US 7336805

US patent 7336805, titled "Docking assistant," was filed on June 16, 2005, and issued on February 26, 2008. The original assignee was DaimlerChrysler AG, and the current assignee is Intellectual Ventures II LLC. The inventors are Ottmar Gehring, Harro Heilmann, Frederic Holzmann, Andreas Schwarzhaupt, Gernot Spiegelberg, and Armin Sulzmann.

The abstract describes a method and device for assisting vehicle operators in guiding a motor vehicle to a specific location, such as a parking bay or loading platform. This assistance involves detecting potential target objects using an image sensor, identifying them as potential destinations through a multi-stage exclusionary method, and then computing an optimized travel path trajectory for at least the most proximate destination. The invention aims to reliably identify destinations based solely on their geometric form, without requiring specific symbols or markings.

Independent Claims Overview:

• Claim 1 (Method for assisting guidance of a motor vehicle): This claim describes a method where image data is acquired from the motor vehicle's surroundings. The process extracts positional parameters of potential destinations, leading to the calculation of an optimized travel path. Key steps in extracting these parameters include:

  1. Performing edge detection and segmentation on the image data, breaking it into edge segments, and organizing their relationships in a mathematical tree structure.
  2. Analyzing these edge segments to find geometric objects resembling typical destination forms.
  3. Evaluating the plausibility of these potential geometric objects using a matching algorithm.
  4. Conducting an additional acceptance analysis that examines the shape of the objects' image formation based on the imaging sensor's properties.
  5. Storing the accepted object corresponding to the most proximate destination, along with its positional data, in an object list.

• Claim 13 (Device for assisting guidance of a motor vehicle): This claim outlines a device that performs the method described in Claim 1. It comprises:

  1. An imaging sensor to capture image data.
  2. An image-processing unit to extract positional parameters of potential destinations. This unit includes an edge detector and segmenter, a locating unit for finding geometric objects, a memory unit for storing object patterns, a comparator unit for plausibility checks using a matching algorithm, and an acceptance analysis unit.
  3. A processing unit to compute an optimized travel path trajectory.
  4. A vehicle guidance system to assist in steering the vehicle to the destination.
  5. A data memory for storing the most proximate destination's information, with the acceptance analysis unit communicating with this memory and transferring data to the processing unit.

Uncertainty Note:
While the patent information indicates ongoing litigation (PTAB case IPR2025-00342 and a US case 6:24-cv-00188 in Texas Western District Court), no specific dockets related to US patent 7336805 were found in the CAFC 2026 dockets through the performed search. Therefore, there is no authoritative information regarding any current or pending appeals for this patent at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in 2026.