System and method for identifying parking spaces for a community of users

• US 9,135,821 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2013
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Anagog Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Anagog Ltd.
• Inventors: Levy, Gil, Aizenbud, Yaron
• Primary Examiner(s): Previl, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US13/971,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20130335239A1
• Time in Patent Office: 756 Days
• Field of Search: 340/932.2, 340/505, 340/933, 340/501, 340/942, 340/916, 340/468, 340/686.1, 340/687, 340988-989, 340/993, 340/992
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3685 the POI's being parking facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/14 indicating individual free spaces in parking areas
• 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: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information

Abstract

A mobile communications device includes a locator unit to receive and process information regarding a current location for the mobile communications device, a parking status determination unit to determine a parking status for the device based on at least changes in the current location, and a communication unit to forward the parking status to a parking community processor. A method includes determining a parking status of a vehicle associated with a person as a function of movement of a personal mobile communications device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

obtaining acceleration of a mobile device;

based on the acceleration and without user input, the mobile device determining a driving status of the mobile device indicative of whether the mobile device is in a driving state or in a non-driving state;

after said determining the driving status, determining a second driving status of the mobile device; and

wherein based on a difference between the driving status and the second driving status, the mobile device determining that a parking spot was taken or vacated,

whereby the mobile device automatically identifies entering to or exiting from a parking spot without user input and prior knowledge of existence of the parking spot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the driving status indicates that the mobile device is being driven, wherein the second driving status indicates that the mobile device is not being driven, and wherein based on the difference the mobile device determining that the parking spot was taken.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said determining that the parking spot was taken comprises:

determining a probability of a the mobile device being in a status of Entering Parking (EnP); and

determining that the parking spot was taken based on the probability being above a threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the driving status indicates that the mobile device is no being driven, wherein the second driving status indicates that the mobile device is being driven, and wherein based on the difference the mobile device determining that the parking spot was vacated, wherein said determining that the parking spot was vacated comprises:

determining a probability of a the mobile device being in a status of Exiting Parking (ExP); and

determining that the parking spot was taken based on the probability being above a threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises at least one of the following steps:

sampling a locator unit of the mobile device to compute the acceleration; and

receiving acceleration information from an accelerometer of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-driving state is a “

parking”

state.

7. A method comprising:

determining, by a mobile device and based on a first information derived from a locator unit of the mobile device at a first time, that the mobile device is in a first driving status;

determining, by the mobile device and based on a second information derived from a locator unit of the mobile device at a second time, that the mobile device is in a second driving status; and

based on a difference between the first driving status and the second driving status, estimating entering to or exiting from a parking spot located at a third location;

whereby the mobile device automatically identifies entering to or exiting from a parking spot without proactive user input and prior knowledge of existence of the parking spot at the third location.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

automatically identifying, based on a pattern of movement of the mobile device, the mobile device approaching the third location;

in response to said automatically identifying, determining that the parking spot is expected to be vacated.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

in response to an action by the user, indicating to the user the third location of the parking spot, thereby enabling the user to locate the user'"'"'s vehicle without providing proactive user input at the third location.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the first driving status or the second driving status is further based on non-location specific information.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the first or second information derived from the locator unit comprise at least one of the following:

a speed of the mobile device, a velocity of the mobile device, and a position of the mobile device.

12. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium retaining program instructions, which instructions when read by a processor of the mobile device, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

determining, based on a first information derived from a locator unit of the mobile device at a first time, that the mobile device is in a first driving status;

determining, based on a second information derived from a locator unit of the mobile device at a second time, that the mobile device is in a second driving status; and

based on a difference between the first driving status and the second driving status, estimating entering to or exiting from a parking spot located at a third location;

whereby the mobile device is enabled to automatically identify entering to or exiting from a parking spot without user input and prior knowledge of existence of the parking spot at the third location.