Method and device for parking a vehicle

• US 9,807,352 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2012
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Lambert, Georg, Eckert, Gerald
• Primary Examiner(s): Williams, Jeffery
• Application Number:
  US14/126,236
• Publication Number:
  US 20140139677A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,968 Days
• Field of Search: 348148
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/173 Reversing assist
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/173 Reversing assist
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• 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: B62D 15/0295 by overlaying a vehicle path based on present steering angle over an image without processing that image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A method for assisting a reverse parking maneuver of a motor vehicle equipped with a rear-view camera system into a longitudinal parking space, wherein the image of the surroundings to the rear of the motor vehicle is displayed on a display of the motor vehicle. For the determination of the parking position on both sides of the vehicle, two 3D symbols, in particular 3D cuboids, are respectively blended into the image of the rear-view camera system, wherein the distance between two 3D symbols corresponds to one side of a minimum parking space for the motor vehicle.

Claims

1. A method for assisting a driver to perform a reverse parking process of a motor vehicle equipped with an advanced parking guidance system into a longitudinal parking space, the method comprising:

generating an image of surroundings of the rear of the motor vehicle through a rear-view camera system, wherein the image of the surroundings of the rear of the motor vehicle is displayed on a display device in the motor vehicle and includes two first 3D symbols blended into the image displayed on the display device generated by the rear-view camera system, wherein positions of the two first 3D symbols in the image are based on the image generated by the rear-view camera system, wherein a distance between the two first 3D symbols corresponds to a minimum parking space for the motor vehicle; and

receiving selection of one side for the parking process,

wherein the selection of the one side causes the first 3D symbols of the other side of the vehicle to be faded out of the image displayed on the display device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, in order to determine an initial position, the motor vehicle is moved by the driver until a gap between the first 3D symbols corresponds to the longitudinal parking space.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, after the determination of the initial position of the motor vehicle, a parking frame is displayed on the display so as to be blended, through the use of the rear-view camera system, into the image of the area to the rear of the vehicle, wherein the displayed parking frame is displaced by orienting an inward steering angle until the displayed parking frame is oriented in the longitudinal parking space, as a result of which a deflection point is defined in the displayed parking frame.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, after the orientation of the parking frame in the longitudinal parking space, rearward travel is carried out with the selected inward steering angle from the initial position to the deflection point arranged in the parking frame, wherein an actual driving tube is displayed in the image of the area to the rear of the vehicle by two blended-in second 3D symbols.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein a setpoint driving path which is defined by the selected setpoint inward steering angle is displayed in the image of the area to the rear of the vehicle by an auxiliary line.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the vehicle is requested to stop within a predefined area surrounding the deflection point through at least one of an acoustic signal or stop sign displayed on the display device, and an auxiliary line displayed on the display device is made to be congruent by the driver with a longitudinal parking space boundary in order to determine an end position.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, in the image of the area to the rear of the vehicle, an auxiliary line which defines the end point of the following vehicle movement is blended, through the use of the rear-view camera system, into the image of the area to the rear of the vehicle, wherein the driving tube which is displayed by the blended-in second 3D symbols is made to correspond through the advanced parking guidance system to the auxiliary line by selecting a new steering angle.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein, in order to assist the driver, further auxiliary lines are blended, through the use of the rear-view camera system, into the image of the area to the rear of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the two first 3D symbols are 3D cuboids.

16. The method of claim 4, wherein the two second 3D symbols are 3D guide rails.

9. A device for carrying out a method for assisting a driver to perform parking of a motor vehicle in a longitudinal parking space, the device comprising:

a rear-view camera system to generate an image of the surroundings to the rear of the motor vehicle; and

a display for displaying the image of the surroundings to the rear of the motor vehicle taken by the rear-view camera system,

wherein the image includes two first 3D symbols blended into the image displayed on the display for displaying in order to assist the driver to determine the parking position, wherein the positions of the two first 3D symbols in the image are based on the image generated by the rear-view camera system, wherein on each side of the vehicle the two first 3D symbols are displayed, wherein a distance between the symbols corresponds to a minimum parking space for the motor vehicle,

wherein in response to receipt of a selection of one side for the parking process the first 3D symbols of the other side of the vehicle are faded out of the image displayed on the display device.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the image includes a parking frame blended into the image, wherein, in the identified parking position of the motor vehicle, the parking frame in the image is displaced into the identified longitudinal parking space as a function of a steering angle, as a result of which a deflection point is defined in a displaced parking frame.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the image includes two second 3D symbols blended into the image, wherein the two second 3D symbols display the driving tube of the motor vehicle during the parking process.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the image includes further auxiliary lines blended into the image to assist the driver during the parking process.

13. The device of claim 9, wherein the device has an estimating unit that is a part of the rear-view camera system for estimating a driving path expected to be travelled along.

15. The device of claim 9, wherein the two first 3D symbols are 3D cuboids.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein the second 3D symbols are 3D guide rails.