PARKING SPACE DETECTION METHOD AND SYSTEM

• US 20170116857A1
• Filed: 10/27/2016
• Published: 04/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Municipal Parking Services, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Municipal Parking Services, Inc.
• Inventors: MORAN, Mark J., SCHMIDT, Marcus N., KELLEY, II, Richard W.
• Granted Patent: US 10,657,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/44 Event detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/48 Matching video sequences
• 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: 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: G07C 1/30 Parking meters registering or indicating waiting time of vehicles by means driven by the vehicle G07C5/02; coin-freed parking meters G07F17/24
• 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 1/042 using inductive or magnetic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/14 indicating individual free spaces in parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/142 external to the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre

Abstract

Disclosed are devices, systems and methods for managing parking monitoring and enforcement. In one aspect, an in ground sensor provides a first vehicle detection technique and a video camera employing machine vision provides a second vehicle detection technique. A vehicle detection technique for a smart parking meter utilizes both of the first and second detection techniques to make a highly accurate determination of a vehicle entering a parking space and a vehicle exiting a parking space. The second detection technique can be used to perform a double check on the first technique, or vice versa.

Claims

1. A method of determining whether a vehicle is present in a parking space, the method comprising:

monitoring the parking space with a first vehicle detection technique;

monitoring the parking space with a second vehicle detection technique; and

concluding that the vehicle is present in the parking space only when both of the first and second vehicle detection techniques indicate that the vehicle is present in the parking space.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising concluding that the vehicle is not present in the parking space only when both of the first and second vehicle detection techniques indicate that the vehicle is not present in the parking space.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring the parking space with the first vehicle detection technique comprises:

disposing a magnetic sensor beneath the parking space; and

sensing a change in the magnetic field in the parking space with the magnetic sensor.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

broadcasting a magnetic field data from the magnetic sensor to a parking meter, wherein the parking meter includes a processor, a memory, and software code stored in the memory.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of monitoring the parking space with the second vehicle detection technique comprises performing a machine vision analysis of the parking space with a camera.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring the parking space with the second vehicle detection technique comprises performing a machine vision analysis of the parking space with a camera.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising concluding that a state of the vehicle has not changed when one of the first and second vehicle detection techniques indicates that the vehicle is not present in the parking space and the other of the first and second vehicle detection techniques indicates that the vehicle is present in the parking space.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring the parking space with a first vehicle detection technique includes:

monitoring the parking space for a change of vehicle state for a predetermined length of time; and

concluding that the vehicle state has changed only if a monitored parking space state change persists for the entire predetermined length of time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring the parking space with a second vehicle detection technique includes performing a background subtraction operation on a video feed of a camera trained on the parking space.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the steps of monitoring the parking space with the first and second vehicle detection techniques includes:

comparing a measured result against a hysteresis threshold; and

determining that a state of the vehicle in the parking space has changed only if the measured result is above the hysteresis threshold.

11. A parking space monitoring system, comprising:

a first parking sensor disposed within a parking space and configured to sense a change of state due to a vehicle entering or leaving the parking space;

a second parking sensor disposed adjacent to the parking space, the second parking sensor comprising a video camera oriented to image video of at least a portion of the parking space;

a parking meter coupled to the video camera, the parking meter including a processor, a memory and software code stored in the memory that are all disposed within a housing of the parking meter, the software code being executable by the processor,

wherein the first parking sensor is configured to broadcast a reading to the parking meter and the parking meter is configured to receive the reading and store the reading in the memory,

wherein the processor is configured to perform a machine vision analysis of the imaged video from the camera to determine whether the vehicle has entered or left the parking space,

wherein the processor is configured to evaluate the reading from the first parking sensor to determine whether the vehicle has entered or left the parking space, and

wherein the processor is configured to conclude that a vehicle has entered or left the parking space only if the determinations of the machine vision analysis and the reading from the first parking sensor are in concordance.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the parking meter is disposed adjacent to the parking space and the video camera is disposed within the housing of the parking meter.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the parking meter includes an infrared light oriented to illuminate the parking space during imaging by the video camera.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the first parking sensor is configured to read a magnetic field strength in the parking space.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the first parking sensor is embedded in a road surface of the parking space.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the first parking sensor broadcasts the reading to the parking meter via a Bluetooth communication protocol, and wherein a Bluetooth receiver is included within the housing of the parking meter and coupled to the processor.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the vehicle has entered or left the parking space via the machine vision analysis only upon a determination of state that persists for at least a predetermined period of time.

18. A parking meter, comprising:

a housing disposed atop a pole;

a video camera disposed within the housing and aimed towards a parking space adjacent to the parking meter such that the video camera can image video of at least a portion of the parking space; and

a processor, a memory and software code stored in the memory that are each disposed within the housing, the software code being executable by the processor,

wherein the processor is configured by the software code to perform a background subtraction analysis on a portion of the imaged video from the camera to determine whether a vehicle has entered or left the parking space.

19. The parking meter of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured by the software code to determine whether the vehicle has entered or left the parking space via the background subtraction analysis only upon a determination of state that persists for at least a predetermined period of time.

20. The parking meter of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured by the software code to determine whether the vehicle has entered or left the parking space via the background subtraction analysis only upon finding a concordance with a determination of state based upon data from a parking sensor that is separate from the video camera.