US-12625261-B2 - Determining method and apparatus for obstacles around the parking path and surrounding using ultrasonic waves

US12625261B2US 12625261 B2US12625261 B2US 12625261B2US-12625261-B2

Abstract

A determining method for obstacles includes determining whether an ultrasonic noise exists in TOF of an ultrasonic wave reflected by an object and received; generating a virtual object on an outline of a parking path that a vehicle is to move on based on the received ultrasonic wave TOF; generating virtual indirect wave TOF using the virtual object; and determining whether the object is located inside or outside the outline of the parking path by comparing real indirect wave TOF, which is indirect wave TOF among the received ultrasonic wave TOFs, with the virtual indirect wave TOF.

Inventors

Kang Hee KIM

Assignees

HYUNDAI MOBIS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20240717
Priority Date: 20211201

Claims (15)

1 . A determining method for obstacles on and around a parking path that a vehicle is to move on, the method comprising: determining whether an ultrasonic noise exists in time of flights (TOFs) of ultrasonic waves reflected by an object and received by evaluating dynamic noise based on vehicle speed and an ultrasonic update cycle, and static noise based on the distance between sensors; generating a virtual object on an outline of the parking path based on a received ultrasonic wave time of flight (TOF) when no ultrasonic noise exists; generating a virtual indirect wave TOF using the virtual object; and determining whether the object is located inside or outside the outline of the parking path by considering the relative positions of the sensors along the parking path and comparing a real indirect wave TOF, which is an indirect wave TOF among the received ultrasonic wave TOFs, to the virtual indirect wave TOF; wherein, in determining whether an ultrasonic noise exists, it is determined that no ultrasonic noise exists when both a direct wave TOF and the indirect wave TOF exist and neither a dynamic noise nor a static noise exists in the received ultrasonic wave TOFs; wherein it is determined that the static noise is generated when: |direct wave hTOF−indirect wave hTOF|>distance between sensors/2 where: hTOF=TOF/2 and distance between sensors: distance between a sensor emitting and receiving a direct wave and a sensor receiving an indirect wave.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein it is determined that the dynamic noise is generated when: d (direct wave hTOF)> Vdt, where: direct wave hTOF=direct wave TOF/2, d (direct wave hTOF)=direct wave hTOFt=n−direct wave hTOFt=n−1 [m], V: vehicle speed, and dt: ultrasonic update cycle [ms].
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein it is determined that the dynamic noise is generated by comparing a change in direct wave hTOF with the vehicle's travel distance over a same period of time.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein it is determined that the static noise is generated by comparing a distance between a sensor emitting and receiving a direct wave and a sensor receiving an indirect wave and a difference between direct wave hTOF and indirect wave hTOF.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual object is generated at an intersection in which a circle having a center at a position of a sensor emitting and receiving a direct wave and a radius of a direct wave hTOF crosses the outline of the parking path.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the virtual indirect wave TOF is calculated as a sum of a straight line connecting a position of the sensor emitting and receiving the direct wave to the virtual object and a straight line connecting the virtual object to a position of a sensor receiving the indirect wave.
7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein, in determining whether the object is located inside or outside the outline of the parking path, when the sensor emitting and receiving the direct wave is located on an outer side of the parking path, compared with the sensor receiving the indirect wave, it is determined that the object is located outside the outline of the parking path if the real indirect wave TOF is greater than the virtual indirect wave TOF and that the object is located inside the outline of the parking path if the real indirect wave TOF is equal to or less than the virtual indirect wave TOF.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of sensors mounted in the vehicle sequentially emit ultrasonic waves and the step of determining whether the ultrasonic noise exists to the step of determining whether the object is located inside or outside the outline of the parking path are repeatedly performed by two adjacent sensors each time the respective sensors emit the ultrasonic waves.
9 . A determining apparatus for obstacles on and around a parking path that a vehicle is to move on, the apparatus comprising: a noise determination unit determining whether an ultrasonic noise exists in time of flights (TOFs) of ultrasonic waves reflected by an object and received by evaluating dynamic noise based on vehicle speed and an ultrasonic update cycle, and static noise based on the distance between sensors; a virtual object generation unit generating a virtual object on an outline of the parking path based on the received ultrasonic wave time of flight (TOF) when the noise determination unit determines that no ultrasonic noise exists; a virtual indirect wave generation unit generating a virtual indirect wave TOF using the virtual object generated by the virtual object generation unit; and an object location determination unit determining whether the object is located inside or outside the outline of the parking path by considering the relative positions of the sensors along the parking path and comparing a real indirect wave TOF, which is an indirect wave TOF among the received ultrasonic wave TOFs, to a virtual indirect wave TOF generated by the virtual indirect wave generation unit; wherein the noise determination unit includes a dynamic noise determination unit and a static noise determination unit and determines that no ultrasonic noise exists when both a direct wave TOF and the indirect wave TOF exist and neither a dynamic noise nor a static noise exists in the received ultrasonic wave TOFs; wherein the static noise determination unit is configured to determine that the static noise is generated when: |direct wave hTOF−indirect wave hTOF|>distance between sensors/2 where: distance between sensors: distance between a sensor emitting and receiving the direct wave and a sensor receiving the indirect wave.
10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the dynamic noise determination unit is configured to determine that the dynamic noise is generated when: d (direct wave hTOF)> Vdt where: direct wave hTOF=direct wave TOF/2, d (direct wave hTOF)=direct wave hTOFten−direct wave hTOFt=n−1 [m], V: vehicle speed, and dt: ultrasonic update cycle [ms].
11 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the dynamic noise determination unit is configured to determine that the dynamic noise is generated by comparing a change in direct wave hTOF with the vehicle's travel distance over a same period of time.
12 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the static noise determination unit is configured to determine that the static noise is generated by comparing a distance between a sensor emitting and receiving a direct wave and a sensor receiving an indirect wave and a difference between direct wave hTOF and indirect wave hTOF.
13 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the virtual object generation unit generates the virtual object at an intersection in which a circle having a center at a position of a sensor emitting and receiving a direct wave and a radius of a direct wave hTOF crosses the outline of the parking path.
14 . The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the virtual indirect wave generation unit calculates the indirect wave TOF as a sum of a straight line connecting a position of the sensor emitting and receiving the direct wave to the virtual object and a straight line connecting the virtual object to a position of a sensor receiving the indirect wave.
15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein, when the sensor emitting and receiving the direct wave is located on an outer side of the parking path, compared with the sensor receiving the indirect wave, the object location determination unit determines that the object is located outside the outline of the parking path if the indirect wave TOF is greater than the virtual indirect wave TOF and that the object is located inside the outline of the parking path if the real indirect wave TOF is equal to or less than the virtual indirect wave TOF.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 17/653,246, filed Mar. 2, 2022, which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0170128, filed Dec. 1, 2021, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technology for determining whether an obstacle on and around a parking path is located in the parking path of the vehicle using ultrasonic waves. Description of the Related Art A plurality of ultrasonic sensors are mounted in a vehicle for detecting objects close to the vehicle in a situation such as parking. For example, a plurality of ultrasonic sensors are installed to be horizontally spaced apart from each other on a front bumper, a rear bumper, and the like of the vehicle. The ultrasonic sensors detect objects by emitting ultrasonic waves and then receiving the ultrasonic waves reflected by the objects. The matters described above as a technical background are intended only for a better understanding of the background of the present invention and are not to be taken as acknowledgment that they pertain to the conventional art already known to those skilled in the art. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a determining method and apparatus for obstacles on and around a parking path using ultrasonic waves for determining whether an obstacle on and around a parking path that a vehicle is to move on for parking exists inside or outside the parking path of the vehicle using ultrasonic sensors mounted in the vehicle, thereby allowing execution of smoother and safer parking. In order to achieve the object described above, a determining method for obstacles on and around a parking path using ultrasonic waves according to the present invention includes determining whether an ultrasonic noise exists in the time of flights (TOFs) of the ultrasonic waves reflected by an object and received; generating a virtual object on an outline of the parking path that the vehicle is to move on based on the received ultrasonic wave TOF when no ultrasonic noise exists; generating virtual indirect wave TOF using the virtual object; and determining whether the object is located inside or outside the outline of the parking path by comparing a real indirect wave TOF, which is indirect wave TOF among the received ultrasonic wave TOFS, with the virtual indirect wave TOF. In the determining of whether an ultrasonic noise exists, it may be determined that no ultrasonic noise exists when both the direct wave TOF and the indirect wave TOF exist and neither a dynamic noise nor a static noise exists in the received ultrasonic wave TOFs. It may be determined that the dynamic noise is generated when d(direct wave hTOF)>Vdt where direct wave hTOF=direct wave TOF/2,(direct wave hTOF)=direct wave hTOFt=n−direct wave hTOFt=n-1 [m],V: vehicle speed, anddt: ultrasonic update cycle [ms]. It may be determined that the static noise is generated when |direct wave hTOF−indirect wave hTOF|>distance between sensors/2 where hTOF=TOF/2 anddistance between sensors: distance between a sensor emitting and receiving a direct wave and a sensor receiving an indirect wave. The virtual object may be generated at an intersection at which a circle having the center at a position of the sensor emitting and receiving the direct wave and the radius of the direct wave hTOF crosses the outline of the parking path. The virtual indirect wave TOF may be calculated as the sum of a straight line connecting the position of the sensor emitting and receiving the direct wave to the virtual object and a straight line connecting the virtual object to the position of the sensor receiving the indirect wave. In the determining of whether the object is located inside or outside the outline of the parking path, when the sensor emitting and receiving the direct wave is located on an outer side of the parking path, compared with the sensor receiving the indirect wave, it may be determined that the object is located outside the outline of the parking path if the real indirect wave TOF is greater than the virtual indirect wave TOF and that the object is located inside the outline of the parking path if the real indirect wave TOF is equal to or less than the virtual indirect wave TOF. A plurality of sensors mounted in the vehicle may sequentially emit ultrasonic waves and the steps described above may be repeatedly performed for two adjacent sensors each time ultrasonic waves are emitted from the respective sensors. In addition, in order to achieve the object described above, determining apparatus for obstacles on and around the parking path using ultrasonic waves according to the present invention may include a noise determination unit determining whether an ultrasonic noise exists in the TOF of the ultrasonic wave reflected by an object and received; a virtual