Patent ID: 7739046

Claim:
A parking support device which supports running of an automotive vehicle to a target parking position, comprising: a distance measuring unit measuring a quantity equivalent to a distance from the vehicle to an object existing in a predetermined direction; a storage unit storing a sequence of points indicating results of the measurement performed by the distance measuring unit multiple times, wherein the sequence of points is based on a geometry of an object; a first object specifying unit which makes a determination of whether a length of the sequence of points increasing with a movement of the vehicle has exceeded a first reference length, and which generates a first object information of the object based on the sequence of points when the length has exceeded the first reference length; and a second object specifying unit which makes a determination of whether a length of the sequence of points increasing with a further movement of the vehicle has exceeded a second reference length larger than the first reference length, and which generates a second object information of the object based on the sequence of points when the length has exceeded the second reference length, wherein a target parking position is determined based on the first object information in a stage where the first object information is generated by the first object specifying unit, and wherein, after the second object information is generated by the second object specifying unit, the target parking position based on the first object information is corrected based on the second object information, and wherein the first and second object information are approximations of the geometry of the object.