Patent ID: 8742947

Claim:
A parking space monitoring device comprising: an obstacle detection unit that uses a relative distance and relative angle between an obstacle near a vehicle and the vehicle to detect a relative position of the obstacle with respect to the vehicle, the obstacle detection unit including a first ultrasonic sensor, which is used for both transmission and reception, and a second ultrasonic sensor, which is spaced apart from the first ultrasonic sensor and used for reception, wherein the first ultrasonic sensor and the second ultrasonic sensor each receive from the obstacle reflection waves of ultrasonic waves transmitted from the first ultrasonic sensor, and the obstacle detection unit calculates the relative distance and relative angle based on the received reflection waves to obtain the relative position; a memory that stores the relative position detected by the obstacle detection unit in association with movement information of the vehicle; and a parking space calculation unit that calculates a parking space based on the relative information and the movement information that are stored in the memory, wherein: the relative angle is an angle between a sensor normal, which extends through a sensor center between the first and second ultrasonic sensors and is perpendicular to a sensor surface of the first and second ultrasonic sensors, and a line segment, which connects the sensor center and a position of the obstacle detected by the first and second ultrasonic sensors; the obstacle detection unit calculates the relative angle from a reception time difference of the first ultrasonic sensor and the second ultrasonic sensor and a sensor distance between the first and second ultrasonic sensors; the obstacle detection unit calculates the relative distance from a reception time of either one of the first and second ultrasonic sensors that is located closer to the obstacle and firstly receives the reflection waves from the obstacle; and the parking space calculation unit is configured to: lay out a plurality of detection positions of the obstacle on a two-dimensional map based on the relative position and the movement information, leave, among the plurality of detection positions laid out on the two-dimensional map, a predetermined number of detection positions, or detection positions in a predetermined distance range, in front of and behind a non-detection section in which there is continuously no detection and eliminate the other detection positions to optimize the two-dimensional map, and determine the parking space by calculating a non-detection distance over which the non-detection section extends.