Systems and methods for providing navigational assistance to a parking facility

• US 8,816,880 B1
• Filed: 01/31/2013
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Foster, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): HUNNINGS, TRAVIS R
• Application Number:
  US13/755,196
• Time in Patent Office: 572 Days
• Field of Search: 340/932.2, 340/988, 340/990, 340/994, 340/995.1
• US Class Current: 340/932.2
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/146 where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space

Abstract

A computer-implemented method that includes receiving a request for navigational assistance to a location, identifying a parking facility at or near the location, identifying a first section of the parking facility having parking availability, identifying a first entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the first section of the parking facility, providing, via a mobile communications device, navigational assistance to the first entrance of the parking facility, monitoring parking availability at the parking facility, and, prior to receiving an indication that a vehicle associated with the mobile communications device has arrived at the first entrance of the parking facility, determining that a second section of the parking facility currently has a parking availability that exceeds the parking availability of the first section of the parking facility, and providing navigational assistance to a second entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the second section of the parking facility.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, from a mobile communications device, a request for navigational assistance to a given location;

identifying a parking facility at or near the given location, the parking facility comprising a plurality of sections accessible by a plurality of different entrances to the parking facility, and each of the sections comprising a corresponding set of parking spaces;

identifying a first section of the parking facility associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability of others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility;

identifying a first entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the first section of the parking facility;

providing, to the mobile communications device for presentation to a user, navigational assistance to the first entrance of the parking facility; and

prior to receiving an indication that a vehicle associated with the mobile communications device has arrived at the first entrance of the parking facility;

monitoring, using a computer, current availability of parking in the plurality of sections of the parking facility to determine whether the first section continues to be associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability associated with the others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility;

determining that a second section of the parking facility is associated with a current level of parking availability that exceeds a current level of parking availability associated with the first section of the parking facility; and

in response to determining that the second section of the parking facility is associated with a current level of parking availability that exceeds a current level of parking availability associated with the first section of the parking facility, providing, to the mobile communications device for presentation to the user, navigational assistance to a second entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the second section of the parking facility.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring availability of parking in the plurality of sections of the parking facility to determine whether the first section continues to be associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability associated with the others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility comprises continuously monitoring a parking status listing indicative of availability of parking spaces in the plurality of sections of the parking facility at the parking facility, and wherein the parking status listing is continuously updated based on parking status updates received from a remote parking management system.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein parking status updates are automatically received from the remote parking management system on a periodic basis.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, from the remote parking management system, one or more parking status updates indicating a reduction in the level of parking availability of the first section of the parking facility or one or more parking status updates indicating an increase in the level of parking availability of the second section of the parking facility, wherein determining that a second section of the parking facility is associated with a current level of parking availability that exceeds a current level of parking availability associated with the first section of the parking facility is based at least in part on the one or more parking status updates received from the remote parking management system; and

updating the parking status listing to reflect the level of parking availability of the first and second sections of the parking facility.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, from the remote parking management system, one or more parking status updates indicating that one or more parking spaces of the first section of the parking facility previously unoccupied are now occupied or that one or more parking spaces of the second section of the parking facility previously occupied are now unoccupied, wherein determining that a second section of the parking facility is associated with a current level of parking availability that exceeds a current level of parking availability associated with the first section of the parking facility is based at least in part on the one or more parking status updates received from the remote parking management system; and

updating the parking status listing to reflect the level of parking availability of the first and second sections of the parking facility.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining that all of the plurality of sections of the parking facility are associated with a current level of parking availability that does not satisfy a parking availability threshold; and

in response to determining that all of the sections of the parking facility are associated with a current level of parking availability that does not satisfy a parking availability threshold, providing, to the mobile communications device, an indication that all of the sections of the parking facility are associated with a current level of parking availability that does not satisfy a parking availability threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, to the mobile communications device for presentation to the user, an indication of a current level of parking availability associated with a section of the parking facility corresponding to the entrance to which navigational assistance is currently being provided.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein parking availability associated with a given section of the parking facility is based at least in part on a number of the parking spaces of the given section that are unoccupied.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a first section of the parking facility associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability associated with others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility comprises identifying a first section of the parking facility associated with the greatest number of available parking spaces.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein parking availability associated with a given section of the parking facility is based at least in part on a percentage of the parking spaces of the given section that are unoccupied.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a first section of the parking facility associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability associated with others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility comprises identifying a first section of the parking facility associated with the highest ratio of available parking spaces to unavailable parking spaces.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first section of the parking facility corresponds to a plurality of entrances, and wherein identifying a first entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the first section of the parking facility comprises identifying one of the plurality of entrances corresponding to the first section that corresponds to a most efficient route from a current location of the mobile communications device to the first section of the parking facility.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigational assistance to the second entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the second section of the parking facility is to be presented to the user in place of the navigational assistance to the first entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the second section of the parking facility.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigational assistance to the first and second entrances of the parking facility is to be visually displayed to the user via a graphical user interface of the mobile communications device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the navigational assistance to the first and second entrances of the parking facility is to be audibly presented to the user via a speaker of the mobile communications device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein providing navigational assistance to the first entrance of the parking facility comprises providing a first mapping of a route to the first entrance of the parking facility, and wherein providing navigational assistance to the second entrance of the parking facility comprises providing a second mapping of a route to the second entrance of the parking facility.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile communications device comprises at least one or more of a cellular phone, a navigation device, or a portable computer device.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer-executable program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions executable by a computer to cause steps comprising:

receiving, from a mobile communications device, a request for navigational assistance to a given location;

identifying a parking facility at or near the given location, the parking facility comprising a plurality of sections accessible by a plurality of different entrances to the parking facility, and each of the sections comprising a corresponding set of parking spaces;

identifying a first section of the parking facility associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability of others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility;

identifying a first entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the first section of the parking facility;

providing, to the mobile communications device for presentation to a user, navigational assistance to the first entrance of the parking facility; and

prior to receiving an indication that a vehicle associated with the mobile communications device has arrived at the first entrance of the parking facility;

monitoring, using a computer, current availability of parking in the plurality of sections of the parking facility to determine whether the first section continues to be associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability associated with the others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility;

determining that a second section of the parking facility is associated with a current level of parking availability that exceeds a current level of parking availability associated with the first section of the parking facility; and

in response to determining that the second section of the parking facility is associated with a current level of parking availability that exceeds a current level of parking availability associated with the first section of the parking facility, providing, to the mobile communications device for presentation to the user, navigational assistance to a second entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the second section of the parking facility.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory; and

a map module stored on the memory, the map module configured to be executed by the processor to cause;

receiving, from a mobile communications device, a request for navigational assistance to a given location;

identifying a parking facility at or near the given location, the parking facility comprising a plurality of sections accessible by a plurality of different entrances to the parking facility, and each of the sections comprising a corresponding set of parking spaces;

identifying a first section of the parking facility associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability of others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility;

identifying a first entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the first section of the parking facility;

providing, to the mobile communications device for presentation to a user, navigational assistance to the first entrance of the parking facility; and

prior to receiving an indication that a vehicle associated with the mobile communications device has arrived at the first entrance of the parking facility;

monitoring, using a computer, current availability of parking in the plurality of sections of the parking facility to determine whether the first section continues to be associated with a level of parking availability that exceeds levels of parking availability associated with the others of the plurality of sections of the parking facility;

determining that a second section of the parking facility is associated with a current level of parking availability that exceeds a current level of parking availability associated with the first section of the parking facility; and

in response to determining that the second section of the parking facility is associated with a current level of parking availability that exceeds a current level of parking availability associated with the first section of the parking facility, providing, to the mobile communications device for presentation to the user, navigational assistance to a second entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the second section of the parking facility.

20. A method for providing navigational assistance to a section of a parking facility determined to have the most suitable parking availability, the method comprising:

receiving, from a mobile communications device, a request for navigational assistance to a given location;

identifying a parking facility at or near the given location, the parking facility comprising a plurality of sections accessible by a plurality of different entrances to the parking facility, each of the sections comprising a plurality of parking spaces;

identifying a first section of the parking facility having a most suitable parking availability;

identifying an entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the first section of the parking facility identified as having the most suitable parking availability;

providing, to the mobile communications device, navigational assistance to direct a vehicle to the entrance of the parking facility;

substantially continuously monitoring availability of parking in the plurality of sections of the parking facility to determine whether another section of the parking facility has parking availability that is more suitable than the section of the parking facility identified as having the most suitable parking availability; and

in response to determining that another section of the parking facility has parking availability that is more suitable than the section of the parking facility identified as having the most suitable parking availability, rerouting the navigational assistance to direct a vehicle to an entrance of the parking facility that corresponds to the other section of the parking facility.