Automatic park and reminder system and method of use

• US 10,293,816 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Elwart, Shane, Aich, Sudipto
• Primary Examiner(s): Worden, Thomas E
• Application Number:
  US14/482,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20160068158A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,714 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/00 Conjoint control of vehicle sub-units of different type or different function for propulsion of purely electrically-propelled vehicles with power supplied within the vehicle B60L50/00 - B60L58/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 10/20 including control of steering systems
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0095 Automatic control mode change
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/215 Selection or confirmation of options
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2540/30 Driving style
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2720/103 Speed profile
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/06 Automatic manoeuvring for parking
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/10 Interpretation of driver requests or demands
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/0285 Parking performed automatically

Abstract

A parking system adaptively controlling a vehicle during a parking maneuver using a park assist system, for example an active park assist (APA) or trailer backup assist (TBA). Control of the park assist system based on previous speed profiles at a geographic location where the same park assist system was previously activated. The parking system including an activation system that, based on vehicle speed and geographic location, activates the park assist system when preconditions for park assist system operation are met. The activation system may cooperate with the park assist system based on default or previously stored drive history profiles associated with the current geographic location.

Claims

1. A parking system used with a vehicle comprising:

a park assist system, said park assist system operative to perform a parking maneuver at a geographic location; and

an activation system, including an activation system controller including a microcomputer in communication with the park assist system, wherein said activation system activates and controls the park assist system during the parking maneuver at the geographic location based on a drive history profile associated with the geographic location;

wherein the park assist system is a trailer backup assist system having a control module including a trailer backup assist microcomputer that bi-directionally communicates with the activation system controller and with a plurality of vehicle system modules to control the vehicle speed and trailer backup steering control during the parking maneuver at the geographic location based on the drive history profile associated with the geographic location; and

said drive history profile including a default speed profile, a previously stored drive history profile associated with the geographic location, a driver modified speed profile that deviates from either the default speed profile or the previously stored drive history profile when a driver manually overrides a speed control function of the trailer backup assist system, a default trailer backup path profile, a previously stored trailer backup path profile, or a driver modified trailer backup path profile that deviates from either the default trailer backup path profile or the previously stored trailer backup path profile when the driver manually overrides the trailer backup steering control.

2. A parking system used with a vehicle comprising:

a park assist system, said park assist system operative to perform a parking maneuver at a geographic location;

an activation system, including an activation system controller including a microcomputer in communication with the park assist system, wherein said activation system activates and controls the park assist system during the parking maneuver at the geographic location based on a drive history profile associated with the geographic location;

a location sensor detecting location information of the vehicle;

a speed sensor detecting speed of the vehicle;

a drive history data acquisition system that records vehicle input parameters measured during the parking maneuver including drive history data based on the location data sensed from the location sensor and speed data from the speed sensor; and

a non-transitory drive history database that stores a recorded drive history profile transmitted from the drive history data acquisition system when the parking maneuver has been completed.

3. The parking system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the drive history data acquisition system records a modified drive history profile when the driver overrides automatic operation of the park assist system during the parking maneuver at the geographic location.

4. The parking system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the drive history data acquisition system stores the modified drive history profile in the drive history database when the parking maneuver is completed.

5. The parking system as set forth in claim 4, wherein the stored modified drive history profile overwrites a previous drive history profile stored in the drive history database during a previous park assist system parking maneuver at the geographic location.

6. The parking system as set forth in claim 3, wherein the recorded modified drive history profile is not stored in the drive history database if the parking maneuver is not completed.

7. A parking system used with a vehicle comprising:

an active park assist system; and

an activation system, including an activation system controller including a microcomputer, wherein said activation system activates and controls the active park assist system during a parking maneuver at a geographic location based on a drive history profile associated with the geographic location;

wherein the active park assist system includes a control module including an active park assist microcomputer that bi-directionally communicates with the activation system controller and with a plurality of vehicle system modules to operatively perform a parking maneuver at the geographic location by controlling the vehicle speed during the parking maneuver at the geographic location based on the drive history profile associated with the geographic location; and

wherein said drive history profile includes a default speed profile, a previously stored drive history profile associated with the geographic location or a driver modified speed profile that deviates from either the default speed profile or the previously stored drive history profile when a driver manually overrides a speed control function of the active park assist system.

8. The parking system as set forth in claim 7, further including:

a data acquisition system in bidirectional communication with the activation system controller that receives vehicle location inputs from a vehicle location sensor, vehicle speed inputs from a vehicle speed sensor, and park assist system enablement status inputs from the active park assist system control module before a parking event to determine whether to enable the active park assist system.

9. The parking system as set forth in claim 8, wherein the activation system controller automatically enables the active park assist system when the vehicle is within a predefined distance from the geographic location and is operating below a threshold speed, wherein if the vehicle speed is at or above the threshold speed, the active park assist system cannot be enabled.

10. The parking system as set forth in claim 9, wherein the activation system includes a human machine interface having a display in communication with the activation system controller and with the drive history data acquisition system, wherein the human machine interface receives inputs from the driver, and transmits and receives signals to and from both the activation system controller and the active park assist system control module before and during a parking maneuver.

11. The parking system as set forth in claim 10, further including a driver personalization module configured to enable a user to input driver personalization information, including inputting driver identification information into the human machine interface display, wherein the driver identification information is sent to the drive history data acquisition system as a driver identification parameter that associates the drive history profile with the identified driver information during an active park assist system parking maneuver at the geographic location.

12. The parking system as set forth in claim 9, wherein the activation system controller configures the human machine interface to prompt the driver to enable the park assist system when the vehicle is in a predefined proximity of the geographic location and when a speed of the vehicle drops below a predefined threshold speed.

13. The parking system as set forth in claim 7, wherein the active park assist system was previously activated at the geographic location.

14. A method of using a parking system in a vehicle comprising the steps of:

using a park assist system to assist in parking a vehicle during a parking maneuver at a geographic location;

activating the park assist system at the geographic location based on a drive history profile associated with the geographic location; and

controlling the vehicle speed during the parking maneuver at the geographic location based on the drive history profile associated with the geographic location.

15. The method of claim 14, further including the steps of:

recording a plurality of vehicle input parameters via a drive history data acquisition system, said vehicle input parameters measured during the parking maneuver and including drive history data based on vehicle location data, vehicle speed data, and park assist system data of operational vehicle parameters;

forming the drive history profile based on the recorded vehicle input parameters; and

storing the drive history profile in a non-transitory drive history database when the parking maneuver has been completed.

16. The method of claim 15, further including the step of recording a modified drive history profile when a driver overrides operation of the park assist system during the parking maneuver at the geographic location.

17. The method of claim 16, further including the steps of:

storing the modified drive history profile in the drive history database when the parking maneuver is completed; and

preventing storage of the modified drive history profile in the drive history database if the parking maneuver is not completed.

18. The method of claim 15, further including the step of overwriting a previous drive history profile stored in the drive history database during a previous park assist system parking maneuver at the geographic location with the stored modified drive history profile.