Method and apparatus for parking lot metering

• US 8,511,539 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2010
• Issued: 08/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Liberty Plugins, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Liberty Plugins, Inc.
• Inventors: Redmann, William Gibbens, Outwater, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): VO, TUYEN KIM
• Application Number:
  US12/659,666
• Publication Number:
  US 20110226848A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,253 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235380-3825, 235/384, 235/449, 235/462.01
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/80 Time limits
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2260/58 Departure time prediction
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/14 Conductive energy transfer
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/305 Communication interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/31 Charging columns specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/63 in response to network capacity
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/64 Optimising energy costs, e.g. responding to electricity rates
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/65 involving identification of vehicles or their battery types
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/665 Methods related to measuring, billing or payment
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• 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: G07F 15/005 dispensed for the electrical charging of vehicles electrical charging as such, B60L50/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0021 Access to services on a time-basis
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/24 for parking meters
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/42 for ticket printing or like apparatus , e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/001 Interfacing with vending machines using mobile or wearable devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/009 User recognition or proximity detection
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/00 : Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
• 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 10/126 : the energy generation units being or involving electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV], i.e. power aggregation of EV or HEV, vehicle to grid arrangements [V2G]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

Pay-by-Space and Pay-and-Display are two well-known systems for metered parking for multiple spaces. The present invention allows multi-space meters to separately manage and control electric vehicle charging located in conjunction with parking spaces. Control is implemented by the meters printing indicia on a parking pass or receipt for the parking patron to present to an electric vehicle charging system able to read the indicia. Each such ticket may initiate a predetermined interval of charging, or an interval of charging selected by the patron during a transaction with the meter. The indicia may be either human-readable (e.g., text) or machine-readable (e.g., a barcode), or both, and may be encrypted to resist fraud. Data representative of the indicia may also be made available from an online server and delivered to a parking patron'"'"'s smartphone or other portable device, whereby the display of the smartphone may present the indicia for reading by the electric vehicle charging system.

Claims

1. A system for charging electric vehicles comprising:

a charger for an electric vehicle;

a reader that reads an indicia when said indicia is presented and determines an interval for electric vehicle charging from said indicia, wherein the interval is encoded into the indicia; and

a timer that is set to hold the charger enabled for said interval for electric vehicle charging in response to a signal from said reader after said indicia is read.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said reader reads a duration for charging from said indicia and said charger is enabled for the duration for charging.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said timer comprises a clock, said reader reads an expiration time for charging from said indicia, and said charger is enabled until the expiration time for charging.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said indicia comprise a barcode and said reader is one of a barcode reader and a 2D barcode reader.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said indicia comprise printed text and said reader comprises a camera connected to a processor, said camera providing an image of said indicia to said processor, said processor having optical character recognition software for reading said text from said image.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said indicia are at least partially one of encrypted, signed, and checksummed.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said indicia are printed by a pay-and-display parking kiosk.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said reader is associated with a parking space ID and only provides said signal to said timer when said indicia indicate the parking space ID.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said indicia is printed by a pay-by-space parking kiosk.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said indicia are presented on one of a cell phone, PDA, or smartphone.

11. A method for charging electric vehicles comprising the steps of:

a) providing a charger for an electric vehicle;

b) automatically reading an indicia and determining an interval for electric vehicle charging from said indicia with a reader when said indicia is presented, wherein the interval is encoded into the indicia; and

c) setting a timer to hold said charger enabled for said interval for electric vehicle charging in response to step b).

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said indicia comprise one of a barcode and a 2D barcode.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said indicia comprise text and said automatic reading comprises the use of a camera connected to a computer running optical character recognition software able to read the text.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein said indicia are at least partially one of encrypted, signed, and checksummed.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein said reader is associated with a parking space ID and step c) is performed only if said indicia indicate the parking space ID.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein said indicia are presented one of a cell phone, PDA, or smartphone.

17. A method for charging electric vehicles comprising the steps of:

a) automatically reading a parking pass with a reader of a charger for an electric vehicle when said parking pass is presented;

b) automatically determining with a controller of the charger having communication with the reader whether said parking pass is valid;

c) if said parking pass is not valid, rejecting said parking pass; and

d) if said parking pass is valid, automatically enabling the charger with said controller for one of a pre-determined interval for electric vehicle charging and an interval for electric vehicle charging indicated by said parking pass.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said parking pass is provided by a parking transaction system, and wherein the automatically determining step automatically determines whether said parking pass is valid without reference to said parking transaction system.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the automatically determining step automatically determines whether said parking pass is valid based on at least one value read from said parking pass selected from a group consisting of a checksum, a digital signature, a station identifier, a date, and a time.