MONITORING PARKING RULE VIOLATIONS

• US 20160232411A1
• Filed: 04/14/2016
• Published: 08/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ubicquia IQ LLC
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Krishnamoorthy, Lokesh Babu, Vudumula, Madhavi, de Leon, Francisco, Hackett, Aileen Margaret, Okamoto, Kevin Koji, Lim, Siong Ming
• Granted Patent: US 10,043,307 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2200/24 involving graphical user interfaces [GUIs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30264 Parking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/44 Local feature extraction by analysis of parts of the pattern, e.g. by detecting edges, contours, loops, corners, strokes or intersections; Connectivity analysis, e.g. of connected components
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/586 of parking space
• 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: G08G 1/0116 from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/148 Management of a network of parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/6811 based on the image signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/90 Arrangement of cameras or camera modules, e.g. multiple cameras in TV studios or sports stadiums

Abstract

A system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program and a method for monitoring parking rule violations is presented. The method may include accessing a set of pixel coordinates defining a location of a vehicle within an image. The method may further include determining occupancy of a parking space depicted in the image based on the set of pixel coordinates, and determining a violation of a parking rule based on the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle. The method may further include generating presentation data corresponding to a user interface that includes a geospatial map of an area that includes the parking space, and a visual indicator of the violation on the geospatial map at a location of the parking space. The method may further include causing presentation of the user interface on a client device communicatively coupled to the system.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processor of a machine;

a machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the machine to perform operations comprising;

accessing, from a networked data store, metadata of an image depicting a parking space, the metadata including a set of pixel coordinates of a vehicle depicted in the image, the set of pixel coordinates defining a location of the vehicle within the image;

determining occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle based on the set of pixel coordinates associated with the vehicle;

determining a violation of a parking rule based on the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle;

generating presentation data corresponding to a user interface, the user interface including a geospatial map of an area that includes the parking space, the user interface further including a visual indicator of the violation on the geospatial map at a location of the parking space; and

causing presentation of the user interface on a client device communicatively coupled to the machine.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle includes:

determining the vehicle overlaps the parking space; and

determining the vehicle is stationary.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the determining of the vehicle overlaps the parking space includes:

translating the set of pixel coordinates associated with the vehicle to a set of global coordinates of the vehicle, the set of global coordinates defining a geospatial location of the vehicle.

accessing, from the networked data store, a set of known global coordinates of the parking space;

determining the set of global coordinates of the vehicle overlap with the set of known global coordinates of the parking space.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the determining the set of global coordinates of the vehicle overlap with the set of known global coordinates of the parking space includes:

comparing the set of global coordinates of the vehicle with the set of known global coordinates of the parking space to produce a overlap percentage, the overlap percentage including an amount of the parking space covered by the vehicle; and

determining whether the overlap percentage transgresses a threshold overlap percentage.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the determining the vehicle is stationary includes:

comparing a first set of global coordinates of the vehicle with a second set of global coordinates to determine a position change of the vehicle, the first set of global coordinates associated with a first time stamp, the second set of global coordinates associated with a second time stamp; and

determining the position change in location fails to transgress a threshold position change.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a data packet from a camera node communicatively coupled to the machine via a communication network, the data packet including the metadata of the image, the camera node being operable to analyze the image to generate the set of pixel coordinates.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the metadata is included in a set of metadata corresponding to multiple images;

each of the multiple images are recorded by a different camera and depict at least a portion of the vehicle;

the image is among the multiple images; and

the operations further comprise;

receiving the set of metadata corresponding to the multiple images;

selecting the image from among the multiple images based on a quality score with respect to the depiction of the vehicle in the image; and

persisting the metadata of the selected image to a data object in the networked data store.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise updating a data object associated with the vehicle, the updating of the data object including augmenting the data object to include an indication of the violation of the parking rule.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the client device is communicatively coupled to the machine via a communication network; and

the causing presentation of the user interface on the client devices includes transmitting a set of instructions to the client device over the communication network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining of the violation of the parking rule includes:

monitoring metadata received from a camera node to determine an elapsed time corresponding to the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle, the camera node operable to record images of the parking space and generate the metadata describing the recorded images; and

comparing the elapsed time to a timing constraint imposed by the parking rule, the timing constraint imposing a time limit on the occupancy of the parking space.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the generating of the presentation data includes:

accessing, from a camera node communicatively coupled to the machine, a first image corresponding to a first timestamp, the first timestamp corresponding to a start of the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle;

accessing, from the camera node, a second image corresponding to a second timestamp, the second timestamp corresponding to the determining of the violation of the parking rule; and

generating an interface element that includes the first image and the second image.

12. A method comprising:

accessing, from a networked data store, metadata of an image depicting a parking space, the metadata including a set of pixel coordinates of a vehicle depicted in the image, the set of pixel coordinates defining a location of the vehicle within the image;

determining, using one or more processors of a machine, occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle based on the set of pixel coordinates associated with the vehicle;

determining a violation of a parking rule based on the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle;

generating presentation data corresponding to a user interface, the user interface including a geospatial map of an area that includes the parking space, the user interface further including a visual indicator of the violation on the geospatial map at a location of the parking space; and

causing presentation of the user interface on a client device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle includes:

translating the set of pixel coordinates associated with the vehicle to a set of global coordinates of the vehicle, the set of global coordinates defining a geospatial location of the vehicle;

accessing, from the networked data store, a set of known global coordinates of the parking space;

determining the set of global coordinates of the vehicle overlap with the set of known global coordinates of the parking space; and

determining the vehicle is stationary.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining the set of global coordinates of the vehicle overlap with the set of known global coordinates of the parking space includes:

comparing the set of global coordinates of the vehicle with the set of known global coordinates of the parking space to produce a location difference value; and

determining whether the location difference value transgresses a threshold location difference.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the set of global coordinates are a first set of global coordinates associated with a first time stamp; and

the determining the vehicle is stationary includes;

comparing the first set of global coordinates with a second set of global coordinates to determine a position change of the vehicle, the second set of global coordinates associated with a second time stamp; and

determining the position change in location transgresses a threshold position change.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving the metadata of the image from a camera node communicatively coupled to the machine via a communication network, the camera node operable to analyze the image to generate the set of pixel coordinates.

17. The method of claim 12, updating a data object associated with the vehicle, the updating of the data object including augmenting the data object to include an indication of the violation of the parking rule.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining of the violation of the parking rule includes:

accessing, from the network store, a data object associated with the parking space that includes a set of parking rules associated with the parking space;

determining a first rule from the set of parking rules is applicable to the parking space based on a timestamp included in metadata of a subsequent image, the first parking rule including a timing constraint, the timing constraint imposing a time limit on the occupancy of the parking space;

monitoring further metadata received from a camera node to determine an elapsed time corresponding to the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle, the camera node operable to record images of the parking space and generate the metadata describing the recorded images; and

comparing the elapsed time to the timing constraint imposed by the parking rule.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the generating of the presentation data includes:

accessing, from a camera node communicatively coupled to the machine, a first image corresponding to a first timestamp, the first timestamp corresponding to a start of the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle;

accessing, from the camera node, a second image corresponding to a second timestamp, the second timestamp corresponding to the determining of the violation of the parking rule; and

generating an interface element that includes the first image and the second image.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, and embodying instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing, from a networked data store, metadata of an image depicting a parking space, the metadata including a set of pixel coordinates of a vehicle depicted in the image, the set of pixel coordinates defining a location of the vehicle within the image;

determining occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle based on a comparison of the set of pixel coordinates associated with the vehicle with a set of known global coordinates of the parking space;

determining a violation of a parking rule based on the occupancy of the parking space by the vehicle;

generating presentation data corresponding to a user interface, the user interface including a geospatial map of an area that includes the parking space, the user interface further including a visual indicator of the violation on the geospatial map at a location of the parking space; and

causing presentation of the user interface on a client device communicatively coupled to the machine.