# US 11,993,253 B2 · Vehicle control device, vehicle control center, and parking assistance system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,993,253 B2 - Document ID: US11993253B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/055,475 - Filed: 2019-05-15 - Published: 2021-07-15 - Granted: 2024-05-28 - Earliest claimed: 2018-06-18 - Assignees: Hitachi Astemo, Ltd. - Applicants: Hitachi Automotive Systems, Ltd. - Inventors: Katsuro Watanabe; Shigenori Hayase; Shunsuke Katoh - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11993253B2 ## CPC - B60W 30/06: Automatic manoeuvring for parking - G01C 21/3697: {Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level (G01C21/3679 takes precedence)} - B60L 58/12: responding to state of charge [SoC] - B60W 50/0097: {Predicting future conditions} - B60W 50/14: Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention - G01C 21/3685: {the POI's being parking facilities} - G08G 1/14: indicating individual free spaces in parking areas - G08G 1/143: {inside the vehicles} - G08G 1/144: {on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]} - G08G 1/146: {where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space} - B60L 2240/12: Speed - B60L 2260/32: Auto pilot mode - B60L 2260/52: drive range estimation, e.g. of estimation of available travel distance - B60W 2050/146: {Display means} - B60W 2510/244: Charge state - B60W 2520/10: Longitudinal speed - B60W 2520/12: Lateral speed - Y02T 10/70: Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries - Y02T 10/7072: Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors - Y02T 10/72: Electric energy management in electromobility - Y02T 90/14: Plug-in electric vehicles - Y02T 90/16: Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles - B60W: CONJOINT CONTROL OF VEHICLE SUB-UNITS OF DIFFERENT TYPE OR DIFFERENT FUNCTION; CONTROL SYSTEMS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR HYBRID VEHICLES; ROAD VEHICLE DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR PURPOSES NOT RELATED TO THE CONTROL OF A PARTICULAR SUB-UNIT - G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S) - B60L: PROPULSION OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (arrangements or mounting of electrical propulsion units or of plural diverse prime-movers for mutual or common propulsion in vehicles B60K1/00, B60K6/20; arrangements or mounting of electrical gearing in vehicles B60K17/12, B60K17/14; preventing wheel slip by reducing power in rail vehicles B61C15/08; dynamo-electric machines H02K; control or regulation of electric motors H02P); SUPPLYING ELECTRIC POWER FOR AUXILIARY EQUIPMENT OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES (electric coupling devices combined with mechanical couplings of vehicles B60D1/64; electric heating for vehicles B60H1/00); ELECTRODYNAMIC BRAKE SYSTEMS FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL (control or regulation of electric motors H02P); MAGNETIC SUSPENSION OR LEVITATION FOR VEHICLES; MONITORING OPERATING VARIABLES OF ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES; ELECTRIC SAFETY DEVICES FOR ELECTRICALLY-PROPELLED VEHICLES - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) - Y02T: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION ## Abstract The present invention provides a vehicle control device capable of avoiding a problem due to insufficient energy remaining in a vehicle in a parking lot. The vehicle control device 100 includes a remaining energy amount calculation unit 110, a parking lot information acquisition unit 120, a prediction unit 130, a required energy amount calculation unit 140, and a parking determination unit 150. The remaining energy amount calculation unit 110 calculates a remaining amount of energy of a vehicle V. The parking lot information acquisition unit 120 acquires map information and other vehicles information of a parking lot. The prediction unit 130 predicts a traveling speed and a movement time of the vehicle V at the time of entry and exit. The required energy amount calculation unit 140 calculates a required amount of energy. The parking determination unit 150 determines whether or not the vehicle V can be parked based on the remaining amount of energy and the required amount of energy. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A vehicle control device that controls a vehicle entering and exiting a parking location of a parking lot, comprising: a remaining energy amount calculation unit that calculates a remaining amount of energy for driving the vehicle; a parking lot information acquisition unit that acquires map information and other vehicles information of the parking lot from at least one of a camera located in the parking lot or a sensor of the vehicle; a prediction unit that predicts a plurality of traveling speeds and a plurality of movement times of the vehicle at the time of entry and exit based on the map information and the other vehicles information; a required energy amount calculation unit that calculates a required amount of energy for entry and exit of the vehicle based on each of the plurality of traveling speeds and each of the plurality of movement times; and a parking determination unit that determines parking availability of the vehicle based on the remaining amount of energy and the required amount of energy, wherein: the map information includes a parking location; the other vehicles information includes a location, a speed, and a state of the other vehicles in the parking lot; the prediction unit plans a travel route of the vehicle to the parking location, and predicts the traveling speed and the movement time of the vehicle in consideration of an influence of the other vehicles on the vehicle based on the other vehicles information; and the parking determination unit determines that parking is possible when the remaining amount of energy is greater than the required amount of energy. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The vehicle control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of the vehicle, wherein the prediction unit starts the prediction at an arbitrary entry start location in a range from an outside of the parking lot to an entrance of the parking lot with reference to the location information. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The vehicle control device according to claim 2, wherein the required energy amount calculation unit calculates the required amount of energy for entry and exit of the vehicle from the entry start location to an exit of the parking lot through the parking location. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The vehicle control device according to claim 2, further comprising: a traveling control unit that makes the vehicle automatically driven based on a determination result of the parking availability, wherein the required energy amount calculation unit calculates the required amount of energy for entry and exit of the vehicle from the entry start location of the vehicle to a boarding location where an occupant gets on the vehicle or an automated driving end location, at which the automated driving by the traveling control unit ends, through the parking location. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The vehicle control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a traveling control unit that makes the vehicle automatically driven based on a determination result of the parking availability, wherein the prediction unit sets a drop-off location where an occupant gets out of the vehicle or an entry instruction location, at which the occupant of the vehicle gives an instruction to enter the parking lot to the traveling control unit, as an entry start location, and starts the prediction at the entry start location. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The vehicle control device according to claim 1, wherein, when the parking lot has a supply location where energy can be supplied to the vehicle, the prediction unit predicts a traveling speed and a movement time of the vehicle at the time of entering the supply location, the required energy amount calculation unit calculates an amount of energy for entry based on the traveling speed and the movement time of the vehicle at the time of entering the supply location, and the parking determination unit determines parking availability of the vehicle based on the remaining amount of energy and the amount of energy for entry. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The vehicle control device according to claim 6, wherein the parking determination unit determines that parking is conditionally possible when the remaining amount of energy is less than the required amount of energy and equal to or greater than the amount of energy for entry and determines that parking is not possible when the remaining amount of energy is less than the amount of energy for entry. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The vehicle control device according to claim 1, further comprising: a notification unit that transmits a determination result of the parking availability so as to be displayed on a display unit of the vehicle or a mobile terminal of an occupant of the vehicle. ### Claim 9 A vehicle control center that manages a vehicle entering and exiting a parking location of a parking lot, comprising: a control communication network that receives a remaining amount of energy for driving the vehicle; a memory that stores map information and other vehicles information of the parking lot from at least one of a camera located in the parking lot of a sensor of the vehicle received via the control communication network; and one or more processors, that, in response to executing instructions stored on the memory: predict a plurality of traveling speeds and a plurality of movement times of the vehicle at the time of entry and exit based on the map information and the other vehicles information; calculate a required amount of energy for entry and exit of the vehicle based on each of the plurality of traveling speeds and each of the plurality of movement times; and determine parking availability of the vehicle based on the remaining amount of energy and the required amount of energy, wherein the control communication network transmits a determination result of the parking availability to a display device of the vehicle or a mobile terminal that an occupant of the vehicle has. ### Claim 10 A parking assistance system, comprising: a vehicle control device that controls a vehicle entering and exiting a parking location of a parking lot; and a vehicle control center that manages the vehicle, wherein the vehicle control device includes one or more memory devices storing instructions thereon, that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to calculate a remaining amount of energy for driving the vehicle and a vehicle communication network that communicates with the vehicle control center, the vehicle control center includes one or more memory devices that store map information and other vehicles information of the parking lot from at least one of a camera located in the parking lot or a sensor of the vehicle received via a control communication network that communicates with the vehicle, and the vehicle control device or the vehicle control center includes a prediction unit that predicts a plurality of traveling speeds and a plurality of movement times of the vehicle at the time of entry and exit based on the map information and the other vehicles information, a required energy amount calculation unit that calculates a required amount of energy for entry and exit of the vehicle based on each of the plurality of traveling speeds and each of the plurality of movement times, and a parking determination unit that determines parking availability of the vehicle based on the remaining amount of energy and the required amount of energy.