System And Method For Monitoring Parking Enforcement Officer Performance In Real Time With The Aid Of A Digital Computer

• US 20180060796A1
• Filed: 08/26/2016
• Published: 03/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stefik, Mark J., Singhal, Mudita, Albanese, Kevin, Ali, Farrukh, Bier, Eric A., Bobrow, Daniel G., Cardenas Sanchez, Eduardo, Darst, Matthew T., Eldardiry, Hoda, Gavai, Gaurang, Jia, Lu (Kate), Krivacic, Robert T., Liu, Pai, Tarkan, Sureyya
• Granted Patent: US 11,120,375 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• 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

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring parking enforcement officer performance 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 monitoring parking enforcement officer performance in real time 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 time-based active representational model of the city that comprises estimates of parking violations expected to occur within the beat and which fuses parking citation data with information received from sensors in the city; and

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

an activity planner adapted to build one or more activity plans for the officer based upon the fused information from the active representational model, and to identify those activity plans that optimize performance by the officer;

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

an officer monitor adapted to create analytics based upon differences between the officer'"'"'s expected performance according to the optimal activity plans versus the officer'"'"'s actual performance according to the officer'"'"'s tracked activities.

2. A system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

historical enforcement data collected from past parking violations within the beat as part of the parking citation data; and

current enforcement data derived from the officer'"'"'s tracked activities while on the beat as part of the parking citation data.

3. A system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

characteristics pertaining to the beat included when building the activity plans from the group comprising one or more of nature of the beat, time of day, and day of week, season, number of officers on the beat, traffic conditions, and service requirements; and

factors specific to the officer included when building the activity plans from the group comprising the officer'"'"'s level of experience and familiarity with the beat.

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

the storage further comprising expectations for the officer based upon the optimal activity plans; and

the processor and memory further comprising;

a motivation recommender adapted to provide the expectations to the officer, and to include whether the officer met the expectations as part of the analytics.

5. A method for monitoring parking enforcement officer performance in real time 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;

fusing parking citation data with information received from sensors in the city into a time-based active representational model of the city that comprises estimates of parking violations expected to occur within the beat;

building one or more activity plans for the officer based upon the fused information from the active representational model;

identifying those activity plans that optimize performance by the officer;

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

creating analytics based upon differences between the officer'"'"'s expected performance according to the optimal activity plans versus the officer'"'"'s actual performance according to the officer'"'"'s tracked activities.

6. A method according to claim 5, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

collecting historical enforcement data from past parking violations within the beat as part of the parking citation data; and

deriving current enforcement data from the officer'"'"'s tracked activities while on the beat as part of the parking citation data.

7. A method according to claim 5, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

including characteristics pertaining to the beat when building the activity plans from the group comprising one or more of nature of the beat, time of day, and day of week, season, number of officers on the beat, traffic conditions, and service requirements; and

including factors specific to the officer when building the activity plans from the group comprising the officer'"'"'s level of experience and familiarity with the beat.

8. A method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

setting expectations for the officer based upon the optimal activity plans;

providing the expectations to the officer; and

including whether the officer met the expectations as part of the analytics.

9. A method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of:

quantifying the expectations based upon at least one of productivity, adherence to following recommendations, activities within beat by other officers within the officer'"'"'s beat, comparison to performance of other officers, metrics for working hard, and completion of service assignments.

10. A method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

planning a performance-optimized patrol route for the officer comprising estimated parking violations per block within the beat;

providing the performance-optimized patrol route to the officer as a recommendation; and

including whether the officer undertook the recommendation as part of the analytics.

11. A method according to claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

following assignment of the officer to either perform a planned event or respond to an unplanned event, building one or more updated activity plans for each of the officers remaining on a team in which the assigned officer is comprised based upon the fused information from the active representational model; and

identifying the updated activity plans that optimize performance by the remaining officers.

12. A method according to claim 5, wherein the activities of the officer comprise one or more of issuing citations, directing traffic, working at a planned event, and responding to an unplanned event.

13. A method according to claim 5, wherein the analytics comprise one or more of lack of progress, low production rate of citations, not moving, not covering areas within the beat according to policy, unaccounted gaps during which no activities have been performed, not taking a break as required, and neglecting timed parking zones ready for coverage.

14. A method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of:

determining the activities of the officer with the aid of one or more of a mobile computing device, parking meter sensor, log of tagged communications, voice activated system, and centralized citation database.

15. A method according to claim 5, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

tracking the locations of the officer at least one of on demand, periodically, or as triggered by performance of the activities;

monitoring progress on performance of the activities by the officer; and

identifying activities comprising one or more of the activities nearing completion and the activities taking longer than expected.

16. A method according to claim 5, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

displaying the analytics with a map comprising a representation of the beat, the officer'"'"'s tracked activities, and the enforcement activities performed by the officer; and

presenting the analytics in a dashboard comprising the estimated parking violations in the optimal activity plans, the officer'"'"'s tracked activities, and the enforcement activities performed by the officer.

17. A method according to claim 5, further comprising at least one of the steps of:

regularly tracking activities of the officer directly based upon locational data provided through GPS, Wi-Fi address tables, and location sensing devices; and

regularly tracking activities of the officer indirectly through traffic loop sensors, car marking information from ALPR-equipped vehicles, traffic flow sensor, and camera sensors.

18. A method according to claim 5, wherein the sensors around the city comprise one or more of location-sensing devices comprised in the officer'"'"'s vehicle or mobile computing device, traffic loop sensors, parking meter payment collectors, traffic flow sensors, ALPR sensing systems on vehicles, and vehicle occupancy sensors associated with parking spaces.

19. A method according to claim 5, wherein the beat constitutes one of a zone, traditional beat, and super-beat.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing code for executing on a computer system to perform the method according to claim 5.