Parking information aggregation platform

• US 10,515,551 B1
• Filed: 08/07/2018
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Woodard, Jason, Catalano, Joseph, Kotler, Ryan, Rogal, Adam Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai T
• Application Number:
  US16/057,248
• Time in Patent Office: 504 Days
• Field of Search: 3409322, 340933, 340937, 3405391, 34053911
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/141 with means giving the indication of available parking spaces
• 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 1/148 Management of a network of parking areas

Abstract

This document describes systems and techniques that may be used to aggregate information about open parking spots from various different parking providers or organizations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, user input that identifies a destination location;

sending, by the computing device, an indication of the destination location to a remote computing system;

receiving, by the computing device in response to having sent the indication of the destination location to the remote computing system, information that identifies a first parking location and a second parking location;

presenting, by the computing device in response to the computing device having received the information that identifies the first parking location and the second parking location, a user interface that includes;

(i) a first indication that the first parking location is available, and

(ii) a second indication that the second parking location is available;

receiving, by the computing device, user input that selects the first parking location as a destination; and

navigating, by the computing device in response to the user input that selects the first parking location as the destination, to the first parking location.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the first indication that the first parking location is available comprises a first interface element on a map at a location of the first parking location; and

the second indication that the second parking location is available comprises a second interface element on the map at a location of the second parking location.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein:

receiving the user input that selects the first parking location as the destination includes selecting the first interface element on the map.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein navigating to the first parking location includes the computing device providing a route to the first parking location.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein navigating to the first parking location includes the computing device presenting a map of a route between a current location of the computing device and the first parking location.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the destination location identifies an area;

the first parking location is within the area; and

the second parking location is within the area.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computing device comprises an in-dash vehicle navigation system.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising presenting, by the computing device in response to the computing device having received the information that identifies the first parking location and the second parking location:

(i) an indication of a price of the first parking location, and

(ii) an indication of a price of the second parking location.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising presenting, by the computing device in response to the computing device having received the information that identifies the first parking location and the second parking location:

(i) an indication of a time limit for the first parking location, and

(ii) an indication of a time limit for the second parking location.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising presenting, by the computing device in response to the computing device having received the information that identifies the first parking location and the second parking location:

(i) an indication of a number of parking spots available at the first parking location, and

(ii) an indication of a number of parking spots available at the second parking location.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device in response to the computing device having sent the indication of the destination location to the remote computing system, second information that identifies;

(i) an indication of a first time at which the first parking location was observed to be available, and

(ii) an indication of a second time at which the second parking location was observed to be available.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the user interface that is presented by the computing device includes:

(i) a visual indication of the first time at which the first parking location was observed to be available; and

(ii) a visual indication of the second time at which the second parking location was observed to be available.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the first indication that the first parking location is available comprises a first graphical element that indicates both a location of the first parking location and a first time at which the first parking location was observed to be available; and

the second indication that the second parking location is available comprises a second graphical element that indicates both a location of the second parking location and a second time at which the second parking location was observed to be available.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the remote computing system provided the information that identified the first parking location to the computing device in response to the remote computing system receiving, from a second computing device, information (i) that identifies the first parking location as being available, (ii) that identifies a location of the first parking location, and (iii) that the second computing device sent for receipt by the remote computing system responsive to user input at the second computing device marking the first parking location as being available.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the second computing device identifies the location of the first parking location as a location of the second computing device that was determined using a satellite-based positioning system.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the remote computing system provided the information that identified the first parking location to the computing device in response to the remote computing system receiving, from a second computing device, information (i) that identifies the first parking location as being available, (ii) that identifies a location of the first parking location, and (iii) that the second computing device sent for receipt by the remote computing system responsive to movement of the second computing device, as determined using a motion sensor of the second computing device or a satellite-based positioning system, automatically triggering the computing device to send a report that the first parking location is available at a location of the second computing device.

17. A computerized system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable devices including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of operations that comprise;

receiving, at a computing device, user input that identifies a destination location;

sending, by the computing device, an indication of the destination location to a remote computing system;

receiving, by the computing device in response to having sent the indication of the destination location to the remote computing system, information that identifies a first parking location and a second parking location;

presenting, by the computing device in response to the computing device having received the information that identifies the first parking location and the second parking location, a user interface that includes;

(i) a first indication that the first parking location is available, and

(ii) a second indication that the second parking location is available;

receiving, by the computing device, user input that selects the first parking location as a destination; and

navigating, by the computing device in response to the user input that selects the first parking location as the destination, to the first parking location.

18. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, user input that identifies a location;

sending, by the computing device, an indication of the location to a remote computing system;

receiving, by the computing device in response to having sent the indication of the location to the remote computing system, information that identifies a first parking location and a second parking location;

presenting, by the computing device in response to the computing device having received the information that identifies the first parking location and the second parking location, a user interface that includes;

(i) a first indication that the first parking location is available and an indication of a first time at which the first parking location was observed to be available, and

(ii) a second indication that the second parking location is available and an indication of a second time at which the second parking location was observed to be available.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, user input that marks a third parking location as being available and identifies a location of the third parking location; and

sending, by the computing device for receipt by the remote computing system responsive to the computing device receiving the user input that marks the third parking location as being available and that identifies the location of the third parking location, an indication that the third parking location is available, including information that identifies the location of the third parking location.