Apparatus for managing entry and exit of a shared vehicle

• US 6,696,981 B1
• Filed: 04/03/2000
• Issued: 02/24/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Hashimoto, Hideki
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Benjamin C.
• Application Number:
  US09/541,743
• Time in Patent Office: 1,422 Days
• Field of Search: 340/988, 340/425.5, 340/426, 340/457, 340/5.7, 340/932.2, 340/933, 340/935, 340/937, 340/940, 340/941, 340/942, 340/943, 340/994, 340/5.42, 340/5.2, 705/5, 705/10, 705/13, 455/456, 701/200, 701/207, 701/117, 235/384, 235/375, 235/385, 194/211, 521/74, 414/227
• US Class Current: 340/988
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/065 by counting the vehicles in a section of the road or in a parking area, i.e. comparing incoming count with outgoing count
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

The apparatus for managing the entry and exit of a shared vehicle, comprises: a vehicle position detector provided in the shared vehicle; a position determining device for determining whether the position of the shared vehicle is within an entrance area of a parking lot, based on the vehicle position information provided by the vehicle position detector; an arrival determining device for determining whether a main switch of the shared vehicle has been turned off within the entrance area; a return operation determining device for determining whether a user of the vehicle has conducted a return operation using a terminal for conducting rental and return operations; and a return determining device for confirming the return of the shared vehicle when the arrival determining device determines that the main switch has been turned off within the entrance area and when the return operation determining device determines that the return operation has been conducted.

Claims

1. An apparatus for managing the entry and exit of a shared vehicle, comprising:

vehicle position detector provided in said shared vehicle;

position determining device for determining whether the position of said shared vehicle is within an entrance area of a parking lot, based on the vehicle position information provided by said vehicle position detector;

arrival determining device for determining whether a main switch of said shared vehicle has been turned off within the entrance area;

return operation determining device for determining whether a user of said vehicle has conducted a return operation using a terminal for conducting rental and return operations; and

return determining device for confirming the return of said shared vehicle when said arrival determining device determines that the main switch has been turned off within the entrance area and when said return operation determining device has determined that the return operation has been conducted.

2. An apparatus for managing the entry and exit of a shared vehicle, comprising:

vehicle position detector provided in said shared vehicle;

position determining device for determining whether the position of said shared vehicle is within an entrance area of a parking lot or within an exit area of the parking lot, based on the vehicle position information provided by said vehicle position detector;

arrival determining device for determining whether a main switch of said shared vehicle has been turned off within the entrance area;

departure determining device for determining whether said shared vehicle drives out of the exit area;

return operation determining device for determining whether a user of said vehicle has conducted a return operation using a terminal for conducting rental and return operations;

rental operation determining device for determining whether the user has conducted a rental operation through said terminal;

return determining device for confirming the return of said shared vehicle when said arrival determining device determines that the main switch has been turned off within the entrance area and when said return operation determining device has determined that the return operation has been conducted; and

rental determining device for accepting rental of said shared vehicle when said departure determining device determines that said shared vehicle drives out of the exit area and when said rental operation determining device determines that the rental operation has been conducted.

3. An apparatus for managing the entry and exit of a shared vehicle, comprising a shared vehicle and control device, wherein:

said shared vehicle comprises;

vehicle position detector;

area storage device for storing entrance area data and exit area data of a parking lot;

approach notifying device for notifying said control device through a communicator that said shared vehicle is going the entrance area;

departure notifying device for notifying said control device through said communicator that said shared vehicle is driving out of the exit area; and

arrival notifying device for notifying said control device through said communicator that a main switch of said shared vehicle has been turned off within the entrance area, and

said control device comprises;

terminal for conducting rental and return operations for said shared vehicle;

communicator for receiving the approach notification, the departure notification, and the arrival notification;

storage device for storing the parking information of said shared vehicle;

parking information updating device for updating the parking information, based on the approach notification, the departure notification, the arrival notification, and the rental and return operations; and

controller for controlling rental and returning of said shared vehicle, based on the updated parking information.

4. An apparatus for managing the entry and exit of a shared vehicle, comprising a shared vehicle and control device, wherein

said shared vehicle comprises:

vehicle position detector; and

communicator for sending vehicle position information provided by said vehicle position detector and ON/OFF information of the main switch of said shared vehicle to said control device, and

said control device comprises;

terminal for conducting rental and return operations for said shared vehicle;

area storage device for storing entrance area data and exit area data of a parking lot;

parking information storage device for storing parking information of said shared vehicle, based on the vehicle position information, and the ON/OFF information of the main switch, which are sent from said vehicle, and on the information from said area storage device;

parking information updating device for updating the parking information, based on the rental and return operations through said terminal; and

controller for controlling rental and returning of said vehicle, based on the updated parking information.

5. A system for managing a fleet of shared vehicles and a shared vehicle facility, comprising:

a vehicle position detector on each vehicle in the fleet;

a vehicle status sensor on each vehicle and configured to sense a status of a switch on the vehicle;

a vehicle data transmitter on each vehicle and coupled to said vehicle position detector and to said vehicle status sensor;

a user interface terminal located in the shared vehicle facility configured to perform a vehicle return operation; and

a computer system coupled to said user interface terminal, in communication with said vehicle data transmitter, and configured to confirm a return state of a vehicle in response to the vehicle within a first designated area of the facility, the switch on the vehicle in an off state, and said vehicle return operation for the vehicle.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein:

said user interface is further configured to perform a vehicle renting operation; and

said computer system is further configured to allocate a vehicle in the return state in response to the vehicle renting operation.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein said computer system is further configured to confirm a renting state of a vehicle in response to said vehicle position detector detecting a position of the vehicle outside a second designated area.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein said computer system is further configured to confirm an approaching state of a vehicle in response to said vehicle positions detector detecting the position of the vehicle inside the first designated area and said vehicle status sensor sensing the switch on the vehicle in an on state.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein said computer system is further configured to confirm an arrival state of a vehicle in response to said vehicle positions detector detecting the position of the vehicle inside the first designated area and said vehicle status sensor sensing the switch on the vehicle in the off state.

10. The system of claim 5, wherein said vehicle position detector includes:

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver;

a GPS vehicle position calculator coupled to said GPS receiver; and

a vehicle position data processor coupled to said GPS vehicle position calculator.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said vehicle position detector further includes a GPS correction information receiver communicating with a terrestrial GPS base station and coupled to said GPS vehicle position calculator.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said vehicle position detector further includes:

a vehicle motion sensor; and

an inertia vehicle position calculator coupled to said vehicle motion sensor and to said vehicle position data processor.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said vehicle position detector further includes:

a facility area database; and

a vehicle area data calculator coupled to said facility area database and to said vehicle position data processor.

14. The system of claim 5, wherein said computer system further includes:

a facility area database; and

a vehicle area data calculator coupled to said facility area database.

15. A method for managing a shared vehicle facility, comprising the steps of:

detecting a position of a vehicle in a fleet of shared vehicles;

detecting a state of a main switch on the vehicle;

transmitting a position data regarding the position of the vehicle and a state data regarding the state of the main switch of the vehicle to a control device;

in response to the position of the vehicle outside a first designated area, confirming an departure state of the vehicle;

in response to the position of the vehicle in a second designated area, the main switch in a on position, confirming an approach state of the vehicle;

in response to the position of the vehicle in the second designated area and the main switch in a off position, confirming an arrival state of the vehicle; and

in response to the position of the vehicle in the second designated area, the main switch in the off position, and a return operation at the control device, confining a return state of the vehicle.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of, in response to a vehicle renting operation at the control device, allocating a vehicle in the return state.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of detecting a position of a vehicle includes the step of calculating the position of the vehicle using a global positioning system (GPS) signal received through a GPS receiver on the vehicle.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of calculating the position of the vehicle includes calculating the position of the vehicle further using a terrestrial GPS base station signal.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of calculating the position of the vehicle includes calculating the position of the vehicle further using an inertia vehicle navigation signal.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of identifying each vehicle in the fleet with a vehicle identification number.

21. A system for managing a shared vehicle, comprising:

a vehicle location detector on the shared vehicle;

a vehicle status sensor on the shared vehicle;

a user interface terminal configured to perform a vehicle return operation; and

a computer system configured to receive data from said vehicle location detector, said vehicle status sensor and said user interface terminal and further configured to confirm a return state of a vehicle in response to a vehicle location within a first designated area, a vehicle status in a first predetermined state, and an occurrence of the vehicle return operation.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein:

said user interface is further configured to perform a vehicle renting operation; and

said computer system is further configured to allocate the shared vehicle in response to the vehicle renting operation and the shared vehicle in the return state.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein said computer system is further configured to confirm a renting state of the shared vehicle in response to the vehicle location outside a second designated area.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein said computer system is further configured to confirm an approaching state of the shared vehicle in response to the vehicle location within the first designated area and the vehicle status in a second predetermined state.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein said computer system is further configured to confirm an arrival state of the shared vehicle in response to the vehicle location within the first designated area and the vehicle status in the first predetermined state.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein said vehicle location detector includes:

a global positioning system (GPS) receiver;

a GPS vehicle position calculator coupled to said GPS receiver; and

a vehicle location data processor coupled to said GPS vehicle position calculator.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said vehicle location detector further includes a GPS correction information receiver communicating with a terrestrial GPS base station and coupled to said GPS vehicle location calculator.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein said vehicle location detector further includes:

a vehicle motion sensor; and

an inertia vehicle position calculator coupled to said vehicle motion sensor and to said vehicle location data processor.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein said vehicle location detector further includes:

a facility area database; and

a vehicle area data calculator coupled to said facility area database and to said vehicle location data processor.

30. The system of claim 21, wherein said computer system further includes:

a facility area database; and

a vehicle area data calculator coupled to said facility area database.

31. A method for managing a shared vehicle facility, comprising the steps of:

detecting a location of a shared vehicle;

detecting a status of the shared vehicle;

in response to the location of the shared vehicle outside a first designated area, confirming a departure state of the shared vehicle;

in response to the location of the shared vehicle in a second designated area, the status of the shared vehicle in a first predetermined state, confirming an approach state of the shared vehicle;

in response to the location of the shared vehicle in the second designated area and the status of the shared vehicle in a second predetermined state, confirming an arrival state of the shared vehicle; and

in response to the location of the shared vehicle in the second designated area, the status of the shared vehicle in the second predetermined state, and a return operation at a control device, confirming a return state of the shared vehicle.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of, in response to a vehicle renting operation at the control device and the shared vehicle in the return state, allocating the shared vehicle.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the step of detecting a location of a shared vehicle includes the step of calculating the location of the shared vehicle using a global positioning system (GPS) signal received through a GPS receiver on the shared vehicle.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of calculating the location of the shared vehicle includes calculating the location of the shared vehicle further using a terrestrial GPS base station signal.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of calculating the location of the shared vehicle includes calculating the location of the shared vehicle further using an inertia vehicle navigation signal.