Non-uniform Laser Parking Guidance Dashboard Projection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing parking guide systems fail to assist drivers in accurately navigating and stopping within a parking space, often requiring last-minute maneuvers and high-power laser sources that pose eye safety risks due to their wide fan angles.
Innovation Solution
A low-power laser-based parking assistance device with adjustable, non-uniform laser lines or patterns that provide clear reference points on the dashboard, allowing drivers to align and stop vehicles safely without eye exposure to direct laser beams, using multiple lasers with small fan angles and overlapping projections to enhance visibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If high-power laser sources with large fan angles are used to project long laser lines for parking guidance, then the laser beam visibility is improved, but the driver's eyes are easily exposed to the laser beam causing safety risks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the key parameter of laser fan angle from large to small (less than 15°), and adjusts laser power to low levels. This parameter transformation allows the system to project sufficient guidance lines while confining the beam within a narrow angular range that avoids the driver's field of view, thereby resolving the contradiction between visibility and safety
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from using long laser lines requiring large fan angles to using short laser lines with concentrated projections. By changing the spatial dimension and concentration of the laser projection, the system achieves effective guidance without exposing the driver to harmful laser exposure
2Measurement precision
If last-minute maneuvers are made in the garage to align the light dot or repeat the parking process, then the proper location is reached, but the vehicle is left parked crooked or time is wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent provides parking guidance information in advance through projected laser lines and patterns visible on the dashboard before the vehicle reaches the parking position. This preliminary guidance allows the driver to make continuous adjustments during the approach, eliminating the need for last-minute maneuvers and ensuring accurate positioning from the first attempt
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides continuous visual feedback through laser projections that move relative to the dashboard as the vehicle approaches the parking position. This real-time feedback enables the driver to monitor positioning accuracy continuously and make precise adjustments, preventing both time-wasting maneuvers and crooked parking
3Ease of operation
If the driver does not know precisely when the vehicle will pass garage door frame, then the driver's concentration is maintained, but the driver cannot avoid hitting the garage door frame
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces laser-projected reference lines and patterns as an intermediary visual indicator between the driver and the physical garage door frame. These projections serve as a mediator that provides advance warning of the door frame's location, allowing the driver to maintain concentration while safely avoiding collisions through continuous visual guidance
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system enables easy and accurate vehicle positioning within parking spaces, reducing the risk of collisions and improving parking efficiency for various vehicle sizes without hindering garage use when unoccupied, while ensuring driver safety from laser exposure.
Implementation Method 1
The device has one or more low power laser sources, most likely less than 5 mW laser line or pattern sources
Implementation Method 2
The laser lens will form a non-uniform strength light line or pattern that has a distinct change in projection light strength and width along the line or pattern
Implementation Method 3
The laser lens has small fan angle of less than 15° which only projects a line or pattern with limited projection area onto the vehicle dashboard when the vehicle is under the projection
Implementation Method 4
If the garage door area is too bright to view the laser projection, the user can make multiple laser lines to focus onto the same location of the targeted area of the vehicle, overlapping each other to multiply the laser line light strength
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus and method for assisting a vehicle into a desired position within a parking space. The device uses non-uniform light strength light line or other pattern projection to generate highlighted projections onto a target at a vehicle dashboard. The user may form a strong projection by focusing multi laser projections to overlap each other at the target. The driver knows the location of the vehicle by memorizing the patterns along the projections relative to the locations in the parking space. The driver maneuvers the vehicle direction and speed in order to make the projections onto the target, to avoid hitting the garage door frame, and to park on a desired position inside the parking space. The devices can be used for both guiding the vehicle into the parking space at a predetermined path to avoid nearby objects and stopping the vehicle at the desired place and direction.