JP2024024924A - Parking assisting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a parking assisting device that allows a driver to recognize and use a registered parking assisting control.

SOLUTION: A vehicle control EUC 10 performs parking assisting control for moving a vehicle to a target parking position and parking the vehicle by using vehicle surrounding information acquired by surrounding information acquisition devices such as a front camera device 15 and a rear camera device 30 when predetermined execution conditions are satisfied. The vehicle control ECU counts up the number of times of parking of the vehicle in a registered candidate point corresponding to the current position of the vehicle when parking of the vehicle is estimated to be completed, and performs proposing processing for proposing to a driver that a position near the registered candidate point corresponding to a counter is stored as the registered parking position in the memory when a value of the counter is a threshold value or more.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2024,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a parking assistance device capable of executing parking assistance control for moving a vehicle to a target parking position and parking the vehicle.

One of the conventionally known parking assist devices (conventional device) stores (registers) a target parking position in a memory in advance as a registered parking position. In the conventional device, when a predetermined instruction is given by the driver, the registered parking position is read from the memory as the target parking position, and the parking assist control is performed to move the vehicle to the target parking position (for example, Patent Document (See 1). Such registration of a registered parking position and parking support control for the registered parking position will be referred to as registered parking support control hereinafter.

JP2020-117128A

By the way, some drivers who drive the vehicle without reading the vehicle's owner's manual, manual, etc. in advance may not be aware that the vehicle in question is a vehicle for which registered parking assistance control can be used. exists. In that case, the registered parking assist control, which is highly convenient for the driver, is not effectively used.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems. That is, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a parking assistance device that allows a driver to recognize and use registered parking assistance control.

The parking assistance device of the present invention (hereinafter sometimes referred to as the “device of the present invention”) includes:
a surrounding information acquisition device that obtains information around the vehicle;
When a predetermined execution condition is met, the vehicle is moved to a predetermined target parking position and parked using information around the vehicle (camera information, ultrasonic information, etc.) acquired by the surrounding information acquisition device. a controller (10) that performs parking assistance control to
a memory (10a) that stores the target parking position in advance as a registered parking position;
a position acquisition device (60, 61) that acquires the current position of the vehicle;
Equipped with

The controller includes:
If the current position of the vehicle acquired by the position acquisition device is a point near the registered parking position stored in the memory, the parking assistance control (i.e., (registered parking assistance control).
Furthermore, the controller:
When it is estimated that parking of the vehicle is completed (step 210), a counter indicating the number of times the vehicle has been parked at a registration candidate point corresponding to the current location of the vehicle acquired by the location acquisition device is counted. up (step 270),
If the value of the counter is greater than or equal to the threshold (step 340), the vehicle may cause the vehicle to store a position near the registration candidate point corresponding to the counter having a value greater than or equal to the threshold in the memory as the registered parking position. performs a proposal process to make a proposal to the driver of the vehicle (step 350);
It is configured as follows.

According to this, when a vehicle is repeatedly parked near the same spot, such as in a home parking lot or a workplace parking lot (that is, when the value of a counter representing the number of parking times exceeds a threshold value), A proposal process is performed to suggest to the driver that a predetermined position near the location be stored in the memory as a registered parking position. As a result, the driver is able to recognize that registered parking assistance control is available and to utilize it.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a parking assistance device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart of a program executed by a CPU of a vehicle control ECU. 3 is a flowchart of a program executed by a CPU of a vehicle control ECU. These are various lists referred to by the CPU of the vehicle control ECU. It is a flowchart of the program executed by the CPU of the vehicle control ECU according to a modification.

A parking assistance device (this embodiment device DS) according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied to a vehicle and includes the components shown in FIG.

The vehicle control (driving support) ECU 10 is an ECU that executes driving support control including parking support control, and will be referred to as "ECU 10" hereinafter.

In this specification, "ECU" is an electronic control unit that includes a microcomputer as a main part, and is also called a controller. The microcomputer includes a CPU (processor), ROM, RAM, nonvolatile memory (for example, nonvolatile memory 10a of ECU 10), interface I/F, and the like. Some or all of the ECU 10 and a plurality of ECUs described below may be integrated into one ECU.

The vehicle condition sensor 11 includes a vehicle speed sensor that detects the speed of the vehicle (vehicle speed SPD), a steering angle sensor that detects the steering angle of the vehicle, and a shift position of the vehicle transmission (parking position P, neutral position N, forward position D, and The vehicle includes a shift position sensor that detects the reverse position (R, etc.), and an inclination angle sensor that detects the inclination angle of the road surface on which the vehicle is traveling. The parking assistance switch 12 is a switch operated by the driver to issue instructions related to parking assistance control. The ECU 10 receives detection values or output values of these sensors and switches.

The front camera device 15 includes a front camera 16 that photographs the front of the vehicle to acquire image data, and a front image recognition ECU 17 that acquires camera information about the front of the vehicle based on the image data acquired by the front camera 16. including. In this specification, camera information is defined as "information indicating the position and shape of targets around the vehicle relative to the vehicle, the position and shape of marking lines drawn on the road surface around the vehicle relative to the vehicle, and other information. Road surface information, etc.”

The left camera device 20 includes a left camera 21 and a left image recognition ECU 22, and acquires camera information about the left side of the vehicle. The right camera device 20 includes a right camera 26 and a right image recognition ECU 27, and acquires camera information about the right side of the vehicle. The rear camera device 30 includes a rear camera 31 and a rear image recognition ECU 32, and acquires camera information about the rear of the vehicle. The front camera information, left camera information, right camera information, and rear camera information are integrated into "camera surrounding information" by the ECU 10.

The ultrasonic detection device 35 includes a plurality of ultrasonic sensors 36 installed at predetermined locations around the vehicle body, and an ultrasonic processing ECU 37. Each of the ultrasonic sensors 36 calculates the distance between each ultrasonic sensor and the "reflection point, which is a point on the target where the transmitted ultrasonic wave is reflected," based on the time from transmission to reception of the ultrasonic wave. get. The ultrasonic processing ECU 37 acquires information (ultrasonic sensor information) regarding the position and shape of targets around the vehicle relative to the vehicle, based on the distances transmitted from each of the ultrasonic sensors 36. Camera surrounding information and ultrasonic sensor information are information about the surroundings of the vehicle, and are also referred to as surrounding information.

The power management ECU 40 is connected to a power train actuator 41 that changes the driving force generated by a drive device (for example, an internal combustion engine and/or an electric motor) of the vehicle, and controls this actuator. Furthermore, in this example, the power train actuator 41 can also change the shift position of a transmission (not shown). The brake ECU 45 is connected to a brake actuator 46 that changes the braking force applied to the vehicle, and controls this actuator. The steering ECU 50 can drive a steering assist motor (not shown) by controlling the motor drive circuit 51, thereby changing the steering angle of the vehicle.

The navigation ECU 60 is connected to a GNSS (or GPS) receiver 61, a map database 62, and a display touch panel 63 that displays various information including a map and touch buttons. The navigation ECU 60 acquires the current position of the vehicle (current position of the vehicle) based on the GNSS signal received by the GNSS receiver 61.

The display ECU 70 can display a landscape image in the direction of travel of the vehicle, an overhead image of the vehicle and its surroundings, and the like on a display device 71 that is a display device and a touch panel. The display device 71 may be integrated into the display touch panel 63.

The CGW (control gateway)/ECU 80 controls the transmission and reception of information between the plurality of ECUs described above via the first communication line C1 and the second communication line C2.

(operation)
When a predetermined execution condition is satisfied (for example, when the vehicle speed SPD is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold vehicle speed and there is a request for parking assistance control using the parking assistance switch 12), the CPU of the ECU 10 reads information about the surroundings of the vehicle. Well-known parking assist control is performed using the parking lot to move the vehicle to a predetermined target parking position and park the vehicle. In parking assistance control, a travel path of the vehicle from the vehicle position at the time when the parking assistance control is requested to a target parking position is determined, and the driving force of the vehicle is determined so that the vehicle moves along the travel path. The shift position, braking force, and steering angle of the transmission are automatically or semi-automatically controlled. Furthermore, when the current position of the vehicle is a point near the registered parking position stored in the memory (non-volatile memory 10a), the CPU of the ECU 10 converts the registered parking position stored in the memory into the target parking position. The parking assist control is configured to be read out as a position and to be able to execute the parking assist control. That is, the CPU can execute registered parking assistance control.

Furthermore, the CPU of the ECU 10 executes the routine shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. 2 and 3 every time a predetermined period of time elapses.

<Updating proposal list>
Therefore, when an appropriate point in time arrives, the CPU starts processing from step 200 in FIG. It is determined whether it is immediately after the "IG off point". That is, the CPU determines whether the current time is immediately after "the first point in time when it can be estimated that the vehicle was parked."

When the current time is immediately after the IG off point, the CPU proceeds from step 210 to step 220, and calculates the distance traveled by the vehicle (integral value of vehicle speed SPD) during the period when the ignition key switch was in the on position before the IG off point. It is determined whether or not the distance is greater than or equal to a certain distance. This is a step to ensure that the vehicle has been moved and parked at a different point sufficiently far from the point where the ignition key switch was last turned off. If the vehicle has traveled a certain distance or more, the CPU proceeds from step 220 to step 230 and determines whether the current position (current position) of the vehicle can be acquired based on the GNSS signal.

If the current position of the vehicle can be acquired, the CPU proceeds from step 230 to step 240, and determines the vicinity range of the current position of the vehicle (for example, a radius r [m] centered on the current position of the vehicle (for example, 3 [m ]) ) does not include any proposed registration points recorded in the proposed registration list shown in FIG. 4(A). Note that the proposed registration list and the list to be described later are all stored in the nonvolatile memory 10a.

If the proposed registration point is not included in the vicinity of the vehicle's current position, the CPU proceeds from step 240 to step 250, and records it in the registered list shown in FIG. 4(B) in the vicinity of the vehicle's current position. It is determined whether the registered point is not included.

If the registered point is not included in the vicinity range of the vehicle's current position, the CPU proceeds from step 250 to step 260, where the registered point is recorded in the proposal candidate list shown in FIG. 4(C) in the vicinity range of the vehicle's current position. It is determined whether the registered candidate point is included.

If the registration candidate point is included in the vicinity range of the vehicle's current position, the CPU proceeds from step 260 to step 270, and selects "registration candidate points in the proposal candidate list" included in the vicinity range of the vehicle's current position. The value of the "proposal candidate list counter" associated with is increased (counted up) by "1". The value of the counter in the proposal candidate list indicates the number of times a vehicle has been parked at that location, so it is also referred to as the number of parking times. Thereafter, the CPU proceeds to step 295 and temporarily ends this routine.

On the other hand, if the registration candidate point is not included in the vicinity of the vehicle's current position, the CPU proceeds from step 260 to step 280, adds the vehicle's current position to the proposal candidate list as a new registration candidate point, and The value of the counter (that is, the number of parking times) associated with the registration candidate point is set to "1". Thereafter, the CPU proceeds to step 295 and temporarily ends this routine.

Note that if the CPU determines "No" in each step from step 210 to step 250, it directly proceeds from that step to step 295 and temporarily ends this routine.

<Proposal for registering target parking position>
When an appropriate time arrives, the CPU starts processing from step 300 in FIG. 3 and proceeds to step 310, where it determines that the current time is "P shift point at which the shift position was changed from a position other than parking position P to parking position P." Determine whether it is immediately after. That is, the CPU determines whether the current time is immediately after "the second point in time when it can be estimated that the vehicle is parked."

When the current time is immediately after the P shift point, the CPU proceeds from step 310 to step 320, and determines whether the vehicle has traveled a certain distance or more during the period when the ignition key switch was in the on position before the P shift point. Determine. If the vehicle has traveled a certain distance or more, the CPU proceeds from step 320 to step 330, and determines whether the current position of the vehicle can be acquired based on the GNSS signal.

If the current position of the vehicle can be acquired, the CPU proceeds from step 330 to step 340, and determines that the registration candidate points recorded in the candidate proposal list shown in FIG. 4(C) are included in the vicinity of the current position of the vehicle. and the value of the counter corresponding to the registration candidate point (i.e., the number of parking times) is equal to or greater than a threshold value.

If the determination result in step 340 is affirmative, the CPU proceeds from step 340 to step 350, and determines the position ( That is, the driver is suggested to register a position in the vicinity of the registration candidate point (a position where it can be determined based on vehicle surrounding information that the vehicle can be parked) as a target parking position. Specifically, the CPU uses the display ECU 70 to display the message "Would you like to register a position based on the current position as the target parking position?" and touch buttons for "Yes (approve)" and "No (reject)". and is displayed on the display device 71 for a predetermined period of time.

Next, the CPU proceeds to step 360 and deletes the registration candidate point proposed for registration from the proposal candidate list.

Next, in step 370, the CPU determines whether the "position based on the registration candidate point" proposed as the registered parking position has been registered as the registered parking position. Specifically, the CPU determines whether or not the driver touches the "Yes" button during the period in which the "Yes" and "No" touch buttons are displayed on the display device 71.

If the driver touches the "Yes" button, the CPU proceeds from step 370 to step 380, adds the registration candidate point for the proposed registered parking position to the registered list as a registered point, and proceeds to step 395. This routine ends once. Note that by executing a routine (not shown), the CPU acquires feature point information about the current parking position using the camera information acquired and stored during the current parking period, and uses the feature point information. is stored in the nonvolatile memory 10a as information defining the registered parking position. Then, from the next time onwards, when the driver uses the parking assistance switch 12 to instruct parking assistance control to a registered parking position in the vicinity of the registered parking position, the CPU executes parking assistance control to move to the registered parking position. The vehicle is moved and parked (for example, see Patent Document 1 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2021-062684, etc.).

On the other hand, if the "No" touch button displayed on the display device 71 is touched, and within the period when the "Yes" and "No" touch buttons are displayed on the display device 71, If neither the "Yes" nor the "No" touch button is touched, the CPU proceeds from step 370 to step 390, and adds the registration candidate point for the proposed registered parking position to the registration proposed list as a registered proposed point. do. Thereafter, the CPU proceeds to step 395 and temporarily ends this routine.

As described above, the above embodiment can suggest to the driver that the parking position at a point where the vehicle is repeatedly parked is registered as a registered parking position. Therefore, the driver can recognize and effectively utilize the registered parking assist control function.

<Modified example>
Instead of the flowchart of FIG. 3, the CPU according to the modification executes the flowchart of FIG. 5 in which the processes of steps 510 and 520 are added to the flowchart of FIG. 3. If the CPU of this modification determines "Yes" in step 340, the process proceeds to step 510, and checks whether the registration candidate point in the vicinity of the current position of the vehicle is a place where it is impossible to park the vehicle using parking assist control. Determine whether or not. For example, the following cases are determined to be locations where it is impossible to park a vehicle using parking assistance control.

- The width of the left and right sides of the place where the vehicle is parked is extremely narrow (for example, the distance between the left and right walls is extremely close to the width of the vehicle), making it difficult to always accurately park the vehicle using parking assist control.
・The inclination angle of the road surface at the place where the vehicle is parked and in the vicinity thereof is equal to or greater than the threshold inclination angle, and the driving force of the vehicle required during the execution of the parking assistance control is the one that is allowed by the parking assistance control. This is a location where the maximum driving force may be exceeded.
- The feature points of the parking position to be registered are not sufficient to accurately determine the parking position (for example, a gravel parking lot, a parking lot divided by a thin rope, etc.).

If the location is not one where it is impossible to park the vehicle using the parking assist control, the CPU proceeds from step 510 to step 350. On the other hand, if the location is such that it is impossible to park the vehicle using the parking assist control, the CPU proceeds from step 510 to step 520, and deletes registration candidate points within the vicinity of the vehicle's current location from the proposal candidate list. The CPU then proceeds to step 390.

As described above, the above modification can avoid suggesting an inappropriate position as a registered parking position through the proposal process.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments and modified examples, and various modified examples can be adopted within the scope of the present invention. For example, the registration proposal process does not need to be performed immediately after parking is completed as in step 310, and the vehicle drives at a low vehicle speed below a predetermined vehicle speed threshold in the vicinity of the registration candidate point registered in the proposal candidate list. This may be done if the Furthermore, the registration proposal process may be performed when there is a request for parking assistance control using the parking assistance switch 12. Further, the process in step 310 may be replaced with the process in step 210. In addition, the addition of points proposed for registration to the proposed registration list (step 390) is performed for points corresponding to positions for which the proposal process has been executed a plurality of predetermined times or more but no registration operation has been performed. It's okay to be hurt. Additionally, the present invention is also applicable to autonomous vehicles.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Vehicle control ECU, 10a... Nonvolatile memory, 15... Front camera device, 30... Rear camera device, 60... Navigation ECU, 61... GNSS receiver, 71... Display device.

Claims (3)

a surrounding information acquisition device that obtains information around the vehicle;
When a predetermined execution condition is met, a controller that performs parking assistance control to move and park the vehicle to a predetermined target parking position using information surrounding the vehicle acquired by the surrounding information acquisition device;
A parking assistance device comprising:
a memory that stores the target parking position as a registered parking position in advance;
a position acquisition device that acquires the current position of the vehicle;
further comprising;
The controller includes:
If the current position of the vehicle acquired by the position acquisition device is a point near the registered parking position stored in the memory, the parking assistance control can be executed using the registered parking position as the target parking position. consists of
Furthermore, the controller:
When it is estimated that parking of the vehicle is completed, counting up a counter indicating the number of times the vehicle has been parked at a registration candidate point corresponding to the current location of the vehicle acquired by the position acquisition device;
If the value of the counter is equal to or greater than the threshold, the driver of the vehicle is instructed to store a position near the registration candidate point corresponding to the counter having a value equal to or greater than the threshold in the memory as the registered parking position. Perform proposal processing to make a proposal,
configured as,
Parking assistance device. The parking assistance device according to claim 1,
The controller includes:
registering the registration candidate point in the vicinity of the position where the proposal processing has been performed as a registration proposed point in the registration proposed list in the memory;
When the position where the proposal processing was performed is stored in the memory as the registered parking position, registering the registration candidate point near the position where the proposal processing was performed as a registered point in the registered list in the memory;
If the registration candidate point for which the value of the counter is greater than or equal to the threshold value is not registered in either the registration proposed list or the registered list, the proposal process is performed for a position near the registration candidate point. ,
If the registration candidate point for which the value of the counter is greater than or equal to the threshold value is registered in either the registration proposed list or the registered list, the proposal processing for a position near the registration candidate point is performed. Not performed,
configured as,
Parking assistance device. The parking assistance device according to claim 1,
The controller includes:
Determining whether a position near the registration candidate point where the value of the counter is greater than or equal to the threshold value is not a position where it is impossible to park the vehicle using the parking support control, and parking the vehicle using the parking support control. performing the proposal process when it is determined that the position is not an impossible position, and not performing the proposal process when the parking assistance control determines that the position is an impossible position to park.
A parking assist device configured as follows.

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