Patent Issued for Method For Preventing Or Reducing Collision Damage To A Parked Vehicle (USPTO 10,479,273)

2019 NOV 28 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Information Technology Business Daily -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Stefan, Frederic (Aachen, DE); Gussen, Uwe (Huertgenwald, DE); Arndt, Christoph (Rheinland-Pfalz, DE); Wegner, Goetz-Philipp (NRW, DE), filed on January 14, 2014, was published online on December 2, 2019.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 10,479,273 is Ford Global Technologies LLC (Dearborn, Michigan, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The parking of vehicles can for different reasons cause damage to already parked vehicles, which is associated with stress burdens and additional costs for vehicle occupants and insurance.

“A method and a device for operating a motor vehicle and a system for arranging standing positions of at least two motor vehicles are known from DE 10 2009 057647 A1. Here one of the motor vehicles comprises an interface that is designed for communications with another motor vehicle having a corresponding further interface. In addition, a unit for autonomous maneuvering of the motor vehicle is provided in the respective motor vehicle. Here a response to a vehicle to be parked may take place, especially by means of communications between the vehicle to be parked and a parked vehicle, that the space available for parking is not adequate for the parking operation. Furthermore, in the event of there being adequate space for the parking operation, sequential maneuvering of the parked vehicle takes place.

“Furthermore, parking assistance systems are known, e.g. from DE 10 2009 008 113 A1, DE 10 2010 037 295 A1 and DE 10 2011 011 144 A1.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In a disclosed embodiment, a method for avoiding or reducing the extent of collision damage to a parked vehicle comprises two stages: If a risk of collision with an approaching vehicle performing a parking operation is detected, in a first stage a warning is given by the parked vehicle to the driver of the approaching vehicle, which can e.g. be carried out with audible signals or light signals. If a collision is imminent because the approaching vehicle or its driver does not react to the warning signal, in a second stage the parked vehicle performs a suitable maneuver for avoiding or reducing collision damage (whereby it is automatically moved slightly) in order to prevent damage because of the parking operation.

“As a result, damage occurring to parked vehicles can be prevented or at least reduced. Here it is only necessary to equip the parked vehicle with the device according to the invention (or to carry out the corresponding process steps only on the part of the parked vehicle), so that no data exchange or communications between the respective already parked vehicle and the vehicle to be parked is necessary. Collision damage to a parked vehicle as a result of an approaching vehicle performing a parking operation is reliably prevented or at least the extent of damage is reduced at comparatively low cost and without the need for a complex data exchange between different vehicles.

“The disclosed method can be implemented using already existing technologies and sensors. In particular, already existing systems for collision avoidance, driver assistance systems and devices for automatic parking support can be suitably extended to implement the invention.

“According to one embodiment, the damage avoidance/reduction maneuver is carried out such that the distance between the parked vehicle and the approaching vehicle is not less than a minimum distance.

“According to another embodiment, the damage avoidance/reduction is carried out such that a contact between the parked vehicle and the approaching vehicle is allowed to a controlled degree and in a controlled manner to minimize the force of the contact. This is especially advantageous if the available space for the damage avoidance/reduction maneuver to be performed by the parked vehicle is otherwise insufficient (i.e. without such a typically transient contact).

“According to one embodiment, after the occurrence of the controlled contact between the parked vehicle and the approaching vehicle a braking torque exerted by the parked vehicle is increased. The attention of the driver performing the parking operation can thereby be additionally awakened.

“According to one embodiment, transmitting the warning signal is continued until the damage avoidance/reduction maneuver to be carried out by the parked vehicle is completed. In this way the attempt to stimulate the attention of the driver performing the parking operation can also be continued.

“According to one embodiment, one or more characteristics of the transmitted warning signal can be varied depending on an existing probability of a collision and/or depending on the extent of the collision damage to be expected.

“According to one embodiment, following completion of the collision-avoidance/damage-reduction maneuver carried out by the parked vehicle, an estimate of the extent of the completed damage prevention takes place so that the owner of the parked vehicle can be provided with corresponding information (especially including information about potential saved repair costs).”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A method for reducing a likelihood and/or severity of damage to a parked vehicle caused by a collision with an approaching vehicle performing a parking operation, comprising: by the parked vehicle, operating a system on-board the parked vehicle to detect the approaching vehicle; determining a risk of collision between the parked vehicle and the approaching vehicle; transmitting at least one of an off-board audible and an off-board visible warning signal perceptible to a driver of the approaching vehicle if the risk of collision is sufficiently high; operating the system to monitor whether the approaching vehicle reacts to the warning signal; if the approaching vehicle does not react to the warning signal, moving the parked vehicle away from the approaching vehicle to prevent a distance between the parked vehicle and the approaching vehicle from falling below a minimum distance; and after completion of the maneuver, estimating an extent of damage avoided by the movement of the parked vehicle.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmission of the warning continues until the movement of the parked vehicle is complete.

“3. The method of claim 1, wherein a characteristic of the warning signal is determined based upon on an estimated probability of a collision and/or upon an expected extent of collision damage.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein the risk of collision is defined by a speed of the approaching vehicle exceeding a predefined speed limit.

“5. The method of claim 1, wherein the risk of collision is defined by a distance between the approaching and parked vehicles falling below a predefined distance limit.

“6. A method for collision avoidance by a parked vehicle, comprising: by the parked vehicle, responsive to a detected risk of collision with an approaching vehicle, transmit an off-board warning perceptible to a driver of the approaching vehicle; responsive to no reaction to the warning by the approaching vehicle, maneuver the parked vehicle such that a distance between the parked vehicle and the approaching vehicle does not fall below a minimum distance; and after completion of the maneuver, estimating an extent of damage avoided by performing the maneuver.

“7. The method of claim 6, wherein transmission of the warning continues until the maneuver is completed.

“8. The method of claim 6, wherein a characteristic of the warning signal is determined based upon on an estimated probability of a collision and/or upon an expected extent of collision damage.

“9. The method of claim 6, wherein the detected risk of collision is defined by a speed of the approaching vehicle exceeding a predefined speed limit.

“10. The method of claim 6, wherein the detected risk of collision is defined by a distance between the approaching and parked vehicles falling below a predefined distance limit.

“11. The method of claim 6, wherein the detected risk of collision is defined by a speed of the approaching vehicle exceeding a predefined speed limit.

“12. A method for collision avoidance by a parked vehicle, comprising: by the parked vehicle, responsive to a detected risk of collision with an approaching vehicle, transmit an off-board warning perceptible to a driver of the approaching vehicle; responsive to no reaction to the warning by the approaching vehicle, maneuver the parked vehicle to avoid collision; and after completion of the maneuver, estimating an extent of damage avoided by performing the maneuver.

“13. The method of claim 12, wherein transmission of the warning continues until the maneuver is completed.

“14. The method of claim 12, wherein a characteristic of the warning signal is determined based upon on an estimated probability of a collision and/or upon an expected extent of collision damage.

“15. The method of claim 12, wherein the detected risk of collision is defined by a distance between the approaching and parked vehicles falling below a predefined distance limit.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Stefan, Frederic; Gussen, Uwe; Arndt, Christoph; Wegner, Goetz-Philipp. Method For Preventing Or Reducing Collision Damage To A Parked Vehicle. U.S. Patent Number 10,479,273, filed January 14, 2014, and published online on December 2, 2019. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,479,273.PN.&OS=PN/10,479,273RS=PN/10,479,273

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