The invention relates to an apparatus and a method for per ^¬ forming parking assistance during a parking maneuver of a vehicle .

In many situations, the driver of a vehicle such as a car or a truck has to perform parking maneuvers . After having parked the vehicle in a parking space or parking lot, the parked ve ^¬ hicle may be too close to other objects so that it becomes difficult for passengers of the vehicle to open the vehicle doors sufficiently to leave the car. Further, the doors of the vehicle when opened may damage other objects such as oth ^¬ er vehicles in close vicinity of the parked vehicle. Moreo ^¬ ver, a vehicle door opened by a passenger touching another object can be damaged itself.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to pro ^¬ vide an apparatus and a method which assists the driver of the vehicle when performing a parking maneuver to avoid damages when opening the vehicle doors and to maximize available space for a passenger leaving or entering the vehicle.

This object is achieved according to a first aspect of the present invention by a parking assistance system for a vehicle comprising the features of claim 1.

The invention provides according to a first aspect a parking assistance system for a vehicle comprising

surround sensors adapted to provide sensor data of the vehi ^¬ cle's surrounding,

internal sensors adapted to detect a seat occupancy of pas ^¬ senger seats within the passenger room of the vehicle, a data memory storing a vehicle data model of the vehicle in ^¬ cluding positions of vehicle doors in the vehicle's chassis and

a processing unit adapted to process the sensor data received from the surround sensors to calculate an occupancy grid map of the vehicle's surrounding and further adapted to calculate disembarking distances for the vehicle doors depending on the vehicle data model, the occupancy grid map and the detected seat occupancy.

In a possible embodiment of the parking assistance system ac ^¬ cording to the first aspect of the present invention, the parking assistance system further comprises a display adapted to display the calculated disembarking distances during a parking maneuver of the vehicle.

In a further possible embodiment of the parking assistance system according to the first aspect of the present inven ^¬ tion, the parking assistance system further comprises a control unit adapted to control a parking maneuver of the vehi ^¬ cle in response to the calculated disembarking distances.

In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in ^¬ vention, the vehicle data memory is a configurable vehicle data memory including the dimensions of the vehicle's chas ^¬ sis, the positions of the vehicle doors in the vehicle's chassis, the length of the vehicle doors and maximum opening angles of the vehicle doors.

In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in- vention, the internal sensors are located in the passenger room of the vehicle.

In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in ^¬ vention, the internal sensors comprise seat sensors integrat ^¬ ed in passenger seats and/or seatbelt sensors.

In a further possible embodiment of the parking assistance system according to the first aspect of the present inven ^¬ tion, the internal sensors comprise at least one internal camera adapted to capture camera images of the passenger room.

In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in ^¬ vention, the seat sensors are adapted to provide sensor occu ^¬ pancy data indicating whether the corresponding passenger seats are occupied by a person.

In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in ^¬ vention, the internal sensors further provide sensor weight data indicating a weight and/or an approximate size of per ^¬ sons occupying passenger seats.

In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in ^¬ vention, the processing unit receives further sensor data of child lock sensors indicating whether a child lock at a corresponding vehicle door has been activated. In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in ^¬ vention, the surround sensors comprise surround view cameras and/or ultrasonic sensors.

In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in ^¬ vention, the processing unit is adapted to evaluate the cal ^¬ culated disembarking distances when the parked vehicle comes to a stand and to output an acoustic and/or an optical warn ^¬ ing signal if the calculated disembarking distances are lower than predetermined minimum disembarking distance threshold values .

In a still further possible embodiment of the parking assis ^¬ tance system according to the first aspect of the present in ^¬ vention, a vehicle door of the parked vehicle opened by a passenger is locked at a maximum admissible opening angle de ^¬ pending on the calculated disembarking distance at the re ^¬ spective vehicle door.

The invention further provides according to a second aspect a method for performing parking assistance during a parking maneuver of a vehicle comprising the features of claim 13.

The invention provides according to the second aspect a meth ^¬ od for performing parking assistance during a parking maneuver of a vehicle, wherein the method comprises the following steps :

providing an occupancy grid map of the vehicle's surround ^¬ ings ,

detecting a seat occupancy of passenger seats within the pas ^¬ senger room of the vehicle and calculating disembarking distances for the vehicle doors of the vehicle depending on the occupancy grid map of the vehi ^¬ cle's surrounding, the detected seat occupancy of the passen ^¬ ger seats and depending on a vehicle data model of the vehi ^¬ cle including positions of the vehicle doors in the vehicle's chassis .

In a possible embodiment of the method according to the se ^¬ cond aspect of the present invention, the calculated disem ^¬ barking distances are displayed during a parking maneuver of the vehicle.

In a further possible embodiment of the method according to the second aspect of the present invention, the parking ma ^¬ neuver of the vehicle is controlled in response to the calcu ^¬ lated disembarking distances.

In a still further possible embodiment of the method accord ^¬ ing to the second aspect of the present invention, the calcu ^¬ lated disembarking distances are evaluated when the parked vehicle comes to a stand and an acoustic and/or optical warn ^¬ ing signal is output if the calculated disembarking distances are lower than predetermined minimum disembarking distance threshold values.

In the following, possible embodiments of the different as ^¬ pects of the present invention are described with reference to the enclosed figures in more detail.

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a possible exemplary embodiment of a parking assistance system ac ^¬ cording to the first aspect of the present invention ; Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram for illustrating a possible exemplary embodiment of a parking assistance system according to the first as ^¬ pect of the present invention;

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a possible exemplary em ^¬ bodiment of a method for performing parking assistance during a parking maneuver of a vehicle according to the second aspect of the present invention;

Figures 4A, 4B show schematically an exemplary parking maneuver for illustrating the operation of a parking assistance system according to the first aspect of the present invention;

Figure 5 shows a further schematic diagram for illus ^¬ trating a possible exemplary embodiment of a parking assistance system according to the present invention;

Figure 6 shows a further schematic diagram for illus ^¬ trating the operation of a possible exemplary embodiment of a parking assistance system ac ^¬ cording to the first aspect of the present invention .

As can be seen in Figure 1, a parking assistance system 1 ac ^¬ cording to the first aspect of the present invention compris ^¬ es in the illustrated embodiment at least one surround sensor 2 adapted to provide sensor data of the vehicle's surround ^¬ ing. The parking assistance system 1 can form part of a driv- er assistance system of the vehicle VEH. In a possible embod ^¬ iment, the surround sensors 2 can comprise surround view cam ^¬ eras and/or ultrasonic sensors. The parking assistance system 1 comprises a processing unit 3 adapted to process the sensor data received from the surround sensors 2 to calculate an oc ^¬ cupancy grid map OGM of the vehicle's surrounding. The calcu ^¬ lated occupancy grid map OGM can be stored in a memory 4 of the parking assistance system 1.

The parking assistance system 1 further comprises internal sensors 5 adapted to detect a seat occupancy SO of passenger seats within the passenger room PR of the vehicle VEH. In a possible embodiment, the internal sensors 5 comprise seat sensors 5A, 5B integrated in the passenger seats. In a fur ^¬ ther possible embodiment, the internal sensors 5 can also comprise at least one internal camera 5C adapted to capture camera images of the passenger room PR. For evaluating the camera images CI captured by the internal camera 5C the image processing entity of the processing unit 3 is adapted to ex ^¬ tract features from the captured images CI to detect persons sitting within the passenger room PR and to detect a seat occupancy SO of the passenger seats within the passenger room PR of the vehicle VEH. In a possible embodiment, the seat sensors 5A, 5B are integrated in passenger seats 9A, 9B and can provide sensor occupancy data indicating, whether the corresponding passenger seat 9A, 9B is occupied by a person P. In a further possible embodiment, the seat sensors inte ^¬ grated in the passenger seats can provide sensor weight data indicating a weight and/or an approximate size of persons P occupying the corresponding passenger seats.

The parking assistance system 1 as illustrated in Figure 1 further comprises a data memory 6 adapted to store a vehicle data model VDM of the vehicle VEH including positions of ve ^¬ hicle doors VDs in the vehicle's chassis. In a possible em ^¬ bodiment, the vehicle data model VDM stored in the data memory 6 is configurable via a data interface of the system.

The processing unit 3 of the parking assistance system 1 is adapted to process the sensor data received from the surround sensors 2 to calculate the occupancy grid map OGM of the ve ^¬ hicle' s surrounding stored in the memory 4 and is further adapted to calculate disembarking distances for the vehicle doors VDs of the vehicle VEH depending on the stored vehicle data model VDM, the current occupancy grid map OGM and the current detected seat occupancy SO of the passenger seats within the passenger room PR.

In a possible embodiment, the parking assistance system 1 can further comprise a display 7 adapted to display the calculat ^¬ ed disembarking distances during a parking maneuver of the vehicle VEH. In a final phase of the parking maneuver, the driver of the vehicle VEH can monitor the disembarking distances calculated by the processing unit 3 and displayed to the driver on the display 7. When the vehicle VEH comes to a stand the available disembarking distances are displayed to the driver so that he can decide whether the position of the vehicle VEH allows a disembarking of all passengers P within the vehicle VEH. In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 1, the parking assistance system 1 comprises a steering control unit 8 which can perform a steering control for steering support of the vehicle VEH during the parking maneuver. In a possible embodiment, the steering control unit is adapted to control the parking maneuver of the vehicle VEH in response to the calculated disembarking distances provided by the pro ^¬ cessing unit 3. The vehicle data model VDM stored in the memory 6 is in a preferred embodiment a configurable vehicle data model corre ^¬ sponding to the type of the vehicle VEH including dimensions of the vehicle's chassis, in particular the positions of the vehicle doors VDs in the vehicle's chassis. The vehicle data model VDM further includes in a possible embodiment the length of the vehicle doors and/or the maximum opening angles of the vehicle doors.

In a possible embodiment, the processing unit 3 is adapted to evaluate the calculated disembarking distances when the parked vehicle VEH comes to a stand and to output an acoustic and/or an optical warning signal via a user interface if the calculated disembarking distances are lower than predetermined minimum disembarking distance threshold values. In a possible embodiment, a vehicle door VD of the parked vehicle opened by a passenger P is locked at a maximum admissible opening angle depending on the calculated disembarking distance of the respective vehicle door. The maximum admissible opening angle can be calculated by the processing unit 3 on the basis of the vehicle data of the vehicle data model VDM, in particular on the basis of the vehicle door positions within the vehicle's chassis and the individual length of the vehicle door. In a possible embodiment, the processing unit 3 receives further sensor data of child lock sensors indicating whether a child lock at a corresponding vehicle door has been activated. In a further possible embodiment, the internal sensors 5 can comprise seat belt sensors indicating the pres ^¬ ence of a passenger P in a corresponding passenger seat. By evaluating the sensor data received by the internal sensors 5 comprising seat sensors integrated in passenger seats and/or seat belt sensors and/or by evaluating camera images CI gen- erated by internal cameras capturing camera images of the passenger room PR the processing unit 3 can detect which seats in the passenger room PR are occupied and which seats are not occupied. Internal sensors 5 in a possible embodiment provide additional sensor data indicating a weight and/or an approximate size of persons P occupying passenger seats with ^¬ in the passenger room PR.

Figure 2 illustrates schematically a passenger room PR of a vehicle VEH having internal sensors comprising seat sensors 5A, 5B integrated in passenger seats 9A, 9B occupied by pas ^¬ sengers P _A , P _B - The first passenger in the front row P _A is the driver of the vehicle VEH and steering the vehicle VEH during a parking maneuver. The internal sensors 5 further comprise an internal camera 5C adapted to capture camera images CI of the passenger room PR. The sensor data generated by the internal sensors 5A, 5B, 5C are supplied to the processing unit 3 and processed to determine a seat occupancy SO of the pas ^¬ senger seats within the passenger room PR.

Figure 3 shows a flowchart for illustrating a possible exem ^¬ plary embodiment of the method according to an aspect of the present invention.

In a first step SI, an occupancy grid map OGM of the vehi ^¬ cle's surrounding is provided.

In a further step S2, a seat occupancy SO of passenger seats within the passenger room PR of the vehicle VEH is detected.

In a third step S3, disembarking distances of the vehicle doors VDs of the vehicle VEH are calculated depending on the occupancy grid map OGM of the vehicle's surrounding, the de- tected seat occupancy SO of the passenger seats and depending on the vehicle data model VDM of the vehicle VEH including positions of the vehicle doors VDs within the vehicle's chas ^¬ sis.

Disembarking distances calculated in step S3 can be displayed during a parking maneuver of the vehicle VEH. Further, the calculated disembarking distances can be used to control or influence a parking maneuver in response to the calculated disembarking distances during the parking maneuver.

The calculated disembarking distances can be evaluated when the parked vehicle VEH comes to a stand and can be compared to stored minimum disembarking distance threshold values. If the calculated disembarking distances, after the parking ma ^¬ neuver has been finished and the vehicle VEH comes to a stand, are lower than predetermined minimum disembarking distance threshold values, an acoustic and/or an optical warning signal can be output in a possible embodiment.

Figure 4A shows schematically a parking maneuver of a vehicle VEH for illustrating the operation of a parking assistance system 1 according to the present invention. As shown in Figure 4A, the vehicle VEH comprising the parking assistance system 1 transports two passengers P _A , P _B and is driven by the driver P _A sitting in the driver' s seat into a parking space or parking lot between another vehicle VEH' and another obstacle such as a wall W. In the illustrated embodiment, the detected seat occupancy SO indicates that both passengers P _A , P _B sit on the left side within the passenger room PR, i.e. the side of the driver's seat. The parking assistance system 1 according to the present invention supports the parking ma ^¬ neuvers such that the vehicle VEH is parked closer to the wall W on the right side so that both passengers P _A , P _B can disembark the vehicle VEH more easily by opening the vehicle doors VD1, VD2 at a maximum possible opening angle as shown in Figure 4A. As can be seen in Figure 4A, the distance d _R between the wall W and the vehicle's chassis is smaller than the distance d _L on the left side between the other vehicle VEH' parked on the left and the vehicle VEH. In this way, the available distance D of the parking space is used in an opti ^¬ mal way and both passengers P _A , P _B can leave the vehicle VEH with maximum comfort. Moreover, the risk that another vehicle VEH' is damaged by the opened vehicle doors is minimized.

Figure 4B illustrates the same parking maneuver as in Figure 4A with a different seat occupancy SO. In this example, the second passenger P _B sits besides the driver in front of the passenger room. In this case, the parking assistance system 1 according to the present invention supports the driving ma ^¬ neuver such that the vehicle VEH is parked in the center be ^¬ tween the obstacles defining the parking space. After the parking maneuver, the vehicle VEH is parked such that the distance to the left obstacle d _L is equal to the distance d _R to the right obstacle W.

Figure 5 shows schematically a vehicle VEH comprising a park ^¬ ing assistance system 1 according to the present invention having four vehicle doors VD1, VD2, VD3, VD4. In a possible embodiment, a vehicle door VD of the parked vehicle VEH opened by a passenger P is locked automatically at a maximum admissible opening angle a depending on the calculated disem ^¬ barking distance at the respective vehicle door VD. As shown in the example of Figure 4, because of the close wall W the maximum admissible opening angle of the vehicle doors VD2, VD4 on the right side of the parked vehicle VEH is smaller than the maximum admissible angle of the other two vehicle doors VD1, VD3 on the left side of the vehicle's chassis. Ac ^¬ cordingly, passengers P leaving the vehicle VEH on the left side have a maximum available space, thus increasing the com ^¬ fort of the passengers. By locking the vehicle doors VD2, VD4 at a maximum admissible opening angle on the right side of the vehicle's chassis it is avoided that the vehicle doors VD2, VD4 touch the wall W and can be damaged.

Figure 6 shows a further schematic diagram for illustrating a further possible embodiment of the parking assistance system 1 according to the present invention. In the illustrated ex ^¬ ample, the passenger P _A driving the car is an adult accompa ^¬ nied by a smaller person such as a child P _B . In a possible embodiment, this is detected by the parking assistance system 1 by evaluating sensor weight data indicating a weight of a person P provided for instance by seat sensors integrated in passenger seats. Further, a camera image CI of the passenger room can be evaluated to detect an approximate size of a per ^¬ son P occupying the passenger seats. Depending on the detected size of the person, the parking assistance system 1 calcu ^¬ lates necessary opening angles of the vehicle doors which still allow the person P to leave the car. In the example shown in Figure 6, the vehicle door VD1 on the left side of the vehicle, i.e. on the driver's side, can be opened to a larger extent with a greater opening angle _L than the other vehicle door VD2 on the right side of the vehicle VEH where the small person P _B leaves the vehicle VEH. In the example shown in Figure 6, the parking assistance system 1 will during a parking maneuver assist the driver in parking the vehicle VEH more to the right side leaving more space for the adult driver P _A than for the child P _B which needs less room to leave the car or vehicle VEH. The method and apparatus ac- cording to the present invention improves the safety during parking maneuvers and increases the comfort of passengers P entering or leaving a vehicle VEH. The parking of the vehicl VEH too close to other objects or obstacles is avoided and the risk of damages caused by opening doors of the vehicle touching other objects or obstacles is reduced.

REFERENCE SIGNS

1 parking assistance system

2 surround sensors

3 processing unit

4 memory

5 internal sensors

5A, 5B seat sensors

5C camera

6 memory

7 display

8 steering control

9A, 9B passenger seats

VEH vehicle

P passenger

VD vehicle door