Methods and Systems for Electronic Payment for Parking using Autonomous Position Sensing

• US 20130282448A1
• Filed: 04/15/2013
• Published: 10/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Transparent Wireless Systems, LLC
• Original Assignee: Transparent Wireless Systems, LLC
• Inventors: Dutta, Santanu, Rydbeck, Nils
• Granted Patent: US 9,123,034 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/145 Payments according to the detected use or quantity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• 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 17/246 provided with vehicle proximity-detectors detecting hidden masses, e.g. metal detectors, G01V, e.g. G01V3/00; proximity switches per se H03K17/00; traffic control systems G08G1/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D

Abstract

A method/system of wireless payment of parking fees for a vehicle, applicable to both open street and closed garage parking, wherein the user and checker experiences are enhanced relative to the prior art by a number of means, including: autonomous sensing of the user'"'"'s/vehicle'"'"'s location and allowing the user to correct the indicated location if required; enabling a handset to automatically sense the ID of the vehicle in which it is located; enabling rapid and facile enforcement by providing the Checker with information about the location, parking session status and other attributes of parked vehicles and displaying the information on a portable terminal in a manner facilitating rapid validation; and further facilitating the identification of vehicles with expired sessions by a method/system of RF interrogation involving RF tags located in/on the vehicles and the checking terminal querying the RF tags.

Claims

1. A method of payment for parking of a vehicle comprising:

determining the location of the vehicle with a wireless communication device, wherein determining the location comprises using a global positioning system;

initiating a parking session with the server;

transmitting the location of the wireless communication device and an identity of the vehicle to the server; and

allowing a user to provide corrections to the location determined by positioning device if correction is deemed necessary.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving local parking policies from the server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising querying the server for the location of one or more garages or parking lots proximate to the wireless communication device, receiving an answer to the query, and responsive to the answer, a user selecting a garage or parking lot and requesting admittance to the garage or parking lot, wherein the request may include a garage and/or gate identification provided by the user or the gate identification may be included as an attribute of the garage identification provided by the server.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending an exit request to the server where such request may include a garage and/or gate identification provided by the user.

5. A system comprising:

a wireless communications device providing user input and output and position location capability,

and a server connected to the wireless communications device,

wherein both the wireless communications device and the server are configured to pay for parking according to the method of claim 1.

6. A system comprising:

a vehicle electronic system which includes a user input and output, a wireless communications device and position location capable of combining satellite navigation and inertial navigation;

a server connected to the wireless communications device;

wherein both the vehicle electronic system and the server are configured to pay for parking according to the method of claim 1.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the system is configured to automatically determine an end of a parking session based on inputs provided by a vehicle'"'"'s positioning system using at least one of the vehicle'"'"'s location and speed, and the system is further configured to communicate the end of the parking session to the server and/or a user.

8. A method of determining the identity of a vehicle in which a wireless communication device is located, comprising sensing the identity of the vehicle from an identification device, wherein the identification device is located in or on the vehicle or wherein the identification device is built into the vehicle'"'"'s electronic system.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the identity of the vehicle is communicated to a server and used in a parking payment application.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the identification device comprises any of:

a near field communications device, a Bluetooth device, a camera-scannable quick response code, bar code, written name or written identification code, or a short range RF tag.

11. A system comprising a wireless communication device, a server and an identification device located in or on the vehicle and configured to identify the vehicle, the system configured to pay for parking according to the method of claim 9.

12. A method of identifying parked vehicles having an expired parking status comprising:

receiving information from a server and displaying the information on a portable checking terminal, wherein the information is associated with a plurality of parked vehicles and wherein the information comprises any of;

approximate location of the parked vehicles on a geographic map;

parking session start and end or expected end times;

parking session status;

expired;

parking session status;

unexpired or parking session status;

expected-expired; and

vehicle attributes selected from electronic identity, license plate number, make/model/color and vehicle image.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the parked vehicles have in or on them at least one wireless identification tag and the portable checking terminal is configured to wirelessly interrogate the identification tag to identify parked vehicles with expired parking sessions.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the identification of vehicles with expired and/or expected-expired parking sessions further comprises:

using the portable checking terminal to compare actual identification responses from the parked vehicles with the information received from the server regarding vehicles with expected-expired parking status; and

determining which of the vehicles with expected-expired parking status are still physically parked in the approximate locations covered by the wireless interrogation.

15. A system comprising user input and output, wireless identification tags placed in or on vehicles and a server configured for facile and rapid checking according to the method of claim 13.

16. A method of payment for parking a vehicle in gated garages using a wireless communications device comprising:

automatically sensing a parking location using a positioning technology;

providing corrections to the parking location with a parking application when desired, wherein providing corrections comprises the user selecting one of a set of garages with specified names or other identification;

wirelessly transmitting the parking location and a vehicle identification or user identification to a server as inputs for starting a parking session with the wireless communications device; and

conveying confirmation of a payment as a data set to the wireless communications device and to a terminal configured to be used by a garage employee.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data set comprises at least a unique code and an identification of the vehicle and where the data set can be displayed on the wireless communications device and/or the terminal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the unique code comprises a string of alphanumeric characters which are not easily predictable for each transaction and the identification of the vehicle includes a license plate number and/or an image of the vehicle.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising secure data links between the server and the terminal and the server and the wireless communications device.

20. A system comprising

a wireless communications device configured to provide user input and output and position location capability,

a terminal having either wireless or wired connectivity and configured to be used by a garage employee;

a server connected to the wireless communications device and the terminal,

wherein the wireless communications device, terminal and the server are configured to pay for parking according to the method of claim 16.