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Public parking space remote reservation system

  • US 10,026,042 B2
  • Filed: 01/14/2016
  • Issued: 07/17/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2016
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method for reserving a parking space for a vehicle using a mobile computing device having a display, a user interface and a positioning system, the method comprising:

  • requesting, on the user interface and while the mobile computing device is at a present location, an unreserved parking space from a plurality of unreserved parking spaces in a parking system database thereby defining a selected unreserved parking space, the unreserved parking spaces being in a location which is different from the present location;

    computing, by the positioning system, an estimated travel time from the present location of the mobile computing device to the selected unreserved parking space;

    based on the estimated travel time, automatically calculating, and proposing on the user interface, an initial reservation period for the selected unreserved parking space;

    accepting, on the user interface, the initial reservation period thereby starting a timer for the time remaining in the initial reservation period;

    upon the accepting, generating and transmitting, from the mobile computing device, a reservation signal to the parking system database, the reservation signal comprising an ID of, and the initial reservation period for, the selected unreserved parking space and instructions for changing a status of the selected unreserved parking space from unreserved to reserved in the parking system database, wherein the initial reservation period starts when performing the accepting;

    during the initial reservation period, generating and transmitting, from the mobile computing device, an occupation signal to the parking system database, the occupation signal comprising the ID of the selected reserved parking space and instructions for changing the status of the selected reserved parking space from reserved to occupied for an occupation period in the parking system database thereby ending the initial reservation period and starting the occupation period, confirmed by an actual position of the mobile computing device as computed by the positioning system, and starting a timer for the time remaining in the occupation period, the timer for the occupation period being distinct from the timer for the initial reservation period; and

    after the status of the selected parking space is changed from reserved to occupied, determining, using the positioning system, a location of the mobile computing device relative to the occupied parking space thereby defining a relative location, and determining, using the relative location and time, whether the vehicle has left the occupied parking space without using a fixed physical sensor for each parking space to determine if each parking space is occupied or not.

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