Parking information aggregation platform

• US 9,754,487 B1
• Filed: 01/30/2015
• Issued: 09/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Woodard, Jason, Catalano, Joseph, Kotler, Ryan, Rogal, Adam Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tai T
• Application Number:
  US14/610,113
• Time in Patent Office: 949 Days
• Field of Search: 3409322, 340905, 340933, 340937, 340942, 701426, 701533, 701537, 701540
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/141 with means giving the indication of available parking spaces
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/143 inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/148 Management of a network of parking areas

Abstract

This document describes systems and techniques that may be used to aggregate information about open parking spots from various different parking providers or organizations.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying, by a first computing system, a geographic location of the first computing system;

sending, by the first computing system and for receipt by a remote, second computing system, a request for information that identifies available parking locations that are relevant to the geographic location;

receiving, by the first computing system and as having been sent by the second computing system in response to the first computing system having sent the request for the information that identifies the available parking locations, information that identifies a first parking location as being available and a second parking location as being available; and

generating, by the first computing system in response to the first computing system having received the information that identifies the first parking location as being available and the second parking location as being available, a user interface that includes;

(i) a first indication that the first parking location is available, and

(ii) a second indication that the second parking location is available.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the generated user interface includes:

(i) the first indication positioned on a map in the user interface at a location of the first parking location, and

(ii) the second indication positioned on the map at a location of the second parking location.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the generated user interface includes:

(i) an indication of a first number of multiple parking spots that are available at the first parking location, and

(ii) an indication of a second number of multiple parking spots that are available at the second parking location.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the generated user interface includes:

(i) an indication of a first price to park at the first parking location, and

(ii) an indication of a second price to park at the second parking location, the first price being different than the second price.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

information that identifies that the first parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a first organization that manages the first parking location; and

information that identifies that the second parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a second organization that manages the second parking location.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first computing system, user input that selects a particular geographic location on a map as being a location of a particular parking location that is available;

sending, by the first computing system, an indication of the particular geographic location for receipt by the second computing system, so as to cause the second computing system to provide an indication to other computing devices that the particular geographic location is available.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

information that identifies that the first parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a first mobile computing device in response to user-input tagging a first location on a map as being a location of an available parking location; and

information that identifies that the second parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a second mobile computing device in response to user-input tagging a different, second location on a map as being a location of an available parking location.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the generated user interface includes:

(i) an indication of a first age of the information that identifies that the first parking location is available, and

(ii) a different indication of a different, second age of the information that identifies that the second parking location is available.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein:

the indication of the first age includes a user interface element of a first color that is positioned on a map in the user interface at a location of the first parking location; and

the indication of the second age includes a user interface element of a second color that is positioned on the map in the user interface at a location of the second parking location.

10. A computerized system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable devices including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of operations that comprise;

identifying, by a first computing system, a geographic location of the first computing system;

sending, by the first computing system and for receipt by a remote, second computing system, a request for information that identifies available parking locations that are relevant to the geographic location;

receiving, by the first computing system and as having been sent by the second computing system in response to the first computing system having sent the request for the information that identifies the available parking locations, information that identifies a first parking location as being available and a second parking location as being available; and

generating, by the first computing system in response to the first computing system having received the information that identifies the first parking location as being available and the second parking location as being available, a user interface that includes;

(i) a first indication that the first parking location is available, and

(ii) a second indication that the second parking location is available.

11. The computerized system of claim 10, wherein the generated user interface includes:

(i) the first indication positioned on a map in the user interface at a location of the first parking location, and

(ii) the second indication positioned on the map at a location of the second parking location.

12. The computerized system of claim 11, wherein the generated user interface includes:

(i) an indication of a first number of multiple parking spots that are available at the first parking location, and

(ii) an indication of a second number of multiple parking spots that are available at the second parking location.

13. The computerized system of claim 11, wherein the generated user interface includes:

(i) an indication of a first price to park at the first parking location, and

(ii) an indication of a second price to park at the second parking location, the first price being different than the second price.

14. The computerized system of claim 10, wherein:

information that identifies that the first parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a first organization that manages the first parking location; and

information that identifies that the second parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a second organization that manages the second parking location.

15. The computerized system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, by the first computing system, user input that selects a particular geographic location on a map as being a location of a particular parking location that is available;

sending, by the first computing system, an indication of the particular geographic location for receipt by the second computing system, so as to cause the second computing system to provide an indication to other computing devices that the particular geographic location is available.

16. The computerized system of claim 10, wherein:

information that identifies that the first parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a first mobile computing device in response to user-input tagging a first location on a map as being a location of an available parking location; and

information that identifies that the second parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a second mobile computing device in response to user-input tagging a different, second location on a map as being a location of an available parking location.

17. The computerized system of claim 16, wherein the generated user interface includes:

(i) an indication of a first age of the information that identifies that the first parking location is available, and

(ii) a different indication of a different, second age of the information that identifies that the second parking location is available.

18. The computerized system of claim 17, wherein:

the indication of the first age includes a user interface element of a first color that is positioned on a map in the user interface at a location of the first parking location; and

the indication of the second age includes a user interface element of a second color that is positioned on the map in the user interface at a location of the second parking location.