Method of detecting and providing parking space information and/or road obstacle information to vehicles
First Claim
1. A machine implemented method of identifying parking spaces for vehicles, said method comprising:
- detecting a space and a space location, said space being detected by at least one sensor provided at a sensing vehicle and said space location being detected by a location processor provided at said sensing vehicle;
transferring said detected space location to a processing module remote from said vehicle;
obtaining road data for said space location, said road data indicative of one or more parking restrictions;
determining whether said road data indicates parking restrictions which prevent parking at said detected space location;
when it is determined that said road data indicates parking restrictions which prevent parking at said space location, determining that said detected space is not a parking space; and
when it is determined that said road data indicates parking restrictions which do not prevent parking at said space location, determining that said detected space is a parking space, said determinations being performed by a processor provided at said remote processing module;
said method further comprising;
detecting said road data, said road data being detected by said at least one sensor provided at a sensing vehicle, and transferring said detected road data together with location data indicating the location of the detected road data to said processing module remote from said vehicle; and
determining a size of said detected space at said sensing vehicle and transferring said size of said detected space to said processing module remote from said vehicle.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Vehicles which are provided with at least one sensor and a location system, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) detect parking spaces and/or road obstacles when driving along a road. The detected parking space and/or road obstacle data is transferred to a remote processing module. The processing module may then provide the detected parking space and/or road obstacle data to a requesting vehicle, which is located in the vicinity of the detected parking space and/or road obstacle. In addition, the at least one sensor may detect road data, such as data regarding parking restrictions at the location of the detected parking space. The detected road data may be used to determine whether the detected parking space is available to the requesting vehicle. Furthermore, parking permit data may be used to determine whether the detected parking space is available to the requesting vehicle.
-
Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A machine implemented method of identifying parking spaces for vehicles, said method comprising:
-
detecting a space and a space location, said space being detected by at least one sensor provided at a sensing vehicle and said space location being detected by a location processor provided at said sensing vehicle; transferring said detected space location to a processing module remote from said vehicle; obtaining road data for said space location, said road data indicative of one or more parking restrictions; determining whether said road data indicates parking restrictions which prevent parking at said detected space location; when it is determined that said road data indicates parking restrictions which prevent parking at said space location, determining that said detected space is not a parking space; and when it is determined that said road data indicates parking restrictions which do not prevent parking at said space location, determining that said detected space is a parking space, said determinations being performed by a processor provided at said remote processing module;
said method further comprising;detecting said road data, said road data being detected by said at least one sensor provided at a sensing vehicle, and transferring said detected road data together with location data indicating the location of the detected road data to said processing module remote from said vehicle; and determining a size of said detected space at said sensing vehicle and transferring said size of said detected space to said processing module remote from said vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A system for identifying parking spaces for vehicles, said system comprising:
-
a plurality of sensing vehicles, each said sensing vehicle provided with at least one vehicle sensor, said at least one vehicle sensor configured to detect a space and a space location; a remote processing module configured to receive said detected space and said space location from said plurality of sensing vehicles, and to obtain road data for said space location, said road data indicative of one or more parking restrictions; and a plurality of requesting vehicles configured to transfer a parking space request together with a location request to said processing module, and to receive one or more of said detected parking space locations from said processing module when one or more of said detected parking space locations are within a predetermined distance of said location request; wherein said at least one vehicle sensor provided at each said sensing vehicle is further configured to detect said road data, and transfers said detected road data together with location data indicating the location of the detected road data to said remote processing module; and wherein each said sensing vehicle determines a size of said detected space and transfers said size of said detected space to said remote processing module.
-
Specification