PARKING LOT INFORMATION SYSTEM USING IMAGE TECHNOLOGY FOR IDENTIFYING AVAILABLE PARKING SPACES

• US 20130039532A1
• Filed: 08/11/2011
• Published: 02/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DoorDash, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Carbonell, Lee A., Cheng, Tsz, Mariadoss, Pandian, Edgington, Jeffrey L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,625,853 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/54 of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/142 external to the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/146 where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space

Abstract

A parking lot information system comprising a digital camera for obtaining an image of parking spaces in the parking lot where each parking space is marked with a visual identifier, a computer coupled to the digital camera for identifying available parking spaces by recognizing the identifiers marking the available parking spaces, and a display coupled to the computer for displaying information on the available parking spaces.

Claims

1. A parking lot information system, comprising:

a plurality of visual identifiers each marking a parking space in a parking lot;

a digital camera for obtaining an image of parking spaces in the parking lot;

a computer coupled to the digital camera for identifying available parking spaces by recognizing the identifiers marking the available parking spaces; and

a display coupled to the computer for displaying information on the available parking spaces.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mirror arrangement to reflect an image of a car license plate to the digital camera.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer recognizes the parking space identifiers using optical character recognition.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the parking space identifiers comprise characters marking the parking spaces.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer records a license plate of a car in a parking space, parking time, and parking duration of the car.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the information comprises at least one of parking space location information, parking space identification information, and number of the available parking spaces.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the display provides a layout of the parking lot.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is coupled to a network to provide information on the parking lot to remote customers through the network.

9. A computer implemented method comprising:

obtaining an image of a parking lot by a camera, the parking lot including a plurality of parking spaces each marked by a visual identifier;

identifying available parking spaces in the parking lot by recognizing the identifiers marking the available parking spaces, the recognition being done by a computer coupled to the camera; and

displaying information on the available parking spaces.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the parking space identifiers are recognized using optical character recognition.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the parking space identifiers comprise characters marking the respective parking spaces.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising providing a mirror arrangement to reflect an image of a car license plate to the camera.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising recording a license plate of a car in a parking space, parking time, and parking duration of the car.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program code configured to obtain an image of the parking lot by a camera, the parking lot including a plurality of parking spaces each marked by a visual identifier;

computer readable program code configured to identify available parking spaces in the parking lot by recognizing the identifiers marking the available parking spaces, the recognition being done by a computer coupled to the camera; and

computer readable program code configured to display information on the available parking spaces.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code comprises computer readable program code configured to display a layout of the parking lot.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code comprises computer readable program code configured to recognize the parking space identifiers using optical character recognition.

17. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code comprises computer readable program code configured to provide information about the parking lot to remote customers through a network.

18. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the information includes parking time, duration, and parking space identification.

19. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the information comprises parking space location information, parking space identification, and the number of the available parking spaces.

20. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the computer readable program code comprises computer readable program code configured to record a car license plate, associated parking space identifier, parking time, and parking duration.