TRACKING VEHICLE LOCATIONS IN A PARKING LOT FOR DEFINITIVE DISPLAY ON A GUI

• US 20090204325A1
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gaurav Chowdhary, Sachin Chaudhry
• Original Assignee: Gaurav Chowdhary, Sachin Chaudhry
• Inventors: Chowdhary, Gaurav, Chaudhry, Sachin
• Granted Patent: US 7,957,900 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A computer implemented method for displaying on a map a definitive image of precise locations of multiple mobile objects such as vehicles in a lot. The lot is mapped digitally to display precise locations of sub-areas of different types, such as parking and movement slots and their raw, approximate distances from vehicles are determined from approximate coordinates of vehicles obtained remotely. A data base of vehicle and sub-area types is established and a vehicle placement matrix is determined providing probabilities of respective sub-areas being occupiable by respective vehicles derived from business environment rules based on compatibilities of respective vehicle types with respect sub-area types. Raw, approximate distances of vehicles from sub-areas are divided by the probabilities to provided adjusted distances, sub-areas ranked by least adjusted distances and the respective vehicles placed in their top ranked sub-areas for more accurate display of location on a GUI.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method to automatically track/identify respective locations occupied by respective individual vehicles of a group of vehicles crowded together in a parking lot to enable definitive, real time, display the vehicles'"'"' respective locations on a GUI, comprising the steps of:

a) creating a digital map of a main area of a parking lot by identifying sub-areas of the parking lot of different types comprising parking slots and movement slots, potentially occupiable by vehicles;

dividing the parking lot into a grid of cells so that respective slots are filled by at least one cell with each cell being in only a single slot;

b) determining a business environment rule for each type of slot based on vehicle compatibility which provides a probability that a slot of a particular type is occupiable by a vehicle;

c) determining precise positional coordinates of respective parking slots and movement slots;

d) providing means for remotely identifying respective vehicles and for providing approximate positional coordinates of each vehicle identified;

e) designating a vehicle and comparing the approximate positional coordinates of said designated vehicle with the precise positional coordinates of each slot, as provided by the digital map, to determine respective raw distances therebetween;

f) calculating adjusted distances of the designated vehicle from respective slots by changing values of respective raw distances by a factor dependent on relative probabilities of respective slots being occupiable by the designated vehicle according to the business rule, so that relative proximities of respective slots to the designated vehicle are increased with increasing probability, by comparison with relative proximities derived from respective raw distances;

g) ranking the slots in order by least adjusted distances from the designated vehicle and, in the event of slots having equal highest ranking, assigning a top rank to one of those equal highest ranking slots by one of random selection and other criteria;

h) when the top ranked slot is unoccupied by another of the vehicles, placing the designated vehicle in the top ranked slot and, when the top ranked slot is occupied, comparing the adjusted distance of the designated vehicle from the top ranked slot and the adjusted distance of the occupying vehicle from the top ranked slot and placing the more proximate of those vehicles in the top ranked slot;

i) when the designated vehicle is not more proximate than the occupying vehicle repeating step h) for successively ranked slots until one of the designated vehicle is placed in a slot and all attempts to place the designated vehicle are exhausted;

j) when the designated vehicle is more proximate than the occupying vehicle, replacing the occupying vehicle by the designated vehicle so that the occupying vehicle returns to the group; and

,

k) repeating the steps e)-j) for all remaining vehicles of the group.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein, said at least one business environment rule comprises at least one of slot size;

vehicle size;

vehicle priority, vehicle type, vehicle velocity;

slot surface material; and

slot function and location in the parking lot.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein, each adjusted distance is calculated by dividing the corresponding raw distance by the probability that the slot could be occupied by the designated vehicle.

4. The method according to claim 2 wherein, each adjusted distance is calculated by dividing the corresponding raw distance by the probability that the slot could be occupied by the designated vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 2 wherein, the business rule comprises vehicle velocity and comprising the step of providing motion detecting means for the vehicle.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein each adjusted distance is calculated by dividing the corresponding raw distance by the probability that the slot could be occupied by the designated vehicle.

7. The method according to claim 1 wherein only slots within a predetermined raw distance of a designated vehicle are ranked.

8. The method according to claim 3 wherein only slots within a predetermined raw distance of a designated vehicle are ranked.

9. The method according to claim 6 wherein only slots within a predetermined raw distance of a designated vehicle are ranked.

22. A method according to claim 1 in which, when a shape and size of a vehicle is no larger than a shape and size of a slot in which the vehicle is placed, an image of the vehicle is positioned within boundaries of an image of the slot, such that the vehicle image has a centroid which is coincident with a centroid of the slot image;

and

when a shape and size of the vehicle is greater than a shape and size of a slot in which the vehicle is placed, an image of the vehicle will be positioned in the slot image to minimize any total overhang over boundaries of the slot image.

10. A computer implemented method to automatically track/identify respective parking slots and movement slots occupied by respective individual vehicles of a group of vehicles crowded together in a parking lot to enable definitive, real time, display of the vehicles'"'"' respective parking and movement slots on a GUI, comprising the steps of:

determining a set of business environment rules based on compatibility of respective slots with respective vehicles for providing relative probabilities of occupation of respective slots by respective vehicles;

determining raw distances of respective vehicles from respective slots;

adjusting values of raw distances of respective vehicles from respective potential slots according to the respective probabilities of occupiability as determined by the business environmental rules so that the relative proximities of slots to respective vehicles increase with increasing probabilities of occupationiability as compared with relative proximities derived from the raw distances;

ranking the respective slots in order of most proximate to respective vehicles, as derived from the adjusted values of raw distances and,

placing respective vehicles in respective top ranked slots for real-time display on a GUI and, so that any slot occupying vehicles are replaced by more proximate vehicles and replaced vehicles are then placed in successively ranked slots.

23. A method according to claim 10 in which, when a shape and size of a vehicle is no larger than a shape and size of a slot in which the vehicle is placed, an image of the vehicle is positioned within boundaries of an image of the slot, such that the vehicle image has a centroid which is coincident with a centroid of the slot image;

and

when a shape and size of the vehicle is greater than a shape and size of a slot in which the vehicle is placed, an image of the vehicle will be positioned in the slot image to minimize any total overhang over boundaries of the slot image.

11. A computer implemented method to automatically track/identify respective locations occupied by respective individual mobile objects of a group of mobile objects crowded together in a facility to enable definitive, real time, display of the mobile objects'"'"' respective locations on a GUI, comprising the steps of:

a) creating a digital map of a main area of a facility by identifying sub-areas of the facility of different types comprising storage slots and movement slots, potentially occupiable by mobile objects;

dividing the facility into a grid of cells so that respective slots are filled by at least one cell with each cell being in only a single slot;

b) determining a business environment rule for each type of slot based on mobile object compatibility which provides a probability that a slot of a particular type is occupiable by a mobile object;

c) determining precise positional coordinates of respective storage slots and movement slots;

d) providing means for remotely identifying respective mobile objects and for providing approximate positional coordinates of each mobile object identified;

e) designating a mobile object and comparing the approximate positional coordinates of said designated mobile object with the precise positional coordinates of each slot, as provided by the digital map, to determine respective raw distances therebetween;

f) calculating adjusted distances of the designated mobile object from respective slots by changing values of respective raw distances by a factor dependent on relative probabilities of respective slots being occupiable by the designated mobile object according to the business rule, so that relative proximities of respective slots to the designated mobile object are increased with increasing probability, by comparison with relative proximities derived from respective raw distances;

g) ranking the slots in order by least adjusted distances from the designated mobile object and, in the event of slots having equal highest ranking, assigning a top rank to one of those equal highest ranking slots by one of random selection and other criteria;

h) when the top ranked slot is unoccupied by another of the mobile objects, placing the designated mobile object in the top ranked slot and, when the top ranked slot is occupied, comparing the adjusted distance of the designated mobile object from the top ranked slot and the adjusted distance of the occupying mobile object from the top ranked slot and placing the more proximate of those mobile objects in the top ranked slot;

i) when the designated mobile object is not more proximate than the occupying mobile object repeating step h) for successively ranked slots until one of the designated mobile object is placed in a slot and all attempts to place the designated mobile object are exhausted;

j) when the designated mobile object is more proximate than the occupying mobile object, replacing the occupying mobile object by the designated mobile object so that the occupying mobile object returns to the group; and

,

k) repeating the steps e)-j) for all remaining mobile objects of the group.

12. The method according to claim 11 wherein, said at least one business environment rule comprises at least one of slot size;

mobile object size;

mobile object type, mobile object state;

slot surface material; and

slot function and slot location in the facility.

13. The method according to claim 11 wherein, each adjusted distance is calculated by dividing the corresponding raw distance by the probability that the slot could be occupied by the designated mobile object.

14. The method according to claim 12 wherein, each adjusted distance is calculated by dividing the corresponding raw distance by the probability that the slot could be occupied by the designated mobile object.

15. The method according to claim 12 wherein, the business rule comprises mobile object velocity and comprising the step of providing motion detecting means for the mobile object.

16. The method according to claim 15 wherein each adjusted distance is calculated by dividing the corresponding raw distance by the probability that the slot could be occupied by the designated mobile object.

17. The method according to claim 11 wherein only slots within a predetermined raw distance of a designated mobile object are ranked.

18. The method according to claim 13 wherein only slots within a predetermined raw distance of a designated mobile object are ranked

19. The method according to claim 16 wherein only slots within a predetermined raw distance of a designated mobile object are ranked

24. A method according to claim 11 in which when a shape and size of a mobile object is no larger than a shape and size of a slot in which the mobile object is placed, an image of the mobile object is positioned within boundaries of the an image of the slot, such that the mobile object image has a centroid which is coincident with a centroid of the slot image;

and

when a shape and size of the mobile object is greater than a shape and size of a slot in which the mobile object is placed, an image of the mobile object will be positioned in the slot image to minimize any total overhang over boundaries of the slot image.

20. A method for improving mobile object resolution in a real time simultaneous display of multiple mobile objects in specific sub-areas of a facility area on a GUI comprising the steps of:

measuring approximate respective distances of respective mobile objects from respective potentially occupiable specific sub-areas;

formulating at least one business environment rule based on relative compatibilites of respective mobile objects with respective sub-areas indicative of relative probabilities of respective mobile objects being found in respective sub-areas;

modifying the measured distances in accordance with the relative probabilities to provide respective adjusted distances; and

,

placing respective mobile objects in respective sub-areas located at least adjusted distances therefrom for display in the facility area on the GUI.

25. A method according to claim 20 in which when a shape and size of a mobile object is no larger than a shape and size of a sub-area in which the mobile object is placed, an image of the mobile object is positioned within boundaries of an image of the sub-area, such that the mobile object image has a centroid which is coincident with a centroid of the sub-area image;

and

when a shape and size of the mobile object is greater than a shape and size of a sub-area in which the mobile object is placed, an image of the mobile object will be positioned in the sub-area image to minimize any total overhang over boundaries of the sub-area image.

21. A method for improving vehicle resolution in a real time simultaneous display of multiple vehicles in specific sub-areas of a lot on a GUI comprising the steps of:

measuring approximate respective distances of respective vehicles from respective potentially occupiable specific slots of the lot;

formulating at least one business environment rule based on relative compatibilites of respective vehicles with respective slots indicative of relative probabilities of respective vehicles being found in respective slots;

modifying the measured distances in accordance with the relative probabilities to provide respective adjusted distances; and

,

placing respective mobile-vehicles in respective slots located at least adjusted distances therefrom for display in the lot on the GUI.