KR20150013422A - Parking Area Guidance System and Method - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a parking area guidance system and a method thereof. The parking area guidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: an image acquisition unit to acquire an image from a camera mounted on a vehicle; an identification information perception unit to perceive identification information displaying a parking area from the image; a parking area determination unit to determine the parking area of the vehicle based on the identification information when the vehicle completes parking; and a communication unit to transmit guidance information to a preset mobile terminal to guide the vehicle of the determined parking area.

Description

{Parking Area Guidance System and Method}

The present invention relates to a parking area guidance system and method, and more particularly, to a parking area guidance system and method for automatically parking parking position information of a vehicle to a mobile terminal such as a smart phone, And more particularly, to a parking area guidance system and method for informing a parking position to a driver.

There is a large parking lot in a place where many vehicles such as department store, shopping center, performance hall, stadium, and apartment complex are crowded. In the case of a large parking lot, it may be difficult to find the parking position because the place is wide and the structure is similar and the driver can not remember the parking position of the vehicle unless it is frequently used by the driver. Particularly, parking with a complicated structure becomes more complicated, such as "B2 (underground second floor) A-31", and it becomes more difficult to find the parking position.

Accordingly, a technique of finding a parking position of a vehicle by using a GPS (Global Positioning System) or a wireless mobile communication has been developed. However, these techniques require separate operation with separate equipment, so facility investment is required, There is a problem that inconvenience is followed.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2010-0122003

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a parking area guidance system that automatically informs a user of a mobile terminal of a vehicle using a camera such as a black box installed in a vehicle, System and method.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a parking zone guidance system and method for automatically transmitting parking position information to a mobile terminal such as a portable smartphone through a short distance communication without using a separate device such as a terminal installed in a parking lot .

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, and other matters not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a parking space guidance system including: an image acquisition unit for acquiring an image from a camera mounted on a vehicle; Identifying identification information including at least one of a character, a number, a symbol, a QR code, or a combination thereof indicating a parking zone from the image, filtering and deleting the ground color of the image, part; A parking zone determination unit for determining a parking zone of the vehicle based on the identification information when parking of the vehicle is completed; And a communication unit for transmitting guidance information for guiding the determined parking zone to a predetermined mobile terminal, wherein the parking zone determination unit determines the parking zone based on a change in the object included in the image obtained by the image acquisition unit in a time- The parking direction and the parking pattern are determined, and one of the identification information recognized by the identification information recognizing unit is selected in consideration of the determined parking direction and the parking pattern to be determined as the parking area.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of guiding a parking zone, comprising: acquiring an image from a camera; Determining that parking of the vehicle is completed when the shift lever of the vehicle is in the parking mode; Determining a parking direction and a parking pattern of the vehicle according to a size change of the object included in the image when the obtained images are listed in a time series; Selecting an acquired image including identification information composed of at least one of a letter, a number, a symbol, a QR code, or a combination thereof indicating a parking zone, with reference to a parking direction and a parking pattern of the vehicle; Filtering and removing the background color of the selected image; An identification information recognition step of recognizing identification information from the selected image in which the background color is deleted; And determining a parking zone of the vehicle based on the recognized identification information.

Other specific details of the invention are included in the detailed description and drawings.

According to the present invention, the user of the mobile terminal can be automatically informed of the parking position of the vehicle by using a camera such as a black box installed in the vehicle without investing in a separate space in the large parking lot.

In addition, the facility investment cost can be reduced by automatically transmitting the parking position information to a mobile terminal such as a portable smartphone, without using a separate device such as a terminal installed in a parking lot.

When the vehicle is parked, the parking position information is automatically transmitted to a mobile terminal such as a portable smartphone, without any user's operation, thereby maximizing the user's convenience.

1A is a view showing a vehicle equipped with a black box camera.
1B is a perspective view showing an example of a black box camera of FIG. 1A.
1C is a view showing an image photographed by the black box camera of FIG. 1B. FIG.
2 is a block diagram of a parking zone guidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
All.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are views showing images of an underground parking lot obtained by the parking area guidance system of FIG. 2. FIG.
4 is a view showing a case where the shift lever of the vehicle is located at the P-stage.
5 is a diagram showing an image according to a parking direction and a parking pattern of the vehicle.
6 is a flowchart of a parking zone guidance method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a detailed flowchart of the parking zone guidance method of FIG.
8 is a flowchart of a parking zone guidance method according to another embodiment of the present invention.
9 is a flowchart of a parking zone guidance method according to another embodiment of the present invention.
10 is a view showing a composite image in which an image including the identification information of the parking zone is displayed on the navigation image of the vehicle.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The advantages and features of the present invention and the manner of achieving them will become apparent with reference to the embodiments described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Is provided to fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art, and the invention is only defined by the scope of the claims. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein may be used in a sense commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Also, commonly used predefined terms are not ideally or excessively interpreted unless explicitly defined otherwise.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1A is a perspective view showing an example of a black box camera of FIG. 1A, FIG. 1C is a view showing an image taken by a black box camera of FIG. 1B, FIG. to be.

There is an increasing need to provide objective data in order to determine the rate of failure due to the responsibility of the accidents that occur during the stopping or operation of the vehicle. Accordingly, a vehicle black box capable of providing objective data is widely used.

In Fig. 1 (a), a black box 5 is installed in a vehicle 1, so that the front of the vehicle can be photographed and stored. The black box 5 may be provided with a plurality of cameras 8 so as to photograph the rear or side of the front of the vehicle or the inside of the vehicle. The black box 5 is installed on the rear side of the vehicle or a room mirror of the vehicle. 1B, the black box 5 may include an attachment portion 7 and a camera 8 for attaching the black box 5 to the vehicle. When the front of the vehicle is photographed with the black box 5, an image as shown in Fig. 1C can be obtained.

Therefore, in order to automatically notify the driver of the parking position of the vehicle, it may be considered to use an image or the like obtained by the camera 8 or the like of the black box 5 already installed in the vehicle. It is possible to solve the problem of the technique of informing the parking position of the conventional vehicle because it is unnecessary to invest in the facility if the driver can automatically inform the driver of the parking position of the vehicle by using the camera of the black box already installed in the vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a parking area guidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIGS. 3A and 3B are views showing images of an underground parking lot obtained by the parking area guidance system of FIG. 2, 5 is a diagram showing an image according to a parking direction and a parking pattern of the vehicle.

Referring to FIG. 2, the parking area guidance system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention acquires an image from a camera 200 mounted on a vehicle, calculates a parking position of the vehicle based on the acquired image, To the terminal 300, thereby notifying the user of the mobile terminal 300 of the parking position of the vehicle.

Here, the camera 200 may be configured to include a lens (not shown) and an image sensor (not shown) to acquire an image. The lens collects the reflected light from the subject, and the image sensor senses the light collected by the lens and converts it into an electrical image signal. The image sensor can be largely composed of an image pickup tube and a solid image sensor. As a representative example of the solid image sensor, a charge coupled device (CCD) or a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) is exemplified.

The mobile terminal 300 may be various communication devices such as a general mobile communication terminal, a 2G / 3G / 4G, a terminal capable of WiBro wireless network service, a PDA, a smart phone, And may be an apparatus equipped with an interface for LAN connection. The mobile terminal 300 may be an information communication device such as a computer or a notebook computer having a wireless LAN access interface in addition to the mobile communication terminal, or a device including the same. The mobile terminal 300 may include a display module (not shown) including a touch screen serving as an input interface. The user of the mobile terminal 300 is informed of the parking position information through the display module. The display module may be configured as one of an LCD, a PDP, an LED, or an OLED, and the mobile terminal 300 may include a speaker to guide parking position information to the user by voice. The mobile terminal 300 may be provided with a storage area for storing guidance information for guiding the parking zone transmitted from the zone guidance system 100. [

Specifically, the parking area guidance system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an image acquisition unit 110 for acquiring an image from a camera 200 mounted on a vehicle, identification information A parking zone determination unit (130) for determining a parking zone of the vehicle based on the identification information when parking of the vehicle is completed, and a guidance unit for guiding the determined parking zone And a communication unit 140 for transmitting information to the predetermined mobile terminal 300.

The image acquiring unit 110 acquires image information from the camera 200 mounted on the vehicle, and a series of image processing is performed in the image acquiring unit 110. Here, the camera 200 may be one or more. The camera 200 may be installed in a vehicle or in a black box, but it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the camera 200 is not limited thereto. For example, a camera mounted on a navigation system installed in a vehicle or the like may be used. The image obtained by the camera 200 may be converted into a compressed format in which the image is compressed to facilitate data transmission, and may be acquired by the image acquiring unit 110. The image data in the form of a compressed format may have various formats such as MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) -1 or MPEG-4.

The identification information recognizing unit 120 recognizes the identification information indicating the parking area from the image acquired by the image obtaining unit 110. [ Here, the identification information may include at least one of a letter, a number, a symbol, or a combination thereof indicating a parking area. Further, the identification information may include a Quick Response (QR) code. Of course, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that in addition to the above, all the information capable of recognizing the parking zone can be used as the identification information. 3A, when the image acquisition unit 110 acquires the image 210 captured by the camera 200, a character and a number indicating a parking zone on the parking pillar 215 in the image 210, (217). Here, C 038 is the identification information indicating the parking zone. 3B, when the image acquisition unit 110 acquires the image 210 photographed by the camera 200, the image 210 is displayed on the parking pillar 215 in the form of a QR Code 219 is visible. At this time, the QR code 219 becomes identification information. Then, the identification information recognizing unit 120 detects the identification information indicating the parking area in the image using the image processing algorithm. For example, the identification information recognizing unit 120 can recognize the identification information by filtering and deleting the background color of the image.

When the parking of the vehicle is completed, the parking zone determination unit 130 determines the parking area of the vehicle based on the identification information. Here, the parking zone determination unit 130 determines that parking of the vehicle is completed when the shift lever of the vehicle is in the parking mode. For example, FIG. 4 shows a case in which the order of the shift ranges is displayed on the gate pattern 55 by the transmission gate at the transmission gate 50. At this time, when the shift lever is positioned in the parking mode, the P-stage (57) indicating the parking mode is displayed. Thus, when the P-stage 57 is displayed, the parking zone determination unit 130 can determine that parking of the vehicle is completed.

Then, the parking zone determination unit 130 can select one of the identification information and determine it as a parking zone with reference to the parking direction and the parking pattern of the vehicle. The image acquired by the image acquisition unit 110 includes identification information indicating at least one or more parking zones, and the vehicle identification information corresponding to the parking zone in which the vehicle is parked Should be selected. Thus, in order to select the identification information corresponding to the parked parking area of the vehicle, one of the identification information can be selected with reference to the parking direction and the parking pattern of the vehicle. Here, the parking direction may be one of front parking, rear parking, or parallel parking. Also, the parking pattern may be one of forward, reverse, left turn, right turn, or a combination thereof.

For example, in Fig. 5, it may be considered to be taken by a rear camera of a vehicle. In the image shown on the upper left, as the vehicle moves backward, the size of the object included in the image photographed by the rear camera gradually increases. Accordingly, the parking zone determination unit 130 can determine that the parking direction is rear parking and determine that the parking pattern is backward. Therefore, the parking zone determination unit 130 can determine the parking area by selecting the identification information indicating the parking area from the image finally obtained by the backside camera, judging that it is the rear parking due to the backward movement.

Next, as the vehicle moves forward, the size of the object included in the image photographed by the rear camera becomes smaller. Accordingly, the parking zone determination unit 130 determines that the vehicle is parked on the front by advancing, and selects the identification information indicating the parking zone from the image finally obtained by the front camera, and determines the parking zone as the parking zone.

Next, when viewing the image shown on the upper right, since the object on the left side is gradually getting larger, the parking pattern can be judged as turning left, and the image shown on the upper right is taken by the front camera, The parking direction can be judged as front parking or rear parking. When the image is photographed by the front camera, the parking zone determination unit 130 selects the identification information indicating the parking zone from the image finally obtained by the front camera, When it is photographed by a rear camera, it is determined that rear parking due to backward movement is selected, and identification information for indicating the parking zone is selected from the image finally obtained by the rear camera, thereby confirming the parking zone.

Finally, in the image shown at the lower right, since the object on the right side is getting bigger, the parking pattern can be judged as a right turn, and the image shown on the upper right is taken by the front camera or the rear camera The parking direction can be determined as the front parking or the rear parking. When the image is photographed by the front camera, the parking zone determination unit 130 selects the identification information indicating the parking zone from the image finally obtained by the front camera, When it is photographed by a rear camera, it is determined that rear parking due to backward movement is selected, and identification information for indicating the parking zone is selected from the image finally obtained by the rear camera, thereby confirming the parking zone.

The communication unit 140 transmits guidance information for guiding the parking zone determined by the parking zone determination unit 130 to the mobile terminal 300 set in advance. Generally, the predetermined mobile terminal 300 may be a smart phone or the like used by the driver of the vehicle, but is not limited thereto. Here, the communication unit 140 communicates with the mobile terminal 300 based on short-distance wireless communication or long-distance wireless communication. Generally, the driver of the vehicle must check the parking position of the vehicle within a limited space of the parking lot, so that there will be more cases of communication based on short-range wireless communication.

At this time, the near field wireless communication can use one of Bluetooth, Zigbee, Near Field Communication (NFC), and Wibree. Wireless LAN, Wireless MAN, WiMAX, Long Term Evolution (LTE), and the like are used to transmit identification information indicating a parking zone to the mobile terminal 300 based on long- ) May be used. Of course, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that other wireless communication schemes may be employed without being limited to the above-mentioned near-field and long-distance wireless communication.

The parking zone guiding system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may be mounted on a vehicle as a separate module, but may be integrally mounted on a black box or the like installed in a vehicle. In this case, the parking zone guidance system 100 may be modularized and mounted inside a black box or the like.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of guiding a parking zone according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a detailed flowchart of a method of guiding a parking zone of FIG.

Referring to FIG. 6, after obtaining the image from the camera mounted on the vehicle (S10), identification information indicating the parking zone is recognized from the image (S20). When the parking of the vehicle is completed (S30) The parking zone of the vehicle is determined based on the identification information (S40), and guidance information for guiding the determined parking zone is transmitted to the predetermined mobile terminal (S50). At this time, the identification information is recognized (S20), and the background color of the image is filtered and deleted to recognize the identification information. Here, the identification information may include at least one of letters, numbers, symbols, or a combination thereof indicating a parking zone, or may include a QR (Quick Response) code, have.

The step S50 may transmit the guidance information by communicating with the mobile terminal based on the short-range wireless communication. Here, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Near Field Communication (NFC), and Wibree may be used for short-range wireless communication. The guidance information for guiding the parking zone transferred to the mobile terminal is displayed on the display module of the mobile terminal and provided to the user of the mobile terminal.

Referring to FIG. 7, in order to determine that parking of the vehicle is completed, an image is acquired from a camera mounted on the vehicle (S10), identification information indicating a parking zone is recognized from the image (S20) It is determined that parking of the vehicle is completed when the shift lever is in the parking mode (S32), the parking direction and the parking pattern of the vehicle are confirmed (S34), and one of the identification information is selected ), And determines the parking zone of the vehicle based on the selected identification information (S38). Then, the parking zone of the vehicle is determined (S40), and guidance information for guiding the determined parking zone is transmitted to the preset mobile terminal (S50). At this time, the parking direction may be one of front parking, rear parking, or parallel parking. Also, the parking pattern may be one of forward, reverse, left turn, right turn, or a combination thereof.

Such a parking zone guidance method can be implemented in a black box already installed in a vehicle, and thus a separate terminal or the like is not necessary, and quick commercialization is expected.

8 is a flowchart of a parking zone guidance method according to another embodiment of the present invention. 9 is a flowchart of a parking zone guidance method according to another embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a view showing a composite image in which an image including the identification information of the parking zone is displayed on the navigation image of the vehicle.

8 and 9, the portable terminal is used to guide the parking zone of the vehicle. Here, the portable terminal means all mobile devices that are portable and portable by the user. The mobile terminal 300 described above can serve as a portable terminal. For example, a smartphone, a tablet PC, or the like may be used, and it is apparent to those skilled in the art that such a device is not applicable. Specifically, when a smartphone is used, a video image of a vehicle outside the vehicle can be photographed using a camera mounted on the smartphone, and a method of guiding a parking zone can be implemented in an application installed inside the smartphone. Such an application is preferably implemented in an application that performs a black box function or a navigation function, but is not limited to such an application.

8, a method of guiding a parking area according to another embodiment of the present invention is a method of guiding a parking area of a vehicle using a portable terminal, the method comprising: acquiring an image from a camera mounted on the portable terminal; (S120). When the parking of the vehicle is completed (S130), the parking zone of the vehicle is determined based on the identification information (S140), and the determined parking zone (S150).

Here, it is preferable that the guide information is stored in the portable terminal, so that the user of the portable terminal can confirm the parking area of the vehicle at any time by checking the stored guide information.

9, a method of guiding a parking zone according to another embodiment of the present invention is a method of guiding a parking zone of a vehicle using a portable terminal, the method comprising: acquiring a video image from a camera mounted on the portable terminal; (S220). If parking of the vehicle is completed (S230), a candidate image including identification information is provided (S240). Based on the candidate image The parking area of the vehicle is determined (S250), and guidance information for guiding the determined parking area is stored (S260).

Here, it is preferable that the guide information is stored in the portable terminal, so that the user of the portable terminal can check the stored guide information at any time to check the parking area of the vehicle, and also can display the candidate image including the identification information to the portable terminal By displaying, the user of the portable terminal can select the most suitable parking zone of the vehicle. The user of the portable terminal can also select an image to be stored in the portable terminal.

Referring to FIG. 10, if the user of the portable terminal selects and stores or displays an image to be stored in the candidate image including the identification information, the image 320 including the identification information of the parking zone is displayed on the navigation image 310 So that the convenience of the user can be further increased.

Such parking zone guidance methods can be implemented in a black box application or a navigation application that can be installed in a portable terminal such as a smart phone, so there is no need for a separate terminal and there is no need for a portable terminal such as a smart phone, Is expected.

Meanwhile, the parking zone guidance method according to an embodiment of the present invention can be realized as one module by software and hardware, and the embodiments of the present invention described above can be implemented as a program that can be executed in a computer, And may be embodied in a general-purpose computer operating the program using a recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium is implemented in the form of a carrier wave such as a ROM, a floppy disk, a magnetic medium such as a hard disk, an optical medium such as a CD or a DVD, and a transmission through the Internet. In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may be distributed to a network-connected computer system so that computer-readable codes may be stored and executed in a distributed manner.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, You will understand. It is therefore to be understood that the above-described embodiments are illustrative in all aspects and not restrictive.

100: Parking area guidance system
110: Image acquisition unit 120: Identification information recognition unit
130: parking zone determination unit 140: communication unit
200: camera 300: mobile terminal

Claims (8)

An image acquisition unit for acquiring an image from a camera mounted on the vehicle;
Identifying identification information including at least one of a character, a number, a symbol, a QR code, or a combination thereof indicating a parking zone from the image, filtering and deleting the ground color of the image, part;
A parking zone determination unit that determines that parking of the vehicle is completed when the shift lever of the vehicle is in the parking mode and determines a parking area of the vehicle based on the identification information; And
And a communication unit for transmitting guidance information for guiding the determined parking zone to a predetermined mobile terminal,
Wherein the parking zone determination unit determines the parking direction and the parking pattern of the vehicle according to the change of the object included in the image obtained by the image obtaining unit in a time series manner, And one of the identification information recognized by the recognition unit is selected and fixed to the parking zone. The method according to claim 1,
The parking zone determination unit determines,
And determines the parking direction as any one of a front parking, a rear parking, and a parallel parking in accordance with a change of an object included in the time-lapse image. The method according to claim 1,
The parking zone determination unit determines,
And determines the parking pattern as at least one of forward, backward, leftward, and rightward turning according to a change of an object included in the time-series acquired image. An image acquiring step of acquiring an image from a camera;
Determining that parking of the vehicle is completed when the vehicle speed change barrier is in the parking mode;
Determining a parking direction and a parking pattern of the vehicle according to a size change of the object included in the image when the obtained images are listed in a time series;
Selecting an acquired image including identification information composed of at least one of a letter, a number, a symbol, a QR code, or a combination thereof indicating a parking zone, with reference to a parking direction and a parking pattern of the vehicle;
Filtering and removing the background color of the selected image;
An identification information recognition step of recognizing identification information from the selected image in which the background color is deleted; And
And determining a parking zone of the vehicle based on the recognized identification information.
How to guide parking areas. 5. The method of claim 4,
The camera is a camera mounted on a vehicle,
The parking zone determination step includes:
Further comprising a transmitting step of transmitting guidance information for guiding the determined parking zone to an external device,
How to guide parking areas. 5. The method of claim 4,
The camera is a portable terminal,
The parking zone determination step includes:
Further comprising the step of storing guidance information for guiding the determined parking zone to the portable terminal,
How to guide parking areas. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the parking direction is one of a front parking, a rear parking, or a parallel parking,
How to guide parking areas.
5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the parking pattern is one of a forward, a reverse, a left turn, a right turn,
How to guide parking areas.

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