Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Vehicle control – guidance – operation – or indication
Reexamination Certificate
2002-06-21
2004-03-23
Beaulieu, Yonel (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Vehicle control, guidance, operation, or indication
Reexamination Certificate
active
06711473
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parking assisting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a device for displaying a rear view of a vehicle on a monitor if a driver becomes unable to see a target place due to a blind spot of the vehicle when it is moving backward. For example, JP-2-036417 B discloses a rear watch monitor device for a vehicle, consisting of a television camera for taking the rear view of a vehicle, a monitor television for displaying a video image taken by this television camera, a sensor for outputting an information signal relating to a tire steering angle and a circuit for generating a marker signal in response to an information signal from the sensor and superimposing by displaying a marker on a television screen. In this device, steering angle data of tires and marker position data along the backward direction of a vehicle corresponding to the steeling angle are accumulated in a ROM and an estimated backward track of the vehicle corresponding to the steering angle at that time is superimposed on a video image taken by the television camera to be displayed on the television screen as a line of the marker.
According to such a device, since an estimated backward track of a vehicle corresponding to a steering angle is displayed on the screen of the monitor television together with a rear view such as a state of a road behind a vehicle when the vehicle is moving backward, a driver is able to operate a steering wheel to move the vehicle backward while keeping an eye on the television screen without turning backward.
However, when performing lateral parking or parallel parking, for example, with the conventional rear watch monitor device, it is difficult to determine when and by how much steering angle the driver should turn the steering wheel to conduct parking, by simply looking at a rear view of the vehicle and an estimated backward track of the vehicle on the television screen, thereby leading to a problem that it is impossible to attain satisfactory parking assistance.
Also, the driver has to turn the steering wheel while looking at the television screen with the conventional rear watch monitor device. However, the driver also has to check safety regarding the surroundings of a vehicle. Therefore, there is another problem in that a heavy load is placed on a driver.
Further, nowadays, a lot of vehicles install a navigation system that provides guide information for reaching the destination. Therefore, if the existing human-machine-interfaces such as a voice input, a voice output, an image display, and switches, and the existing control units of the navigation system are employed to achieve parking assistance, it is preferable in terms of the cost or the simplicity of the construction.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is therefore to provide a parking assisting device, which can properly guide the driving operations for parking without placing a heavy load on a driver and can be easily integrated with a navigation system.
For achieving the above-described object, the parking assisting device according to the present invention is characterized by comprising: a first means for detecting a yaw angle of a vehicle; a controller having a navigation function control unit and a parking assisting function control unit; a second means for determining switching from a navigation mode to a parking assisting mode; a third means for providing navigation information, as well as for setting the reference position of the yaw angle and selecting a parking mode; and a fourth means for providing parking assisting information to a driver in accordance with the vehicle position specified on the basis of the yaw angle.
The parking assisting information preferably includes information instructing a driver to move a vehicle forward or backward while keeping a constant steering angle, and to stop the vehicle and then perform steering to the opposite direction to move the vehicle backward while keeping a constant steering angle, so that the vehicle is finally parked in the target parking space.
The above-described parking assisting device may be provided with a fifth means for receiving by voice input a navigation function instruction, a setting instruction of reference position of the yaw angle, and a selection instruction of the parking mode, instead of the third means or with the third means.
Also, the controller preferably includes a voice generation function unit for giving voice-guidance on the navigation information and on the information related to the parking mode that is selected by the third means or the fifth means.
It is preferable that the third means and the fifth means can perform the selection of the parking mode, such as selecting between parallel parking and lateral parking, or selecting between left-side parking and right-side parking.
The parking assisting device may further be provided with an alarm generating sensor for giving an alarm from the fourth means.
The parking assisting device may be constructed such that it is further provided with a backward-movement shift signal detection unit, and the controller makes a judgment whether desired proper vehicle turning operations are being performed, by taking into consideration the backward-movement shift signal, and then the fourth means provides the parking assisting information indicating whether the desired, proper vehicle turning operations are being conducted.
REFERENCES:
patent: WO 01/14941 (2000-08-01), None
patent: 59-114193 (1984-07-01), None
Kimura Tomio
Shimazaki Kazunori
Yamada Satoshi
Beaulieu Yonel
Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Jidoshokki
Morgan & Finnegan , LLP
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