Charging slot monitoring system

Abstract

To provide a system capable of efficiently monitoring a charging slot.SOLUTION: A charging slot monitoring system includes: a camera imaging a periphery of a vehicle; and a controller connected to the camera. The controller is configured to: recognize a charging slot in a charging station in view of the camera and another vehicle parked in the charging slot; recognize a chargeable state where the other vehicle departs from the charging slot and also the charging slot is vacant; and inform a driver that the charging slot is vacant in accordance with recognition of the chargeable state.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0005]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a charging slot monitoring system.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses an electric vehicle charging device having a plurality of charging units for individually charging a plurality of electric vehicles. When the management server receives information indicating a desire to charge from a user terminal when there is an available charging unit, and determines that an available charging unit has occurred, it transmits an availability notification to the user terminal.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] By the way, many charging stations are not yet linked to a reservation system and provide charging services on a first-come, first-served basis. For this reason, the driver is forced to wait in the vehicle or return to a place where the charging slot can be frequently observed in order to observe whether the vehicle being charged has left the charging slot and the charging slot has become available. The present disclosure provides a system that can efficiently monitor charging slots.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] A charging slot monitoring system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure comprises a camera that captures images of the area around a vehicle and a controller connected to the camera, wherein the controller recognizes charging slots in a charging station within the camera's field of view and other vehicles parked in the charging slots, recognizes a charging-ready state in which the other vehicles have left the charging slot and the charging slot is free, and notifies the driver that the charging slot is free in response to the recognition of the charging-ready state. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to this disclosure, a technology is provided that enables efficient monitoring of charging slots. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0007] [Figure 1] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle equipped with a charging slot monitoring system according to one embodiment. [Figure 2] Figure 2 shows an example of a charging station. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of the camera's detection range. [Figure 4] Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the charging slot monitoring system. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions are omitted.

[0009] [Vehicle configuration] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle equipped with a device according to one embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the charging slot monitoring system 1 is installed on a vehicle 2 as an example. Vehicle 2 is an electric vehicle that can be charged at a charging station. A charging station is a facility that includes parking spaces and charging equipment. Hereinafter, individual parking spaces will be referred to as slots, and slots equipped with charging equipment will be referred to as charging slots. Vehicle 2 may be an autonomous vehicle with an automatic parking function. Vehicle 2 is not limited to an autonomous vehicle, and may be a vehicle that assists with parking operations. Assistance with parking operations may include cases where only information is provided.

[0010] Vehicle 2 is equipped with a camera 10, a controller 11, a notification unit 21, a communication unit 22, an automatic parking ECU 24, and an actuator 25. The ECU (Electronic Control Unit) is an electronic control unit that has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), CAN (Controller Area Network) communication circuit, etc. The charging slot monitoring system 1 is equipped with a camera 10 and a controller 11.

[0011] Camera 10 captures images of the area around vehicle 2. Camera 10 is connected to controller 11. Note that the cameras connected to controller 11 are not limited to camera 10. Multiple cameras may be connected to controller 11, or independent cameras (such as additional cameras) that are not connected to the vehicle 2's system (e.g., automatic parking ECU 24) may be connected to controller 11.

[0012] The controller 11 is, for example, composed of an ECU. The controller 11 recognizes objects based on the images obtained by the camera 10. The details will be explained below using Figures 2 and 3.

[0013] Figure 2 shows an example of a charging station. As shown in Figure 2, the charging station CS has multiple slots, which are parking spaces surrounded by lane markings. Six slots are illustrated in Figure 2. The charging station CS has a waiting area 30 and a charging area 40. The first slot SL1 and the second slot SL2 in the waiting area 30 are general slots and do not have charging equipment installed. Each slot in the charging area 40 is equipped with charging equipment. For example, the third slot SL3 is equipped with the first charger CD1. The fourth slot SL4 is equipped with the second charger CD2. The fifth slot SL5 is equipped with the third charger CD3. The sixth slot SL6 is equipped with the fourth charger CD4. The third slot SL3, the fourth slot SL4, the fifth slot SL5, and the sixth slot SL6 are called charging slots.

[0014] Charging station CS is not subject to a reservation system, and charging services are provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, as shown in Figure 2, if the charging slots are full, vehicle 2 must monitor and wait in the waiting area 30 until a charging slot becomes available.

[0015] Figure 3 shows an example of the camera's field of view (detection range). As shown in Figure 3, the camera 10 of the vehicle 2 is installed in the front, side, and rear of the vehicle 2. In the example shown in Figure 3, the camera 10 can capture images of objects included in the front field of view DA1, the side field of view DA2, and the rear field of view DA3.

[0016] The controller 11 recognizes the charging slots in the charging station CS within the field of view of the camera 10 and other vehicles parked in the charging slots. Based on general image recognition processing, the controller 11 recognizes the third slot SL3, the fourth slot SL4, the fifth slot SL5, and the sixth slot SL6 as charging slots, and also recognizes other vehicles 5A - 5D parked in the charging slots. In the case of the field of view shown in FIG. 3, the controller 11 recognizes the third slot SL3 and the fourth slot SL4, and other vehicles 5A, 5B parked.

[0017] The controller 11 determines whether the other vehicle has departed from the charging slot and the charging slot is in a chargeable state, i.e., empty. Based on the video of the camera 10, when either of the other vehicles 5A, 5B departs from the third slot SL3 or the fourth slot SL4 and the charging slot is empty (for example, empty for a certain period of time), the controller 11 recognizes that the charging slot is in a chargeable state.

[0018] In response to recognizing the chargeable state, the controller 11 notifies the driver that the charging slot is empty. The controller 11 operates the notification unit 21 of the vehicle 2 to notify the driver. The notification unit 21 is, for example, an in - vehicle display, a meter, etc. The controller 11 may also notify the driver by transmitting information to the driver terminal 23 via the communication unit 22. The communication unit 22 is a device capable of communicating with the driver terminal 23. The controller 11 may also notify the driver by using both the notification unit 21 and the communication unit 22.

[0019] The automatic parking ECU 24 has an automatic parking function. The automatic parking ECU 24 recognizes the surroundings of the vehicle 2 based on the video captured by the camera 10 and operates the actuator 25 to park the vehicle 2 in the slot. In response to recognizing the chargeable state, the controller 11 may also exert the automatic parking function. Thereby, a series of actions from monitoring to parking can be automated.

[0020] [Operation of Charging Slot Monitoring System] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the charging slot monitoring system. The flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is started when the charging slot monitoring system 1 receives a start instruction operation. For example, when the charging slot is full, the driver performs a start instruction operation. Alternatively, it may be automatically started when the vehicle 2 enters the charging standby state.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 4, first, the camera 10 of the charging slot monitoring system 1 acquires an image of the periphery of the vehicle 2 as step S10. Subsequently, the controller 11 of the charging slot monitoring system 1 determines whether another vehicle has finished charging and departed and whether the charging slot is empty based on the image of the camera 10 as step S12.

[0022] When it is determined that another vehicle has finished charging and departed and the charging slot is empty (step S12: YES), the controller 11 notifies the driver that there is an empty space in the charging slot as step S14. And / or, the controller 11 operates the automatic parking ECU 24 to automatically park the vehicle 2 in the empty charging slot.

[0023] When it is determined that another vehicle has not finished charging or the charging slot is not empty (step S12: NO), the controller 11 determines whether a predetermined waiting time has elapsed as step S16. When the controller 11 determines that the predetermined waiting time has not elapsed (step S16: NO), it returns to step S10 to continue monitoring the charging slot. When the controller 11 determines that the predetermined waiting time has elapsed (step S16: YES), it notifies the driver that there is still no empty space even after the predetermined waiting time has elapsed as step S18.

[0024] When step S14 or step S18 ends, the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 ends.

[0025] [Summary of Embodiment] According to the charging slot monitoring system 1, the driver is notified when a charging slot becomes available. Therefore, the charging slot monitoring system 1 avoids the driver having to wait in the vehicle 2 or frequently get out of and return to the vehicle to check whether a charging slot is available. In addition, the usage of the charging slot is optimized because the idle time is reduced. Furthermore, since the camera 10 and controller 11 are not limited to dedicated models, the charging slot monitoring system 1 can also be applied to existing vehicles 2.

[0026] Although exemplary embodiments have been described above, the invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments described above, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications may be made. [Differentiation]

[0027] For example, upon receiving the notification in step S18, the driver may restart the flowchart shown in Figure 4, leave the waiting slot, or monitor other charging slots.

[0028] The controller 11 may change the orientation of the camera 10 and / or move the vehicle 2 forward or backward if the recognition level of at least one of the charging slot and other vehicles within the camera 10's field of view is below a threshold. For example, if a structure exists within the camera 10's field of view and the charging slot and other vehicles are obscured by the structure, the recognition level of the charging slot and other vehicles decreases. The recognition level can be calculated using general image processing. If the recognition level is below a predetermined threshold, the controller 11 changes the orientation of the camera 10 so that the recognition level is above the predetermined threshold. The camera 10 only needs to be supported by a drive device such as a motor. Alternatively, the controller 11 may operate the automatic parking ECU 24 to move the vehicle 2 forward or backward to change the camera 10's field of view. In this way, the orientation of the camera 10 may be changed so that the recognition level is above the predetermined threshold. The controller 11 may control both the orientation of the camera 10 and the forward / backward movement of the vehicle 2.

[0029] This disclosure includes the following aspects: [Clause 1] A camera that takes images of the area around the vehicle, A controller connected to the aforementioned camera, Equipped with, The aforementioned controller, The camera recognizes the charging slots in the charging station within its field of view and other vehicles parked in those charging slots. The other vehicle has departed from the charging slot and the charging slot is available, and the vehicle recognizes that it is in a state where charging is possible. The system is configured to notify the driver that the charging slot is free, in response to recognizing the aforementioned charging-ready state. Charging slot monitoring system. [Clause 2] The aforementioned vehicle has an automatic parking function, The charging slot monitoring system according to Clause 1, wherein the controller activates the automatic parking function in response to recognizing the charging-ready state. [Clause 3] The charging slot monitoring system according to Clause 1 or 2, wherein the camera is an independent camera not connected to the vehicle's system. [Clause 4] The charging slot monitoring system according to any one of paragraphs 1 to 3, wherein the controller notifies the driver that a charging slot is available via the vehicle's notification unit and / or the driver's terminal. [Clause 5] The charging slot monitoring system according to any one of the clauses 1 to 4, wherein the controller changes the direction of the camera and / or moves the vehicle forward or backward if the degree of recognition of at least one of the charging slot and the other vehicle within the camera's field of view is lower than a threshold. [Explanation of symbols]

[0030] 1...Charging slot monitoring system, 2...Vehicle, 10...Camera, 11...Controller.

Claims

1. A charging slot monitoring system used in a charging station having a standby area including a general slot where no charging equipment is provided, and a charging area including a charging slot where charging equipment is provided, A camera that takes images of the area around the vehicle, A controller connected to the aforementioned camera, Equipped with, The aforementioned controller, While the vehicle is waiting in the general slot of the waiting area, the camera recognizes the charging slot in the charging area and other vehicles parked in the charging slot within the camera's field of view. The other vehicle has departed from the charging slot and the charging slot is available, and the vehicle recognizes that it is in a state where charging is possible. The system is configured to notify the driver that the charging slot is available when the charging-ready state is recognized. Charging slot monitoring system.

2. The aforementioned vehicle has an automatic parking function, The charging slot monitoring system according to claim 1, wherein the controller activates the automatic parking function in response to recognizing the charging-ready state.

3. The charging slot monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the camera is an independent camera not connected to the vehicle's system.

4. The charging slot monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the controller notifies the driver that the charging slot is available via the vehicle's notification unit and / or the driver's terminal.

5. The charging slot monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the controller changes the direction of the camera and / or moves the vehicle forward or backward if the degree of recognition of at least one of the charging slot and the other vehicle within the field of view of the camera is lower than a threshold.

6. The charging slot monitoring system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the controller determines that the other vehicle has not departed from the charging slot and a predetermined waiting time has elapsed, and notifies the driver that no slot will become available even after the predetermined waiting time has elapsed.

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