Driver behavior based parking availability prediction system and method

• US 9,177,475 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2013
• Issued: 11/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG), Volkswagen AG
• Original Assignee: Audi AG (Volkswagen AG), Volkswagen AG
• Inventors: Sellschopp, Stefan
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung T
• Application Number:
  US14/071,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20150123818A1
• Time in Patent Office: 729 Days
• Field of Search: 340/932.2, 340/933, 340/937, 340/539.1, 340/539.11, 340/988, 340/990
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3685 the POI's being parking facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096816 where the complete route is transmitted to the vehicle at once
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096844 where the complete route is dynamically recomputed based on new data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/143 inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre

Abstract

An in-vehicle parking system and method for displaying and analyzing parking information. The system displays information of available parking in the vicinity of a driver'"'"'s destination. The system can provide personalized information, predictions and advisories to a particular driver because the system can learn the behavior of particular drivers over time.

Claims

1. A driver behavior based parking availability prediction system, comprising:

a processor in data communication with;

a graphical display device, a driver identifying device, a driver input device, a transceiver operative to communicate with multiple sources of parking space information, a global positioning system (GPS) module, and a non-transitory data storage device on which is stored computer code which, when executed on the processor, implements;

a parking information database that stores information indicating at least one of an available parking space, and a parking space the vehicle has been parked in;

a weighting factor database that stores weighting factor information;

a driver preference database that stores driver preference information;

a parking preference analysis engine,

a parking prediction data engine; and

instructions which, when executed on the processor, cause the system to;

identify the driver,

obtain from the driver a destination where a parking space is needed;

request current information of available parking spaces proximate the destination from multiple sources of parking space information, and receive the requested information;

notify, using the parking recommendation engine, parking space prediction information including one or more likely available parking spaces and prediction notifications based on the destination, the current information of available parking spaces, and the driver preference information, and

present the parking space prediction information and prediction notifications on the display; and

means for gathering information of the driving behavior of the driver while he is looking for the parking space, information of the parking space in which identified driver parks, means for analyzing the drivers'"'"' selection of parking space parked in, and means for adapting a parking availability model used to generate the parking space prediction information and prediction notification.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver preference database includes information gathered by querying the driver.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the driver preference database includes information gathered automatically pertaining to the driver'"'"'s driving behavior when approaching a parking space that the driver parks in.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the driver'"'"'s driving behavior when approaching a parking space that the driver parks in is utilized along with such driving behavior from other drivers to provide a parking availability model that generates parking availability information, predictions and advisories.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the information of the parked-in spaces includes at least one of a characterization of the neighborhood parked in, a time of day, a duration, and a price for the parking, a street sweeping schedule, a tow-away rule, a distance from a final destination, a weather condition, a start time of an event associated with the driver'"'"'s parking, and a vehicle passenger identity, at least a portion of which is stored in the weighting factor database as weighting factor(s).

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the current information of available parking spaces includes current information of available parking spaces at more than one parking facility.

6. An in-vehicle personalized parking system, comprising:

a tangible processing unit processor in data communication with;

a graphical display device, a transceiver operative to communicate with multiple sources of parking space information, a global positioning system (GPS) module, a driver identifying device, a driver input device, an environment detecting module, and a non-transitory data storage device on which is stored computer code which, when executed on the processor, implements;

a parking information database that stores information of at least one of a parking facility and a parking space the vehicle has been parked in;

a weighting factor database that stores weighting factor information;

a driver information database that stores drivers'"'"' identities and respective preference information;

a driver parking preference analysis engine that analyses respective drivers'"'"' parking preferences based on information of respective parking events;

a parking prediction data engine; and

instructions which, when executed on the processor, cause the vehicle to;

identify a driver driving the vehicle;

request current information of available parking spaces proximate the destination from multiple sources of parking space information, and receive the requested information;

notify, using the parking recommendation engine, parking space prediction information and prediction notifications based on the destination, the current information of available parking spaces, and the driver preference information; and

present the parking space prediction information including one or more likely available parking spaces and prediction notifications on the display; and

means for gathering information of the parking space in which identified driver parks, means for analyzing the drivers'"'"' selection of parking space parked in, and means for adapting a parking availability model used to generate the parking space prediction information and prediction notification.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising instructions which, when executed on the processor, cause the vehicle to obtain from the driver a destination where a parking space is needed.

8. The system of claim 6, further comprising instructions which, when executed on the processor, cause the vehicle to:

prompt the driver for parking preference information and receive the driver'"'"'s responses; and

store the responses as driver preference information.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the information of the parked-in spaces includes at least one of a characterization of the neighborhood, a time of day, a duration, a price for parking, a street sweeping schedule, a tow-away rule, a distance from a final destination, a weather condition, a start time of an event associated with the driver'"'"'s parking, and a vehicle passenger identity, as weighting factor(s).

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the driver identifying device includes one of a key fob, a camera, a driver selection control of the vehicle, and a mechanism for receiving a user identification code and password and receiving validation of the user identification code and password.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the driver information database includes information gathered by querying the driver.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the driver information database includes information gathered automatically pertaining to the driver'"'"'s driving behavior when approaching a parking space that the driver parks in.

13. A vehicle that includes the system of claim 6.

14. A method of providing parking prediction data based on driver behavior, the method comprising:

obtaining an identity of a driver driving a vehicle via a driver identifying device, and storing the identity in a driver information database on a tangible storage device in data communication with a tangible processing unit (processor);

monitoring driving behavior of the driver to determine when the driver is looking for a parking space;

obtaining current parking space information from at least one source of parking space information when the monitored driving behavior indicates that the driver is looking for a parking space;

outputting parking space prediction information and/or prediction notifications on a display based on a destination identified by the driver, the current parking space information, and driver preference information for the driver, and

gathering information of the parking space in which identified driver parks;

analyzing the drivers'"'"' selection of parking space parked in adapting a parking availability model used to generate the parking space prediction information and/or prediction notification based on that analysis;

wherein the behavior of the driver monitored is one of a head movement, eye movement, or reduction in speed.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting a parking event in which the vehicle being driven by the driver has been parked, and obtaining and storing information of the parking event;

analyzing the stored parking event information to determine parking preferences of the driver; and

storing the parking preferences in association with the driver'"'"'s identity,

wherein the obtaining, detecting, analyzing, and storing are repeated for a plurality of driving occurrences.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

detecting a current location of a driver'"'"'s vehicle using a global positioning system (GPS) module;

storing information in a parking information database, the stored information indicating at least one of an available parking space, and a parking space the vehicle has been parked in;

storing weighting factor information in a weighting factor database;

storing driver preference information in a driver preference database;

obtaining, from the driver, the destination where a parking space is needed; and

requesting current information of available parking spaces proximate the destination from the at least one source of parking space information, and receive the requested information.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

prompting the driver for parking preference information and receiving the driver'"'"'s responses; and

storing the responses as driver preference information.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the information of the parking event includes at least one of a characterization of the neighborhood, a time of day, a duration, a price for parking, a street sweeping schedule, a tow-away rule, a distance from a final destination, a weather condition, a start time of an event associated with the driver'"'"'s parking, and a vehicle passenger identity, as weighting factor(s).

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the driver identifying device includes one of a key fob, a camera, and a driver selection control of the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

storing weighting factor information; and

using the stored weighting factor information in the analyzing the stored parking event information to determine parking preferences of the driver.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the weighting factor information includes at least one of a characterization of a neighborhood, a time of day, a duration, a price for parking, a street sweeping schedule, a tow-away rule, a distance from a final destination, a weather condition, a start time of an event associated with the driver'"'"'s parking, and a vehicle passenger identity.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the driver preference information includes information gathered automatically pertaining to the driver'"'"'s driving behavior when approaching a parking space that the driver parks in.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the driver'"'"'s driving behavior when approaching a parking space that the driver parks in is utilized along with such driving behavior from other drivers to provide a parking availability model that generates parking availability information, predictions and advisories.