System And Method For Providing Conditional Autonomous Messaging To Parking Enforcement Officers With The Aid Of A Digital Computer

• US 20180060789A1
• Filed: 08/26/2016
• Published: 03/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Stefik, Mark J., Singhal, Mudita, Bobrow, Daniel G.
• Granted Patent: US 11,068,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/215 Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services

Abstract

A system and method for providing conditional autonomous messaging to parking enforcement officers with the aid of a digital computer is provided. A time-based active representational model of the city is created by fusing sensory data collected from various sources around a city with numerical data gleaned from historical and on-going activities, including parking regulation citation and warning numbers, resource allocations, and so on. The model can be used to form quantitative predictions of expected violations, revenue stream, and so forth, that can then be used as recommendations as to where to enforce and when, so as to maximize the utilization of the limited resources represented by the officers on the street. Moreover, the performance of the officers can be weighed against expectations of performance postulated from the quantitative predictions.

Claims

1. A system for providing conditional autonomous messaging to parking enforcement officers with the aid of a digital computer, comprising:

a storage device, comprising;

a definition of a beat within a city for a parking enforcement officer within which enforcement activities are to be performed by the officer; and

a processor and memory within which code for execution by the processor is stored, further comprising;

an observer adapted to regularly track activities of the officer while on the beat; and

a conditional autonomous messaging component adapted to autonomously determine the availability of the officer to undertake a new assignment based upon the officer'"'"'s tracked activities with the assistance of messaging performed through a mobile device without actual involvement of the officer.

2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to perform the messaging under a “

push”

communications model with the mobile device periodically sending an update on the officer to a server that centrally mediates parking enforcement within the city

3. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to perform the messaging under a “

pull”

communications model with a server querying the mobile device and receiving an update on the officer from the mobile device in reply to the query.

4. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to perform autonomously decline the new assignment on behalf of the officer through the mobile device if not available.

5. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to autonomously accept the new assignment on behalf of the officer through the mobile device if available, and to notify the officer of the new assignment.

6. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the storage device further comprising a priority assigned to the officer'"'"'s tracked activities and to the new assignment; and

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to autonomously conclude that the officer is not available if the officer'"'"'s tracked activities have the same or higher priority as the new assignment.

7. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the storage device further comprising an event name, event priority, and an event location with the query; and

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to autonomously determine whether the officer is in a location on the beat relative to the event location so as to be available for the new assignment.

8. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the storage device further comprising a policy for availability applicable to the officer for new assignments; and

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to determine that the officer is available if criteria under the policy for availability are met.

9. A system according to claim 8, further comprising at least one of:

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to determine that the officer is available if the officer is on patrol and driving;

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to determine that the officer is not available if the officer is on a break and a priority assigned to the new assignment falls below a threshold;

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to determine that the officer is available if the officer is on a break and a priority assigned to the new assignment is above a threshold;

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to determine that the officer is available if the officer is writing a citation;

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to determine that the officer is available if the officer is reviewing next activities to perform on the beat; and

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to determine that the officer is not available if another officer has already been assigned to the new assignment.

10. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:

the storage device further comprising an event tag appended to a message being sent by the officer through the mobile device; and

the conditional autonomous messaging component further adapted to producing an association between the availability of the officer and the officer'"'"'s activities based upon the event tag.

11. A method for providing conditional autonomous messaging to parking enforcement officers with the aid of a digital computer, comprising the steps of:

defining a beat within a city for a parking enforcement officer within which enforcement activities are to be performed by the officer;

regularly tracking activities of the officer while on the beat; and

autonomously determining the availability of the officer to undertake a new assignment based upon the officer'"'"'s tracked activities with the assistance of messaging performed through a mobile device without actual involvement of the officer.

12. A method according to claim 11, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

performing the messaging under a “

push”

communications model with the mobile device periodically sending an update on the officer to a server that centrally mediates parking enforcement within the city; and

performing the messaging under a “

pull”

communications model with the server querying the mobile device and receiving an update on the officer from the mobile device in reply to the query.

13. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the step of:

if not available, autonomously declining the new assignment on behalf of the officer through the mobile device.

14. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

if available, autonomously accepting the new assignment on behalf of the officer through the mobile device; and

notifying the officer of the new assignment.

15. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

assigning a priority to the officer'"'"'s tracked activities and to the new assignment; and

autonomously concluding that the officer is not available if the officer'"'"'s tracked activities have the same or higher priority as the new assignment.

16. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

including an event name, event priority, and an event location with the query; and

autonomously determining whether the officer is in a location on the beat relative to the event location so as to be available for the new assignment.

17. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

setting a policy for availability applicable to the officer for new assignments; and

determining that the officer is available if criteria under the policy for availability are met.

18. A method according to claim 17, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

determining that the officer is available if the officer is on patrol and driving;

determining that the officer is not available if the officer is on a break and a priority assigned to the new assignment falls below a threshold;

determining that the officer is available if the officer is on a break and a priority assigned to the new assignment is above a threshold;

determining that the officer is available if the officer is writing a citation;

determining that the officer is available if the officer is reviewing next activities to perform on the beat; and

determining that the officer is not available if another officer has already been assigned to the new assignment.

19. A method according to claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

appending an event tag to a message being sent by the officer through the mobile device; and

based upon the event tag, producing an association between the availability of the officer and the officer'"'"'s activities.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing code for executing on a computer system to perform the method according to claim 11.