System and method for assessing parking space occupancy and for reserving same

• US 20060250278A1
• Filed: 05/09/2005
• Published: 11/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Tillotson, Brian J., Cobleigh, Kenneth A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,312,722 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/932.200
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/14 indicating individual free spaces in parking areas

Abstract

A method and apparatus for determining the availability of a plurality of parking spaces and of reserving one or more of such available parking spaces is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of accepting data indicating an occupancy status of at least a subset of the plurality of parking spaces; generating a parking database describing an availability of one or more of the parking spaces from the accepted data; accepting a request from a user, the request being for data describing the availability of the one or more of the parking spaces from the parking database; and providing the data describing availability of the one or more of the parking spaces to the user.

Claims

1. A method of managing a plurality of parking spaces, comprising the steps of:

accepting data indicating an occupancy status of at least a subset of the plurality of parking spaces;

generating a parking database describing an availability of one or more of the parking spaces from the accepted data;

accepting a request from a user, the request being for data describing the availability of the one or more of the parking spaces from the parking database; and

providing the data describing availability of the one or more of the parking spaces to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data is accepted in an operations center physically remote from the parking spaces.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining the occupancy status of the subset of the parking spaces.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the subset of the parking spaces comprises a group of parking spaces together defining a parking area, and the occupancy status of the subset of the parking spaces is determined by a capacity of the parking area and a difference between a count of vehicles entering the parking area and a count of vehicles leaving the parking area.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the occupancy status of the subset of parking spaces is determined from the accepted data according to a predictive model based on historical accepted data.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the occupancy status of each of the parking spaces of the subset of parking spaces is determined by a sensing device proximate the parking space associated therewith.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sensing device comprises a ferrous sensor.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the sensing device comprises an optical sensor.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the sensing device comprises an infrared sensor.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the occupancy status is continuously detected and provided to the operations center if the occupancy status changes.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the request from the user comprises a destination;

the provided data describing the availability of the one or more parking spaces identifies parking spaces within a distance of the destination.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the request from the user further comprises a preferred parking space attribute; and

the provided data describing the availability of the one or more parking spaces identifies parking spaces meeting the preferred parking space attribute.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the attributes are selected from the group comprising:

a proximity of the parking space to the destination;

size of the parking space;

a security level of the parking space;

a cost of the parking space;

illumination of the parking space; and

exposure of the parking space to the Sun.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

accepting a reservation request from the user;

reserving at least one of the parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces in response to the accepted reservation request.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the reservation request comprises a selection of a category of parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the data describing availability of the one or more parking spaces to the user includes availability data for each individual parking space; and

the reservation request comprises a request for a particular one of the individual parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of providing a voucher documenting the reserved at least one of the parking spaces to the user at the user'"'"'s remote location.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the voucher comprises an authorization code.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

providing a reminder of the location of the reserved at least one of the parking spaces.

20. A parking space management system, comprising:

an operations center, having;

a parking database, describing an availability of one or more of the parking spaces generated using data describing an occupancy status of at least a subset of the plurality of parking spaces; and

a parking database interface, for accepting the data indicating the occupancy status of at least a subset of the parking spaces, for accepting a request from a user, the request being for the data describing the availability of one or more of the parking spaces, and for providing the data describing the availability of the one or more of the parking spaces to the user.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the availability of the one or more of the parking spaces is determined according to a predictive model using historical data describing the occupancy status of at least a subset of the plurality of parking spaces.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a plurality of occupancy sensors, for detecting an occupancy status of a parking space associated therewith.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the subset of the parking spaces comprises a group of parking spaces together defining a parking lot, and the occupancy status of the subset of the parking spaces is determined by a difference between a count of vehicles entering the parking lot and a count of vehicles leaving the parking lot.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the occupancy sensors are selected from the group comprising:

a ferrous detector;

an optical detector; and

an infrared detector.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein each occupancy sensor is associated with one of the plurality parking spaces and detects an occupancy status of the one of the parking spaces.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the operations center is remote from the parking spaces.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein:

the request from the user comprises a destination;

the provided data describing the availability of the one or more parking spaces consists of data describing parking spaces within a specified distance of the destination.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the specified distance is user-specified.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein:

the request from the user further comprises a preferred parking space attribute; and

the provided data describing the availability of the one or more parking spaces identifies parking spaces meeting the preferred parking space attribute.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the attributes are selected from the group comprising

a proximity of the parking space to the destination;

size of the parking space;

a security level of the parking space;

a cost of the parking space;

illumination of the parking space; and

exposure of the parking space to the Sun.

31. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the parking database interface further comprises:

a module for accepting a reservation request from the user and for reserving at least one of the parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces in response to the accepted reservation request.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the reservation request comprises a selection of a category of parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the parking database interface further provides a voucher documenting the reserved at least one of the parking spaces to the user at the user'"'"'s remote location.

34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the module further provides a reminder of the location of the reserved at least one of the parking spaces.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein:

the data describing availability of the one or more parking spaces to the user includes availability data for each individual parking space; and

the reservation request comprises a request for a particular one of the individual parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces.

36. An apparatus for managing a plurality of parking spaces, comprising:

means for accepting data indicating an occupancy status of at least a subset of the plurality of parking spaces;

means for generating a parking database describing an availability of one or more of the parking spaces from the accepted data;

means for accepting a request from a user, the request being for data describing the availability of the one or more of the parking spaces from the parking database; and

means for providing the data describing availability of the one or more of the parking spaces to the user.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the data is accepted in an operations center physically remote from the parking spaces.

38. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising means for determining the occupancy status of the subset of the parking spaces.

39. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the occupancy status of the subset of parking spaces is determined from the accepted data according to a predictive model using historical accepted data.

40. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the occupancy status of each of the parking spaces of the subset of parking spaces is determined by a sensing device proximate the parking space associated therewith.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the sensing device comprises a ferrous detector.

42. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the sensing device comprises an optical detector.

43. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the sensing device comprises an infrared detector.

44. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the occupancy status is continuously detected and provided to the operations center if the occupancy status changes.

45. The apparatus of claim 38, wherein the subset of the parking spaces comprises a group of parking spaces together defining a parking lot, and the occupancy status of the subset of the parking spaces is determined by a difference between a count of vehicles entering the parking lot and a count of vehicles leaving the parking lot.

46. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein:

the request from the user comprises a destination;

the provided data describing the availability of the one or more parking spaces identifies parking spaces within a distance of the destination.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein:

the request from the user further comprises a preferred parking space attribute; and

the provided data describing the availability of the one or more parking spaces identifies parking spaces meeting the preferred parking space attribute.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the attributes are selected from the group comprising:

a proximity of the parking space to the destination;

size of the parking space;

a security level of the parking space;

a cost of the parking space;

illumination of the parking space; and

exposure of the parking space to the Sun.

49. The apparatus of claim 36, further comprising:

means for accepting a reservation request from the user;

means for reserving at least one of the parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces in response to the accepted reservation request.

50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein:

the reservation request comprises a selection of a category of parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces.

51. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein:

the data describing availability of the one or more parking spaces to the user includes availability data for each individual parking space; and

the reservation request comprises a request for a particular one of the individual parking spaces in the subset of parking spaces.

52. The apparatus of claim 49, further comprising means for providing a voucher documenting the reserved at least one of the parking spaces to the user at the user'"'"'s remote location.

53. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein the voucher comprises an authorization code.

54. The apparatus of claim 49, further comprising the step of:

providing a reminder of the location of the reserved at least one of the parking spaces.