WO2005086097A1 - Systeme et procede de gestion des places de stationnement - Google Patents

Systeme et procede de gestion des places de stationnement Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2005086097A1
WO2005086097A1 PCT/IL2005/000279 IL2005000279W WO2005086097A1 WO 2005086097 A1 WO2005086097 A1 WO 2005086097A1 IL 2005000279 W IL2005000279 W IL 2005000279W WO 2005086097 A1 WO2005086097 A1 WO 2005086097A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
parking
mobile device
management system
user
location
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IL2005/000279
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English (en)
Inventor
Israel Fraier
Original Assignee
Israel Fraier
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Publication date
Application filed by Israel Fraier filed Critical Israel Fraier
Publication of WO2005086097A1 publication Critical patent/WO2005086097A1/fr

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Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
    • G06Q20/12—Payment architectures specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
    • G06Q20/127—Shopping or accessing services according to a time-limitation
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
    • G06Q20/30—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks
    • G06Q20/32—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols characterised by the use of specific devices or networks using wireless devices
    • G06Q20/322—Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]
    • G06Q20/3224—Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/0014—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for vending, access and use of specific services not covered anywhere else in G07F17/00
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
    • G07F—COIN-FREED OR LIKE APPARATUS
    • G07F17/00—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services
    • G07F17/24—Coin-freed apparatus for hiring articles; Coin-freed facilities or services for parking meters

Definitions

  • This invention relates to the field of municipal parking systems, and more specifically to parking systems allowing to pay for parking via mobile communication devices.
  • All those means permit a relatively short total amount of time for parking, e.g., a three hour limit, before the time on the meter expires and the vehicle owner is punished with a parking fine.
  • the vehicle owner/driver In order to avoid it, the vehicle owner/driver must return to the meter and insert more coins (or change the ticket) before its parking time is expired, a very inconvenient action in many cases and also predisposed to "forgetfulness".
  • All the existing widespread parking methods are not flexible in the sense that the municipality is not able to change the parking tariff versus hour of the day, or differential tariff for additional parking hours, or for special dates, etc.
  • the municipalities are employing parking inspectors, who inspect all streets and each parking meter and check on each car parking in the street, whether it carries a valid parking ticket or paid the parking meter.
  • parking inspectors who inspect all streets and each parking meter and check on each car parking in the street, whether it carries a valid parking ticket or paid the parking meter.
  • a financial drawback that brings the operational cost of the parking enforcement to about 80% of all the revenues, just on the limit of profitability.
  • a non-profitable service is not very promising nor for the municipality nor for the urban population which can suffer a lot from an uncontrolled parking chaos.
  • a parking management system that will provide a municipality with a control on its parking services is thus required.
  • Such system has to be user friendly for motorists and for parking inspectors, eliminating bothering procedures involved with the payment for parking sessions, in order to comply with other payment methods such as tickets and parking meters which does not provide the municipality with real time information on its parking services.
  • Different prior art systems allowing to pay for parking sessions via mobile devices disclose non user-friendly processes for activating parking sessions, which require entry of long complicated codes by the user for specifying the parking space for which he pays and for identifying his vehicle. Furthermore they do not allow for real time control on municipal parking services and on the performances of parking inspectors.
  • the present invention relates to a simple and flexible parking management system.
  • the present invention further relates to a parking management method.
  • the system and the method may further include modules or units for the management of additional municipal services.
  • the disclosed system enables parking registration and payments from any common cellular phone and an easy real time detection of unauthorized occupancies by the municipal parking inspector.
  • the parking management system of the present invention comprises a parking status registry storing data relating to a plurality of parking spaces and respective payment status identifiers, a communication server coupled to the parking status registry for receiving incoming requests from a plurality of wireless mobile devices and for retrieving from the requests data relating to user ID (useful for identifying the payer), location data of a wireless mobile device used to request a specified parking space (useful for identify the region ID to which the street or parking lot in which the user wants to park belongs), and to parking space code (useful for identifying a specific parking space), and for providing retrieved data to the parking status registry, and a billing unit capable of calculating parking fees and debiting clients of the system according to parking sessions reported by said clients to the at least one communication server.
  • the innovative management system being responsive to the location data of a requested parking space determined from a location of the driver's mobile device for distinguishing between parking spaces having identical parking space codes in different country areas (e.g. different city quarters, different cities, different provinces, or different states, or other different places that are distinguishable according to location data of mobile device that may be retrieved automatically).
  • different country areas e.g. different city quarters, different cities, different provinces, or different states, or other different places that are distinguishable according to location data of mobile device that may be retrieved automatically.
  • users carrying a cellular phones and using cellular networks that provide the caller ID will be able to dial a short parking (or other) service number and then to overdial the number or alphanumeric string that marks a specific parking lot facility or street and parking space (or any other entity), whose location is known to a server, and pay for the said parking space (or in other applications activate another kind of service that belongs to the identified entity), without needing any special hardware on the user's side.
  • the driver enters said numbers by pronouncing them, in which case an INR Server using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) unit, accomplishes the parking task.
  • ASR Automatic Speech Recognition
  • the communication server handles interfacing to the cellular phones (or to any alternative wireless mobile device), while the billing unit handles payments.
  • the system of the present invention identifies the parking spaces by a parking space ID that comprises a region ID code and a parldng space code.
  • the system is adapted to determine the respective region ID code associated with a requested client parking session as a function of the location of the drivers' mobile device, and to determine the space code by reading a respective entry from the mobile device.
  • the system uses the cellular location identification system of the driver's cellular phone (according to other embodiments a GPS enabled device may also provide the required location data, and according to further embodiments the system is also responsive to an RF Tag in the vicinity of the user which can automatically be read by his mobile device for providing the user's location) to identify the said region ID, while a short code displayed on a marking-sign (a 4-6 digit number or optionally other alphanumeric code) for marking the street and parking space, being placed nearby the parking space, to absolutely define the parking space, allow the user to dial and report for which parking space he pays.
  • a marking-sign a 4-6 digit number or optionally other alphanumeric code
  • the driver reports and pays for a marked parking space to a central parking authority's server by overdialing the street (optionally part of street) or parking lot facility, and parking space short number / alphanumeric string, which do not need to be unique in the country/city. According to various preferred embodiments of the present invention there is also no need to transfer any indication on the identity of the parking vehicle. "Redialing" the same number when the user returns to pick up the car will end the parking session.
  • the system of the present invention can greatly save time and work of the parking inspector: a parking inspector arriving at a particular street or parking-lot- facility enters a request to the said central server, by typing only the said street's (optionally part of street) or parking lot facility's number / alphanumeric string.
  • this information is provided in lists.
  • the information is provided as a drawing/map/moving map of the said street with the marked unpaid spaces in order to enable inspectors to easily find and fine any vehicle parking in an unpaid space.
  • the system allows the inspector to select whether to receive and display the information in lists or in graphical map, or to alternate between these two options.
  • the Parking inspector uses his mobile device and software application to report his actions (optionally send an image of the vehicle) to the central parking server and through it to the billing server.
  • location services are not available the system uses a backup identification method; next to the number / alphanumeric identifier will be printed on the marking sign a backup location identifier.
  • location services are not available the interactive user application requests the driver to enter the backup location identifier.
  • the system uses a number of more digits / characters in the street and parking space identifiers that allows it to either uniquely identify the parking space or provides the system with enough information to construct a short list of named locations like cities, neighborhoods. The said short list is given to the driver and he points the correct location.
  • the application will audibly enumerate the locations and will ask the driver to say the correct location or type its sequence number.
  • the client application will present additional fields nearby the field for street and parking space IDs in which the correct country/state and location can be selected.
  • the parking inspector also receives from the system all streets in the vicinity of his momentary location with the number of vacancies for each street and thus he is able to choose his route based on this information and point the street he is working in by graphic user interface means.
  • the streets can be presented either as a text list, as a sequence of audio messages, or as a graphical map.
  • the inspector may input his location; country/state, city/village, street via his application.
  • the system of the present invention is further comprising a self learning unit and decision making algorithms, which use the gathered information on vacant places and past location dependent fines' statistics for automatically calculating the most optimal routes for each inspector and provide each of them with recommended routes for optimal efficiency.
  • the system is further provided with a unit for calculating the number of parking inspectors the municipality needs to achieve maximum coverage, or alternatively optimal coverage.
  • the system may allow drivers with cellular phones that support custom applications, e.g.
  • the method and the system of the present invention enables drivers to pay for the exact time period they have used the parking space whether this time period was 5 minutes or 5 hours.
  • the driver will be able to choose between pay-as-you- park or buy and prepay a parking time period. It also enables municipalities to introduce a real time flexible and differential tariff payment system, which depends on the particular street, date, time of day, period of parking, driver's address, specific population tariffs, etc.
  • Another feature of flexibility and interactivity of the present invention is the capability of the central parldng server to send a message to the driver's mobile device, INR (from an INR system) or written (SMS or packet data to a J2ME, .NET, etc. application), with relevant announcements and reminders like future acts; for example the closure of the street TODAY from 7 O' Clock in the evening due to the visit of a N.I.P. in the neighboring memorial.
  • the parking space may be considered as if it is does not exist and he is thus free of checking for parking tickets or for meters validity, or to check which car is parking where, etc.
  • a sign can be sent periodically to the driver's phone by server's initiation.
  • the system in case a driver forgets to close a parking session the system can close it automatically when another driver is reporting and starting to pay for the same parking space, and according to another option he might be charged for a predefined long period (e.g. 24 hours) for the particular surrounding, etc., or a combination of both.
  • the system of the present invention is able to absolutely identify a particular parking space (in other applications: a municipal facility, a shop, a street advertisement, etc.) using a short street (optionally part of street)/parking lot, number/ alphanumeric string and a parking space (or other facility) number that do not need to be unique in the same country/city, and using the approximate location (the region ID code), of the said driver's cellular device as provided by the particular cellular network location system or optionally the device's GPS or by the said Bluetooth, or ZigBee, or UWB, or Wi-Fi, etc., RF tags.
  • the said region ID code is identified using a range of network based location data received for wireless mobile devices located (present) in a known predefined region.
  • the location data is received from the wireless network provider and the region ID code is pre-correlated with range of respective locations.
  • Cellular location methods use the signals of the cellular system to find the location of a mobile station.
  • BSs base stations
  • Network-based implementation does not require any changes to existing handsets, which is a significant advantage compared to mobile-based or most mobile-assisted solutions. From the point of view of the cellular providers the system of the present invention can be a long awaited application that can pay them back part of their huge investments in providing location capabilities as requested by the U.S.A.
  • E911 enhanced 911
  • Enhanced 911 or E911 is a technology mandated by the FCC that allows emergency services staff to locate the geographic location of a cellular caller making an emergency call to 911.
  • the first phase of this mandate established in 1998*, required the carrier to pinpoint the number of a wireless 911 caller and the location of the antenna (base station) that received the call.
  • Phase Two requires wireless carriers to provide the geographic location within 50-300 meters of the cell phone itself (depending on the type of technology used). Phase Two is to be implemented by the end of 2005. Also the European Commission has plans to implement a similar obligation, but probably without accuracy specifications.
  • the system of the present invention can also identify the region ID code with a range of location data received from a GPS location unit built in or connected into the said wireless mobile devices located (present) in a known predefined region, where the said region ID code is pre-correlated to a range of locations.
  • the system of the present invention avoids allocating a unique number / alphanumeric string to each locus/entity in the world; we allow for example that the same street number will appear in different regions discerned between them by the different cellular location region's coordinates. For example if we decide to mark the streets in a region (a region is area big enough to meet the accuracy constraints of the cellular network), by a 3 digit number we may have up to 999 streets per region group.
  • the said region ID code can be obtained from an alternative electronic RF tags system.
  • the ID of the RF tag/transceiver covering the said region is automatically read and transmitted to the system by the said wireless mobile devices present (located) in a known predefined region and the region ID code is pre-correlated with the RF tag ID.
  • a mobile driver using a cellular phone, PDA, etc., provided with a Bluetooth, or ZigBee, or UWB, or Wi-Fi, etc., short range wireless communication capabilities transmits his approximate location from reading a Bluetooth, or ZigBee, or UWB, or Wi-Fi, etc., electronic tag (associated with a location ID), in his momentarily neighborhood and he is then being able to report a parking session (or report a task, according to the system embodiments comprising modules or units for the management of municipal facilities in addition to parking) by reporting to the parking service server (or corporate server) the said tag ID (approximate location), and then input the said street number and parking space number thus completing the parking cycle initiation without using the cellular location services.
  • the present invention further relates to embodiments according which electronic tag will be used for reporting parking payment on a specific parking space. According to these embodiments one will be able to use a passive electronic tag as a substitute for specifying the said parking space code, containing the said street number and parking space number, wherein the parking space code is machine readable for automatic reading and entry to the user's wireless mobile device.
  • each parking space will be designated in his momentarily neighborhood, in or on the said parking space marking sign, by a very-short range passive NFC electronic tag.
  • the information (data string) of the said passive RFID tag will contain or be associated in the parking registry with the said parking space code.
  • Bringing the phone into the close proximity of the said NFC RFID tag will be the automatic equivalent of dialing the said parking service number and overdialing the said street and parking space number to start the parldng session.
  • the said passive RFID tag will contain or be associated in the parking registry with the absolute location of the said Near Field Communication RFID designated parking space: country, state, location, district, street or parking facility name and parking space number.
  • the parking inspector arriving at a particular street will send a request to the said central server, by bringing bis mobile device into the close proximity of one of the said NFC RFID tag in the said street parldng facility and this will enable him to immediately receive from the said server, on his mobile device (in the dedicated software application) e.g. cellular PDA, dedicated terminal, cellular Smartphone etc., all the numbers of the unpaid parking spaces in the particular street or parking lot facility.
  • the dedicated software application e.g. cellular PDA, dedicated terminal, cellular Smartphone etc.
  • an inspector can retrieve all streets or working facilities (e.g. municipal facilities, greenhouses, warehouses, etc.) in the vicinity of his current location.
  • the present invention further allow users provided with smart cellular device as a J2ME, Pocket PC, etc. cellular phone, PDA, etc. (optionally a GPS enabled one), similar to those used by the parking inspector, to report in real time to a remote server, their identity, task, facility or item they are working on and its location, and to receive real time feedback on all those, all without any additional hardware to be carried or operated by the said users; such task may be for example reporting municipal inspecting tasks, deployment of waste containers or sewage cleaning operations in a particular street in an urban environment, environmental inspector task and field agriculture tasks.
  • a waste container (which is a movable item) can be reported by typing in the user's cellular device's task software application a house number in its sidewalk hand proximity.
  • the service operator deploying or collecting a street waste container will type the said number and receive in response the list of streets' names at his surrounding from which he will choose the right street's name. Then he will select either the deployment or collecting task and complete the reporting mission.
  • the server software On the next collecting task the server software will "recognize" the particular container at his surrounding even if the user will type another nearby house number in its sidewalk hand vicinity.
  • the said waste container for example, is marked for example with a 4 digit number, which is enough to mark all containers in a big city.
  • the worker By typing in the container's number in his mobile device (optionally GPS enabled) software application, the worker will be presented with a short list of neighboring streets' names to choose from and by typing a house number in its sidewalk hand proximity he will complete the location report and the specific task.
  • he will be able to type the first letter/s of the street name and receive directly the right street or two three streets to choose from. If the container number is entered first, the system will be able to put as a first choice in the street names list the last known street location of the container.
  • SMS Short Message Service -Service Center
  • the system will optionally respond with a cellular message (SMS, EMS, MMS), notifying the user that the parking service is started.
  • the user will further end the parking service by sending another message to a specially designated number for ending the parking service, or by typing "end" in the message.
  • the system may optionally send cellular messages to notify the user that the parking service is not yet terminated if the parking period exceeds a predefined time.
  • the predefined time can be configured by the user, or can be the parking time limit for particular area.
  • an inspection routing unit for processing at least one of parking related data, operative information, instructions, comments, or statistical information, to build automatic optimal inspection routes for each parking inspector.
  • the inspection routing unit is responsive to parking inspectors' decisions communicated through their respective wireless mobile devices.
  • the disclosed parking management system is further comprising : at least one management status registry storing data related to a plurality of facilities and respective their maintenance records identifiers; wherein the communication server is coupled to the management status registry for receiving incoming requests from a plurality of wireless mobile devices and for retrieving from the requests data relating to user ID, location data of a wireless mobile device used to report a specified facility, and to said facility code, and for providing retrieved data to the management status registry and to the user's wireless mobile device.
  • a municipality management system comprising: at least one management status registry storing data related to a plurality of facilities and their respective maintenance record identifiers; at least one communication server coupled to the management status registry for receiving incoming requests from a plurality of wireless mobile devices and for retrieving from the requests data relating to worker's user ID, location data of a wireless mobile device used to report a specified facility, and to said facility code, and for providing retrieved data to the management status registry and to the worker's wireless mobile device; the system being responsive to the location data of a requested facility determined automatically from a location of the worker mobile device for distinguishing between facilities having identical facility codes in different country areas.
  • a parking system will preferably be an integral part of said municipality management system, wherein motorist are related to as system workers reporting tasks and wherein parking session is related to as a task, parking spaces are related as facilities, and parking inspectors are related to as workers.
  • a method for distinguishing between parking spaces having identical codes in different parking regions is also within the scope of the present invention, said method comprising: receiving a request from a user via a wireless mobile device for parking in a specific one of said parking spaces, and determining the region of the specific parking space by determining the location of the wireless mobile device.
  • a computer system preferably accepts user's request for registering a parking session without requiring entry or pre- registration of user's vehicle ID.
  • the parldng registration includes normally billed parking sessions and zero billed parking sessions, said parking sessions are streamed to mobile devices of parking inspectors either as lists or as graphically displayed maps, without distinguishing between normally billed ones and zero billed ones.
  • the method is further comprising providing instructions to a municipal worker having a wireless mobile device and receiving task related reports concerning a facility in the vicinity of the worker.
  • the method is further comprising; associating between an identifiable facility and a task information related to said facility; identifying said facility by a combination of:
  • the present invention further relates to a method for parking status control especially useful to improve municipality control on is parking services, the method comprising registering parking sessions of clients in a parking status registry, the parking registration includes normally billed parking sessions and zero billed parking sessions, said parking sessions are streamed to mobile devices of parking inspectors either as lists or as graphically displayed maps, without distinguishing between normally billed ones and zero billed ones.
  • the invention further relates to computer readable media containing instructions to perfonn any one of the method herewith disclosed.
  • Fig. 2A is a schematic drawing of a street with a parking sign showing the numbers of two parking spaces
  • Fig. 2B is a schematic drawing of a street with a parking sign marking a cluster of parking spaces or a parking area
  • Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a conceptual street number distribution pattern
  • Fig. 4 is a block diagram of proposed system's deployment units according to one of its embodiments.
  • Fig. 5A is a sequence diagram of a process to be taken for initiating a parking service
  • Fig. 5B is a sequence diagram of a process to be taken for terminating a parking service
  • Fig. 6 A is a sample screen of the parking inspector's software application, showing a map with free and occupied parking spaces
  • Fig. 6B is a sample screen of the parking inspector's software application, showing a fine report form
  • Fig. 7 is a sequence diagram presenting general steps taken by the system of the present invention for providing optimal routs for parking inspectors.
  • Fig. 8 is a sample screen from driver's application for programmable cellular phones
  • Fig. 9 is a schematic drawing of a street with a Bluetooth tag marking the region
  • the parking management system disclosed in the present invention comprises: (i) a parking status registry (101) storing data relating to a plurality of parking spaces and respective payment status identifiers, (ii) a communication server (102) coupled to the parking status registry for receiving incoming requests from a plurality of wireless mobile devices and for retrieving from the requests data relating to user ID, location data of a wireless mobile device used to request a specified parking space, and to parking space code, and for providing retrieved data to the parking status registry, and (iii) a billing unit (103) capable of calculating parking fees and debiting clients of the system according to parking sessions reported by said clients to the communication server.
  • the billing unit can optionally be coupled to a user registry unit (104) allocating preferential parking tariffs to disabled drivers or local residents.
  • the parking registry unit further provides functions for parking enforcement including but not limited to parking inspection and fine issuing.
  • the system may also contain following optional components: - statistics unit (105) (collects various statistical data and provides the parking authority with reports about the parking activity and the performance of parking inspectors).
  • the statistics unit is coupled with the mapping unit (107), which provides it with geospacial data and functions needed for the statistical analisys and with graphic maps for the statistical reports.
  • the statistics unit can optionally be coupled to the said user registry (104) to provide reports related to the users of the system.
  • automatic routing unit (106) (provides automatic optimal routes suggestions for increasing the work efficiency of parking inspectors - e.g.
  • the automatic routing unit is coupled with the mapping unit (107) which provides it with geospatial information needed for its function.
  • the said Parking Registry (101) is coupled with Mobile Positioning Server (108) to retrieve the geographic location of the said wireless device.
  • the Parking Registry is associated with all functions related to managing the said payment status and other characteristics of the parking spaces and streets they belong to. Those characteristics include but are not limited to parking space daily price scheme according to time, maximum parking period, etc.
  • the Parking Registry is further associated with all functions and data for managing parking inspectors like the area of responsibility of the parldng inspector.
  • the Parking Registry is coupled with the Mapping Unit (107), which provides it with functions for managing geographic data.
  • the Billing Unit (103) is associated with all functions and data related to financial transactions between the users of the systems, i.e. drivers and the parking authority.
  • the said system of the present invention is responsive to the location data of a requested parking space determined from a location of the user's mobile device for distinguishing between parking spaces having identical parking space codes in different parking regions.
  • the said users request a service for an entity (parking space or any other facility to be inspected) from the said system by providing a numeric or alphanumeric ID associated visibly and unambiguously with the entity or retrieved by his wireless mobile devise from an RF tag in his proximity.
  • the said numeric or alphanumeric ID does not uniquely identify the said entity within the list of entities held by the registry of the system.
  • the system Upon receiving the said ID from the user, the system completes this ID to the full, unique ID of the said entity by adding a location part.
  • the location part is received from the geographical location of the user making the service request.
  • At least some of said parking spaces are identified by a unique parking space ID that comprises a region ID code and a parking space code, the system being adapted to determine the respective region ID code associated with a requested client parking session as a function of the location of the user's mobile device and to determine the space code by reading a respective entry from the mobile device.
  • the location assisted method of completing the IDs may be implemented by dividing a large geographical area into smaller regions. Each small region is identified by a region ID code.
  • Sub- regions like for example streets (optionally part of long streets), or parking lots facilities, distributed in the large geographical area are uniquely identified by the small region they belong to, and by a human readable number or alphanumeric string that does not repeat in the immediately neighboring small regions of the said region it belongs to. If the system needs to identify items like parking spaces that belong to the said sub-regions, an additional small number can be used to uniquely identify them within the context of the containing sub-region.
  • the sign designating a parking space code can preferably be visually associated with the respective parking space in order to ease its read and manually entry by the user. It is however in the scope of the present invention wherein the sign comprises an RF tag that is machine readable by the user's wireless mobile device e.g.
  • the parking space code comprises a street or parking lot code that is unique in the region identified by the region ID code. For example we divide the area of a state or a city into small regions, each region having a maximum number of streets (optionally part of streets), each street having a maximum number of parking spaces. The maximum number of streets and parking spaces define the size of the human readable numbers (i.e. which the driver has to read from a sign and enter to his mobile device) being used.
  • a parking space identity in different small regions differ at least by one of its parameters - either by its cellular (or optionally GPS or said regional RF Tag ID) location, or street number or parking lot facility number.
  • the present invention relates also to a method for distinguishing between parking spaces having identical codes in different parking regions, especially useful for dividing large geographical areas in the above described manner, the method comprising: (i) receiving a request from a user via a wireless mobile device for parldng in a specific one of said parking spaces, and (ii) determining the location of the specific parking space by determining the location of the wireless mobile device or receiving through it an id of the said location.
  • said parking registry holds a list of all parking spaces managed by the parking authority using the said system. Those can be the parking spaces found within a city or larger area of many cities and towns.
  • a parking space is the place for parking a single vehicle and it can be part of a street parking or a parking lot facility.
  • Each parking space is accompanied with a visible numeric ID which can be printed on a sign placed alongside the parking space as shown in FIG. 2A-B.
  • the exact arrangement of the visible numeric or alphanumeric ID depends on the exact requirements of the parking authority and can vary significantly as long as the driver can read (in a future RF Tag embodiment machine read by an NFC enabled cellular device) and transmit the correct ID for the parking space he is parking on.
  • FIG. 2 A is presenting the schematic drawing of one possible arrangement of the parking spaces.
  • a parking space marking sign (201), which displays the number of the street and the number of the parking space.
  • the number of the street (202) is unique within this street's region and all neighboring regions in order to avoid mistakes due to lack of accuracy of the cellular (or mobile) positioning system.
  • the parldng space number (204) identifies the parking space within a street.
  • the sign will include a backup location id (203) and in a future embodiment also an RF tag ID.
  • FIG. 2B shows an alternative marking of the parking spaces that allows using less parking signs.
  • One parking sign (205) identifies part of the street that contains a cluster of parking spaces.
  • each cluster has 9 parking spaces so that one digit is used to mark the individual parking space (206).
  • the street-part number is divided in two parts by a dash. The first part of the number is the same along the whole street allowing the parking inspector to type just that part to get all the unpaid parking spaces for the street.
  • the number may contain a check digit to verify that the number has been entered correctly.
  • FIG. 3 is presenting a sample distribution pattern for street numbers (or any other entity used by different systems that are based on the identification method of the present invention).
  • the pattern aims to assign a number to every street in a predefined region in such a way that it is unique in this street's region and all neighboring regions.
  • the overall amount of numbers depends on the maximum amount of streets in a region multiplied by 9.
  • the area of a region depends on the accuracy of the cellular positioning system.
  • the areas are presented as squares only for the purpose of clarity. In real applications the shape and size of the areas will depend on the street distribution. It is desirable to find a balance between keeping the number of streets evenly distributed between areas and having the size and shape of the areas optimized for avoiding location errors.
  • the system is responsive to the location data of a requested parking space determined from the location of the user's mobile device. It is not necessary that every street will have separate id or only one ID. If several neighboring streets have little parking spaces they can use the same street ID.
  • FIG. 4 are presented the deployment elements used to implement the system for a parking service.
  • the User's Cellular Phone (401) is used to dial the parking service INR Server (407) and to activate or deactivate the parking service for a particular parking space.
  • the Parking Inspector's Mobile Terminal - enforcement unit (402) is used by the parking inspector to receive information about all unpaid parking spaces in the particular street and recommendation on the most efficient path from all streets in his vicinity.
  • the Browser Client (403) talks through HTTP with a dedicated Web Server (404) that forwards the application requests to the Application Server (405).
  • the IVR Server (407) contains telephone interface for the cellular phone requests and forwards the application requests to the Application Server (405).
  • the Application Server hosts the business logic components of the system. It communicates with a Mobile Positioning Service (408) to retrieve the relative location of the user's cellular phone and the parking inspector's mobile terminal. The Application Server also communicates with a Billing Service (409) to charge the user's account for the parking service.
  • the Application Server uses a dedicated Database Server (406) to store the parking service data and uses an optional GIS module (410) for working with geographic information.
  • the INR Server is standard equipment used to interact with users through the audio interface of PSTN based phone networks.
  • the INR Server performs the functions of the said communications server for clients that connect to the parldng registry through voice interface.
  • the INR Server is capable of receiving voice and DTMF commands and responds with audio information.
  • An INR Server usually contains Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) equipment, NoiceXML interpreter allowing it to execute scripts similar to HTML, but oriented towards voice interface. It can optionally contain a Text To Speech module and Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) module.
  • CTI Computer Telephony Integration
  • ASR Automated Speech Recognition
  • the INR Server does not implement the business logic of the system. It relays the business logic processing to the Application Server, as a result receives a NoiceXML script and then executes the script providing audio feedback.
  • An INR server with its components can be obtained from vendors like Nerascape, Nuance, RealSpeak, IBM and others. Thanks to the use of an INR Server practically any wireless telephone can be used to interact with the system.
  • a simple cellular phone due to the fact that cellular phones are ubiquitous and are usually at the disposition of any driver when he is parking.
  • a cellular phone can be obtained from a number of vendors like Nokia, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson to name just a few.
  • a driver equipped with a more sophisticated cellular phone will be able to use a Web application or mobile client application running on a J2ME, Pocket PC, etc. to operate the parking service and to use additional features of the system, such as (i) using web interface instead of voice interface to interact with the system, (i) requesting additional information from the system, for example: availability of parking at specific location, watching an Internet map of the city parking status etc.
  • a driver would have to register with the parking service.
  • the driver can accomplish this by using a standard web browser client to access the web interface of the parking system.
  • the driver will provide his name, the number(s) of the cellular phone(s), which will be associated with is account, payment information and optionally, license numbers of vehicles for which he would like to use the parking service.
  • the process of registration can be performed directly through the web or at post offices, municipality parking lots, private kiosks etc.
  • the system will provide automatic registration according to caller ID of the driver. The automatic registration will be performed the first time a driver uses the system to initiate parking.
  • the system is able to retrieve his location by his caller ID and to further charge him through his cellular phone account, also identifiable through his caller ID.
  • the system uses multiple client software applications to interface with the users of the system.
  • the system uses a middle tier server, the Application Server (405), to perform all business logic related to more than one client or service of the system.
  • the Application Server hosts the functions of the parking registry, billing unit, user registry, statistics reporting unit, automatic routing unit.
  • the system uses an application server conforming to the J2EE specification from Sun Microsystems.
  • Such application servers are available from vendors like IBM, Oracle, BE A and others. Map related functions of the system are implemented with the help of a GIS module (410).
  • the GIS module can be obtained from a third party (e.g. ERSI, Maplnfo) or can be implemented as an integral part of the system according to the specifications of the Open Geospatial Consortium.
  • the system stores parking related data, operative information, instructions, or comments, in a multilayered parking vector map.
  • the parking status registry forms a layer or layers in the said multilayered parking vector map.
  • the Database Server (406) collectively represents the various persistence modules used by the system.
  • the database server is a RDBMS server available from multiple vendors like Oracle, IBM, Sybase.
  • the persistence needs of the user registry will be handled by a dedicated directory server (LDAP server) available from Sun, Novel.
  • LDAP server dedicated directory server
  • the RDBMS server will optionally contain data warehouse schema for the statistical report unit, GIS schema for the mapping unit.
  • the Database Server can be implemented as an OODBMS or multidimensional data server like the one available from Cache.
  • the billing unit makes use of a Billing Service (409) to charge the drivers their parking dues for a predefined period, e.g. monthly parking dues.
  • the Billing Service (409) is provided by the cellular network operator through billing aggregation.
  • the parking authority can work with a cellular network operator the same way cellular network operators handle payments for calls from one operator to another.
  • the parking authority can handle payments by itself using billing software provided by multiple vendors like Amdocs Inc., Mind CTI, etc.
  • the Mobile Positioning Service (408) is provided by cellular network operators using systems like the Mobile Positioning
  • the location can be provided by the user's GPS enabled mobile device or by reading RF tags positioned to mark specific regions.
  • the driver's user ID is derived from the ID of the user's wireless mobile device (caller ID).
  • the user ID is entered manually by the user in response to the system request (e.g. in case it is not being able to automatically extract it from the phone call).
  • a user can have multiple phone numbers associated with his profile and can be identified by multiple Caller IDs associated with a single user account.
  • FIG 5A depicts the steps that the driver and the system perform to initiate the parking service.
  • the process is initiated when the driver dials the service number (501).
  • the driver has to be authenticated to the system (502).
  • the system authenticates the driver automatically using the caller ID of his cellular phone.
  • the driver can specify one or more cellular phone numbers that are associated with his account and the system identifies the calling driver through this information.
  • a driver that has not registered with the system before will be registered automatically by his caller ID. In this case the Parking Registry will create and account for the driver automatically at this step. If the caller ID is not available the driver will be requested to input bis phone number and password for authentication.
  • the Parking Registry retrieves the user ID of the driver.
  • the driver is requested to input the parking space code in the form of street and parking space numbers (503). The driver will be able to either type or in a future embodiment pronounce the numbers.
  • the Parking Registry attempts to identify the location of his cellular phone. If the Parking Registry fails to identify the location automatically, it will request from the driver to input the backup location number (504) provided on the parking sign (203).
  • the Parking Registry calculates the unique ID of the parking space or area (505).
  • the Parking Registry retrieves user profile from User Registry and information, associated with the parking space.
  • the user profile and parking space information are used to calculate parking fee (506).
  • the parking fee and additional parking conditions are then optionally announced to the driver and if he agrees with them he confirms (507).
  • the driver will be provided with several payment options. The default is pay-as-you-park option, which charges him for the parking period between parking initiation and termination.
  • the driver can choose to prepay for a specific parking time, etc.
  • the Parking Registry initiates the parking session and updates the parking space information: - marks parking space as "occupied" (508).
  • the driver may enter the numbers (street, parking space and optionally location) and the password immediately after the start of the call to avoid the timely responses from the INR Server.
  • the driver will enter the numbers by typing them on the keypad of his phone or in a future embodiment by pronouncing them, in which case the INR Server will use Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), to recognize them.
  • ASR Automatic Speech Recognition
  • the system responds with a warning message to the user's wireless mobile device and request him to check and repeat the parking procedure.
  • FIG 5B depicts the steps that the driver and the system perform to terminate the parking service.
  • the process is initiated when the driver dials the service number of the parking system (501).
  • the driver has to be authenticated to the system
  • the Parking registry retrieves the parking session, which was already initiated. In the next step the driver is requested to input the parking space code to terminate the parking (521). The driver is given also an alternative way to terminate the parking session. If the driver is at the parking space for which he initiated the parking he will enter the parking space code as provided on the parking sign (201). The parking space code is optionally requested only to stimulate drivers to end their parking sessions at the time they remove their vehicles from the parking space. Since the parking session is initiated, the Parking Registry has the unique ID of the parking space, including its parking space code and is able to verify whether the parking space code that the driver inputted is correct.
  • the parking Registry retrieves parking space status information and terminates the parking session.
  • the System updates the parking space information in Parking Registry: - marks parking space as The System performs billing transaction (524).
  • the system also provides means to municipality parking inspectors to efficiently check for offending parked vehicles. The system enables municipality parking inspectors to effectively check for non-paying drivers, since they can inspect only the parking spaces, which are not registered as paid for.
  • the system of the present invention comprises an enforcement unit for bi-directional streaming and exchanging of registered information from between the system and a plurality of wireless mobile devices held by parking inspectors. Parking queries and other municipality related queries and information on parking violation vehicles, etc. may be directed from the municipality parldng inspectors to the system.
  • the information streamed to inspectors' mobile devices includes a graphical parking map of streets and parking lots indicating unpaid parking spaces, the system being responsive to inspectors' pointing out on touch screens of respective mobile devices, either by replying with additional information associated with points being pointed on the graphically displayed maps, or by extracting from the mobile devices information associated by inspectors to said points.
  • the information streamed to inspectors includes real-time instructions related to current positions of inspectors.
  • the municipality parking inspector entering a particular street uses its cellular mobile device e.g. cellular (and optionally GPS enabled) PDA, Smartphone, tablet PC, dedicated Ticketing terminal, etc., and a software application (optionally a fine ticketing application) to receive a graphical parking map (e.g. of streets or parking lots) indicating unpaid parking spaces, or/and a list of unpaid parking spaces (preferably organized per streets and parking lots) in the region he is working in, with all paying and non-paying parking spaces (FIG 6A).
  • a graphical parking map e.g. of streets or parking lots
  • unpaid parking spaces e.g. of unpaid parking spaces
  • a list of unpaid parking spaces preferably organized per streets and parking lots
  • the system After he identifies himself with a password as a Municipality parking inspector and indicate his location by entering the number of the street as it is inscribed on the signs near to the parking spaces, the system will provide each inspector with parking data and statistics relating to the parking area he is present in and with the parking map of the region he is currently in. The system will present on the map all the occupied and vacant parking spaces. The parking inspector can go straight to the vacant parldng spaces skipping the ones that somebody is paying for. If the inspector finds a vehicle on a vacant parking space not paying through any alternative means like parking tickets or parking meters the he will report a parking fine through the software application running on his mobile terminal (FIG 6A).
  • an offending vehicle can optionally forward its location and identification data to another service associated with the parking service as a service for removing unlawfully parked vehicles from the streets.
  • the information streamed to the mobile devices is divided such that each inspector is provided with data relating to particular streets or parking lots, and wherein the streams of information include respective real time updating of the data per each inspector.
  • the system will respond with a refusal or an error message returned to his wireless mobile device enforcement terminal.
  • the present invention enables the use of flexible billing that can be based on location, time-of-the-day, length of parking session, user profile, etc.
  • the system's billing unit is preprogrammed for variable and for reduced or zero billing of specific users when reporting parking sessions at predefined regions.
  • the system can provide incentives to all drivers to register their parking activities with the system and reduced parking rates in comparison to alternative parking means like parking tickets and parking meters.
  • the system provides a parking status control method by which all subscribers have to report their parking to the system even if they are entitled to free parking. Having all parking activities registered with the system will enable it to give full report to the parking authority and its parking inspectors about the parking status on the streets.
  • the system of the present invention is further comprising a unit for gathering statistical parking data as location related parking occupancy and fines statistics, time of parking, demographic etc.
  • the system is further comprising a self learning and automatic routing unit comprising algorithms for converting statistical parking data into operative information as instructions on the most efficient inspection routes, momentarily parking jam, etc.
  • a self learning and automatic routing unit comprising algorithms for converting statistical parking data into operative information as instructions on the most efficient inspection routes, momentarily parking jam, etc.
  • the system can build optimal routes for the parking inspectors taking in consideration parameters as: • Current vacant parking spaces • Recently checked parking spaces • Current position of parking inspectors • Statistics for streets/parking lots: occupancy dynamics, rate of parking violations and fines, paid to free ratio, etc. • Parking inspector region coverage and time to travel
  • the information streamed to inspectors may include real-time instructions guiding the inspectors to concentrate on specific parking zones predicted by the system as predisposed violation zones that can also yield greater fine fees thus immediately contributing to the enforcement power of the municipality and to its revenues.
  • Fig. 7 illustrates steps taken by the system according to its embodiments wherein an automatic routing procedure provides the inspector with effective inspection routs.
  • the process is initiated after the parking inspector authenticates himself, his location is fixed and he requests the system to provide him with an optimal route (701).
  • the system determines the area of responsibility of the parking inspector and the streets and parking lots included in it (702). In a preferred embodiment the area is predefined by the parking authority.
  • the system will assign preliminary priority or exclude streets or parking lots based on policy rules set by the parking authority and depending on fixed data. The policy rules prioritize streets, where it is important to decrease the number of offending vehicles for reasons like decongesting the parking vehicles, preventing vehicles from parking longer than the maximum allowed parking period, etc.
  • An example of a fixed policy rule is 'ignore street A' (since it is a street in front of a foreign embassy and mainly foreign vehicles park there).
  • An example of a temporary policy rule is 'ignore street B' (since it is closed up to the end of the week for canal maintenance work or subway building excavations.
  • the system proceeds to assign priority ratio to the streets based on realtime data extracted from the Parking Registry (703). The streets with high ratio of unoccupied / unpaid parking spaces will be given higher priority, since the possibility of offending vehicles is higher.
  • the system will consider the type and capacity of parking areas, i.e. streets, parking lots, because it affects the efficiency of inspection. Parking areas that have a large number of parking spaces gathered in close distance are inspected more efficiently.
  • the priority ratio will also be affected by the policy rules of the parking authority, which depend on real time data. For example the parking authority may set a rule stating: 'ignore street C after 6 o'clock in work days (because it is in industrial area) unless its occupancy rate is 40-60%'. Another rule can be 'assign high priority to street D between 8 and 19 o'clock (to decrease congestion) unless its occupancy is 95%'. Once the priority ratios are calculated the system will exclude some streets from further calculations that have insignificant / 'ignore' priority ratio.
  • Streets to be ignored are streets that have for example occupancy ratio of more than 95%, or streets that fall under 'ignore' policy rule. Excluding streets narrows down the relevant streets thus saving on calculation time for the next steps.
  • the system uses statistical data and algorithms provided by the Statistical Unit (105) to further prioritize streets.
  • the Statistical Unit will assign priority based on historical data, for example streets with history of highest percentage of offending vehicles will receive higher priority.
  • the Statistical Unit will also consider the particular time-of-day, day-of-week and day-of-year, for which the automatic route is requested, since the parking activity differs largely by those parameters.
  • mapping unit 705
  • the mapping unit will use path-finding algorithms to find the routes from one street to another and the routes in the streets between the unoccupied parking spaces.
  • the mapping unit will suggest which parts of the route is better to travel motorized and which parts is better to walk and inspect on foot.
  • the mapping unit will also prioritize streets based on the time required to travel between the clusters of unoccupied parking spaces within the street.
  • the mapping unit will access statistical data to assess the time-to-travel- inspect between points depending on the time-of-day and day-of-week. Streets that are far off the rest may be included as first or last destination in the route, or may be excluded all together if they have a low priority ratio. Streets that have high priority ratio or the policy demands them to be inspected often will be put in the center of a starlike routing pattern, making the inspector to pass through them several times during his route. Policy rules depending on mapping data are executed from step 2, because mapping data is relatively stable and the calculations depending on the mapping data are made either at the time when the rule is created, either when the area of responsibility is determined. For example streets in industrial areas can be marked as such when the initial list of streets is determined at step 2.
  • the system will suggest the calculated route, or optionally several routes, to the parking inspector.
  • the parking inspector can report modifications to the route by inputting reasons for the modifications.
  • Reasons for modifications can be accidental factors like car accidents, temporarily closed streets, needs and preferences of the parldng inspector.
  • the system update itself and recalculates the route (706) to produce a new best routes version.
  • the system further comprises a unit for providing services for calculating the number of parking inspectors needed to achieve maximum coverage, or optimal coverage. To calculate the maximum coverage the system must consider the amount and distribution of the vacant spaces and the average time it takes one parking inspector to check a cluster of vacant spaces, the time it takes him to travel from one space to another, in peak and normal hours.
  • the system includes means for providing statistical information about the parking density of city areas throughout the days of the week and on special events. Based on this information the parking authority can apply appropriate tariffs for certain areas and time, to achieve maximum profit or decongest the parldng population.
  • the user may overdial one of several query codes, and receive from the Parking server information on neighboring streets and parking lots facilities with vacant parking spaces, tariffs, etc.
  • a user possessing a Web enabled wireless mobile device can connect to the Parking Registry to watch a real time parldng internet map of any part of the city he is interested in.
  • the system of the present invention allow users to use SMS/MMS/WAP to interact with the system.
  • the system provides a graphic user interface to the driver implemented as software application running on the driver's cellular phone.
  • Most modern cellular phones support Web browsers and programming environment allowing running such application like J2ME or BREW.
  • Many cellular phones, called Smartphones come with an Operating System like Symbian or Microsoft Smartphone OS allowing for third party applications to be loaded and executed.
  • Using a software application to initiate and terminate the parking service will provide better user experience.
  • the software application can communicate with the Application Server directly without the need of an INR Server in between. In FIG.
  • the form provides fields that specify the location as backup.
  • the fields for 'Country/State' and 'City' will be automatically filled when location services are operational. If the location services are not operational the user will have to select 'State' and 'City' himself.
  • the application will provide fast browsing controls, which allow selecting quickly the state or city by tapping the first letter and scrolling. Tapping the first letter will select the first state or city with the tapped letter. To select the correct one, the driver will scroll down with the navigational keys of his cellular phone. In case the cellular phone of the driver supports and RF communication technology like Bluetooth, the system can pinpoint the regional location of the driver with the help of an RF tag.
  • the location information can be obtained by reading a Bluetooth, or ZigBee, or UWB, or Wi-Fi, etc., electronic tag (904) positioned in the region of the said parking spaces.
  • the said tag will use a communications protocol supported by present or future cellular phones like Bluetooth or ZigBee, or UWB, or Wi-Fi, etc.
  • the tag carries identification information (ID) and this identification information is associated with location data, both recorded in the Database Server of the system.
  • the software application will query the Bluetooth port for available Bluetooth tags and when it reads a tag the software application will use the said tag ID to update its location data.
  • both the tag ID and the location data can be recorded in the tag.
  • the Bluetooth protocol supports universally unique identifiers (UUID) for classification of the Bluetooth device.
  • UUID can be used to record the tag ID and to define the location, which the tag marks.
  • the tags can be installed at already present electric points like street lamps (901) or lamps on the ceiling of a parking facility.
  • the system will work exactly in the same way as with cellular location.
  • location is successfully identified, the location fields will be filled in automatically and the driver will just have to fill in the street number and parking space number seen on the sign (201, 902) available at the parking space. If said location tag is not available the driver will fill in the location fields as explained in FIG. 8.
  • Bluetooth enabled phones are already available from multiple vendors, like for instance the Nokia 6600 cellular phone. It is within the scope of the present invention wherein an, electronic tag is used as a substitute means for specifying the said parking space code, containing the said street number and parking space number. It is appreciated that only very-short range electronic RFID tags can be used and presently there are two practical problems with such an implementation: first the "response range" of the previously mentioned short range communication devices as Bluetooth or ZigBee, or UWB, or Wi-Fi systems is too long for identifying only a single parking space (every RF query will be answered by all parking spaces in the "response range", and second is that presently consumers phones are not equipped with RFID tag readers.
  • NFC Near Field Communication
  • Nokia shell for their 3220 handheld or Nokia 5140 phone or NFC enabled cellular phones expected to be release by Samsung (Philips technology)
  • RFID radio frequency identification
  • each parking space will be designated in his momentarily neighborhood, in or on the said parking space marking sign, by a very-short range passive NFC electronic tag as those RFID tags are already available from Nokia: the Nokia Mobile RFID Kit working with the 5140 handset. Practically the information (data string) of the said passive RFID tag will contain or be associated in the parking registry with the said parking space code. Bringing the phone into the close proximity of the said NFC RFID tag will be the automatic equivalent of dialing the said parking service number and overdialing the said street and parking space number to start the parking session.
  • the said passive RFID tag will contain or be associated in the parking registry with the absolute location of the said Near Field Communication RFID designated parking space: country, state, location, district, street or parking facility name and parking space number. Any driver which possesses an NFC enabled phone will only need to bring the phone into the close proximity of the said NFC RFID tag to start the parking session.
  • the parking inspector arriving at a particular street will send a request to the said central server, by bringing his mobile device into the close proximity of one of the said NFC RPID tag in the said street parking facility and this will enable him to immediately receive from the said server, on his mobile device (in the dedicated software application) e.g.
  • the system will provide in addition to the said visible (alphanumeric identifier a barcode for automatic reading and entry to the user's wireless device.
  • reading the said barcode will be equivalent to calling the system server and overdialing the said street and parking space numbers to start the parking session.
  • the proposed method of identification of said entities is used by a municipality parking inspector to perform municipality tasks beyond parking as showing presence, inspecting and reporting the status of municipal facilities such as: school gates, public institutions, gas reservoirs, sewer canals, memorial sites, etc.
  • Municipal facilities such as: school gates, public institutions, gas reservoirs, sewer canals, memorial sites, etc.
  • all those facilities are marked similarly to the way parking spaces are marked, and are associated in the system's registry with the task to be performed and reported by the municipal inspector when attending those facilities.
  • the municipal parking inspector's enforcement unit will be provided with an additional software application for receiving task information and reporting to the system actions performed in relation to the said facility.
  • this extended municipality mobile worker' system as a system enabling a user provided with a wireless mobile device to communicate with a registry of entities of the system and to initiate or report a service or task associated with an entity such as said municipal facility having uniquely identifying ID wherein said entity ID is obtained by a method combining (i) electronically extracting region ID of a group of entities in which said entity is included and (ii) providing a particular identification code of said entity that is unique in said group of entities associated with said region ID, by user's input into the said mobile device by alphanumeric keying, voice input, choosing from a displayed menu, etc.
  • the region ID is extracted by electronic means communicating with the said wireless mobile device.
  • the said electronic means can be any of cellular location or GPS location or regional RF tags as described above).
  • the region ID is unambiguously associated with a geographical location area, thus enabling the system to retrieve the region ID by means of location data.
  • the region ID is unambiguously associated with a set of RF tag IDs, thus enabling the system to retrieve the region ID by means of RF tag IDs.
  • the said identification code can be a number or the said NFC tag, barcode etc., placed on the said school gate, sewage canal cover, etc.
  • the said system comprises of at least one (a) entity registry storing records for each entity, said records containing at least the said regional location ID and said particular identification code (b) task managing server storing tasks relevant infonnation, maintenance history etc.
  • entity registry storing records for each entity, said records containing at least the said regional location ID and said particular identification code
  • task managing server storing tasks relevant infonnation, maintenance history etc.
  • a software application will enable the system to use alternative means to cellular location for obtaining the location of the municipality inspector.
  • the inspector is using a GPS enabled cellular PDA or a GPS enabled cellular phone like Motorola A1000 or Motorola A840 the software application can obtain and transmit to the system location data with the help of the GPS functions of the cellular phone.
  • each region ID code is pre-correlated with a range of location data received from the GPS location unit built in or connected into the said wireless mobile devices located (present) in a known predefined region.
  • the municipality inspector equipped with a cellular enforcement unit which is able to provide location data either through the cellular network provider, either by a GPS function, available in the terminal, either by reading an RF tag associated with location data can report in real time to a remote server his identity, the facility he is close to, his task, and status of work, and to receive real time feedback on all those, all without any additional hardware to be carried or operated by the said inspector.
  • the same system and method of work can be used for reporting deployment of waste containers or sewage cleaning operations, etc., in a particular street in an urban environment or even for reporting field agriculture task, etc.
  • deployment of waste containers can be performed by a municipal worker equipped with mobile terminal, which is a programmable cellular phone (e.g.
  • the deployment process according to the said extended embodiment is accomplished with the following sequence of actions: The process is initiated after a worker deploys the waste container at a given street address. In his mobile terminal, the worker types the street number at which he has deployed the container. At the same time the system retrieves the list of streets that are in the proximity of his location and that contain the specified street number. The worker is shown the said list and he chooses the correct street. Optionally he is able to type the first few letters of the street name to quickly browse to the street. Next he chooses the action he is performing with the waste container, in this case 'deployment'.
  • the report data is sent to the said server over the wireless network connection and the data is recorded in the registry of waste containers.
  • the process of picking up a waste container follows the same sequence except for the final action where instead of 'deployment' the worker chooses 'pick-up' .
  • the said waste container can be marked for example with a 4 digit number, which is enough to mark all containers in a big city.
  • the worker By typing in the container's number in his GPS enabled mobile device's software application, the worker will be presented with a short list of neighboring streets' names to choose from and by typing a house number in its sidewalk hand proximity he will complete the location report and the specific task.
  • the waste collector will arrive at a waste container and he will enter its number. In response he will receive the list of streets in his vicinity. The street or streets that were chosen recently for this container number will appear as first choices. The waste collector will choose the appropriate street and the process will finish. Further according to the said method, the worker will be able to receive the list of the streets in his vicinity with containers that need to be emptied. In that case the waste container belongs directly to a geographical region and the street is a work-reporting attribute of it. However the principle of identification remains the same.

Abstract

L'invention concerne un système et un procédé de gestion des places de stationnement permettant à un automobiliste de s'annoncer et de payer pour des périodes de stationnement, le système reconnaissant automatiquement la zone de stationnement, ce qui permet d'éviter que l'automobiliste ne doive saisir des codes trop longs. Le système permet également d'améliorer et de mesurer en temps réel les performances des inspecteurs de stationnement communiquant avec le système par des dispositifs mobiles sans fil, car il fournit aux inspecteurs un moyen facile pour reconnaître les infractions de stationnement qui leur indique des parcours d'inspection optimaux et leur évite de devoir vérifier la validité du stationnement pour chaque véhicule stationné. Ainsi, seules les places de stationnement qui n'ont pas été payées doivent être vérifiées. Les automobilistes qui ont le droit de se garer gratuitement doivent également annoncer leurs périodes de stationnement, même s'ils ne sont pas facturés. La municipalité possède ainsi des informations complètes et peut de cette manière contrôler totalement et en temps réel l'état des places de stationnement de la ville et les services de stationnement. Ce système et ce procédé de gestion peuvent également comprendre des modules de gestion totale de la ville en temps réel permettant notamment un retour et un suivi en temps réel d'une pluralité d'employés municipaux mobiles et d'installations municipales dont l'emplacement et l'identité sont reconnus et contrôlés par le système de la même manière que les inspecteurs de stationnement et les installations de stationnement sont identifiés.
PCT/IL2005/000279 2004-03-10 2005-03-10 Systeme et procede de gestion des places de stationnement WO2005086097A1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (10)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US55262304P 2004-03-10 2004-03-10
US60/552,623 2004-03-10
US58123804P 2004-06-18 2004-06-18
US60/581,238 2004-06-18
US59963104P 2004-08-09 2004-08-09
US60/599,631 2004-08-09
US60479604P 2004-08-27 2004-08-27
US60/604,796 2004-08-27
US63752504P 2004-12-21 2004-12-21
US60/637,525 2004-12-21

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EP1770647A1 (fr) * 2005-09-28 2007-04-04 Mario Puppo Procédé de gestion et de contrôle de zones de stationnement payantes et système associé
FR2896930A1 (fr) * 2006-01-31 2007-08-03 Nec Technologies Uk Ltd Terminal de telecommunication a tres courte distance
AU2008100796B4 (en) * 2007-08-23 2009-05-21 Sarb Management Group Pty Ltd Vehicle detection
ES2332562A1 (es) * 2008-02-07 2010-02-08 Javier Martinez Obregon Metodo para la gestion de uso de aparcamientos mediante sms de telefonia movil.
ITMI20091424A1 (it) * 2009-08-05 2011-02-06 Graziano Curioni Metodo e sistema per la gestione ed il controllo telematico di pagamenti per il parcheggio in aree di sosta a pagamento
WO2011129682A1 (fr) * 2010-04-12 2011-10-20 Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd Système et procédé de paiement de stationnement pour véhicule
AU2011101179B4 (en) * 2007-08-23 2011-11-17 Sarb Management Group Pty Ltd Vehicle detection
US20120078686A1 (en) * 2010-09-27 2012-03-29 Bashani Gilad G Parking status system
US20120296708A1 (en) * 2011-05-18 2012-11-22 NOW! Innovations System and Method For Managing Payment Based Parking with Near Field Communication
EP2558991A2 (fr) * 2010-04-13 2013-02-20 Carl Muirbrook Systèmes de traitement de paiements
WO2013086140A1 (fr) * 2011-12-06 2013-06-13 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Système de disponibilité de stationnement en temps réel
ITBO20120214A1 (it) * 2012-04-18 2013-10-19 Brav Servizi Srl Dispositivo, sistema e metodo per la gestione e il pagamento automatico e dematerializzato della sosta
WO2015056269A1 (fr) * 2013-10-20 2015-04-23 Anagog Ltd Procédé, système et produit pour paiement automatique du stationnement et détection automatique de la politique de stationnement
US9064358B2 (en) 2008-11-10 2015-06-23 Ofer Lidror Portable electronic parking permit tag and a method for using therof
US9177475B2 (en) 2013-11-04 2015-11-03 Volkswagen Ag Driver behavior based parking availability prediction system and method
EP2761581A4 (fr) * 2011-10-01 2015-11-11 Quickpay Corp Systèmes basés sur la localisation pour exécuter un paiement ou une entrée
BE1021423B1 (nl) * 2013-03-27 2015-11-19 Osmana, Besloten Vennootschap Met Beperkte Aansprakelijkheid Systeem en werkwijze voor het verwerken van een aanmelding voor het gebruik van een parkeerplaats en mobiel toestel
CN103496340B (zh) * 2013-09-23 2015-12-02 电子科技大学 一种基于视频导航技术的可视泊车系统
CN105892422A (zh) * 2016-03-11 2016-08-24 刘小刚 一种城市综合管控系统
WO2017078612A1 (fr) * 2015-11-02 2017-05-11 Sun Singapore Systems Pte. Ltd. Système et procédés apparentés de gestion d'une session de stationnement
CN109830108A (zh) * 2019-02-26 2019-05-31 北京汽车股份有限公司 车辆违规停车的处理方法
WO2020210796A1 (fr) * 2019-04-12 2020-10-15 Nicholas Anderson Système et procédé de ramassage et de débarquement de covoiturage

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Cited By (30)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1770647A1 (fr) * 2005-09-28 2007-04-04 Mario Puppo Procédé de gestion et de contrôle de zones de stationnement payantes et système associé
FR2896930A1 (fr) * 2006-01-31 2007-08-03 Nec Technologies Uk Ltd Terminal de telecommunication a tres courte distance
AU2011101179B4 (en) * 2007-08-23 2011-11-17 Sarb Management Group Pty Ltd Vehicle detection
AU2008100796B4 (en) * 2007-08-23 2009-05-21 Sarb Management Group Pty Ltd Vehicle detection
US8723688B2 (en) 2007-08-23 2014-05-13 Sarb Management Group Pty Ltd Vehicle detection
ES2332562A1 (es) * 2008-02-07 2010-02-08 Javier Martinez Obregon Metodo para la gestion de uso de aparcamientos mediante sms de telefonia movil.
US9064358B2 (en) 2008-11-10 2015-06-23 Ofer Lidror Portable electronic parking permit tag and a method for using therof
ITMI20091424A1 (it) * 2009-08-05 2011-02-06 Graziano Curioni Metodo e sistema per la gestione ed il controllo telematico di pagamenti per il parcheggio in aree di sosta a pagamento
WO2011129682A1 (fr) * 2010-04-12 2011-10-20 Mobile Money International Sdn Bhd Système et procédé de paiement de stationnement pour véhicule
US9286733B2 (en) 2010-04-13 2016-03-15 Locomobi Inc. Location based systems for entry and exit
EP2558991A2 (fr) * 2010-04-13 2013-02-20 Carl Muirbrook Systèmes de traitement de paiements
US9031868B2 (en) 2010-04-13 2015-05-12 Locomobi, Inc. Payment processing methods
EP2558991A4 (fr) * 2010-04-13 2014-05-07 Carl Muirbrook Systèmes de traitement de paiements
US20120078686A1 (en) * 2010-09-27 2012-03-29 Bashani Gilad G Parking status system
US10438421B2 (en) 2010-09-27 2019-10-08 Gilad G. Bashani Parking status system
US20120296708A1 (en) * 2011-05-18 2012-11-22 NOW! Innovations System and Method For Managing Payment Based Parking with Near Field Communication
EP2761581A4 (fr) * 2011-10-01 2015-11-11 Quickpay Corp Systèmes basés sur la localisation pour exécuter un paiement ou une entrée
AU2012316064B2 (en) * 2011-10-01 2016-05-12 Quickpay Corp. Location based systems for payment or entry
WO2013086140A1 (fr) * 2011-12-06 2013-06-13 Massachusetts Institute Of Technology Système de disponibilité de stationnement en temps réel
ITBO20120214A1 (it) * 2012-04-18 2013-10-19 Brav Servizi Srl Dispositivo, sistema e metodo per la gestione e il pagamento automatico e dematerializzato della sosta
BE1021423B1 (nl) * 2013-03-27 2015-11-19 Osmana, Besloten Vennootschap Met Beperkte Aansprakelijkheid Systeem en werkwijze voor het verwerken van een aanmelding voor het gebruik van een parkeerplaats en mobiel toestel
CN103496340B (zh) * 2013-09-23 2015-12-02 电子科技大学 一种基于视频导航技术的可视泊车系统
WO2015056269A1 (fr) * 2013-10-20 2015-04-23 Anagog Ltd Procédé, système et produit pour paiement automatique du stationnement et détection automatique de la politique de stationnement
US11010988B2 (en) 2013-10-20 2021-05-18 Anagog Ltd. Method, system and product for automatic parking payment and policy detection
US9177475B2 (en) 2013-11-04 2015-11-03 Volkswagen Ag Driver behavior based parking availability prediction system and method
WO2017078612A1 (fr) * 2015-11-02 2017-05-11 Sun Singapore Systems Pte. Ltd. Système et procédés apparentés de gestion d'une session de stationnement
CN105892422A (zh) * 2016-03-11 2016-08-24 刘小刚 一种城市综合管控系统
CN109830108A (zh) * 2019-02-26 2019-05-31 北京汽车股份有限公司 车辆违规停车的处理方法
WO2020210796A1 (fr) * 2019-04-12 2020-10-15 Nicholas Anderson Système et procédé de ramassage et de débarquement de covoiturage
US11853942B2 (en) 2019-04-12 2023-12-26 Nicholas Anderson System and method of ridesharing pick-up and drop-off

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