Distributed Parking Space Detection, Characterization, Advertisement, and Enforcement

• US 20160267794A1
• Filed: 03/12/2015
• Published: 09/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lee, Chungmok, Tchrakian, Tigran, Verago, Rudi, Wirth, Fabian R., Cogill, Randall L., Gallay, Olivier, Nabi, Zubair, Rufli, Martin, Shorten, Robert, Yu, Jia Y., Zhuk, Sergiy
• Granted Patent: US 9,601,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 1/149 coupled to means for restricting the access to the parking space, e.g. authorization, access barriers, indicative lights

Abstract

A mechanism is provided for parking space management of a managed parking structure. Information is received from a vehicle that has parked in the managed parking structure. The information from the vehicle is utilized to determine a probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure. Responsive to determining the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the information from the vehicle, an occupied parking space evidence data structure is updated with a vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for parking space management of a managed parking structure, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor in the data processing system, first information from a vehicle that has parked in the managed parking structure;

utilizing, by the processor, the first information from the vehicle to determine a probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure; and

responsive to determining the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information from the vehicle, updating, by the processor, an occupied parking space evidence data structure with a vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a failure to determine the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information from the vehicle, obtaining, by the processor, first information associated with other vehicles in the managed parking structure in order to identify the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure; and

responsive to determining the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information associated with the other vehicles, updating, by the processor, the occupied parking space evidence data structure with the vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, second information from the vehicle indicating that the vehicle has been moved from the location recorded for the vehicle; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information from the vehicle, removing, by the processor, the vehicle identifier of the vehicle from the evidence data structure as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

responsive to a failure to determine that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information from the vehicle, obtaining, by the processor, second information associated with the other vehicles in the managed parking structure in order to verify that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information associated with the other vehicles, updating, by the processor, the occupied parking space evidence data structure with the vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a request from the vehicle as to available parking spaces, wherein the request identifies at least one of a location or a destination of the vehicle;

identifying, by the processor, one or more unoccupied parking spaces; and

relaying, by the processor, the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to the vehicle, wherein, upon receiving the one or more unoccupied parking spaces, a parking assist system in the vehicle presents the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to a driver of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein relaying the one or more unoccupied parking spaces includes relaying, by the processor, characteristic information associated with the one or more unoccupied parking spaces,

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, whether one or more of the one or more unoccupied parking spaces has become occupied by another vehicle;

responsive to one or more of the one or more unoccupied parking spaces being occupied by another vehicle, identifying, by the processor, a new set of one or more unoccupied parking spaces; and

relaying, by the processor, the new set of one or more unoccupied parking spaces to the vehicle, wherein, upon receiving the new set of one or more unoccupied parking spaces, the parking assist system in the vehicle presents the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to a driver of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein, prior to relaying the one or more unoccupied parking spaces, the method comprises:

receiving, by the processor, user preferences with the request;

comparing, by the processor, the user preferences from the vehicle as to available parking spaces to characteristic information associated with the one or more unoccupied parking spaces; and

responsive to identifying a subset of the one or more unoccupied parking spaces that matches the user preferences, relaying, by the processor, the subset of the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to the vehicle, wherein, upon receiving the subset of the one or more unoccupied parking spaces, a parking assist system in the vehicle presents the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to a driver of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, whether the vehicle has parked in a restricted area;

responsive to the vehicle parking in the restricted area, determining, by the processor, whether the vehicle identifier of the vehicle indicates that the vehicle is authorized to park in the restricted area;

responsive to the vehicle identifier failing to indicate that the vehicle is authorized to park in the restricted area, issuing, by the processor, a notification to a parking enforcement entity indicating the violation; and

storing, by the processor, the violation in a parking, space violation evidence data structure.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, whether the vehicle has parked in a restricted area;

responsive to the vehicle parking in the restricted area, determining, by the processor, whether the vehicle identifier of the vehicle indicates that the vehicle is authorized to park in the restricted area; and

responsive to the vehicle identifier failing to indicate that the vehicle is authorized to park in the restricted area, issuing, by the processor, a violation warning to the vehicle, wherein, upon receiving the violation warning, a parking assist system in the vehicle presents the violation warning to a driver of the vehicle.

11. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

receive first information from a vehicle that has parked in a managed parking structure;

utilize the first information from the vehicle to determine a probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure; and

responsive to determining the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information from the vehicle, update an occupied parking space evidence data structure with a vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

responsive to a failure to determine the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information from the vehicle, obtain first information associated with other vehicles in the managed parking structure in order to identify the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure; and

responsive to determining the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information associated with the other vehicles, update the occupied parking space evidence data structure with the vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

receive second information from the vehicle indicating that the vehicle has been moved from the location recorded for the vehicle; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information from the vehicle, remove the vehicle identifier of the vehicle from the evidence data structure as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

responsive to a failure to determine that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information from the vehicle, obtain second information associated with the other vehicles in the managed parking structure in order to verify that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information associated with the other vehicles, update the occupied parking space evidence data structure with the vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program further causes the computing device to:

receive a request from the vehicle as to available parking spaces, wherein the request identifies at least one of a location or a destination of the vehicle;

identify one or more unoccupied parking spaces; and

relay the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to the vehicle, wherein, upon receiving the one or more unoccupied parking spaces, a parking assist system in the vehicle presents the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to a driver of the vehicle.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive first information from a vehicle that has parked in a managed parking structure;

utilize the first information from the vehicle to determine a probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure; and

responsive to determining the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information from the vehicle, update an occupied parking space evidence data structure with a vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

responsive to a failure to determine the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information from the vehicle, obtain first information associated with other vehicles in the managed parking structure in order to identify the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure; and

responsive to determining the probabilistic location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure using the first information associated with the other vehicles, update the occupied parking space evidence data structure with the vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive second information from the vehicle indicating that the vehicle has been moved from the location recorded for the vehicle; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information from the vehicle, remove the vehicle identifier of the vehicle from the evidence data structure as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure,

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

responsive to a failure to determine that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information from the vehicle, obtain second information associated with the other vehicles in the managed parking structure in order to verify that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle; and

responsive to determining that the vehicle has completely vacated the location recorded for the vehicle using the second information associated with the other vehicles, update the occupied parking space evidence data structure with the vehicle identifier of the vehicle as being associated with the location of the vehicle within the managed parking structure.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to:

receive a request from the vehicle as to available parking spaces, wherein the request identifies at least one of a location or a destination of the vehicle;

identify one or more unoccupied parking spaces; and

relay the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to the vehicle, wherein, upon receiving the one or more unoccupied parking spaces, a parking assist system in the vehicle presents the one or more unoccupied parking spaces to a driver of the vehicle.