KR20150044482A - Device for parking assist of vehicle and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a parking assist device and an operating method thereof. The parking assist device comprises: a sensor unit generating and transmitting a sensing beam by the synthesis of ultrasonic signals respectively generated from a plurality of ultrasonic sensors which are arranged at a consistent distance; a storage unit wherein each signal phase information of the sensors for generating the sensing beam is stored by an angle of the sensing beam; and a control unit generating the sensing beam by controlling a phase of the ultrasonic signals respectively generated through the sensors by using the signal phase information stored in the storage unit, and sensing an obstacle around a vehicle while changing the angle of the sensing beam.

Description

 Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parking assist device,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a parking assist device and a method thereof, and more particularly to a technique for assisting parking of a vehicle by changing a beam angle for detecting an obstacle.

In recent years, a vehicle bumper is equipped with a vehicle obstacle detection device, that is, a parking assist system (PAS), to prevent a safety accident caused by collision with an obstacle or a person when the vehicle is backed up or parked. The parking assist system senses the presence of an obstacle in the vicinity of the vehicle and informs the driver of the presence of an obstacle by an alarm sound or an indicator. Ultrasonic sensors are mainly used for such parking assist systems. The parking assist system transmits the ultrasonic wave through the ultrasonic sensor and receives the ultrasonic signal reflected from the obstacle to determine the approach direction and the approach distance of the obstacle existing around the vehicle (mainly, the rear). When the obstacle approaches within a certain distance, the parking assist system provides the driver with information about the presence of the obstacle, thereby preventing safety accidents such as various contact accidents.

Specifically, the parking assist system receives an operation command from the BCM (Body Control Module) when the gear of the vehicle is located at the R-end. When an operation command is received from the BCM, the parking assist system initiates communication between the plurality of sensors in the rear and the corresponding ASIC of each sensor. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, each of a plurality of ultrasonic sensors (for example, four ultrasonic sensors) receives a frequency signal corresponding to the resonance frequency of the ultrasonic sensor cell in the corresponding ASIC, and transmits the sound wave by the piezoelectric effect. At this time, the parking assist system transmits and receives the ultrasonic waves with a time difference according to the operation order of each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors received from the BCM. The parking assist system detects the obstacles by using the signals received by each sensor, and displays 1, 2, and 3 alarms and display on the cluster.

The beam angle of each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors used in the conventional parking assist system has a wide beam angle of 100 degrees horizontally and 40 degrees diopter on the basis of a range of -6 dB or more (50% of the reference voltage). The ultrasonic sensor having such a wide beam angle detects a wide range due to its wide detection range, but it can easily cause external noise (noise of wind, motorcycle, bus, etc.) to flow into it, which causes malfunction of the parking assist system. In addition, a parking assist system using an ultrasonic sensor having a wide beam angle is difficult to detect long-distance obstacles due to poor linearity of ultrasonic waves.

An object of the present invention is to provide a technical solution for detecting an obstacle of a vehicle by using an ultrasonic sensor having a narrow beam angle.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a parking assisting device for transmitting a sensing beam generated by combining ultrasound signals generated from a plurality of ultrasonic sensors arrayed at regular intervals, A storage unit for storing the phase information of the ultrasonic signals of the plurality of sensors for generating the sensing beam in units of angles of the sensing beams and an angle sensor for sensing the angle of the sensing beam using the phase information stored in the storage unit, And a control unit for generating a plurality of the detection beams and confirming existence of an obstacle around the vehicle using a reflection signal received through the sensor unit.

Here, the controller changes the angle of the sensing beam to detect the obstacle so that the sensing beam moves from one side to the other side of the left or right side.

In addition, the controller may change the sensing beam angle by adjusting the phase of a signal generated in each of the plurality of sensors using a phase shift element, or the controller may control the generation time of the ultrasonic signals of the plurality of sensors And changes the detection beam angle.

Also, the controller calculates the position coordinates of the obstacle based on the angle of the sensing beam transmitted through the sensor unit and the reflection signal thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a parking assisting method using a parking assisting device in which a sensing beam angle for detecting an obstacle is changed from one side of the left or right side to the other side, Detecting the obstacle of the obstacle, calculating the position coordinates of the obstacle to be sensed, and acquiring the parking space using the calculated position coordinates of the obstacle.

Here, the sensing may include reading phase information of an ultrasonic signal generated by each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors corresponding to the detected beam angle from a memory, and reading the phase information of the ultrasonic signals through each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors using the read phase information. And modifying the beam angle by adjusting the phase of the ultrasonic signal to be emitted.

The modifying may include modifying the sensing beam angle by adjusting the phase of the ultrasonic signal generated by each of the plurality of sensors using a phase shift element, And controlling the generation time to change the beam angle.

According to the present invention, the ultrasonic signals generated from each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors are synthesized to generate one sensing beam for sensing an obstacle, and a plurality of sensing beams are generated while changing the angle of the sensing beam, The detection performance can be improved as compared with the conventional obstacle detection through a single sensor. Also, by generating a detection beam only in a desired direction according to a driver's selection, an obstacle can be detected in a specific direction in a detailed manner.

In addition, by using a sensor having a beam angle narrower than that of the ultrasonic sensor used in the conventional parking assist system, the probability of inflow of ambient noise is lowered, and the obstacle located at a long distance can be detected because of strong directivity.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional parking assist system;
2 is a block diagram of a parking assist device according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a control unit of a parking assist device according to the present invention.
FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary signal phase of the sensor according to an angle of an obstacle detection beam generated according to the present invention. FIG.
5 is an exemplary view showing a sensing beam generated according to an angle change of an obstacle sensing beam according to the present invention;
FIG. 6 is an exemplary view of a display of a parking available space provided to a driver according to the present invention; FIG.
7 is a flowchart of a method of detecting an obstacle of a parking assist device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The foregoing and further aspects of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is a block diagram of a parking assist device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown, the parking assisting device 10 includes a sensor unit 110, a storage unit 120, and a control unit 130.

The sensor unit 110 includes a plurality of ultrasonic sensors mounted at predetermined positions outside the vehicle (for example, front and rear bumper of the vehicle) for transmitting a detection signal for detecting an obstacle and receiving a reflection signal therefrom . The sensor unit 110 transmits a sensing signal (sensing beam) synthesized with ultrasonic signals generated from a plurality of ultrasonic sensors, and receives a reflection signal therefrom. For example, the sensor unit 110 may include four ultrasonic sensors mounted at regular intervals in the rear of the vehicle as illustrated in FIG. As another example, the sensor unit 110 may include four ultrasonic sensors mounted in front of the vehicle. At this time, each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors may have a narrower beam angle than that of the ultrasonic sensor used in a parking assist system (PAS), and may be an ultrasonic sensor using a frequency band of 40 kHz or more, for example.

For convenience of explanation of the present invention, the following plurality of ultrasonic sensors will be described with reference to a plurality of ultrasonic sensors mounted on the rear of the vehicle, and a plurality of other ultrasonic sensors (for example, The present invention can be applied to the same sensor.

The storage unit 120 is a storage unit for storing data, and may be a flash memory. In the storage unit 120, signal phase information of the sensor unit 110 for each angle of the sensing beam is stored. Here, the signal phase information may be the phase information of the ultrasonic signal generated in each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors included in the sensor unit 110.

For example, in the storage unit 120, phase information of ultrasound signals of a plurality of ultrasonic sensors is stored for five sensing beam angles of -60 °, -30 °, 0 °, 30 °, and 60 ° around the vehicle . 4 (a), when the angle of the detection beam for detecting the obstacle is to be 30 degrees (-30 degrees) to the left with respect to the center of the vehicle, The phase information of the ultrasonic signal of the ultrasonic sensor of the present invention may be 0,?, 2 ?, 3 ?, respectively. 4 (b), when the detection beam angle for detecting an obstacle is to be generated at the center (0 deg.) Based on the vehicle, the phase of the ultrasound signals of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors stored in the storage unit 120 The information may all be zero. That is, the signal phase of each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors is stored in the storage unit 120 for each angle of the sensing beam so that a sensing beam having an angle to be generated is generated.

On the other hand, the signal phase of each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors according to the sense beam angle can be calculated by Equation (1).

Where d is the distance of the sensor relative to the center of the vehicle,? Is the sense beam angle, and? Is the wavelength of the ultrasonic signal of the sensor. As described above, the phase information of each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors for each sensing beam angle may be preset and stored in the storage unit 120.

The control unit 130 may be a control unit for controlling the overall processor of the parking assist device 10. For example, the control unit 130 may be implemented in a body control module (BCM) for controlling the overall length of the parking assisting device for a vehicle. Alternatively, the control unit 130 may be a separate control unit that operates the overall processor of the parking assist device 10 by receiving the parking assist operation command through the LIN communication from the body control module. In this case, the control unit 130 may be a PAS ASIC (Application Specifoc Integrated Circuit) including an LIN transmission / reception module for LIN communication with the body control module, an AMP, and an MCU (Machine Control Unit) . In addition, the controller 130 may include a MUX for changing the phase of each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors.

The control unit 130 generates a detection beam for detecting an obstacle, and detects an obstacle around the vehicle while changing an angle of the detection beam. For example, the control unit 130 may detect (scan) an obstacle while moving (changing) the detection beam from the left to the right with respect to the center of the vehicle as illustrated in FIG. As another example, the control unit 130 may sense the obstacle while moving the sensing beam from the right side to the left side with respect to the center of the vehicle. Alternatively, the control unit 130 may generate only a sensing beam having an angle selected by the driver to sense an obstacle.

The control unit 130 reads the signal phase information of the sensor unit 110 corresponding to the angle of the sensing beam from the storage unit 120 to generate a sensing beam to detect an obstacle, And controls the plurality of ultrasonic sensors of the sensor unit 110 to generate ultrasonic waves.

For example, the controller 130 controls the phases of the ultrasonic signals generated by the plurality of ultrasonic sensors of the sensor unit 110 using a phase shift element so that a sensing beam angle for detecting an obstacle is generated . For example, if it is desired to generate a sensing beam angle of 30 degrees to the left of the center of the vehicle as in the case of FIG. 4A, the controller 130 controls the signal phases of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors using phase shift elements A plurality of ultrasonic sensors can be controlled so that ultrasonic signals of 0,?, 2 ?, 3? Are generated.

Alternatively, the control unit 130 may change the generation time of the ultrasonic signal generated by the plurality of ultrasonic sensors of the sensor unit 110 to generate a sensing beam having an angle to detect an obstacle. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, in order to generate a sensing beam angle of 30 degrees to the left of the center of the vehicle, the controller 130 may generate ultrasonic signals of the plurality of sensors of the sensor unit 110 A plurality of ultrasonic sensors can be controlled so that the phases of the ultrasonic signals of the plurality of sensors become 0,?, 2 ?, 3 ?, respectively.

The control unit 130 changes the angle of the sensing beam generated through the above method and detects the obstacle while moving the sensing beam as shown in FIG. In addition, the controller 130 calculates the position coordinates of the obstacle detected on the basis of the vehicle using the time of flight and the angle of the sensing beam for receiving the reflection signal for the ultrasonic signal generated through the sensor unit 110 Can be calculated.

The control unit 130 acquires a parking space (an empty space area where parking of the vehicle is possible) using the position coordinates of the obstacles thus calculated, and displays the obtained parking space as a figure (for example, a square, Oval, etc.). At this time, the control unit 130 can notify the driver of the width and depth of the parking space.

As described above, according to the present invention, the ultrasound signals generated from each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors are synthesized to generate one sensing beam for sensing an obstacle, and a plurality of sensing beams are generated while changing the angle of the sensing beam, By sensing obstacles, detection performance can be improved over obstacle detection through a single conventional sensor. Also, by generating a detection beam only in a desired direction according to a driver's selection, an obstacle can be detected in a specific direction in a detailed manner.

In addition, by using a sensor having a beam angle narrower than that of the ultrasonic sensor used in the conventional parking assist system, the probability of inflow of ambient noise is lowered, and the obstacle located at a long distance can be detected because of strong directivity.

7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of detecting an obstacle of a parking assist device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The parking assistant device 10 reads the signal phase information corresponding to the angle of the sensing beam for detecting the obstacle from the memory (S100).

Here, the sensing beam (sensing signal) refers to a beam (signal) generated by combining ultrasound signals generated from each of a plurality of ultrasonic sensors, as illustrated in FIG. 3, for sensing an obstacle. Since the angle of the sensing beam can be varied depending on the phase of the ultrasonic signal generated by each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors, the memory stores phase information of the ultrasonic signal generated by each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors for each sensing beam angle. That is, the parking assisting device 10 can read the phase information of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors corresponding to the angle of the sensing beam to be generated from the memory.

The parking assistant apparatus 10 controls the plurality of ultrasonic sensors using the signal phase information read in step S100 to generate and transmit a sensing beam (S200).

For example, the parking assisting device 10 generates and transmits a sensing beam by adjusting the phase of an ultrasonic signal generated in each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors by using a phase shift element. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, when it is desired to generate a detection beam angle of 30 degrees to the left of the center of the vehicle, the parking assist device 10 uses the phase shift element to generate the signal phases of a plurality of ultrasonic sensors A plurality of ultrasonic sensors can be controlled to generate ultrasonic signals of 0,?, 2? And 3?, Respectively.

As another example, the parking assisting device 10 may generate and transmit a sensing beam having an angle of a sensing beam to be generated by adjusting a generation time of a sensing signal generated from a plurality of ultrasonic sensors. For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, in order to generate a sensing beam angle of 30 degrees to the left of the center of the vehicle, the controller 130 may generate a sensing signal of each of a plurality of sensors of the sensor unit 110 A plurality of ultrasonic sensors can be controlled so that the phases of the sensing signals of the plurality of sensors are 0, Φ, 2Φ, and 3Φ, respectively.

The parking assist device 10 receives the reflected signal for the transmitted sensing beam and confirms the presence of the obstacle (S300).

Specifically, the parking assistant 10 can calculate the position coordinates of the obstacle by using the angle of the generated sensing beam and the reception time of the reflected signal. At this time, the parking assisting device 10 may generate an alarm sound through the vehicle speaker when the obstacle is located within a certain distance from the vehicle. In addition, the position of the obstacle can be displayed on the basis of the vehicle through a display device such as a cluster or the like, and can be displayed to the driver.

In addition, the parking assisting device 10 can repeat the above-described process while detecting the angle of the detection beam to be generated, thereby detecting an obstacle. For example, the parking assist device 10 may first read the signal phase information corresponding to the outermost left angle of the sensing beam. Assuming that the angle of the sensing beam stored in the memory stores signal phase information of a plurality of ultrasonic sensors for each sensing beam angle of -60 °, -30 °, 0 °, 30 °, and 60 ° around the vehicle, The auxiliary device 10 first reads the signal phase information corresponding to the detection beam angle of -60 degrees from the memory, generates and transmits the detection beam, and determines the presence of the obstacle by using the reflection signal therefrom. Then, the parking assisting device 10 reads the signal phase information corresponding to each angle from -30 ° to 0 ° from the memory, generates and transmits a detection beam, and uses the reflection signal to read the signal phase information, .

The parking assisting device 10 moves the sensing beam from the left to the right with respect to the vehicle as shown in FIG. 5, and confirms the existence of the obstacle around the vehicle by repeating the process of detecting the obstacle by moving the angle of the sensing beam as described above have. By repeating this process, the parking assisting device 10 confirms the presence of an obstacle around the vehicle from the leftmost outermost to the rightmost outermost right with respect to the vehicle, calculates the position coordinates of the obstacle, The space can be expressed in a graphic form and displayed on the display device and provided to the driver.

As described above, according to the present invention, the ultrasound signals generated from each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors are synthesized to generate one sensing beam for sensing an obstacle, and a plurality of sensing beams are generated while changing the angle of the sensing beam, By sensing obstacles, detection performance can be improved over obstacle detection through a single conventional sensor. Also, by generating a detection beam only in a desired direction according to a driver's selection, an obstacle can be detected in a specific direction in a detailed manner.

In addition, by using a sensor having a beam angle narrower than that of the ultrasonic sensor used in the conventional parking assist system, the probability of inflow of ambient noise is lowered, and the obstacle located at a long distance can be detected because of strong directivity.

The present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should be considered in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all differences within the scope of equivalents thereof should be construed as being included in the present invention.

10: parking assist device 110: sensor part
120: storage unit 130:

Claims (9)

A sensor unit for transmitting a sensing beam generated by combining ultrasound signals generated from a plurality of ultrasonic sensors arrayed at regular intervals and receiving a reflection signal therefrom;
A storage unit for storing the phase information of the ultrasonic signals of the plurality of sensors for generating the sensing beam for each angle of the sensing beam; And
A control unit for generating a plurality of the detection beams while changing the angle of the detection beam using the phase information stored in the storage unit and for verifying the presence of an obstacle around the vehicle using a reflection signal received through the sensor unit;
And a parking assist device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit changes the angle of the sensing beam so that the sensing beam moves from one side of the left side or the right side to the other side and detects the obstacle. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit adjusts a phase of a signal generated in each of the plurality of sensors using a phase shift element to change the detection beam angle. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the control unit changes the sensing beam angle by adjusting a generation time of an ultrasonic signal of each of the plurality of sensors. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the controller calculates the position coordinates of the obstacle based on the angle of the sensing beam transmitted through the sensor unit and the reflection signal thereof. A parking assisting method using a parking assisting device,
Detecting an obstacle around the vehicle while changing a detection beam angle for detecting the obstacle from one side of the left side or the right side to the other side;
Calculating position coordinates of the obstacle to be sensed; And
Obtaining a parking space using the calculated position coordinates of the obstacle;
And a parking assistant. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sensing comprises:
Reading phase information of an ultrasonic signal generated by each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors corresponding to the detected beam angle from a memory; And
Changing the beam angle by adjusting a phase of an ultrasonic signal emitted through each of the plurality of ultrasonic sensors using the read phase information;
Wherein the parking assistance method comprises the steps of: 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the modifying comprises:
And adjusting the phase of the ultrasonic signal generated by each of the plurality of sensors using the phase shift element to change the sensing beam angle. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the modifying comprises:
And controlling the generation time of the ultrasonic signals of each of the plurality of sensors to change the beam angle.

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