Automatic selection of parking spaces based on parking space attributes, driver preferences, and vehicle information

• US 10,169,995 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2015
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bostick, James E., Ganci, Jr., John M., Keen, Martin G., Rakshit, Sarbajit K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fan, Hongmin
• Application Number:
  US14/865,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20170092130A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3423 Multimodal routing, i.e. combining two or more modes of transportation, where the modes can be any of, e.g. driving, walking, cycling, public transport
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3685 the POI's being parking facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/24765 Rule-based classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/12 Classification; Matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/013 Eye tracking input arrangements G06F3/015 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/75 Organisation of the matching processes, e.g. simultaneous or sequential comparisons of image or video features; Coarse-fine approaches, e.g. multi-scale approaches; using context analysis; Selection of dictionaries
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/765 using rules for classification or partitioning the feature space
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/015 with provision for distinguishing between two or more types of vehicles, e.g. between motor-cars and cycles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09685 where the complete route is computed only once and not updated
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/143 : inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 : on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/146 : where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space

Abstract

A method includes receiving: by a computing device, vehicle identification information for a vehicle that is entering a parking facility; identifying a driver profile and vehicle information based on the vehicle identification information, where the driver profile identifies criteria for scoring and selecting a parking space; determining, by the computing device, attributes of one or more open parking spaces in the parking facility when the vehicle enters the parking facility; scoring, by the computing device, each of the one or more open parking spaces based on the attributes, the driver profile, and the vehicle information; selecting, by the computing device, a particular one of the one or more parking spaces based on the scoring; determining, by the computing device, navigation directions from the vehicle to the selected parking space; and outputting, by the computing device, the navigation directions to a user device or vehicle interface system associated with the driver.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, vehicle identification information for a vehicle that is entering a parking facility;

identifying, by the computing device, a driver profile and vehicle information based on the vehicle identification information, wherein the driver profile identifies criteria for scoring and selecting a parking space;

determining, by the computing device, attributes of one or more open parking spaces in the parking facility when the vehicle enters the parking facility, wherein the attributes are determined by analyzing image data by applying pixel-based classification to the image data, wherein the image data further identifies at least one selected from the group consisting of;

presence of pedestrians;

objects; and

other vehicles;

scoring, by the computing device, each of the one or more open parking spaces based on the attributes, the driver profile, and the vehicle information, wherein the scoring is further based on a proximity of the one or more open parking spaces to a destination of the driver as identified by activity of the driver;

selecting, by the computing device, a particular one of the one or more parking spaces based on the scoring;

determining, by the computing device, navigation directions from the vehicle to the selected parking space, wherein the navigation directions are based on the image data and navigation directions previously provided to a different vehicle; and

outputting, by the computing device, the navigation directions to a user device or vehicle interface system associated with the driver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the navigation directions is based on pedestrian or vehicle traffic within the parking facility.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the pedestrian or vehicle traffic within the parking facility is determined based on the image data, wherein the image data is received by a camera device associated with the parking facility.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving image data associated with the parking facility; and

identifying the one or more open parking spaces based on the image data,

wherein determining the attributes of the one or more open parking spaces is based on identifying the one or more open parking spaces.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle identification information is a radio frequency identifier (RFID), a license plate number, or a vehicle identification number (VIN).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the scoring is based on weightings of the criteria identified in the driver profile.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the criteria or the attributes of each of the one or more parking spaces identifies at least one of:

the size of the parking space,

an identifier of the parking space,

the proximity of the parking space to a particular landmark occupied parking spaces, and

a type of the parking space.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity of the driver is based on calendar events or social media activity associated with the driver.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports the computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein steps of claim 1 are provided by a service provider on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device includes software provided as a service in a cloud environment.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising deploying a system for selecting a parking space and providing navigation direction to the selected parking space, comprising providing a computer infrastructure operable to perform the steps of claim 1.

13. A computer program product for selecting a parking space and providing navigation direction to the selected parking space, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to:

receive vehicle identification information for a vehicle that is entering a parking facility;

identify a driver profile and vehicle information based on the vehicle identification information, wherein the driver profile identifies criteria for scoring and selecting a parking space;

determine attributes of one or more open parking spaces in the parking facility when the vehicle enters the parking facility, wherein the attributes are determined by analyzing image data by applying pixel-based classification to the image data, wherein the image data further identifies at least one selected from the group consisting of;

presence of pedestrians;

objects; and

other vehicles;

score each of the one or more open parking spaces based on attributes, the driver profile, and the vehicle information;

output information regarding the scored one or more open parking spaces;

determine navigation directions from the vehicle to a selected parking space, of the one or more open parking spaces, wherein the determining the navigation directions is based on pedestrian or vehicle traffic within the parking facility, the image data, and navigation directions previously provided to a different vehicle; and

output the navigation directions to a user device or vehicle interface system associated with the driver.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the pedestrian or vehicle traffic within the parking facility is predicted based on the image data wherein the image data is received by a camera device associated with the parking facility.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions further cause the computing device to:

receive image data associated with the parking facility; and

identify the one or more open parking spaces based on the image data,

wherein the program instructions to determine the attributes of the one or more open parking spaces cause the computing device to determine the attributes of the one or more open parking spaces based on identifying the one or more open parking spaces.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the program instructions to score the one or more open parking spaces cause the computing device to score the one or more open parking spaces based on weightings of the criteria identified in the driver profile.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the driver profile identifies activity of the driver and wherein the program instructions to score the one or more open parking spaces cause the computing device to score the one or more open parking spaces further based on the activity of the driver wherein the activity of the driver is based on calendar events or social media activity associated with the driver.

18. A system comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage medium associated with a computing device;

program instructions to receive image data associated with the parking facility;

program instructions to receive vehicle identification information for a vehicle that is entering a parking facility;

program instructions to identify a driver profile and vehicle information based on the vehicle identification information, wherein the driver profile identifies criteria for scoring and selecting a parking space based on attributes of parking spaces in which the driver previously parked;

program instructions to identify the one or more open parking spaces based on the image data when the vehicle enters the parking facility;

program instructions to determine attributes of the one or more open parking spaces wherein the attributes are determined by analyzing the image data by applying pixel-based classification to the image data, wherein the image data further identifies at least one selected from the group consisting of;

presence of pedestrians;

objects; and

other vehicles;

program instructions to score each of the one or more open parking spaces based on the attributes, the driver profile, and the vehicle information;

program instructions to receive a selection of a particular one of the one or more parking spaces based on the scoring;

program instructions to determine navigation directions from the vehicle to the selected parking space, wherein the determining the navigation directions is based on pedestrian or vehicle traffic within the parking facility, the image data, and navigation directions previously provided to a different vehicle; and

program instructions to output the navigation directions to a user device or vehicle interface system associated with the driver,

wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory.