Computer-Implemented System And Method For Offering Customer Priority Parking Reservations

• US 20140195282A1
• Filed: 03/10/2014
• Published: 07/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.), Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Stefik, Mark Jeffrey, Bell, Alan G., Eldershaw, Craig, Good, Lance E., Greene, Daniel H., Torres, Francisco Eduardo, Uckun, Serdar, Cummins, David Preston
• Granted Patent: US 10,546,495 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/02 taking into account a variable factor such as distance or time, e.g. for passenger transport, parking systems or car rental systems G07B15/06 takes precedence; taximeters G07B13/00; parking meters per se G07F17/24; car rental systems per se G07B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0021 Access to services on a time-basis
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/246 provided with vehicle proximity-detectors detecting hidden masses, e.g. metal detectors, G01V, e.g. G01V3/00; proximity switches per se H03K17/00; traffic control systems G08G1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/001 Interfacing with vending machines using mobile or wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/12 Manually actuated calamity alarm transmitting arrangements emergency non-personal manually actuated alarm, activators, e.g. details of alarm push buttons mounted on an infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/14 indicating individual free spaces in parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/142 external to the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/148 Management of a network of parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast

Abstract

A system and method for offering customer priority parking reservations. Motor vehicle parking spaces are provided through a server. The server respectively interfaces with smart parking devices, vehicle occupancy sensors, and parking availability indicators that are each associated with the parking spaces. The parking spaces are reserved by accepting a request for a customer priority parking reservation from a merchant for a reservation period. Use of the parking space is managed through the server by activating the parking availability indicators associated with the reserved parking spaces, sensing occupancy of the parking spaces by a motor vehicle through the vehicle occupancy sensor, and retrieving and providing an identity of the driver of the motor vehicle through the nearest smart parking device to the server. The use of the parking space is validated from the merchant through the server.

Claims

1. A method for offering merchant and shopper-friendly parking reservations through customer priority parking, comprising:

managing a multiplicity of motor vehicle parking spaces through a server, comprising;

interfacing a plurality of smart parking devices that are each physically proximate to least one of the parking spaces;

interfacing a plurality of vehicle occupancy sensors that are also each physically proximate to least one of the parking spaces; and

interfacing a plurality of parking availability indicators that are each associated with at least one of the parking spaces;

reserving use of one or more of the parking spaces, comprising;

accepting a request for a customer priority parking reservation from a merchant, comprising times and dates over which the reservation period would be in effect, and confirming that the merchant is eligible to reserve the requested parking spaces;

granting the request provided the requested parking space is available throughout the reservation period over any other reservations stored in the server;

managing use of the parking space through the server, comprising;

activating the parking availability indicators associated with the reserved parking spaces throughout the reservation period in a merchant priority parking mode;

sensing occupancy of one of the parking spaces by a motor vehicle through the nearest vehicle occupancy sensor and providing the location of the parking space to the server; and

determining an identity of the driver of the motor vehicle through the nearest smart parking device and providing the identity of the driver to the server; and

validating use of the parking space, comprising;

retrieving the parking space'"'"'s location and the driver'"'"'s identity at the location of a merchant; and

providing payment for at least part of the use of the parking space from the merchant through the server.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

conditioning the granting of the parking request upon payment for the reserved parking spaces by the merchant in advance of the reservation period.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

limiting the validation of the use of the parking spaces to only those drivers that are customers of the merchant.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

offering the use of the parking spaces to only selected customers of the merchant; and

limiting the validation of the use of the parking spaces to only those selected customers.

5. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

checking association of the identity of the driver with parking accounts stored in the server;

determining no match of the identity of the driver with the parking accounts in the server; and

indicating through the nearest smart parking device at least one of an increased rate of fees for the reserved parking space for parking during the reservation period by the merchant and request to the driver a coupon from the merchant as a payment of the reserved parking space.

6. A method according to claim 5, further comprising:

providing a list of at least one of a barcode, QR Code, encoded token, and physical token as the coupon for the validation to the merchants and customers of the merchants; and

receiving the parking space payment either of the physical token or the digital token into the smart parking device.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the identity of the driver is provided through an electronic banking card, comprising at least one of a credit card and a debit card, further comprising:

accepting the electronic banking card through the merchant; and

providing the parking space payment upon successful matching of the electronic banking card to the parking space through the server.

8. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing analytics of the customer priority parking reservation to the merchant comprising one or more of numbers of the reserved parking spaces actually used by the customer and a length of the parking for each of the reserved parking spaces.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing code for executing on a computer system to perform the method according to claim 1.

10. A system for offering merchant and shopper-friendly parking reservations through customer priority parking, comprising:

a server configured to manage a multiplicity of motor vehicle parking spaces, the server configured to interface over a computer network and comprising a memory and a computer processor, the computer processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute computer executable program modules;

a plurality of smart parking devices that are each physically proximate to least one of the parking spaces;

a plurality of vehicle occupancy sensors that are also each physically proximate to least one of the parking spaces;

a plurality of parking availability indicators that are each associated with each one of the parking spaces;

a reservations module executed by the server and configured to reserve through the server use of one or more of the parking spaces, comprising;

a request module configured to accept a request for a customer priority parking reservation from a merchant, comprising times and dates over which the reservation period would be in effect, and confirming that the merchant is eligible to reserve the requested parking spaces;

a request grant module configured to grant the request provided the requested parking space is available throughout the reservation period over any other reservations stored in the server;

the server configured to manage use of the parking space, comprising;

a parking availability indicator module configured to activate the parking availability indicators associated with the reserved parking spaces throughout the reservation period in a merchant priority parking mode;

an occupancy module configured to sense occupancy of one of the parking spaces by a motor vehicle through the nearest vehicle occupancy sensor and providing the location of the parking space to the server; and

an identity module configured to determine an identity of the driver of the motor vehicle through the nearest smart parking device and providing the identity of the driver to the server; and

a validation module configured to validate use of the parking space, comprising;

a retrieval module configured to retrieve the parking space'"'"'s location and the driver'"'"'s identity at the location of a merchant; and

a payment module configured to provide payment for at least part of the use of the parking space from the merchant through the server.

11. A system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a payment confirmation module configured to condition the granting of the parking request upon payment for the reserved parking spaces by the merchant in advance of the reservation period.

12. A system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a customer limitation module configured to limit the validation of the use of the parking spaces to only those drivers that are customers of the merchant.

13. A system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a preferred customer module configured to offer the use of the parking spaces to only selected customers of the merchant; and

a preferred customer limitation module configured to limit the validation of the use of the parking spaces to only those selected customers.

14. A system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a parking account module configured to check association of the identity of the driver with parking accounts stored in the server;

an identify matching module configured to determine no match of the identity of the driver with the parking accounts in the server; and

an alternative indication module configured to indicate through the nearest smart parking device at least one of an increased rate of fees for the reserved parking space for parking during the reservation period by the merchant and request to the driver a coupon from the merchant as a payment of the reserved parking space.

15. A system according to claim 14, further comprising:

a token module configured to provide a list of at least one of a barcode, QR Cod, encoded token, and physical token as the coupon for the validation to the merchants and customers of the merchants; and

a token reception module configured to receive the parking space payment either of the physical token or the digital token into the smart parking device.

16. A system according to claim 10, wherein the identity of the driver is provided through an electronic banking card, comprising at least one of a credit card and a debit card, further comprising:

a banking card module configured to accept the electronic banking card through the merchant; and

a banking card payment module configured to provide the parking space payment upon successful matching of the electronic banking card to the parking space through the server.

17. A system according to claim 10, further comprising:

an analytics module configured to provide analytics of the customer priority parking reservation to the merchant comprising one or more of numbers of the reserved parking spaces actually used by the customer and a length of the parking for each of the reserved parking spaces.

18. A method for offering merchant and shopper-friendly parking reservations through merchant-guided changes, comprising:

managing a multiplicity of motor vehicle parking spaces through a server, comprising;

interfacing a plurality of smart parking devices that are each physically proximate to least one of the parking spaces;

interfacing a plurality of vehicle occupancy sensors that are also each physically proximate to least one of the parking spaces; and

interfacing a plurality of parking availability indicators that are each associated with at least one of the parking spaces;

reserving use of one or more of the parking spaces, comprising;

accepting a request for a customer priority parking reservation from a merchant, comprising times and dates over which the reservation period would be in effect and merchant-guided changes in regular parking constraints, and confirming that the merchant is eligible to reserve the requested parking spaces; and

granting the request provided the requested parking space is available throughout the reservation period over any other reservations stored in the server; and

managing use of the parking space through the server, comprising;

activating the parking availability indicators associated with the reserved parking spaces throughout the reservation period in a merchant priority parking mode; and

managing the use of the parking space subject to the merchant-guided changes.

19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the merchant-guided changes are applied to a parking account owned by the merchant and enable to provide the merchant capability to contract with parking authorities to override the regular parking constraints.

20. A method according to claim 18, wherein the merchant-guided changes is a parameterized permit for the parking account, comprising at least one of numbers of the parking spaces for the merchant reservation, duration of time for the merchant reservation, number of the parking spaces for merchant-controlled parking, cost to reserve the parking spaces for promotional uses, maximum extendable time for parking, and privacy settings for information regarding the driver'"'"'s identity.