PARKING SPACE DETECTION METHOD AND SYSTEM
First Claim
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.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of determining whether a vehicle is present in a parking space, the method comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A parking space monitoring system, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A parking meter, comprising:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification