# US 2026/0097673 A1 · Parking guidance system for solar panel-equipped vehicles and method thereof > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2026/0097673 A1 - Document ID: US20260097673A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 19/353,547 - Filed: 2025-10-08 - Published: 2026-04-09 - Earliest claimed: 2024-10-08 - Assignees: Hyundai Motor Company; Kia Corporation - Applicants: Hyundai Motor Company; Kia Corporation - Inventors: Dong Hyun LIM - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20260097673A1 ## CPC - B60L 53/51: Photovoltaic means - B60L 8/003: {Converting light into electric energy, e.g. by using photo-voltaic systems} - H02S 20/30: Supporting structures being movable or adjustable, e.g. for angle adjustment - B60L 2240/62: Vehicle position - B60L 2240/665: Light intensity - B60L 2240/72: Charging station selection relying on external data - B60L 2250/16: by display - 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 - H02S: GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRARED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, e.g. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES (obtaining electrical energy from radioactive sources G21H1/12; light sensitive inorganic semiconductor devices H10F; light sensitive organic semiconductor devices H10K30/00; thermoelectric devices H10N10/00; pyroelectric devices H10N15/00) ## Abstract A parking guidance system for a solar panel-equipped vehicle and a method therefor. The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle includes a server including a communications unit that periodically collects solar intensity messages from solar panel-equipped vehicles; a map generation unit that accumulates the solar power intensity messages and generates a variable solar power map (VSPM) including a precise map (P-Map) of an outdoor parking lot based on the accumulated data; a database DB that stores the VSPM and periodically updates a regional solar intensity information over a time; and a control unit that provides an optimal solar charging parking location with a strongest solar intensity based on a vehicle location of a customer to the vehicle based on the VSPM. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A parking guidance system for a solar panel-equipped vehicle including a server, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing computer program instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising: receiving, through a communications unit, solar intensity messages from solar panel-equipped vehicles, wherein for each vehicle, the solar intensity message comprises information regarding a solar intensity detected on a solar panel of the vehicle; accumulating and processing the solar intensity messages over a period of time, and generating information regarding fluctuations of solar intensity across different time instances at different geographic locations; generating a mapping of variable solar intensity in a vehicle parking area, based on the information regarding fluctuations of solar intensity;; based on the mapping of variable solar intensity in the vehicle parking area, determining a recommended parking space in the vehicle parking area that satisfies at least one criteria for solar charging; and transmitting, through the communications unit, information identifying the recommended parking space in the vehicle parking area that satisfies at least one criteria for solar charging. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 1, wherein: for each vehicle, the solar intensity is measured based on an amount of a solar power generation or an electric energy charging amount per unit area of the solar panel over a duration of time. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 1, wherein: generating the mapping of variable solar intensity in the vehicle parking area comprises generating information on the solar intensity that changes according to time, season, weather, and terrain for a navigation map of the vehicle parking area. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: obtaining, through the communications unit, information regarding a parking status of the vehicle parking area; identifying an empty parking space based on the information regarding the parking status and based on the mapping of variable solar intensity in the vehicle parking area, and determining the recommended parking space in which the solar intensity is maximum, among currently empty parking spaces in the vehicle parking area. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 4, wherein the accumulating and the processing of the solar intensity messages comprises: analyzing the solar intensity message and identifying information regarding a solar intensity, a vehicle location, a time, and a vehicle ID; and accumulating and storing the identified information regarding the solar intensity, the vehicle location, the time, and the vehicle ID into a database. ### Claim 6 (depends on 4) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 4, wherein the generating of the mapping of variable solar intensity in the vehicle parking area comprises: excluding, from the information regarding fluctuations of solar intensity, data for which the solar intensity satisfies an outlier criteria; generating matching information between GPS values and the solar intensity of remaining data; and generating a variable solar power map (VSPM)and displaying the VSPM on a map comprising a heat map, based on the matching information between the GPS values and the solar intensity of the remaining data. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 6, wherein the generating of the mapping of variable solar intensity in the vehicle parking area further comprises: updating the heat map of the solar intensity that changes periodically at regular intervals to sequentially generate multiple maps over a length of time. ### Claim 8 (depends on 4) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a plurality of maps matched to the vehicle parking area across different instances of time; obtaining, through the communications unit, information regarding a first time instance and a first geographic location of a first vehicle that enters the vehicle parking area; and detecting a current map, among the plurality of maps, corresponding to first time instance of the first vehicle that enters the vehicle parking area. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: obtaining, through the communications unit, parking status information from a device other than the first vehicle; determining, based on the parking status information, empty parking spaces in the vehicle parking area; and matching the identified empty parking spaces to the current map among the plurality of maps. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: matching, to the current map among the plurality of maps, a movement of the first vehicle entering the vehicle parking area, and an empty parking space detected from an image captured by a front camera of a second vehicle parked in the vehicle parking area. ### Claim 11 (depends on 4) The parking guidance system for the solar panel-equipped vehicle of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving, through the communications unit, information regarding a parking location of a vehicle that has parked in the vehicle parking area, and detecting, and transmitting to the vehicle, the recommended parking space among currently empty parking spaces locations after an interval of time has passed since the vehicle has parked in the vehicle parking area. ### Claim 12 A solar panel-equipped vehicle parking guidance system including a vehicle, the system comprising: a solar panel configured to convert solar energy into electrical energy and to generate a first DC voltage; a solar charging controller configured to convert the first DC voltage into a second DC voltage that is chargeable to a battery to be charged; a communications unit; at least one processor; and at least one memory storing computer program instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising: generating a solar intensity message including information regarding at least one of a vehicle location, a time, and a vehicle ID associated with a solar intensity that is periodically measured by the solar charging controller, transmitting the solar intensity message through the communications unit to a server; and receiving, through the communications unit from the server, information identifying a recommended parking space for solar charging. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The solar panel-equipped vehicle parking guidance system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise: based on a determination that the vehicle location corresponds to entering a vehicle parking area: transmitting to the server a request for the information identifying the recommended parking space for solar charging; and outputting, to a user interface, a route guidance that guides the vehicle to the recommended parking space for solar charging. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The solar panel-equipped vehicle parking guidance system of claim 1, further comprising: a user terminal configured to control a remote smart parking function to remotely park the vehicle in the recommended parking space for solar charging, using a connection with the vehicle through a connected service app (APP). ### Claim 15 A method for guiding a parking of a vehicle equipped with a solar panel, the method comprising: receiving, through a communications unit, solar intensity messages from solar panel-equipped vehicles, wherein for each vehicle, the solar intensity message comprises information regarding a solar intensity detected on a solar panel of the vehicle; accumulating and processing the solar intensity messages over a period of time, and generating a mapping of variable solar intensity in a vehicle parking area, based on the accumulated solar intensity messages; receiving, through the communications unit from a first vehicle, a request for a recommended parking space in the vehicle parking area for solar charging, and information regarding a location of the first vehicle and an entry time at which the first vehicle enters the vehicle parking area, based on the mapping of variable solar intensity in the vehicle parking area, determining the recommended parking space in the vehicle parking area as a parking space that satisfies at least one criteria for solar charging; and transmitting, through the communications unit to the first vehicle, information identifying the recommended parking space in the vehicle parking area that satisfies at least one criteria for solar charging. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method for guiding the parking of the vehicle equipped with the solar panel of claim 15, wherein generating the mapping of variable solar intensity in the vehicle parking area comprises: analyzing the accumulated solar intensity messages and determining accumulated information of the vehicle location, the time, and the vehicle ID; excluding, from the accumulated information, data for which the solar intensity satisfies an outlier criteria; generating matching information between GPS values and the solar intensity of remaining data; and generating a map comprising a heat map, based on the matching information between the GPS values and the solar intensity of the remaining data. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method for guiding the parking of the vehicle equipped with the solar panel of claim 15, wherein determining the recommended parking space in the vehicle parking area comprises: extracting a map, among a plurality of maps stored in a database, of the vehicle parking area for a time period matching the entry time at which the first vehicle enters the vehicle parking area; obtaining information regarding a parking status of the vehicle parking area and identifying empty parking spaces remaining on the map; and determining the recommended parking space for solar charging that satisfies the at least one criteria of having a solar intensity that is maximum among the empty parking locations. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method for guiding the parking of the vehicle equipped with the solar panel of claim 17, further comprising: after transmitting the information identifying the recommended parking space for solar charging to the first vehicle, updating the parking status of the map by incorporating information regarding an empty parking spot detected from an image captured by a front camera of the first vehicle entering and moving around the vehicle parking area. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method for guiding the parking of the vehicle equipped with the solar panel of claim 18, further comprising: after updating the parking status of the map, transmitting information regarding a change in the recommended parking space for solar charging to the user terminal, after a period of a time from a time of completion of parking of the first vehicle; receiving, from the first vehicle, a request for a current recommended parking space for solar charging, based on a remote smart parking function activated in the first vehicle according to a command to change a parking location; and re-detecting an updated recommended parking space for solar charging, among the empty parking spaces, according to the request received from the first vehicle. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The method for guiding the parking of the vehicle equipped with the solar panel of claim 16, wherein generating the mapping of variable solar intensity in the vehicle parking area comprises: updating the heat map of the solar intensity that changes periodically at regular intervals on the map to sequentially generate multiple maps over a length of time.