking spaces;

wherein the abstracted graphical visualization is independent of geo-spatial and location visualizations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the abstracted visualization provides a 360 degree representation of proximate available parking in a plurality of predetermined sectors.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the abstracted visualization provides an aggregate representation of the distance and quantity of the proximate available parking spaces in each of the predetermined sectors.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is initiated manually, or is initiated automatically using at least one of an in-vehicle sensor and historic vehicle parking data, to detect the parking intent of the driver.

5. An in-vehicle system for presenting information of available parking spaces proximate the vehicle, comprising:

a processor in data communication with;

a graphical display device operative to present a graphical abstracted visualization of available parking spaces proximate the vehicle, including an indication of a quantity of available spaces and their general heading relative to a current position and orientation of the vehicle;

a transceiver operative to communicate with at least one source of available parking information;

a global positioning system (GPS) module operative to determine a geographic location of the vehicle; and

a non-transitory data storage device on which is stored computer code which, when executed on the processor, cause the system to;

obtain a geographic position of the vehicle from the GPS module;

determine an orientation of the vehicle;

identify available parking spaces proximate the vehicle based on the position of the vehicle and parking space information received via the transceiver;

determine an estimated heading to each of the select parking spaces from the current vehicle location and orientation;

aggregate the information of proximate available parking spaces;

generate an abstracted graphical visualization of the aggregated information of available parking spaces that conveys their quantity and heading from the vehicle'"'"'s current location and orientation; and

present on the display the abstracted graphical visualization, and

further comprising a clock that provides time-based information, wherein the time-based information is used to detect the parking intent of the driver.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

computer code stored on the non-transitory data storage device which, when executed on the processor, implements;

a database that stores the information of available parking spaces obtained from the transceiver;

a parking information aggregation engine that obtains information of proximate available parking spaces while driving; and

an abstraction and presentation engine that abstracts the aggregated information of proximate available parking spaces and presents the abstracted information on the display in a format that is understandable at a glance as the abstracted graphical visualization.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions executed on the processor further cause the system to continuously or periodically refresh the display with updated information.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the abstracted visualization provides a 360 degree representation of proximate available parking in a plurality of predetermined sub-areas.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the sub-areas are sectors.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the sub-areas are regular polygons.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein the visualization system is triggered manually.

12. The system of claim 5, further comprising an input for the driver to enter driver preference information, wherein the driver preference information is used to generate a preferred abstracted graphical visualization of proximate available parking spaces.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the stored code further implements a parking history database for determining the location of a parking space in which the vehicle has been parked, and storing in the database the location of the parked-in space.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the database stores information of a plurality of parking spaces previously parked in, and uses the stored parking information to automatically initiate the system.

15. The system of claim 6, wherein the parking information aggregation engine modifies the collection and aggregation of information of proximate available parking spaces based on driving conditions.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the modifying is based on a speed of the vehicle.

17. The system of claim 5, further comprising at least one sensor operative to detect an action of the driver, wherein the system is initiated automatically based on the detected action.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the action is a gesture.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the action is a verbal command.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the historic parking information is used to detect the parking intent of the driver.

21. A vehicle that includes the system of claim 5.

22. A method for use by an in-vehicle system for presenting to a driver of a vehicle information of available parking spaces proximate the vehicle, comprising:

obtaining a geographic position of the vehicle from a GPS module;

determining an orientation of the vehicle;

obtaining information of currently available parking spaces proximate the vehicle from a transceiver and storing the information in a non-transitory data storage device;

dividing the area surrounding vehicle into sub-areas;

aggregating a quantity of currently available parking spaces in each sub-area;

determining a weight to assign to each sub-area based on the quantity of available parking spaces therein;

generating an abstracted graphical visualization of the currently available parking spaces that conveys their aggregated quantity and heading from the vehicle'"'"'s current location and orientation; and

presenting on a display the abstracted graphical visualization wherein the method further comprising determining the location of a parking space in which the vehicle has been parked and storing information of the parked-in space in a database and

wherein the stored parking information is used to initiate the in-vehicle system.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising monitoring the vehicle'"'"'s position and orientation, and continuously or intermittently updating the presentation of the abstracted graphical visualization based on changes in the vehicle'"'"'s position or orientation.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the abstracted visualization provides a 360 degree representation of select available parking in a plurality of predetermined sectors.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the method is triggered manually, or is triggered automatically using at least one of an in-vehicle sensor and historic parking data, to detect the parking intent of the driver.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising entering driver preference information by a driver, wherein the driver preference information is used in the generation of the abstracted visualization of available parking spaces.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the database stores information of a plurality of parking spaces previously parked in, and the stored parking information is used to determine the driver'"'"'s parking intent.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising detecting an action of the driver, wherein the system is initiated automatically based on the detected action.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the action is a gesture detected by a sensor.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the action is a verbal statement detected by a sensor.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the action is an inputting of preference information into the system by the driver.

32. The method of claim 22, wherein a time of day is used to detect a driver'"'"'s parking intent.