ADVANCED PARKING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20140218527A1
• Filed: 12/30/2013
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Balu Subramanya
• Original Assignee: Balu Subramanya
• Inventors: SUBRAMANYA, Balu
• Granted Patent: US 11,004,337 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/04 Systems determining presence of a target based on relative movement of target G01S13/56
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/08 Systems for measuring distance only indirect measurement G01S13/46
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/50 Systems of measurement based on relative movement of target
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/825 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/867 Combination of radar systems with cameras
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/91 for traffic control G01S13/93 takes precedence
• 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: 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 1/143 inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/146 where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre

Abstract

A parking management system that facilitates motorist guidance, payment, violation detection, and enforcement using highly accurate space occupancy detection, unique vehicle identification, guidance displays, payment acceptance, violation detection, enforcement data generation, electronic booting, and towing management is described. The system enables reduced time to find parking, congestion mitigation, accurate violation detection, and easier enforcement, and increased payment and enforcement revenues to cities.

Claims

1. A parking management system, comprising:

a roadside unit including a vehicle occupancy sensor with a zone of detection that corresponds to a parking space being monitored, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver with a first antenna that radiates towards the parking space to communicate with an in-vehicle transceiver and a second antenna that radiates in a direction to communicate via nearby gateways or cellular towers;

an imaging camera system with at least one imaging sensor for collecting secondary evidence relating to a plurality of spaces and shared across the plurality of spaces;

a guidance display indicating the number of parking spaces available in a given zone or direction of travel; and

an in-vehicle device with a battery operated RF transceiver that is designed to communicate with the roadside unit.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle occupancy sensor is a time of flight radar sensor

3. The system of claim 1, wherein a single RF transceiver electrically coupled with an antenna switch and a plurality of antenna elements is used for both directional communications with said in-vehicle device and communicating with a gateway device

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-vehicle device provides at least one of a visual and auditory indication to the motorist indicating communications or range information with a roadside device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the roadside unit is mounted on a pole, coupled with a parking meter, at or under the road surface in a subterranean configuration, or on a curb.

6. The system of claim 1, in which a single roadside device is mounted near the mutual border of two adjoining spaces and a plurality of sensing antenna elements and a plurality of RF transceiver antenna elements are coupled to a shared battery, power management, and controller.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the roadside unit is electrically or mechanically coupled with a parking meter in order to communicate with the meter for reporting one of occupancy status, telemetry, and zero-out conditions.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the RF transceivers in the roadside unit and the in-vehicle device have two-way communications and data encryption and an ability to change ciphers and use dynamic encryption methods.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein the received signal strengths or signal quality indications at the antennas are used to determine the location and distance to the vehicle.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the in-vehicle device includes antenna elements, passive delay elements, or active delay elements designed to retransmit the roadside device'"'"'s signals after a specified delay.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the guidance display is solar powered and includes one of a flip segment display, e-ink display, or bistable LCD.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the guidance display is co-located with a gateway device and a plurality of roadside units.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the possible violations are initially recorded using a violation imaging system.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the parking space can be paid for using vehicle plate number or parking space number even after the parking event has completed and prior to a violation being registered.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the parking space can be paid for using SMS, mobile wallet, dedicated mobile applications, interactive voice response system, post-pay, or by invoicing after the parking event is completed.