MODIFYING DIRECTIONS TO A PARKING LOT ASSOCIATED WITH A VENUE BASED ON TRAFFIC CONDITIONS PROXIMATE TO THE PARKING LOT

• US 20160189545A1
• Filed: 12/31/2014
• Published: 06/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VenueNext, Inc. (Shift4 Payments, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: VenueNext, Inc. (Shift4 Payments, Inc.)
• Inventors: York, John E., Paul, John M., Rosenberg, Edan, Perkovich, Brano, Marathe, Paraag, Kundu, Surjansu
• Granted Patent: US 9,489,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3685 the POI's being parking facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• 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 1/065 by counting the vehicles in a section of the road or in a parking area, i.e. comparing incoming count with outgoing count
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• 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: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A venue is associated with various parking lots, and a user may purchase a space in one of the parking lots. A venue management system associated with the venue stores an association between the user and the parking lot. Based on a location of a client device associated with the user, the venue management system communicates navigation directions to the client device for presentation to the user. The directions communicated to the client device account for traffic conditions within a threshold distance of the parking lot, and the venue management system may modify stored directions to the parking lot based on the traffic conditions and communicate the modified directions to the client device for presentation to the user. Additionally, the traffic conditions used by the venue management system include information describing on current usage of various parking lots associated with the venue to allow the user to bypass congestion.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining, at a venue management system, information identifying a parking lot associated with a venue and directions to one or more locations associated with the parking lot;

maintaining an association between a user of a venue management system and the parking lot;

receiving a location of a client device associated with the user;

determining directions to a location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the location of the client device;

receiving information describing traffic conditions within a threshold distance of the parking lot, the traffic conditions identifying a number of spaces currently occupied in one or more additional parking lots associated with the venue;

determining modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device; and

communicating the modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot to the client device associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a current location of the client device is within a geographic area associated with the parking lot;

in response to determining the current location of the client device being within the geographic area associated with the parking lot, determining directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue; and

communicating the directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue to the client device for presentation to the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue comprises:

determining locations of additional client devices associated with additional users;

determining information describing locations of the additional client devices in one or more geographic areas that are between the venue and the location associated with the parking lot; and

determining the directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue based at least in part on the information describing locations of the additional client devices in the one or more geographic areas that are between the venue and the location associated with the parking lot.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue based at least in part on the information describing locations of the additional client devices in the one or more geographic areas that are between the venue and the location associated with the parking lot comprises:

determining a density of additional client devices included in at least a set of the one or more geographic areas based on the locations of the additional client devices; and

determining directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue that direct the user away from one or more of the geographic areas having greater than a threshold density of additional client devices.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue based at least in part on the information describing locations of the additional client devices in the one or more geographic areas that are between the venue and the location associated with the parking lot comprises:

determining rates of change of locations of the additional client devices along one or more paths between the location associated with the parking lot and the venue based on changes in locations of the additional client devices over time from the information describing the locations of the additional client devices; and

determining directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue that identify a path having at least a threshold rate of change of location of the additional client devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device comprises:

determining a density of vehicles included in one or more geographic areas between the location of the client device and the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device; and

determining the modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot as directions that direct the user away from one or more of the geographic areas having greater than a threshold density of vehicles.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device comprises:

determining rates of change of locations of vehicles along one or more paths between the location of the client device and the location associated with the parking lot based on based on changes in locations of the vehicles from the information describing the traffic conditions;

determining the modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot as directions that identify a path having at least a threshold rate of change of location of the vehicles.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the information describing the traffic conditions identifies a number of spaces currently occupied in one or more additional parking lots within a threshold distance of the parking lot.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device comprises:

determining the modified directions as directions that direct the user away from an additional parking lot having at least a threshold ratio of currently occupied spaces to capacity of the additional parking lot.

10. A method comprising:

maintaining, at a venue management system, information identifying a parking lot including a plurality of spaces associated with a venue and directions to one or more locations associated with the parking lot;

maintaining an association between a user of the venue management system and the parking lot;

receiving a location of a client device associated with the user;

receiving information describing traffic conditions within a threshold distance of the parking lot;

determining directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device; and

communicating the directions to the location associated with the parking lot to the client device associated with the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the information describing the traffic conditions identifies a number of spaces currently occupied in one or more additional parking lots within a threshold distance of the parking lot.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device comprises:

determining the modified directions as directions that direct the user away from an additional parking lot having at least a threshold ratio of currently occupied spaces to capacity of the additional parking lot.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device comprises:

determining the modified directions as directions that direct the user away from an additional parking lot having at least a threshold number of currently occupied spaces.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the information describing the traffic conditions includes a number of currently occupied spaces in the parking lot.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining a current location of the client device is within a geographic area associated with the parking lot;

in response to determining the current location of the client device being within the geographic area associated with the parking lot, determining directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue; and

communicating the directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue to the client device for presentation to the user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue comprises:

determining locations of additional client devices associated with additional users;

determining information describing locations of the additional client devices in one or more geographic areas that are between the venue and the location associated with the parking lot; and

determining the directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue based at least in part on the information describing locations of the additional client devices in the one or more geographic areas that are between the venue and the location associated with the parking lot.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue based at least in part on the information describing locations of the additional client devices in the one or more geographic areas that are between the venue and the location associated with the parking lot comprises:

determining a density of additional client devices included in at least a set of the one or more geographic areas based on the locations of the additional client devices; and

determining directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue that direct the user away from one or more of the geographic areas having greater than a threshold density of additional client devices.

18. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium that having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

maintain, at a venue management system, information identifying a parking lot associated with a venue and directions to one or more locations associated with the parking lot;

maintain an association between a user of the venue management system and the parking lot;

receive a location of a client device associated with the user;

determine directions to a location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the location of the client device;

receive information describing traffic conditions within a threshold distance of the parking lot, the traffic conditions identifying a number of spaces currently occupied in one or more additional parking lots associated with the venue;

determine modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device; and

communicate the modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot to the client device associated with the user.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein determine modified directions to the location associated with the parking lot based at least in part on the information describing the traffic conditions within the threshold distance of the parking lot and the location of the client device comprises:

determine the modified directions as directions that direct the user away from an additional parking lot having at least a threshold ratio of currently occupied spaces to capacity of the additional parking lot.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the computer readable storage medium further has instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine a current location of the client device is within a geographic area associated with the parking lot;

in response to determining the current location of the client device being within the geographic area associated with the parking lot, determine directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue; and

communicate the directions from the location associated with the parking lot to the venue to the client device for presentation to the user.