Parking assistance apparatus

• US 20020175832A1
• Filed: 04/23/2002
• Published: 11/28/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Mizusawa, Kazufumi, Yoshida, Takashi, Okamoto, Shusaku, Iida, Ryosuke, Hirama, Yuichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,012,549 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/932.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 2201/10 Automatic or semi-automatic parking aid systems
• CPC Class Codes: B62D 15/028 Guided parking by providing commands to the driver, e.g. acoustically or optically
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation

Abstract

Parking assistance apparatus that that displays on a screen an image shot by image picking-up means mounted on a vehicle, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus superimposes a guide line that is parallel to the line tangent to the predicted outer locus of the vehicle assumed when the vehicle is backed with the wheel at the maximum steering angle. This allows the driver to drive the vehicle so that the guide line will not overlap the image of another vehicle thus allowing parking that avoids any contact.

Claims

1. Parking assistance apparatus that displays on a screen an image picked up by image picking-up means mounted on a vehicle, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus comprises control means for superimposing on said screen a guide parallel to a line that is tangent to the outer predicted travel locus of said vehicle and apart from said outer predicted travel locus at a required distance in said outer direction assumed when said vehicle is backed with the wheel of said vehicle operated.

3. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said guide is a guide line.

4. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that the control means comprises means for superimposing on said screen an auxiliary guide line for assisting said guide line, said auxiliary line extending in the direction that crosses said guide line at a predetermined angle.

5. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that said control means comprises means for superimposing on said screen a guide parallel to a line that is tangent to the outer predicted travel locus of said vehicle and at a required distance from said outer predicted travel locus in said outer direction assumed when said vehicle is backed with the wheel of said vehicle at the maximum steering angle in the direction opposite to said guide line.

6. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the angle formed by said guide line and said auxiliary line is 90 degrees.

7. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that said display means displays a mark indicating a vehicle width or a mark indicating a vehicle width having a required distance margin.

8. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that said display means displays a mark indicating a vehicle width or a mark indicating a vehicle width having a required distance margin.

18. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said picked up image displayed on said screen has undergone processing to remove lens distortion of said shooting apparatus.

21. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said picked up image displayed on said screen has undergone viewpoint conversion processing to convert an image picked up by said image picking-up means to an image picked up by an imaginary image picking up means installed at an arbitrary position.

24. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 21, characterized in that said picked up image has undergone the viewpoint conversion processing where a straight line in the real space is represented in an image after viewpoint conversion.

27. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus displays said guide lines in accordance with the rules of perspective.

30. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus displays, rather than said guide lines, points equidistantly arranged by a predetermined distance on said guide lines.

33. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that said guide lines are displayed by changing the display colors of the areas split by said guide lines.

37. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 36, characterized in that said means for displaying the boundary displays separately the range where said vehicle can pass and the range where the vehicle cannot pass.

38. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

control means including means for splitting said screen into a first area for displaying an area in the neighborhood of a vehicle and a second area for displaying the area except w said area in the close proximity of the vehicle,

means for viewpoint-converting an image of the neighborhood of a vehicle out of said image to an image where a straight line in the real space is represented in a straight line on the screen and displaying the resulting image in said first area,

means for displaying in said second area an image of the neighborhood of a vehicle out of said image as a panoramically viewpoint-converted image continuous to the image displayed in said first area, and

means for displaying the boundary of said first area and said second area.

42. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising control means for superimposing on said picked up image a guide showing the range where said vehicle passes when said vehicle is backed.

2. Parking assistance apparatus that displays on a screen the image picked up by image picking-up means mounted on a vehicle, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus comprises control means for superimposing on said screen a guide parallel to a line that is tangent to the outer predicted travel locus of said vehicle and apart from said outer predicted travel locus at a required distance in said outer direction assumed when said vehicle is backed with the wheel of said vehicle at the maximum steering angle.

9. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said guide is a guide line.

10. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that the control means comprises means for superimposing on said screen an auxiliary guide line for assisting said guide line, said auxiliary line extending in the direction that crosses said guide line at a predetermined angle.

11. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that said control means comprises means for superimposing on said screen a guide parallel to a line that is tangent to the outer predicted travel locus of said vehicle and at a required distance from said outer predicted travel locus in said outer direction assumed when said vehicle is backed with the wheel of said vehicle at the maximum steering angle in the direction opposite to said guide line.

12. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that the angle formed by said guide line and said auxiliary line is 90 degrees.

13. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that said display means displays a mark indicating a vehicle width or a mark indicating a vehicle width having a required distance margin.

14. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that said display means displays a mark indicating a vehicle width or a mark indicating a vehicle width having a required distance margin.

16. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that said control means forms cross-shaped guide lines with two guide lines parallel to lines that are tangent to the outer predicted travel locus of said vehicle and at a required distance from said outer predicted travel locus in said outer direction assumed when said vehicle is backed with the wheel of said vehicle at the maximum right/left steering angle.

17. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that said control means displays intersection marks and marks indicating the positions away from said intersection points by the vehicle width or marks indicating the positions away from said intersection points by the vehicle width having a required distance margin.

19. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said picked up image displayed on said screen has undergone processing to remove lens distortion of said shooting apparatus.

20. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that said picked up image displayed on said screen has undergone processing to remove lens distortion of said shooting apparatus.

22. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said picked up image displayed on said screen has undergone viewpoint conversion processing to convert an image picked up by said image picking-up means to an image picked up by an imaginary image picking up means installed at an arbitrary position.

23. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that said picked up image displayed on said screen has undergone viewpoint conversion processing to convert an image picked up by said image picking-up means to an image picked up by an imaginary image picking up means installed at an arbitrary position.

25. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 22, characterized in that said picked up image has undergone the viewpoint conversion processing where a straight line in the real space is represented in an image after viewpoint conversion.

26. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 23, characterized in that said picked up image has undergone the viewpoint conversion processing where a straight line in the real space is represented in an image after viewpoint conversion.

28. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus displays said guide lines in accordance with the rules of perspective.

29. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus displays said guide lines in accordance with the rules of perspective.

31. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus displays, rather than said guide lines, points equidistantly arranged by a predetermined distance on said guide lines.

32. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus displays, rather than said guide lines, points equidistantly arranged by a predetermined distance on said guide lines.

34. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 9, characterized in that said guide lines are displayed by changing the display colors of the areas split by said guide lines.

35. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, characterized in that said guide lines are displayed by changing the display colors of the areas split by said guide lines.

39. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising

control means including means for splitting said screen into a first area for displaying an area in the neighborhood of a vehicle and a second area for displaying the area except said area in the close proximity of the vehicle,

means for viewpoint-converting an image of the neighborhood of a vehicle out of said image to an image where a straight line in the real space is represented in a straight line on the screen and displaying the resulting image in said first area,

means for displaying in said second area an image of the neighborhood of a vehicle out of said image as a panoramically viewpoint-converted image continuous to the image displayed in said first area, and

means for displaying the boundary of said first area and said second area.

40. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising

control means including means for splitting said screen into a first area for displaying an area in the neighborhood of a vehicle and a second area for displaying the area except said area in the close proximity of the vehicle,

means for viewpoint-converting an image of the neighborhood of a vehicle out of said image to an image where a straight line in the real space is represented in a straight line on the screen and displaying the resulting image in said first area,

means for displaying in said second area an image of the neighborhood of a vehicle out of said image as a panoramically viewpoint-converted image continuous to the image displayed in said first area, and

means for displaying the boundary of said first area and said second area.

43. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising control means for superimposing on said picked up image a guide showing the range where said vehicle passes when said vehicle is backed.

44. Parking assistance apparatus according to claim 15, further comprising control means for superimposing on said picked up image a guide showing the range where said vehicle passes when said vehicle is backed.

15. Parking assistance apparatus that displays an image shot by image picking-up means mounted on a vehicle, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus comprises control means for superimposing on said screen cross-shaped guide lines slanted 45 degrees right and left away from the center axis of said vehicle and at a predetermined distance from the rear end of said vehicle.

36. Parking assistance apparatus that displays on a screen an image picked up by image picking-up means mounted on a vehicle, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus comprises control means including means for splitting said screen into a first area for displaying an area in the neighborhood of a vehicle and a second area for displaying the area except said area in the close proximity of the vehicle, means for viewpoint-converting an image of the neighborhood of a vehicle out of said image to an image where a straight line in the real space is represented in a straight line on the screen and displaying the resulting image in said first area, means for displaying in said second area an image of the neighborhood of a vehicle out of said image as a panoramically viewpoint-converted image continuous to the image displayed in said first area, and means for displaying the boundary of said first area and said second area.

41. Parking assistance apparatus that displays on a screen an image shot by image picking-up means mounted on a vehicle, characterized in that said parking assistance apparatus comprises control means for superimposing on said picked up image a guide showing the range where said vehicle passes when said vehicle is backed.