PARKING FEE CHARGING SYSTEM AND OPERATING METHOD THEREOF

• US 20190304307A1
• Filed: 03/19/2019
• Published: 10/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wei Chi Huang
• Original Assignee: Wei Chi Huang
• Inventors: HUANG, WEI CHI, LEE, MAN HON ANTHONY
• Granted Patent: US 10,706,723 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2240/00 Transportation facility access, e.g. fares, tolls or parking
• 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 20/63 Scene text, e.g. street names
• 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 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

A system and method for addressing roadside parking issues are provided. The method includes: determining whether a parking fee has been paid for an on-street parking space, and if not, activating a detector of the corresponding parking meter; determining whether an object exists in the parking space and whether the object, if existing, is a vehicle, and if yes to both, activating a camera of the parking meter to obtain an image of the parking space; determining again whether the object is a vehicle by performing image and license plate recognition, and if yes, either prompting a parking enforcement officer to go to the parking space and issue a parking ticket or issuing the parking ticket automatically; updating the parking meter after the parking ticket is issued; and reducing the detection frequency. The method is labor-saving and reduces power consumption by the parking meter.

Claims

1. A parking fee charging system, applicable to a plurality of on-street parking spaces, the parking fee charging system comprising:

a management center;

a plurality of parking meters, each provided beside at least one corresponding said on-street parking space to detect properties and states of an object in the corresponding on-street parking space and whether a parking fee has been paid for the object and to transmit parking information of the corresponding on-street parking space to the management center through a network; and

at least one mobile device provided with an executable application program and configured for transmitting an execution result of the application program to the management center through the network;

wherein after a user parks a vehicle in one of the on-street parking spaces, operates a corresponding said parking meter, and pays a parking fee corresponding to an estimated parking period, the corresponding parking meter displays an identification barcode corresponding to the parking information of the on-street parking space so that the user is able to obtain the parking information by reading the identification barcode with the mobile device;

when a parking time limit of the corresponding parking meter is about to be reached, the management center sends a payment notice to the mobile device through the network;

or when the vehicle has been parked in the on-street parking space longer than the estimated parking period without a parking fee paid for a next parking period, the management center either prompts a parking enforcement officer to go to the on-street parking space and issue a parking ticket according to a detection result of the corresponding parking meter or issues the parking ticket automatically according to the detection result of the corresponding parking meter; and

the management center or the parking enforcement officer updates the parking information in the corresponding parking meter after a parking fee specified in the payment notice or in the parking ticket is paid.

2. The parking fee charging system of claim 1, further comprising:

a parking ticket issuing device configured for signal connection to the management center through the network so that, when a parking time limit of one of the parking meters is exceeded, meaning a vehicle has been parked overtime in the corresponding on-street parking space, the management center is connected to the parking ticket issuing device through the network to prompt the parking enforcement officer to go to the parking meter and issue a parking ticket for the overtime-parked vehicle via the parking ticket issuing device.

3. The parking fee charging system of claim 2, wherein the parking ticket issuing device transmits parking ticket issuance information to the management center after issuing a parking ticket, in order for the management center to update the parking information in a corresponding said parking meter.

4. The parking fee charging system of claim 2, wherein the parking ticket issuing device is also configured for signal connection to the parking meters in order to directly update the parking information in any said parking meter after issuing a corresponding parking ticket.

5. The parking fee charging system of claim 1, wherein the management center includes an image processing unit for performing vehicle and license plate recognition based on images uploaded from the parking meters.

6. The parking fee charging system of claim 1, wherein the management center includes an automatic parking ticket issuing unit for issuing parking tickets automatically.

7. The parking fee charging system of claim 1, wherein the management center includes a guiding unit for recording locations and states of the on-street parking spaces according to the state of each said on-street parking space as transmitted from the corresponding parking meter.

8. The parking fee charging system of claim 7, wherein the mobile device is configured for connection to the management center through the application program and the network and for displaying on a map the location and the state of each said on-street parking space according to a record of the guiding unit.

9. The parking fee charging system of claim 1, wherein each said parking meter includes:

a housing;

a control circuit provided in the housing;

a display panel provided on a front side of the housing and electrically connected to the control circuit;

an operation panel provided on the front side of the housing and having a plurality of operation buttons, wherein each said operation button is electrically connected to the control circuit to enable operation of the parking meter through the operation buttons;

a chip card accessing device provided in the housing, electrically connected to the control circuit, and configured for accessing a chip card and thereby processing a fee payment made through the chip card;

at least one detector provided at a predetermined position of the housing, electrically connected to the control circuit, and configured for detecting a state of the corresponding on-street parking space;

at least one camera provided at a predetermined position of the housing, electrically connected to the control circuit, and configured for taking images of one or two said on-street parking spaces;

a communication module provided in the housing, electrically connected to the control circuit, and configured for communication with an external device; and

a battery module provided in the housing and configured for supplying electricity required by the parking meter.

10. The parking fee charging system of claim 9, wherein in each said parking meter, the at least one detector is provided on the front side of the housing, on a rear side of the housing, or at one or two predetermined positions of the housing.

11. The parking fee charging system of claim 9, wherein in each said parking meter, the at least one camera is provided on the front side of the housing or at one or two predetermined positions of the housing.

12. The parking fee charging system of claim 9, wherein in each said parking meter, the communication module comprises a security access module.

13. The parking fee charging system of claim 9, wherein each said parking meter further includes an artificial intelligence module for performing image and license plate recognition on a detected object.

14. The parking fee charging system of claim 1, further including a pair of auxiliary parking meters installed respectively at two opposite end edges of the at least one on-street parking space corresponding to each said parking meter, wherein each said auxiliary parking meter comprises at least one camera and a transmission module.

15. The parking fee charging system of claim 14, wherein each said pair of auxiliary parking meters and a corresponding said parking meter work together to take images of a vehicle in the at least one corresponding on-street parking space.

16. An operating method of a parking fee charging system, wherein the parking fee charging system uses at least one parking meter to charge parking fees for at least one on-street parking space, the operating method comprising the steps of:

determining whether a parking fee has been paid for the on-street parking space, and if not, activating a detector of the parking meter;

determining whether an object exists in the on-street parking space and whether the object, if existing, is a vehicle, according to a detection result of the detector, and if it is determined that an object exists in the on-street parking space and the object is a vehicle, activating a camera of the parking meter in order to obtain an image of the on-street parking space;

performing image and license plate recognition to determine again whether the object existing in the on-street parking space is a vehicle, and if yes, either prompting a parking enforcement officer to go to the on-street parking space to issue a parking ticket or issuing the parking ticket automatically by a management center;

updating the parking meter after the parking ticket is issued; and

reducing a detection frequency of the detector, and returning to the step of determining whether a parking fee has been paid for the on-street parking space to complete a full cycle.

17. The operating method of the parking fee charging system as claimed in claim 16, further comprising the step, to be performed when the step of determining whether a parking fee has been paid for the on-street parking space produces a positive determination result and before the subsequent steps are performed, and when the step of determining whether an object exists in the on-street parking space and whether the object, if existing, is a vehicle produces a negative determination result and before the subsequent steps are performed, and when the step of performing image and license plate recognition to determine again whether the object existing in the on-street parking space is a vehicle produces a negative determination result and before the subsequent steps are performed, of reducing the detection frequency of the detector.

18. The operating method of the parking fee charging system as claimed in claim 16, wherein said determining again whether the object existing in the on-street parking space is a vehicle is carried out by detecting a distance to the object and a width and a material of the object and determining whether the detected properties of the object are similar to properties of a vehicle.