JP2001010429A - Vehicle operation assist device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To assist parking by guiding a vehicle driving operation when the vehicle parking in a way that is easy to understand. SOLUTION: When a vehicle 1 backs into a parking area, the angle of its steering wheel 7 is detected by a steering angle sensor 11, and a parking assisting ECU 6 generates an estimation curve 5 to be advanced according to the steering angle. The parking assisting ECU 6 detects a target parking position from within an image of the parking area 2 picked up by a camera unit 10, and calculates the target locus from the current vehicle position to the target parking position and compares the locus with the estimation curve 5 to be advanced. When the target locus can be realized within the range of operation of the steering wheel 7, the direction and angle of turning of the steering wheel 7 are displayed on an information display 4 according to the difference between the target locus and the estimation curve to be advanced or guidance is provided in the form of voice from a speaker 9 to assist the driver in operating the vehicle for parking.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle parking assist system for assisting a driver who drives a vehicle when parking.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, parking a vehicle has been one of the most difficult stages for a normal driver to drive the vehicle. When parking, it is necessary to make a vehicle enter a narrow parking space and perform a steering operation so that the vehicle does not come into contact with another vehicle or an obstacle or the wheels fall into a groove or the like. Moreover, whether the vehicle body comes into contact with an obstacle or another vehicle often becomes a blind spot from the viewpoint of the driver, and performs a steering operation while accurately estimating the positional relationship between the vehicle body and the outside. There is a need.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 64-64 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI-1-14700) discloses that when a vehicle moves backward and parks, an image behind the vehicle is captured by a camera, and an expected trajectory image corresponding to the steering angle of the steering wheel is obtained from the camera. There is disclosed a prior art which superimposes and displays on a video of a vehicle and adds guidance information such as an outline of a vehicle to an expected trajectory image to assist a driver. Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-44799 discloses that when a vehicle performs parallel parking,
2. Description of the Related Art A prior art has been disclosed which measures a parking space when passing a side of the parking space and notifies a driver of the vehicle of a driving operation necessary for parking based on the measurement result.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-1470
When the vehicle moves backward and tries to park, as in the prior art of No. 0, by simply displaying the rear image and the expected trajectory image, the driver looks at the image as to whether the steering angle of the steering wheel is appropriate or not. You have to judge. Generally, an information display or the like for displaying images provided in a vehicle must be installed in a limited space around a driver's seat, and does not have a large display area. For this reason, even if the predicted trajectory image is displayed together with the rear video, it is difficult to see the display and determine whether the predicted trajectory is appropriate.

[0005] As in the prior art of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 7-44799, it is possible to confirm whether or not the parking space is sufficient only by performing accurate measurement of the parking space.
It is not possible to provide appropriate assistance for the driving operation required to proceed to the parking space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle parking assist device capable of appropriately assisting a driving operation to a driver when the vehicle advances and tries to park.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a parking assist device for assisting a driver when a vehicle is parked. Parking position detecting means for detecting a target parking position at which the vehicle should be parked, steering angle calculating means for calculating a steering angle required to advance to the target parking position detected by the parking position detecting means, and steering of the vehicle. The steering angle detecting means for detecting the angle is compared with the steering angle detected by the steering angle detecting means and the steering angle calculated by the steering angle calculating means. Based on the comparison result, guidance of the steering operation to the driver is provided. And a parking assisting means for performing the parking assisting.

According to the present invention, when the vehicle is parked, an image of the traveling direction of the vehicle is captured by the camera, and the parking position detecting means detects the target parking position where the vehicle should be parked from the image captured by the camera. To detect. The steering angle calculating means calculates a steering angle required to advance to the target parking position detected by the parking position detecting means. The steering angle of the vehicle is detected by the steering angle detecting means, and the detected steering angle and the steering angle calculated by the steering angle calculating means are compared by the parking assisting means. Based on the comparison result, guidance of the steering operation to the driver is provided. Is performed. Since the driver is guided so that the vehicle can pass at the steering angle required to proceed to the target parking position, the driver can easily determine whether the current steering angle is appropriate. By operating the steering angle according to the guidance, the vehicle can be appropriately parked at the target parking position.

Further, according to the present invention, there is provided a route predicting means for calculating a travel prediction curve as a route of a vehicle based on a steering angle, and when the vehicle travels along the travel prediction curve calculated by the route prediction means, Contact determination means for determining whether or not to touch an obstacle, wherein the parking assist means determines whether or not the steering angle calculated by the steering angle calculation means is out of a steerable range, or When the contact determination means determines that the vehicle is in contact with an obstacle when the vehicle travels along a travel prediction curve calculated by the route prediction means based on the angle, the driver is guided to reverse the traveling direction. It is characterized by the following.

According to the present invention, the course predicting means calculates a traveling prediction curve as a path of the vehicle based on the steering angle, and the contact judging means calculates an obstacle when the vehicle advances along the traveling prediction curve. It is determined whether or not contact is made. The driving support unit is configured to provide the driver with a traveling direction when the contact determination unit determines that the vehicle is in contact with an obstacle or when the steering angle calculated by the steering angle calculation unit is out of a range of possible values of the steering angle. Is performed to prompt the user to reverse. Providing the driver with appropriate timing when parking is not possible or when switching back and forth to change the direction of steering operation, and providing guidance so that the driver can perform appropriate driving operations before parking Can be.

Further, the present invention relates to a parking assist device for assisting a driver when the vehicle is parked, wherein the vehicle is parked from a camera that captures an image in the traveling direction of the vehicle and an image captured by the camera. It is determined whether or not there is a parking recognizing means for recognizing the parking space to be recognized and a parking stopper for preventing the vehicle from traveling in the parking space recognized by the parking space recognizing means. And a parking support means for providing guidance.

According to the present invention, when the vehicle is parked, the camera captures an image of the traveling direction of the vehicle, and the space recognizing means recognizes the parking space where the vehicle should be parked from the image captured by the camera. . The parking assist means determines whether or not there is a parking stopper for preventing the vehicle from traveling in the parking space of the vehicle recognized by the space recognition means, notifies the driver of the determination result, and provides guidance. . The driver of the vehicle can know the presence or absence of the parking stopper, and can perform a steering operation or a brake operation using the parking stopper as a guide when stopping the vehicle at the parking position.

Further, the present invention is characterized by comprising a voice guidance means for providing guidance by the parking assistance means by voice.

According to the present invention, the guidance for parking assistance to the driver by the parking assistance means is performed by voice by the voice guidance means, so that the driver can perform the driving operation necessary for parking in an auditory manner rather than visually. You can receive information about

Further, in the present invention, the voice guidance means also gives a warning to the driver to visually confirm the situation around the vehicle.

According to the present invention, the voice guidance means prompts the driver to visually confirm the situation around the vehicle as a voice warning to the driver, so that the driver's attention is sufficiently directed to the surroundings of the vehicle. And safety for parking can be ensured.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that a display guide means for guiding the parking assist means by displaying an image together with an image from the camera is provided.

According to the present invention, since the guidance to the driver by the parking assist means is performed by displaying an image together with the image from the camera, the driver can check the image which is blind spot in the driver's vision while checking the image. The driver can perform the driving operation for parking with care.

[0019]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which a vehicle 1 to be supported for driving is about to park. When the vehicle 1 retreats and enters the parking lot 2 and tries to park in a parking space indicated by a white line 3, for example, image information for parking assistance is displayed on the information display 4. As image information for parking assistance,
It includes a progress prediction curve 5 calculated by predicting the course of the vehicle. The progress prediction curve 5 is calculated by a parking assist ECU 6 which is an electronic control unit (hereinafter abbreviated as “ECU”) for performing parking assistance, based on a steering angle which is an angle of a steering 7 for steering the vehicle 1. You. When the shift lever 8 of the transmission is operated, for example, to the reverse position, the parking assist ECU 6 starts control for parking assistance. The guidance of the driving operation at the time of parking is also provided from the speaker 9 by voice.

When the vehicle 1 retreats and tries to park, the driver behind the vehicle 1 cannot see the rear of the vehicle 1 because it is blind spot and cannot see enough. 10 is set, the parking lot 2 which is a blind spot from the driver is set so as to enter the field of view 10a, and an image of the parking lot 2 is captured and displayed on the information display 4.

FIG. 2 shows an electrical configuration for parking assistance when the vehicle 1 shown in FIG. The parking assist ECU 6 includes a camera unit 10
Is input in the NTSC system. Further, a pulse signal is input from the steering angle sensor 11 that detects the steering angle of the steering 7 every time the steering angle changes. A switch that turns on a back lamp when the shift lever 8 is operated to the reverse position (hereinafter, referred to as a switch)
A back lamp SW signal 12 for controlling “SW” to be ON is derived and input to the parking assist ECU 6. The parking assist ECU 6 controls the back lamp S
When the W signal 12 is turned on, the parking support operation required for the vehicle 1 to reverse and park is started. In the parking assist operation, the travel prediction curve 5 corresponding to the steering angle detected by the steering angle sensor 11 is calculated, and is displayed on the information display 4 so as to be superimposed on the rear image captured by the camera unit 10.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic electrical configuration of the parking assist ECU 6 of FIG. The overall control of the parking assist ECU 6 is performed by a digital signal processor (hereinafter, referred to as a digital signal processor).
20 (abbreviated as “DSP”). DSP
20 performs control and signal processing via a bus 21. An NTSC video signal is input from the camera unit 10, amplified by an amplifier + filter circuit 22, and converted to an analog-to-digital (hereinafter, abbreviated as “ADC”) circuit 23.
Is converted from an analog signal to a digital signal. The video signal converted to a digital signal is stored in the field buffer circuit 24. The video signal is also supplied from the amplifier + filter circuit 22 to the synchronization separation circuit 25, where the synchronization signal component for horizontal synchronization and vertical synchronization is separated and input to the DSP 20. The DSP 20 also receives an angular displacement detection signal indicating the displacement of the steering angle from the steering angle sensor 11 and a center position detection signal indicating that the steering wheel 7 is at the neutral center position.
Is entered via

The operation of the DSP 20 is performed in accordance with a program preset in a program memory 27 connected via the bus 21. In the program operation, data stored in a data memory 28 is referred to. Data and the data in the middle of the calculation are stored in the data memory 28.
And an arithmetic process and a control operation are performed. D
The SP 20 recognizes the white line 3 in FIG. 1 and the like based on the input video signal, and generates an image of the traveling prediction curve 5 according to the steering angle of the steering 11.

The generated image is stored in field buffer circuits 31 and 32 whose output can be switched by a SW circuit 30, selected by the SW circuit 30, and converted into a digital-to-analog (hereinafter abbreviated as "DAC") circuit. 33
Is supplied as a video output to the information display 4 via a filter + amplifier circuit 34. Parking assist ECU
6, the power for operation is supplied from the power supply 35, the reset signal is supplied from the reset circuit 36,
A clock signal which is a basic operation timing and a signal obtained by dividing the clock signal are supplied from the CLK + frequency dividing circuit 37.

The parking assist ECU 6 of the present embodiment includes:
A voice data memory 38 and a voice synthesizing circuit 39 are also provided, and parking assistance is provided by voice guidance. For voice guidance, voice data in the voice data memory 38 is selected by the DSP 20 according to the content to be guided, and given to the voice synthesis circuit 39. The audio data provided to the audio synthesis circuit 39 is digital data encoded according to a predetermined method, and the audio synthesis circuit 39 decodes the audio data and converts it into an analog audio signal. The analog voice signal from the voice synthesizing circuit 39 is converted into a sound via the speaker 9 to provide driving assistance for the driver's hearing.

FIG. 4 shows a parking assist EC according to this embodiment.
The control procedure of parking assistance by U6 is shown. The procedure starts from step s1, and in step s2, the back lamp SW
It is determined whether the signal 12 is in the ON state. When it is determined in step s2 that the back lamp SW signal is ON, the parking assist mode is started, and in step s3, a surrounding gaze to prompt the driver to visually confirm the situation around the vehicle. Warning is given by voice. Although the rear image of the vehicle 1 is imaged by the camera unit 10 and displayed on the information display 4, the driver must visually pay attention to the front or side of the vehicle 1 not shown in the information display 4. Therefore, a warning is issued to prevent the driver from watching the information display 4 alone. The warning is given by a voice message such as "Please go back while checking the surroundings".

Next, at step s4, the camera unit 10
Is displayed on the information display 4,
In step s5, the steering angle is detected based on the angular displacement detection signal from the steering angle sensor 11.
In step s6, a travel prediction curve 5 is calculated based on the detected steering angle, and is displayed over the rear image on the information display 4. In step s7, the target parking position is detected from the video captured by the camera unit 10. The target parking position is detected, for example, on the condition that a parking space surrounded by a white line 3 and an area necessary for parking the vehicle 1 are secured.

In step s8, it is determined whether or not the target parking position detected in step s7 is on the progress prediction curve calculated in step s6 based on the steering angle detected in step s5. When it is determined that there is no target parking position on the progress prediction curve, step s9
Then, the target trajectory from the current position to the target parking position is calculated, and the steering angle for obtaining the target trajectory is within the range achievable by the operation of the steering 7 based on the difference from the actual progress prediction curve 5. It is determined whether or not. When it is determined that the steering angle can be adjusted to match the target trajectory by changing the steering angle, the difference between the actual steering angle and the steering angle calculated to match the target trajectory is determined in step s10. On the basis of this, the steering operation guidance regarding the turning direction and the turning angle of the steering 7 is provided. The steering operation guide can be displayed and displayed on the information display 4 with character information such as celop, and guidance such as "Please turn right (left) a little more" can be provided by voice synthesis. it can. After performing the steering operation guidance in step s10, the process returns to step s5. If the driver changes the steering angle, step s5 and subsequent steps are performed until the steering angle at which the target trajectory is obtained is obtained in step s10 and subsequent steps.
By the procedure described above, parking assistance is provided by steering operation guidance.

When it is determined in step s8 that the target parking position is on the progress prediction curve, step s11
Then, when the vehicle 1 retreats along the travel prediction curve 5, it is determined whether or not the vehicle 1 comes into contact with an obstacle based on an image captured by the camera unit 10. When it is determined that the vehicle does not come in contact with the obstacle, it is determined in step s12 whether or not a parking stopper is provided at the target parking position. When it is determined that there is a parking stopper, in step s13, guidance indicating that there is a stopper is displayed on the information display 4 or by voice. By notifying the driver of the presence or absence of the parking stopper, it can be used as a guide for a brake operation or the like when the vehicle retreats.

If it is determined in step s9 that the vehicle cannot advance to the target parking position by the steering operation, or if it is determined in step s11 that the vehicle will come into contact with an obstacle on the progress prediction curve, the traveling direction is changed in step s14. A guide for reversing is provided. Guidance for reversing the traveling direction is displayed on the information display 4 or performed by voice. The content of the guidance is to inform that parking is impossible if the vehicle is retreated as it is, and it is necessary to move forward and turn back the steering wheel 7.

At step s2, the back lamp SW signal 12
When it is determined that is not ON, when it is determined that there is no parking stopper in step s12, after the guidance in step s13 or step s14 is completed, step s12 is performed.
At 15 the procedure ends. However, following the traveling direction reversal guidance in step s14, when the driver moves the vehicle forward, the detection of the target parking position is continued in the video behind the vehicle 1, and the target trajectory from the current position to the target parking position is calculated. Then, when it is confirmed that the timing at which the target trajectory can be steered at the steering angle achievable by the operation of the steering 7 and that no obstacle is contacted on the target trajectory is confirmed,
It is also possible to guide the driver to inform the driver of the timing of turning back the steering wheel 7.

In the above description, the parking assistance in the case where the vehicle 1 moves backward and parks in the parking lot 2 has been described. If the image of the vehicle is captured and the target vehicle position is detected, parking assistance can be performed as in the case of retreating. Step s10, step s13, step s
At 14, a steering operation guide, a guide indicating that there is a stopper, and a traveling direction reversal guide are provided,
Any one of these guidances can be performed, or any combination can be provided.

Although the guidance for parking assistance is provided by the display on the information display 4 and the voice from the speaker 9, the guidance can be provided by either display or voice alone.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the vehicle attempts to park, the target parking position is detected, and the steering angle required to proceed to the target parking position is calculated. The driving assistance for parking is performed with guidance such that the calculated steering angle is calculated. Since the driver is assisted to perform a safer driving operation, the driver can easily park in a narrow parking space or a crowded parking lot.

Further, according to the present invention, even if the vehicle advances and attempts to park, it cannot advance to the target parking position within the operation range of the possible steering angle, or if it comes into contact with an obstacle in the course of traveling. When it is determined, guidance is provided to reverse the direction of travel, so it is possible to inform when parking is possible, the need to turn back and the timing, and drive safely so that accidents due to excessive approach do not cause a contact accident etc. Can be made possible.

Further, according to the present invention, if a parking stopper is present in the parking space of the vehicle, the parking stopper is automatically detected and notified to the driver. Driving operation can be performed.

Further, according to the present invention, voice guidance
Guidance is provided for the driver to facilitate the driving operation for parking, and the driving operation can be easily understood without directly using the driver's vision.

Further, according to the present invention, the driver of the vehicle is warned that when the driving operation for parking is performed, the situation around the vehicle, such as the front and side of the vehicle, should also be checked. Therefore, the driver's attention can be directed to the surrounding situation and safety can be achieved.

According to the present invention, the driving operation for parking is supported by displaying an image together with the image of the traveling direction captured by the camera and guiding the driving operation for parking with an image display which is easy for the driver to understand. can do.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a parking assistance device as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which the vehicle 1 is about to enter a parking space indicated by a white line 3 of a parking lot 2 while moving backward with the parking assistance device of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a parking assist ECU 6 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a parking assist procedure by a parking assist ECU 6 of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle 2 Parking lot 3 White line 4 Information display 5 Progress prediction curve 6 Parking assist ECU 7 Steering 9 Speaker 10 Camera unit 11 Steering angle sensor 20 DSP 27 Program memory 28 Data memory 38 Voice data memory 39 Voice synthesis circuit

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Kazuya Sako 1-2-28 Goshodori, Hyogo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo F-term in Fujitsu Ten Co., Ltd. 3D030 DB15 DB16 DB19 5H301 AA01 AA03 BB20 CC03 CC06 EE31 FF16 GG01 LL01 LL11 MM07

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A parking assist device for assisting a driver when a vehicle is parked, comprising: a camera that captures an image in a traveling direction of the vehicle; Parking position detecting means for detecting a position; steering angle calculating means for calculating a steering angle required to advance to a target parking position detected by the parking position detecting means; steering angle detecting means for detecting a steering angle of a vehicle And parking assist means for comparing the steering angle detected by the steering angle detecting means with the steering angle calculated by the steering angle calculating means, and guiding the driver to perform a steering operation based on the comparison result. A parking assist device for a vehicle. 2. A route predicting means for calculating a travel prediction curve as a route of a vehicle based on a steering angle, and an obstacle when the vehicle travels along a travel prediction curve calculated by the route prediction means. Contact determination means for determining whether or not to make contact, wherein the parking assist means determines whether the steering angle calculated by the steering angle calculation means is out of a steerable range or based on the steering angle. When the contact determination means determines that the vehicle contacts the obstacle if the vehicle travels along the progress prediction curve calculated by the course prediction means, the driver is guided to reverse the traveling direction. The vehicle parking assist device according to claim 1, wherein 3. A parking assist device for assisting a driver when a vehicle is parked, comprising: a camera that captures an image of a vehicle traveling direction; It is determined whether there is a parking stopper that prevents the vehicle from traveling in the parking space recognized by the parking space recognition unit that recognizes the vehicle, and notifies the driver of the determination result and guides the driver. And a parking assisting means for performing the following. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising voice guidance means for providing guidance by said parking assistance means by voice.
The parking assist device for a vehicle according to any one of the above. 5. The voice guidance means for a driver,
The vehicle driving support device according to claim 4, wherein a warning that prompts visual confirmation of a situation around the vehicle is also performed. 6. The parking assist system for a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising a display guide unit that guides the parking assist unit by displaying an image together with an image from the camera.