CROWD-SOURCED PARKING ADVISORY

• US 20140266800A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Koukoumidis, Emmanouil, Beckman, Brian, Bryar, Norm, Gerson, Elad
• Granted Patent: US 8,963,740 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/932.2
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0129 for creating historical data or processing based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/141 with means giving the indication of available parking spaces
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/148 Management of a network of parking areas

Abstract

Architecture that employs crowd-sourced parking-related information to compute the probability of finding parking spots at specific road segments, parking lots, and/or in larger geographic areas. The crowd-sourced parking-related information can be obtained from geolocation (geographical location) traces. This approach utilizes a method of mining location traces to compute the probability of finding parking spots at specific road segments, parking lots, and/or in larger geographic areas. The location traces can be mined to classify parking areas as public, private, and semi-private (e.g., only for company employees in certain area that also include public parking areas). The location traces can be mined to infer the times and dates (e.g., hours of the day and the days of the week) during which a vehicle is allowed to park at a given location.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an access component that accesses parking-related geolocation data of a collection of users that have parked or searched for parking in a geographical area;

a statistical computation component that computes parking availability probabilities for parking in the geographical area based on the parking-related geolocation data of the collection of users;

a presentation component that presents the parking availability probabilities to a user searching for a parking space in the geographical area; and

a microprocessor that executes computer-executable instructions associated with at least one of the access component, statistical computation component, or the presentation component.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an inferencing algorithm that infers time-related restrictions on the parking space based on the parking-related geolocation data of the collection of users and other sources of information.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a detection algorithm that automatically detects the user is searching for the parking space in the geographical area based on geolocation data and inertial data of the user.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the statistical computation component classifies the parking in the geographical area according to degrees of public and private access.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the presentation component presents the parking availability probabilities in a graphical view as different corresponding colors on a street map of the geographical area, and automatically updates the parking availability probabilities in the graphical view as the user searches for the parking space.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the statistical computation component computes the parking availability probabilities for parking in the geographical area based on the parking-related geolocation data of a collection of users and a time during which the user is searching for the parking space.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the presentation component applies graphical emphasis to a graphical view of a street map of the geographical area, the graphical emphasis applied to parking along streets and avenues of the map, and in various colors associated with differing parking availability probabilities of the parking along the streets and avenues.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an advisory component that sends an advisory to the user via the presentation component, the advisory notifies the user of the parking availability in the geographical area according to the parking availability probabilities.

9. A method performed by a computer system executing machine-readable instructions, the method comprising acts of:

accessing parking-related geolocation data from a collection of users that parked in a geographical area;

computing parking availability probabilities for current parking in the geographical area based on the parking-related geolocation data of the collection of users;

enabling presentation of the parking availability probabilities to a user searching for a parking space in the geographical area; and

configuring a microprocessor to execute instructions in a memory associated with at least one of the acts of accessing, computing, or enabling.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising classifying parking areas in the geographical area as public, semi-private, or private, based on the geolocation data of other users who have used the parking space.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising inferring temporal information related to the parking based on the geolocation data.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising inferring a maximum time allowed for the parking based on the geolocation data.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising accessing other information, other than the geolocation data, that affects parking in the geographical area, and computing the parking availability probabilities based on both the geolocation data and the other information.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising automatically detecting the user is searching for the parking space based on geolocation data and inertial sensor data of the user.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising enabling presentation of a graphical view of the geographical area with the parking availability probabilities represented according to different graphical emphases as applied to areas in the graphical view.

16. A method performed by a computer system executing machine-readable instructions, the method comprising acts of:

accessing geolocation data of a collection of users and other information based on a user searching for parking in a geographical area, the user detected to be searching for parking based on user geolocation data and inertial sensor data associated with the user, the geolocation data of the collection of users and other information relates to parking in the geographical area;

inferring time restrictions on the parking based on the geolocation data of the collection of users and the other information;

computing parking availability probabilities for current parking in the geographical area based on the geolocation data of the collection of users and the other information;

enabling presentation of a graphical view of likely available parking in the geographical area relative to the user; and

configuring a microprocessor to execute instructions in a memory associated with at least one of the acts of accessing, inferring, computing, or enabling.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising sending a parking advisory to the user based on vicinity of the user to the geographical area.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising suggesting a route relative to an intended destination that maximizes probability of finding parking while maintaining proximity of the user to the intended destination and avoiding an increase in time to reach the parking.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising updating the graphical view of likely available parking as the user navigates relative to the geographical area.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising inferring availability of the parking based on a change in mode of transportation of the user.