Method and apparatus for recognizing parking area
View Patent ↗A method and an apparatus for recognizing a parking area are disclosed. The parking area recognizing apparatus includes: a signal transmitter transmitting a signal using a sensor; an echo signal receiver receiving an echo signal for the signal; a multiple signal generator generating a multiple echo signal using the echo signal based on first and second preset thresholds; and a parking area recognizer recognizing a parking area by calculating a round trip time and a duration time for the multiple echo signal and selecting an available echo signal based on at least one of the round trip time and the duration time. Accordingly, a precision in recognition of a parking area is enhanced by reducing a measurement error by processing an echo signal received after it is reflected on an object with a multiple echo signal in recognition of the parking area using a sensor such as an ultrasonic sensor or a radar sensor.
1. A parking area recognizing apparatus comprising:
a signal transmitter transmitting a signal using a sensor;
an echo signal receiver receiving an echo signal for the signal;
a multiple signal generator generating a multiple echo signal using the echo signal based on first and second preset thresholds; and
a parking area recognizer recognizing a parking area by calculating a round trip time and a duration time for the multiple echo signal and selecting an available echo signal based on at least one of the round trip time and the duration time.
2. The parking area recognizing apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the multiple echo signal generator generates a multiple echo signal including a first square wave generated by comparing a signal strength of the echo signal and the first threshold and a second square wave generated by comparing the signal strength of the echo signal with the second threshold and the first threshold is set in advance to be smaller than the second threshold.
3. The parking area recognizing apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the parking area recognizer calculates round trip times and duration times for the first square wave and the second square wave contained in the generated echo signal, and determines that the echo signal is not available when the distance difference calculated using the first rising time points of the first square wave and the second square wave deviates from a range.
4. The parking area recognizing apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the parking area recognizer determines that the echo signal is not available when a duration time for the first square wave is no more than a preset available duration time.
5. A parking area recognizing method comprising the steps of:
transmitting a signal using a sensor;
receiving an echo signal for the signal;
generating a multiple echo signal using the echo signal based on first and second preset thresholds;
calculating a round trip time and a duration time for the multiple echo signal and selecting an available echo signal based on at least one of the round trip time and the duration time; and
recognizing a parking area based on the available echo signal.