Methods and systems for locating public parking and receiving security ratings for parking locations and generating notifications to vehicle user accounts regarding alerts and cloud access to security information

• US 9,230,440 B1
• Filed: 04/11/2014
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emerging Automotive, LLC
• Original Assignee: Albert S. Penilla, Angel A. Penilla
• Inventors: Penilla, Albert S., Penilla, Angel A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Fantu, Yalkew
• Application Number:
  US14/251,537
• Time in Patent Office: 634 Days
• Field of Search: 320/109
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2240/70 Interactions with external data bases, e.g. traffic centres
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/10 by alarm
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 2250/16 by display
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/66 Data transfer between charging stations and vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 53/68 Off-site monitoring or control, e.g. remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3685 the POI's being parking facilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/308 using the Internet of Things
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 15/005 dispensed for the electrical charging of vehicles electrical charging as such, B60L50/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/145 where the indication depends on the parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/72 : Electric energy management in electromobility
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/12 : Electric charging stations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/14 : Plug-in electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/16 : Information or communication technologies improving the operation of electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 90/167 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for supporting the interoperability of electric or hybrid vehicles, i.e. smartgrids as interface for battery charging of electric vehicles [EV] or hybrid vehicles [HEV]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 30/14 : Details associated with the interoperability, e.g. vehicle recognition, authentication, identification or billing

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for providing access to safety ratings of parking locations and access alerts associated with vehicles, including processing of notifications to user accounts associated with monitored vehicles. One example method includes receiving at a server, over time, safety alerts from a plurality of vehicles. Each safety alert is associated with a geographic location. The method associates, by the server, one or more safety alerts to parking locations corresponding to geographic locations from where the safety alerts were received. The server then generates a safety grade for one or more of the parking locations, and the safety grade is based on a number of safety alerts associated to the parking location and a safety type of the safety alerts. The method receiving a request at a server, from a computing device, to access the safety grade for a parking location proximate to a current geo-location of the computing device or a destination location and sends data to a user interface of the computing device. The data includes identification of one or more parking locations proximate to the current geo-location of the computing device or the destination location and associated safety grades.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving at a server, over time, safety notifications from a plurality of vehicles, wherein each safety notification is associated with a geographic location;

associating, by the server, one or more safety notifications to a parking location when the geographic location of the safety notifications are within proximity of the parking location;

generating, by the server, a safety grade for the parking location, the safety grade is based on a number of safety notifications associated to the parking location and a safety level of the safety notifications;

receiving a request at a server, from a computing device, to access the safety grade for the parking location; and

sending, by the server, the safety grade to the computing device, wherein in response to receiving the request to access the safety grade of the parking location, the method further includes, sending data to populate a user interface of the computing device, the set data for the user interface provides access to a map that identifies a current geo-location of the computing device and one or more parking locations in addition to the parking location, each of the parking locations being assigned a respective safety grade; and

the sent data enables response by user selections via the user interface, the sent data being for one or more of the parking locations and additionally enables access to one or more of incidents at a respective parking location, or ratings at a respective parking location, or a rating entry interface for a respective parking location, or a reserving function for a respective parking location, or payment functions for parking at a respective parking location, or past alerts at a respective parking location, or recommendations for one or more of the parking locations, wherein the method is executed by a processor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the safety notifications are generated by each of the vehicles based on activity occurring at or around the vehicle or in response to user triggered security events, and wherein at least one of the safety notifications has the safety level that indicates a type of security event, wherein the safety level is defined between a low level event and a high level event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the vehicles include logic for sharing the safety notifications to the server, wherein some of the safety notifications are set as anonymous, such that an identity of the vehicle or identity of a user associated with vehicle is not disclosed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to receiving the request to access the safety grade of the parking location, the method further includes,

accessing one or more databases to identify reported security data for the parking location;

sending identified reported security data to the computing device in addition to the safety grade.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein in response to receiving the request to access the safety grade of the parking location, the method further includes,

accessing user rating data for the parking location;

sending the user rating data to the computing device in addition to the safety grade.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a recommendation identifies a respective safety grade.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface being for vehicle monitoring associated with a user account managed by the server that performs cloud processing, the user account enabling association of one or more vehicles to the user account, and for a monitored vehicle of the user account, receiving alert data;

receiving images captured for the alert data; and

sending additional data to the user interface of the computing device, that is accessing the user account for the monitored vehicle, the user interface providing access to the alert data and any images captured for the alert data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface being for vehicle monitoring associated with a user account managed by the server that performs cloud processing, the user account enabling association of one or more vehicles to the user account, and for a monitored vehicle of the user account, sending additional data to populate the user interface, the data including one or more of incidents, or alarms active, or snapshots of incidents, or audio captures of incidents, or details when the incidents occurred, or sharing function to share occurrences of incidents.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface being for vehicle monitoring associated with a user account managed by the server that performs cloud processing, the user account enabling association of one or more vehicles to the user account, and for a monitored vehicle of the user account, sending additional data to populate the user interface, the data including one or more of alerts, or details regarding alerts, or activity regarding alerts, or damage or potential damage for alerts, or notifications that identify one or more alerts for viewing by a user of the user account.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, sending additional data that includes one or more safety indicators, the safety indicators being one or more of letter grades, or numbers, or symbols, or colors, or intensity identifiers, or identifiers to show varying degrees of safety for the one or more parking locations.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the safety grade of the parking location includes additional safety grades for one or more parking slots at the parking location, wherein the safety grades being generated based historical safety alerts for the parking location.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the recommendations include a recommendation for additional parking locations proximate to a geo-location of the computing device, the recommendations including associated safety grades and costs of parking.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is one of a mobile device or a vehicle computer with a display.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the safety grade of the parking location includes additional safety grades for one or more parking slots at the parking location, wherein the safety grades being generated based historical safety alerts for the parking location.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving at a server, over time, safety notifications from a plurality of computing devices, wherein each safety notification is associated with a geographic location;

associating, by the server, one or more safety notifications to a parking location when the geographic location of the safety notifications are within proximity of the parking location;

generating, by the server, a safety grade for the parking location, the safety grade is based on a number of safety notifications associated to the parking location and a safety level of the safety notifications;

receiving a request at a server, from a computing device, to access the safety grade for the parking location; and

sending, by the server, the safety grade to the computing device, wherein in response to receiving the request to access the safety grade of the parking location, the method further includes, sending data to populate a user interface of the computing device, the set data for the user interface provides access to a map that identifies a current geo-location of the computing device and one or more parking locations in addition to the parking location, each of the parking locations being assigned a respective safety grade; and

the sent data enables response by user selections via the user interface, the sent data being for one or more of the parking locations and additionally enables access to one or more of incidents at a respective parking location, or ratings at a respective parking location, or a rating entry interface for a respective parking location, or a reserving function for a respective parking location, or payment functions for parking at a respective parking location, or past alerts at a respective parking location, or recommendations for one or more of the parking locations, wherein a name of the parking location is identified from the map that is an online map service, and wherein the parking location is identified in response to the request from the computing device or is identified dynamically based on a current location of the computing device, the computing devices being one of a mobile device or a vehicle computer having a display.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the safety grade of the parking location includes additional safety grades for one or more parking slots at the parking location, wherein the safety grades being generated based historical safety alerts for the parking location.

17. A method, comprising, receiving at a server, over time, safety alerts from a plurality of vehicles, wherein each safety alert is associated with a geographic location;

associating, by the server, one or more safety alerts to parking locations corresponding to geographic locations from where the safety alerts were received;

generating, by the server, a safety grade for one or more of the parking locations, the safety grade is based on a number of safety alerts associated to the parking location and a safety type of the safety alerts;

receiving a request at a server, from a computing device, to access the safety grade for a parking location proximate to a current geo-location of the computing device or a destination location;

sending, by the server, data to a user interface of the computing device, the data includes identification of one or more parking locations proximate to the current geo-location of the computing device or the destination location and associated safety grades, and sending additional data for the user interface, in response to user selections on the user interface, the additional data being for one or more of the parking locations, the additional data includes one or more of incidents at a respective parking location, or ratings at a respective parking location, or a rating entry interface for a respective parking location, or a reserving function for a respective parking location, or payment functions for parking at a respective parking location, or past alerts at a respective parking location, or recommendations for one or more alternate parking locations with associated rating, cost or availability, wherein in response to receiving the request to access the safety grade of the parking location, the method further includes, sending additional data to the user interface of the computing device, the user interface being for vehicle monitoring associated with a user account managed by the server that performs cloud processing, the user account enabling association of one or more vehicles to the user account, for a monitored vehicle of the user account, receiving alert data;

receiving images or audio for the alert data; and

sending a notification to the user interface of the computing device for the user account, the notification identifying one or more alerts for the monitored vehicle, the alert data including incident data, or alarm data, or image data captured in or around the monitored vehicle, or snapshots of images in or around the monitored vehicle, or audio in or around the monitored vehicle, or touching of the vehicle, or collision to the monitored vehicle, or attempted theft or robbery of the monitored vehicle, or historical data of the monitored vehicle, or video clips of in or around the monitored vehicle, wherein the notifications are accessible via the computing device or a device having access to the internet for viewing of the notifications from cloud storage, wherein the method is executed by a processor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the safety grade of the parking location includes additional safety grades for one or more parking slots at a parking location, wherein the safety grades being generated based historical safety alerts for the parking location or parking slot or parking area, and

wherein the computing device is one of a mobile device or a vehicle computer with a display.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the safety alerts are generated by each of the vehicles based on activity occurring at or around the vehicle or in response to user triggered security input, one or more of the safety alerts having a safety level that indicates a type of security event, wherein the safety level is defined between a low level event and a high level event;

wherein each of the vehicles include logic for sharing the safety alerts to the server, wherein some of the safety notifications are anonymous, such that an identity of the vehicle or identity of a user associated with vehicle is not disclosed.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the safety grade of the parking location includes additional safety grades for one or more parking slots at the parking location, wherein the safety grades being generated based historical safety alerts for the parking location.