Method and system for parking verification via blockchain

• US 10,198,949 B2
• Filed: 04/28/2017
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Becker, William
• Primary Examiner(s): King, Curtis
• Application Number:
  US15/581,006
• Publication Number:
  US 20180315309A1
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0284 Time or distance, e.g. usage of parking meters or taximeters
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/133 within the vehicle ; Indicators inside the vehicles or at stops
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0637 Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0643 Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3236 using cryptographic hash functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

A method for distributing parking availability data via blockchain includes: storing a blockchain comprised of a plurality of blocks, each block having a block header including a timestamp; receiving spot availability notifications including a common spot identifier and availability data; generating a transaction value including the common spot identifier and availability data; generating a new block header including i) a current timestamp, ii) a reference hash value generated via hashing of the block header included in a most recent block identified via the timestamp, and iii) a transaction hash value generated via hashing of the new transaction value; generating a new block comprised of the new block header and the new transaction value; and transmitting the generated new block.

Claims

1. A method for distributing parking availability data via blockchain, comprising:

storing, in a memory of a processing server, a blockchain comprised of a plurality of blocks, wherein each block is comprised of at least a block header and a plurality of transaction values, each block header including at least a timestamp;

receiving, by a receiving device of the processing server, a spot availability notification from two or more computing devices, wherein each spot availability notification includes at least a common spot identifier and availability data;

generating, by a generation module of the processing server, a new transaction value, wherein the new transaction value includes at least the common spot identifier and availability data included in the received spot availability notifications;

generating, by the generation module of the processing server, a new block header, wherein the new block header includes at least i) a current timestamp, ii) a reference hash value generated via hashing of the block header included in a most recent block identified via the timestamp included in the block header, and iii) a transaction hash value generated via hashing of at least the new transaction value;

generating, by the generation module of the processing server, a new block comprised of at least the new block header and the new transaction value; and

electronically transmitting, by a transmitting device of the processing server, at least the generated new block to a node of a blockchain network causing the blockchain network to add the generated new block to the blockchain.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the availability data includes at least one of:

an indication of availability and an identifier associated with an occupying vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in a location database of the processing server, a plurality of location data entries, wherein each location data entry includes at least a blockchain identifier and at least one spot identifier; and

executing, by a querying module of the processing server, a query on the location database to identify a specific location data entry wherein at least one of the at least one spot identifiers corresponds to the common spot identifier, wherein

the blockchain identifier included in the identified specific location data entry is associated with the blockchain.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each location data entry further includes a geographic location associated with each at least one spot identifier.

5. A method for identifying available parking locations via blockchain, comprising:

storing, in a location database of a computing device, a plurality of location data entries, wherein each location data entry includes at least a geographic location and a spot identifier;

electronically transmitting, by a transmitting device of the computing device, a blockchain request to a particular blockchain network associated with a particular geographic location, wherein the blockchain request includes at least one of;

a blockchain identifier and a geographic location of the computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to communicate with one or more nodes of blockchain networks;

receiving, by a receiving device of the computing device, at least one blockchain, wherein each blockchain is comprised of a plurality of blocks, each block being comprised of at least a block header and a plurality of transaction values, where each block header includes at least a timestamp and each transaction value includes at least availability data and one of a plurality of spot identifiers;

identifying, by a data identification module of the computing device, a most recent transaction value for each of the plurality of spot identifiers based on the timestamp included in the block header included in the block that includes the most recent transaction value;

identifying, by the data identification module of the computing device, at least one spot identifier of the plurality of spot identifiers where the availability data included in the corresponding most recent transaction value includes an indication of positive parking availability;

executing, by a querying module of the computing device, a query on the location database to identify, for each of the identified at least one spot identifiers, a location data entry where the included spot identifier corresponds to the respective spot identifier; and

displaying, by a display device interfaced with the computing device, the geographic location included in each of the identified location data entries.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

identifying, by a geographic identification module of the computing device, the geographic location of the computing device prior to transmission of the blockchain request.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein display of the geographic location included in each of the identified location data entries includes displaying a map of the geographic location of the computing device, wherein the map includes an indication of the geographic location included in each of the identified location data entries.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the map further includes an illustration of directions from the geographic location of the computing device to the geographic location included in at least one of the identified location data entries.

9. A system for distributing parking availability data via blockchain, comprising:

a memory of a processing server configured to store a blockchain comprised of a plurality of blocks, wherein each block is comprised of at least a block header and a plurality of transaction values, each block header including at least a timestamp;

a receiving device of the processing server configured to receive a spot availability notification from two or more computing devices, wherein each spot availability notification includes at least a common spot identifier and availability data;

a generation module of the processing server configured to generate;

a new transaction value, wherein the new transaction value includes at least the common spot identifier and availability data included in the received spot availability notifications,

a new block header, wherein the new block header includes at least i) a current timestamp, ii) a reference hash value generated via hashing of the block header included in a most recent block identified via the timestamp included in the block header, and iii) a transaction hash value generated via hashing of at least the new transaction value, and

a new block comprised of at least the new block header and the new transaction value; and

a transmitting device of the processing server configured to electronically transmit at least the generated new block to a node of a blockchain network causing the blockchain network to add the generated new block to the blockchain.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the availability data includes at least one of:

an indication of availability and an identifier associated with an occupying vehicle.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a location database of the processing server configured to store a plurality of location data entries, wherein each location data entry includes at least a blockchain identifier and at least one spot identifier; and

a querying module of the processing server configured to execute a query on the location database to identify a specific location data entry wherein at least one of the at least one spot identifiers corresponds to the common spot identifier, wherein

the blockchain identifier included in the identified specific location data entry is associated with the blockchain.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each location data entry further includes a geographic location associated with each at least one spot identifier.

13. A system for identifying available parking locations via blockchain, comprising:

a location database of a computing device configured to store a plurality of location data entries, wherein each location data entry includes at least a geographic location and a spot identifier;

a transmitting device of the computing device configured to electronically transmit a blockchain request to a particular blockchain network associated with a particular geographic location, wherein the blockchain request includes at least one of;

a blockchain identifier and a geographic location of the computing device, and wherein the computing device is configured to communicate with one or more nodes of blockchain networks;

a receiving device of the computing device configured to receive at least one blockchain, wherein each blockchain is comprised of a plurality of blocks, each block being comprised of at least a block header and a plurality of transaction values, where each block header includes at least a timestamp and each transaction value includes at least availability data and one of a plurality of spot identifiers;

a data identification module of the computing device configured to;

identify a most recent transaction value for each of the plurality of spot identifiers based on the timestamp included in the block header included in the block that includes the most recent transaction value, and

identify at least one spot identifier of the plurality of spot identifiers where the availability data included in the corresponding most recent transaction value includes an indication of positive parking availability;

a querying module of the computing device configured to execute a query on the location database to identify, for each of the identified at least one spot identifiers, a location data entry where the included spot identifier corresponds to the respective spot identifier; and

a display device interfaced with the computing device configured to display the geographic location included in each of the identified location data entries.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

a geographic identification module of the computing device configured to identify the geographic location of the computing device prior to transmission of the blockchain request.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein display of the geographic location included in each of the identified location data entries includes displaying a map of the geographic location of the computing device, wherein the map includes an indication of the geographic location included in each of the identified location data entries.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the map further includes an illustration of directions from the geographic location of the computing device to the geographic location included in at least one of the identified location data entries.