WO2007058455A1

WO2007058455A1 - Parking guide system

Info

Publication number: WO2007058455A1
Application number: PCT/KR2006/004780
Authority: WO
Inventors: Seung Won Lee
Original assignee: Seung Won Lee
Priority date: 2005-11-15
Filing date: 2006-11-14
Publication date: 2007-05-24
Also published as: KR200407412Y1

Abstract

Disclosed is a parking guide system adapted to indicate whether a vehicle is allowed to enter a parking place or a parking zone through one or more parking guide modules, which are installed at an inlet and an outlet of a parking place and at inlets and outlets of respective parking zones within the parking place, and to guide a vehicle to a parking zone with one or more empty parking spaces through one or more bidirectional parking guide indication lamps. This is achieved by a parking guide system comprising: a plurality of parking guide modules which are installed at an inlet and an outlet of a parking place and at an inlet and an outlet of each parking zone within the parking place, each of the parking guide modules comprising a pair of supersonic sensors, a bidirectional parking guide indication lamp, and a local area wireless transmission module having a central processing unit, wherein the central processing unit determines whether there is an entering or leaving vehicle depending on a result sensed by the supersonic sensors so as to count the number of vehicles parked in the parking place or a corresponding parking zone, compares a count value with the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked in the parking place or in the corresponding parking zone, and controls the parking guide indication lamp in such a manner that the parking guide indication lamp indicates whether a vehicle is allowed to enter the parking place or the corresponding parking zone.

Description

PARKING GUIDE SYSTEM

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a parking guide system, and in particular, to a parking guide system adapted to guide a vehicle to a parking zone with an empty parking space through bidirectional parking guide indication lamps, which are simply installed at an inlet and an outlet of a parking place, and an inlet and an outlet of each parking zone so as to indicate whether a vehicle is allowed to enter the parking place or a corresponding parking zone or not.

Background Art

[2] As well-known, a conventional large parking place causes many problems including waste of oil and time, environmental pollution in the parking place, etc. because it is necessary for a driver to recklessly wander in the parking place so as to find an empty parking space.

[3] Recently, there has been applied a parking guide system in a parking place, in which a parking guide indication lamp is installed at an inlet of a parking zone and a parking condition indication lamp is turned on at each parking space in the parking zone, so as to inform a driver of the current condition of parking spaces so that the driver can easily park his or her vehicle.

[4] Fig. 1 is a schematic view showing a construction of a conventional parking guide system.

[5] As shown, such a conventional parking guide system includes supersonic sensors 1, parking condition indication lamps 3 for indicating whether a parked vehicle exists or not depending on a signal sensed by the supersonic sensors 1, and signal transmission devices 2 for transmitting the signals received from the supersonic sensors 1 to a central computer (not shown), each parking space being provided with a supersonic sensor 1, a parking condition indication lamp 3, and a signal transmission device 2, wherein the central computer (not shown) determines whether one or more empty parking spaces in each parking zone exist or not according to the signals transmitted from the supersonic sensors 1 and controls the parking condition indication lamps 3 and unidirectional parking guide indication lamps 4 installed at the inlet of the parking place and the inlet of each parking zone.

[6] Such a conventional parking guide system is operated in such a manner that each of the supersonic sensors 1 senses whether a vehicle is parked at a corresponding parking space, and if a supersonic sensor 1 transmits a sensing signal to the central computer through a corresponding transmission device 2, the central computer analyzes and determines whether an empty parking space exists within any of parking zones in the parking place.

[7] In addition, depending on the determined result, the central computer controls the operation of the unidirectional parking guide indication lamps 4 installed at the inlet of the parking place and at the inlets of the respective parking zones and the parking condition indication lamps 3 installed at the respective parking spaces, so that a vehicle is guided to an empty parking space.

[8] However, such a conventional parking guide system should be provided with a supersonic sensor 1 and a transmission device 2 at each parking space for transmitting a signal produced when the supersonic sensor 1 senses a vehicle to a central computer In addition, it is necessary to establish a central computer for the parking guide system. Accordingly, the facility costs are increased.

[9] In addition, the costs for repairing and maintaining the respective supersonic sensors 1 and transmission devices 2 are also high.

[10] Furthermore, LED lamps (or LED sign boards), which can be identified only in a proceed direction of a vehicle, are employed as the unidirectional parking guide indication lamps 4 for guiding a vehicle to an empty parking space. Therefore, the parking guide system only allows a unidirectional passage of a vehicle. As a result, there is a problem in that a conventional parking place employing a bidirectional passage allowance system should be subjected to an engineering change. Brief Description of the Drawings

[11] Fig. 1 shows a construction of a parking guide system according to the prior art,

[12] Fig. 2 shows an entire construction of a parking guide system established in a parking place according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,

[13] Fig. 3 is a conceptional view of an embodiment showing how to detect the entering or leaving of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention,

[14] Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a bidirectional parking guide indication lamp applied to the inventive parking guide system, and

[15] Fig. 5 is a flowchart of an embodiment for describing the action of the inventive parking guide system.

[16]

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[17] Now, preferred embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to accompanying drawings.

[18] Fig. 2 shows an entire construction of a parking guide system established in a parking place according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3 is a conceptional view showing how to detect the entering and leaving of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a bidirectional parking guide indication lamp applied to the inventive parking guide system. Fig. 6 is a flowchart for describing the action of the inventive parking guide system.

[19] As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, a plurality of parking guide modules are installed at an inlet and an outlet of a parking place and at an inlet and an outlet of each parking zone in the parking place, each of the parking guide modules including a pair of supersonic sensors 100a and 100b, and a local area wireless transmission unit lOOd having a central processing unit 10Oe, wherein the central unit lOOe determines whether there is an entering or leaving vehicle according to a result sensed by the supersonic sensors 100a and 100b, thereby counting the number of vehicle parked in the parking place or a corresponding parking zone, compares a count value as to the number of vehicles parked in the parking place or the corresponding parking zone with the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked in the parking place or the corresponding parking zone, and controls a bidirectional parking guide indication lamp 120 to indicate whether an entering of a vehicle is allowed or not.

[20] In the present embodiment, there are provided six parking guide modules 100, 102,

104, 106, 108 and 110.

[21] Now, an "A" parking zone and a "B" parking zone are described separately.

[22] The local area wireless transmission module lOOd is preferably comprised of

ZigBee, so that it can perform data reception and transmission with another local area wireless transmission module provided in the same parking zone.

[23] In addition, the central processing unit lOOe controls the bidirectional parking guide indication lamp 120 to indicate whether an entering of a vehicle is allowed or not according to a signal received from the supersonic sensors 100a and 100b.

[24] In addition, when the pair of supersonic sensors 100a and 100b are viewed in the vehicle proceed direction, if a first supersonic sensor 100a is operated and then a second supersonic sensor 100b is operated, whereby the supersonic sensors 100a and 100b are both operated, it is determined to be a vehicle entering condition. On the contrary, if the second supersonic sensor 100b is operated and then the first supersonic sensor 100a is operated, whereby the supersonic sensors 100b and 100a are both operated, it is determined to be a vehicle outgoing condition.

[25] Fig. 4 shows a bidirectional parking guide indication lamp.

[26] As shown in the drawing, the bidirectional parking guide indication lamp 120 includes a main body 122 formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a predetermined size from a milk-white opaque acryl material and having a plurality of through-holes 124 formed through the top and bottom sides of the main body 122, one or more red LEDs 128 and one or more green LEDs 130 arranged on PCB circuit boards 126 and fixedly fitted through the through-holes 124, respectively, and an external bracket 140 (iron box) with direction indication arrows 150 formed on opposite sides of the external bracket for indicating a proceed direction for a vehicle, wherein the main body 122 is received and fixed in the external bracket 140, so that depending on the lighting of the red LEDs 128 and the green LEDs 130, the direction indication arrows 150 indicate whether a vehicle is allowed to enter or not.

[27] It is preferable that the red LEDs 128 and the green LEDs 130 on the PCB circuit boards 126 are positioned to be opposed to one another and in each of the PCB circuit boards 126, the LEDs 128 or 130 are arranged to be spaced from each other so that the lights emitted from them are properly diffused.

[28] In addition, each of the PCB circuit boards 126 has a power supply terminal so as to receive externally supplied power.

[29] Now, the functional action of the inventive parking guide system is described in detail with reference to Fig. 5.

[30] As shown in Fig. 2, the inlet and outlet of the entire parking place and the inlets and outlets of respective parking zones are provided with first to sixth parking guide modules 100, 102, 104, 106, 108 and 110, each of which includes two supersonic sensors 100a and 100b, a local wireless transmission module 10Od, and a bidirectional parking guide indication lamp 120.

[31] In the present embodiment, each parking zone has seven parking spaces.

[32] At first, when no vehicle is parked in the entire parking place, the first parking guide module 100 determines that it is currently possible to park a vehicle in the "A" parking zone. Therefore, the first parking guide module 100 turns on the green LEDs 130 of the parking guide indication lamp 120, so that a vehicle can enter the "A" parking zone.

[33] Therefore, a vehicle can enter the parking place from the "Ga" direction (inlet side).

At this time, if a vehicle enters the parking place, the first supersonic sensor 100a of the first parking guide module 100a is operated and then the second supersonic sensor 100b is operated 100b. As such, if the first and second supersonic sensors 100a and 100b are both operated, the central processing unit 1003 of the first parking guide module 100 recognizes it as a vehicle entering condition and increases a count value by "1." This means that the number of vehicle capable of being parked in the "A" parking zone is reduced from fourteen to thirteen.

[34] Then, the vehicle can enter the "A" parking zone along the direction indicated by the parking guide indication lamp of the second parking guide module 102 via the first parking guide module 100, so as to be parked in an empty parking space.

[35] At this time, the second parking guide module 102 also renders its own central processing unit to sense an entering vehicle and to increase the count value by "1." At the same time, the second parking module 100 transmits the value "1" increasing the count value to the fifth parking guide module 108 installed in the same parking zone so as to update the data related to the number of vehicles capable of being parked in the corresponding parking zone.

[36] If vehicles are parked in the "A" zone without a remaining parking space, the second parking guide module 102 compares the current count value with the data previously stored in relation to the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked. According to the comparison result, if it is determined that the count value is not less than the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked, the red LEDs 128 of the parking guide indication lamp 120 are turned on, thereby indicating that it is in a condition in which no entering of a vehicle is allowed. At this time, the fifth parking guide module 108 is also in the same condition.

[37] In that event, because it is not possible for a vehicle to enter the "A" zone, the vehicle is guided to go straight and enter the "B" parking zone. At this time, if the third parking module 104 recognizes the "B" zone as being in the condition in which an entering of a vehicle is allowed, the parking guide indication lamp of the third parking guide module 104 indicates that the "B" parking zone has one or more available parking spaces.

[38] Therefore, the vehicle will enter the "B" zone via the third parking guide module

104. In this case, the entering of the vehicle is also sensed according to the sensing of the supersonic sensors of the third parking module 104, and the central processing unit of the third parking guide module 104 increases the count value by "1." The value "1" increasing the count value is also wirelessly transmitted to the fourth parking guide module 106, thereby increasing the count value of the fourth parking guide module 106.

[39] That is, a pair of parking guide modules installed within the same parking zone interchange and equally process data as to the count value updated according to the entering or leaving of one or more vehicles.

[40] Here, the vehicle may enter the parking place either from the "Ga" direction where the first parking guide module 100 is installed or from the "Na" direction where the six parking guide module 110 is installed. Therefore, if the fifth parking guide module 108 has firstly counted a vehicle, the counted value is transmitted again to the second parking guide module 102 and processed by the second parking guide module 102.

[41] Now, description is made in terms of a case in which a vehicle exits.

[42] If a vehicle parked in a certain parking space in the "B" parking zone passes through the fourth module 106 so as to exit to the "Na" direction, the second supersonic sensor of the fourth parking guide module 106 is firstly operated and then the second supersonic sensor is operated, whereby the first and second supersonic sensors are both operated. As a result, the corresponding central processing unit considers it as a vehicle outgoing condition.

[43] Then, the central processing unit subtracts "1" from the currently stored count value. At the same time, the central processing unit transmits the value "1" reducing the count value to the third parking guide module 106, so that the third parking module 106 reduces its count value by "1."

[44] Therefore, it is considered that one vehicle has exited from the "B" parking zone, and one empty parking space is increased in the "B" parking zone.

[45] Now, how the count value is updated depending on the entering or leaving of a vehicle is described again with reference to Fig. 3, which is a conceptional view showing how to detect the entering and leaving of a vehicle according to the present invention.

[46] Referring to Fig. 3, if a vehicle moves from the left side to the right side (in the vehicle driving direction) and enters the parking place, the first supersonic sensor 100a is firstly operated and then the second supersonic sensor 100b is operated, whereby both the first and second supersonic sensors 100a and 100b are operated. Therefore, the central processing unit lOOe considers that a vehicle has been entered and increases the count value by "1." At the same time, the central processing unit lOOe transmits the value "1" increasing the count value to a corresponding parking guide module through local area wireless transmission. At this time, the central processing unit lOOe compares the count value with the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked and controls the parking guide indication lamp 120 to notify whether an entering of vehicle is allowed or not.

[47] To the contrary, if a vehicle moves from the right side to the left side and exits the parking place, the second supersonic sensor 100b is firstly operated and then the first supersonic sensor 100a is operated, whereby both the supersonic sensors 100b and 100a are operated. As a result, the central processing unit considers that a vehicle has exited and reduces the count value by "1." At the same time, the central processing unit lOOe transmits the value "1" reducing the count value to a corresponding parking guide module through local area wireless transmission. Likewise, the central processing unit lOOe compares the count value with the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked and controls the parking guide indication lamp 120 to notify whether an entering of a vehicle is allowed or not.

[48] Here, if any one of the two supersonic sensors 100a and 100b is only operated or if the first supersonic sensor 100a and the second sensor 100b are operated again after the first supersonic sensor 100a and the second supersonic sensor 100b have been operated, it is considered that the supersonic sensors have malfunctioned, whereby the detection result is disregarded. [49] As being configured to be bidirectionally viewable, the parking guide indication lamp 120 applied to the present invention is advantageous in that it is easy to identify whether it is possible for a vehicle to enter a parking place or a parking zone from the both sides of a parking module.

[50] According to the control operation of a corresponding central processing unit, each parking guide indication lamp 120 turns on green LEDs 130 when it is possible for a vehicle to enter a corresponding parking zone, and turns on red LEDs 129 when it is not possible for a vehicle to enter the corresponding parking zone because no available parking spaces remain in the parking zone Mode for the Invention

[51] The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a parking guide system which counts the number of entering/leaving vehicles for each parking zone, compares the number of vehicles parked in each parking zone with the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked in the parking zone, and guide a vehicle to a parking zone with one or more empty parking space according to the result of comparison, to the exclusion of a conventional complicated parking guide system controlled by a central computer and requiring that each parking space be provided with a supersonic sensor and a transmission device connected to the supersonic sensor through a wired or wireless connection.

[52] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, there is provided a parking guide system for guiding a vehicle to be parked in a parking place comprising: a plurality of parking guide modules which are installed at an inlet and an outlet of a parking place and at an inlet and an outlet of each parking zone within the parking place, each of the parking guide modules comprising a pair of supersonic sensors, a bidirectional parking guide indication lamp, and a local area wireless transmission module having a central processing unit, wherein the central processing unit determines whether there is an entering or leaving vehicle depending on a result sensed by the supersonic sensors so as to count the number of vehicles parked in the parking place or a corresponding parking zone, compares a count value as to the number of vehicles parked in the parking place or the corresponding parking zone with the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked in the parking place or in the corresponding parking zone, and controls the parking guide indication lamp in such a manner that the parking guide indication lamp indicates whether a vehicle is allowed to enter the parking place or the corresponding parking zone.

[53] Preferably, the local area wireless transmission module consists of a ZigBee.

[54] Preferably, the parking guide indication lamp comprises a main body formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a predetermined size from a milk-white opaque acryl material and having a plurality of through-holes formed through the top and bottom sides of the main body, one or more red LEDs and one or more green LEDs arranged on PCB circuit boards and fixedly fitted in through-holes formed through the top and bottom sides of the main body, respectively, and an external bracket with direction indication arrows formed on opposite sides of the external bracket for indicating a proceed direction for a vehicle, wherein the main body is received and fixed in the external bracket, so that the direction indication arrows indicate whether a vehicle is allowed to enter or not by turning on the red LEDs or the green LEDs. Industrial Applicability

[55] Unlike a conventional parking guide system constructed in such a manner that each parking space of a parking place is provided with a supersonic sensor and a transmission device for transmitting a signal sensed by the supersonic sensor to a central computer, the inventive parking guide system is constructed in such a manner that an inlet and an outlet of a parking place and an inlet and an outlet of each parking zone within the parking place are independently provided with a pair of supersonic sensors for detecting the entering and leaving of a vehicle, a local area wireless transmission device for transmitting a counted value for the number of parked vehicles sensed by the supersonic sensors, and a bidirectional indication lamp for guiding the entering of a vehicle depending on whether vehicles are parked or not. As a result, the cost for establishing the inventive parking guide system can be reduced as compared to that required for establishing a conventional one.

[56] As described above, unlike a conventional parking guide system constructed in such a manner that each parking space of a parking place is provided with a supersonic sensor and a transmission device for transmitting a signal sensed by the supersonic sensor to a central computer, the inventive parking guide system is constructed in such a manner that an inlet and an outlet of a parking place and an inlet and an outlet of each parking zone within the parking place are independently provided with a pair of supersonic sensors for detecting the entering and leaving of a vehicle, a local area wireless transmission device for transmitting a counted value for the number of parked vehicles sensed by the supersonic sensors, and a bidirectional indication lamp for guiding the entering of a vehicle depending on whether vehicles are parked or not. As a result, the cost for establishing the inventive parking guide system can be reduced as compared to that required for establishing a conventional one.

[57] The inventive parking guide system can be employed so as to guide parking without changing a conventional unidirectional parking guide method. Therefore, the inventive parking guide system can update the parking systems of large-scaled parking places at minimal or reduced cost.

[58] Furthermore, the inventive parking guide indication lamps for guiding a vehicle makes it possible to bidirectionally confirm a vehicle entering direction. Therefore, a parking guide system can be more easily designed when it is constructed.

[59] The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned specific embodiments, and those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

[1] A parking guide system for guiding a vehicle to be parked in a parking place comprising: a plurality of parking guide modules which are installed at an inlet and an outlet of a parking place and at an inlet and an outlet of each parking zone within the parking place, each of the parking guide modules comprising a pair of supersonic sensors, a bidirectional parking guide indication lamp, and a local area wireless transmission module having a central processing unit, wherein the central processing unit determines whether there is an entering or leaving vehicle depending on a result sensed by the supersonic sensors so as to count the number of vehicles parked in the parking place or a corresponding parking zone, compares a count value as to the number of vehicles parked in the parking place or the corresponding parking zone with the maximum number of vehicles capable of being parked in the parking place or in the corresponding parking zone, and controls the parking guide indication lamp in such a manner that the parking guide indication lamp indicates whether a vehicle is allowed to enter the parking place or the corresponding parking zone.

[2] A parking guide system as claimed in claim 1, wherein a pair of parking modules positioned at the same parking zone are configured and installed in such a way that the parking modules interchange their data as to the count value with each other by the local area wireless transmission modules thereof.

[3] A parking guide system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the local area wireless transmission module is a ZigBee.

[4] A parking guide system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the parking guide indication lamp comprises a main body formed in a rectangular parallelepiped shape with a predetermined size from a milk-white opaque acryl material and having a plurality of through-holes formed through the top and bottom sides of the main body, one or more red LEDs and one or more green LEDs arranged on PCB circuit boards and fixedly fitted in through-holes formed through the top and bottom sides of the main body, respectively, and an external bracket with direction indication arrows formed on opposite sides of the external bracket for indicating a proceed direction for a vehicle, wherein the main body is received and fixed in the external bracket, so that the direction indication arrows indicate whether a vehicle is allowed to enter or not by turning on the green LEDs or the red LEDs.