Lighting fixture data hubs and systems and methods to use the same

• US 10,755,569 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2019
• Issued: 08/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ECO Parking Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: ECO Parking Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Longardner, William, Pinyot, Jeffrey, Toschlog, Jason, Toschlog, Gage, Foote, Evan, Whitlock, Scott, Huffman, Andrew, Hughes, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): Ghulamali, Qutbuddin
• Application Number:
  US16/240,674
• Publication Number:
  US 20190139409A1
• Time in Patent Office: 599 Days
• Field of Search: 3409322
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/63 Scene text, e.g. street names
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/30 Parking meters registering or indicating waiting time of vehicles by means driven by the vehicle G07C5/02; coin-freed parking meters G07F17/24
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/142 external to the vehicles
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/148 Management of a network of parking areas

Abstract

Lighting fixture data hubs and systems and methods for use. An example of a data hub may include an annunciator configured to generate first and second indications; a sensor configured to detect a zone including one or more parking spaces, pedestrians, or other activity areas in a vicinity of the data hub and to determine whether or not one or more vehicles, pedestrians, and/or activities occurring in the activity areas are present within the zone, the sensor further configured to emit signals corresponding to said detection; and a gateway in communication with an on-board processor and the annunciator, the on-board processor configured for EDGE computing and processing to receive and analyze the signals from the sensor, communicate said signals to the gateway, and operable to allow the gateway to direct the annunciator to generate the first indication or the second indication in response to the signals.

Claims

1. A data hub, comprising:

an annunciator configured to generate a first indication and a second indication;

one or more sensors configured to detect a zone comprising a single parking space or plurality of parking spaces, one or more pedestrians, or one or more other activity areas in a vicinity of the data hub and to determine whether or not one or more vehicles and/or the one or more pedestrians and/or one or more other activities occurring in the one or more other activity areas are present within the zone, the one or more sensors further configured to emit one or more signals corresponding to said detection;

a gateway in communication with an on-board processor and the annunciator, the on-board processor configured for EDGE computing and processing to receive and analyze the one or more signals from the one or more sensors, configured to communicate said one or more signals to the gateway, configured to distinguish between the one or more vehicles and the one or more pedestrians, and operable to allow the gateway to direct the annunciator to generate the first indication or the second indication in response to the one or more signals;

a sensor unit housing having at least portions of the annunciator, the one or more sensors, and the on-board processor located therein, the sensor unit configured to attach to a device, housing, or freestanding element such that power supplied to the device is also used to supply power to the data hub; and

a light source in communication with the on-board processor, the light source configured to illuminate at least a portion of the zone with white light of varying intensities;

wherein the one or more sensors are configured to sense a potential convergence between two of a pedestrian, a vehicle, and another defined object.

2. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the first indication is emitted light of a first color, and wherein the second indication is emitted light of a second color.

3. The data hub of claim 1, wherein when at least one of the one or more signals corresponds to the detection of the one or more vehicles, pedestrians and/or other activities in the zone of the single parking space or plurality of parking spaces, drive lane, or other activity area, an edge processed status of the zone is relayed to the gateway which in turn directs the annunciator to generate the first indication.

4. The data hub of claim 1, wherein when at least one of the one or more signals corresponds to the detection of a lack of a vehicle, pedestrian or other movement in at least one parking space of the plurality of parking spaces or detected zone, the gateway is operable to direct the annunciator to generate the second indication.

5. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the data hub further comprises a power controller configured to couple to a power line that supplies high voltage, low voltage, or power over ethernet (POE) power to the device, the power controller configured to provide electrical power to the annunciator, the one or more sensors, and the processor, and further configured to change a frequency of power.

6. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the data hub further comprises a power controller configured to provide electrical power to the annunciator, the one or more sensors, the processor, and the gateway.

7. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the light source, the annunciator, the one or more sensors, the gateway, and the on-board processor receive electrical power from a power controller.

8. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the gateway uses machine-learned intelligence to determine whether the single parking space or one or more parking spaces of the plurality of parking spaces is occupied, to determine whether the one or more pedestrians are in the zone, or whether the one or more activities are present, and operates upon the learned intelligence to actuate the annunciator.

9. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors are operable to communicate the one or more signal to the on-board processor, which in-turn communicates with the gateway wirelessly via at least one of Bluetooth, a secure private Wi-Fi network, radio, and/or consumer infrared protocols.

10. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured for processing with intelligent EDGE internet of things (IoT) design with Cloud Native reporting and application programming interface (API) integration via a cellular link.

11. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to process parking space data obtained by the one or more sensors to determine a number of parking spaces available in one or more parking locations and to facilitate the display of the number of parking spaces available on at least one of a sign, a dashboard, a webpage, and/or a smartphone application.

12. The data hub of claim 1, wherein images and/or other data from the one or more sensors received by the gateway can be stored in a video recorder and accessed away from the gateway.

13. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the annunciator is configured to indicate one or more colors, in a sequence, or otherwise generate an alert when the one or more sensors sense the potential convergence between two of a pedestrian, a vehicle, and another defined object.

14. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors are configured for license plate recognition (LPR) to obtain license plate data, and wherein the processor is configured to process the license plate data to associate the license plate data with a particular vehicle and to determine whether parking fees are due from the operator or owner of the particular vehicle.

15. The data hub of claim 1, further comprising an audio source configured to emit and/or receive an audio signal.

16. The data hub of claim 1, further comprising an audio source configured to emit and/or receive an audio signal upon receipt of instructions from a panic button in wired or wireless communication with the data hub.

17. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the annunciator comprises an audio source comprising a speaker and/or microphone.

18. The data hub of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more sensors is or comprises at least one of a manual fire alarm switch, an automatic carbon monoxide detector, a smoke detector, and/or a fire detector.

19. The data hub of claim 1, further comprising a plug or port configured to charge an electronic device or object selected from the group consisting of an electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle, and environmental sensor, or another object requiring a source of electrical power.

20. The data hub of claim 1, wherein the annunciator is configured to emit a visual or audio signal in connection with data obtained by the one or more sensors indicating that a parking space is available or becoming available.