WO2007083987A2

WO2007083987A2 - Parked vehicle locating aid

Info

Publication number: WO2007083987A2
Application number: PCT/MY2007/000002
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jin Hem Thong
Original assignee: Jin Hem Thong
Priority date: 2006-01-20
Filing date: 2007-01-09
Publication date: 2007-07-26
Also published as: WO2007083987A3

Abstract

The invented parked vehicle locating aid(lOO) comprises a carrier(102) with a printable surface printed with indicia and a means for marking the indicia. It is characterized in that the indicia are arranged in a meaningful configuration for indicating a parked vehicle's location when said means for marking is used to mark a combination of the indicia (104) to record a parked vehicle's location designation. The configuration of the indicia used allows any parking location designations in any large parking facilities to be recorded on the parked vehicle locating aid (100) . For example, the configuration of the indicia is composed of sets of numbers and sets of alphabets. The configuration of the indicia allows the parked vehicle locating aid to accommodate for a few parking location designation such as blocks, level , parking lot and even column, zone, unit. The carrier can be made of paper, metal, carbon paper, plastics or any materials with printed friable masks (108) that allows means for marking the indicia by scratching. Preferably, the parked vehicle locating aid is a parking ticket for the parked vehicle.

Description

Parked Vehicle Locating Aid

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus or aids for aiding a person to locate a vehicle parked in a parking lot of parking complexes or buildings, whether indoor or outdoor.

Background of the Invention

Parking a vehicle at a specific location in a parking facility and having difficulty in finding the parked vehicle later is a problem that one may experience at one time or another. It is not unusual that vacant parking spaces located near to a building or place where one is going to are hard to find. As a result a person may parked his or her vehicle faraway from the establishment, building, place or entrances of the building.

When the person is leaving the place or building, he or she would need to make a long way back to the parked vehicle. In this situation, one may tend to remember vaguely the way back to the parked vehicle.

At other times, a person who has not visited that establishment or do not frequently visit that establishment and as a result may be unfamiliar with the surrounding. Similarly, a person who frequently visits & is familiar with the establishment may not being able to recall or remember where his vehicle is parked at that moment of that particular day. In another situation, the inability to recall or unfamiliarity can be compounded by the monotonous appearance of many built parking lots or the largeness of the parking facility. One or more of these situations is all too familiar to many of us, as we have encountered them before. Many building managements are aware of these and attempt to make it easier for people to move about in the building by providing landmarks or designating various parts of the buildings and its parking facilities. However it is still not easy for many to remember where the parked vehicle is located, especially when one do not habitually takes note of new surroundings, much less the various designations provided. Summary of the Invention

A parked vehicle locating aid, comprising a carrier with a printable surface, one or more indicia printed on the printable surface of the carrier; and a means for marking the indicia, characterized in that the indicia are arranged in a meaningful configuration for indicating a parked vehicle's location when said means for marking marks a combination of the indicia to record a parked vehicle's location designation.

Preferably, the configuration of the indicia allows the combination of indicia marked to record any parking location designations in any parking facilities of any sizes and configurations.

Preferably, the configuration of the indicia is composed of more than one complete sets of numbers or the required numbers specific/unique to the establishment's parking facilities.

Preferably, the configuration of the indicia is composed of one or more complete sets of alphabets or the required alphabets specific/unique to the establishment's parking facilities.

Preferably, the configuration of the indicia is composed of a meaningful set of characters, motifs, symbols, signs & others.

Preferably, the configuration of the indicia allows the parked vehicle locating aid to accommodate for a few parking location designation in used.

Preferably, the carrier is carbon paper.

Preferably, the carrier is printed on (friable). Preferably, said means for marking that has been used can be replaced by new said means for marking either for reusing the parked vehicle locating aid for marking a new parked vehicle's location.

Preferably, the carrier is a parking ticket for the parked vehicle or a separate carrier independent of the parking ticket.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Figure 1 shows a standardized parked vehicle locating aid. Figure 2 shows alternative configurations of the indicia on the parked vehicle locating aid

Figure 3 alternatives means for marking the indicia on the parked vehicle locating aid. Figure 4a - 4d illustrates the advertisement layouts in the parked vehicle locating aid.

Detailed Description of the Invention

Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment which summarize all aspects of different embodiments of this invention are provided herein and refers to any figure briefly described before this. It is appreciated that different aspects of the different embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination and understood that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.

The parked vehicle locating aid (100) is a carrier (102) with a printable surface printed with one or more indicia such as illustrated in Figure 1 and 2. The indicia are arranged in a meaningful configuration for indicating a parked vehicle's location when a combination of the indicia (104) to record a parked vehicle's location designation is marked by a means for marking. The indicia can be alphanumeric characters (106), motifs, symbols, signs or colour to indicate the relevant blocks, levels or floors, columns, units or parking lots. Certain parking facilities post colours, motifs, signs and symbols of various unique designs in its various areas to serve as landmarks for persons to locate parked vehicles. The parked vehicle locating aid can be printed with these colours, motifs, signs and symbols as well. The alphanumeric characters used can be in different languages according to need. The indicia included on the parked vehicle locating aid are sufficient so that a person who has parked his vehicle can record the exact location of the parked vehicle. In this way, the person can use the parked vehicle locating aid as a guide or record to aid his or her way back to the parked vehicle some time later. Additionally, the carrier contains indicia for the user to mark time and date for his or her reference.

Depending on preferences, the implementation of the parked vehicle locating aid can be in various manners. The means for marking the indicia are those that are easily implemented by a user. The preferred method is for the indicia area illustrated in Figure 1, 2 and 3 to have thermochromic coating. The resultant termal paper surface can be indented or scored to create a mark. Another user-friendly method is the use of paper material for the indicia area, hi both abovesaid methods, the indentable surface can the whole of the carrier or contained within a portion of the carrier. The user can use his fingernails, car key or any other hard object to mark on the indicia by indenting or scoring.

Additionally, the means for marking as illustrated may be by scratching (202, 204), punching open (206), writing on the indicia (208) so that a combination of indicia is marked on the carrier.

Furthermore, choice of the means for marking the indicia is related to the preferred used of the parked vehicle locating aid such as for a single-use or reusable item and the type of carrier material. The carrier used for parked vehicle locating aid also can be the parking ticket for the vehicle which will also have space (109) for printing entry and exit time and date or parking period. When the parked vehicle locating aid is also the parking ticket, it ensures all drivers who parked the vehicle at a particular parking facility would get hold of the parked vehicle locating^' aid. This prompts the driver to take note of where he or she parked the vehicle and nearby building designations or the parking location designations.

A single-use parked vehicle locating aid can be a single-use parking ticket or single-use item. The carrier of the single-use parked vehicle locating aid can be of economical material such as carbon paper that leaves a mark (202) when its surface is scratched (such as those used for banking slips). Alternative means for marking by scratching is printed friable masks (202) covering the indicia or adjacent to the indicia or designating to the indicia. The friable mask can be easily scratched off using car keys, fingernails or other objects with relatively sharp edge. As illustrated by example in Figure 1, the friable mask (202) reveals the covered indicia when it is scratched off. The means for marking on a paper or card type carrier can also be punching open (206) the indicia, as illustrated in Figure 2 or marking (208) indicia with writing instrument. In the latter, the surface of the carrier where the indicia is printed is also writable as well.

The parked vehicle locating aid also can be implemented as a reusable item such as when the parked vehicle locating aid is implemented on a reusable parking ticket. Friable mask (108) similar to that illustrated earlier and illustrated in Figure 1 can also be applied as the means for marking or indicating the indicia on a reusable parked vehicle locating aid. The printed friable mask (108) is an example of means for marking that can be replacable after previous use of the reusable parked vehicle locating aid. After the previous use, old friable masks are removed and new friable masks can be printed on again for reusing the parked vehicle locating aid for marking new parked- vehicle's location. Another example of a replacable means for marking is stickers (210) that stick on the combination of indicia for recording the parking location. The sticker (210) can transparent in order to reveal the indicia being covered.

The invented parked vehicle locating should also be easily extended for use in apartments, business parks, office blocks, skyscrapers, shopping malls, hypermarkets, hospitals, airport, stadium or other public places that is equipped with large parking complexes that can easily have more than hundreds or thousands parking lots. Therefore, the configuration of the indicia as exemplified in Figure 1 preferably allows a combination of them to be marked for recording any parking location designations in large parking facilities.

As exemplified in Figure 1, the indicia are preferably alphanumeric characters which combination can be used to designate a parking location for a large parking facility. It is noted in particular that three complete rows of numbers (110) from '0' to '9' can accommodate for different parking lots designation such as '120' with each number T, '2' and '0' respectively being marked on corresponding complete row of the numbers. Similarly, a further extension of the example is to include complete set of modern day Roman alphabets (120) that universally recognizable or alphabets of other languages on the parked vehicle locating aid. This extra set of indicia helps in further designation of the parking location such as column 'M45' where character 'M' and numbers '4' and '5' are marked on the parked vehicle locating aid. hi this case, parking lot '120' is located near to column 'M45'. IQ the case of open space parking areas such as those found at stadiums, 'M45' could refer to a specific parking zone.

Further designations are commonly found in large, spread out parking facilities such as those in business parks, skyscrapers, shopping malls, hypermarkets or airports, hi the case of airports, one or more buildings are usually dedicated solely for parking vehicles where 'Block' (e.g. Block '7') can refer to the particular building and 'Level' (e.g. Level '3') will refer to level 3 of block 7. Block designations in addition to level designations can be very helpful too in situations where one has to park their vehicle in a building different from the one where one is going to be in. This situation is quite probable in a government or business park or complexes compose of a few office blocks and one cannot find vacant parking space in parking zones of the building where he intends to be in and has to park in adjacent building. It is also commonly observed that many buildings in big cities need to provide built parking zones within or attached to their building. It is observed that a number of parking lots are designated in a manner which is more or less quite regular. As such, configuration of the indicia on the parked vehicle locating aid can be arranged in order to provide the parked vehicle locating aid in one or more standard templates. These standard parked vehicle locating aid templates, one of which is exemplified in Figure 1 can be easily applied in any one of the parking facilities, especially those of the upcoming new buildings. The- indicia on the standardized parked vehicle locating aid are configured to be used for a few common parking location designations. Furthermore, it is preferable that these standard parked vehicle locating aid templates have the complete sets of numbers or alphabets as explained earlier to ensure that the standardized template can truly be used with various commonly found parking location designations.

In another implementation of the invention, the configuration of the indicia on the parked vehicle locating aid can be customized for existing parking facilities as illustrated in Figure 2. Such customized parked vehicle locating aid can also have the complete sets of numbers or alphabets as mentioned earlier to accommodate for various designations of the parking location.

Furthermore, as shown in Figure 4a to Figure 4d, the carrier preferably also have areas for advertising. Since the user will be viewing the side the indicia is on, it is also preferable to split the indicia information to be contained in both sides of the carrier to increase the area available for advertisements and any additional messages. The indicia can also be split and arranged in various positions so as to enable more than one sponsor message,

While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A parked vehicle locating aid, comprising: a carrier with a printable surface; one or more indicia printed on the printable surface of the carrier; and a means for marking the indicia, characterized in that the indicia are arranged in a meaningful configuration for indicating a parked vehicle's location when said means for marking marks a combination of the indicia to record a parked vehicle's location designation.

2. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the configuration of the indicia allows the combination of indicia marked to record any parking location designations in parking facilities.

3. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the indicia is printed on a thermochromic coated surface, said thermochromic coated surface being a part or whole of the carrier surface and the means for marking is by indenting or scoring the indicia on said thermochromic coated surface.

4. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 3 wherein the means for marking is by indenting the indicia on said thermochromic coated surface.

5. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein the indicia is printed on a paper material, said paper material being a part or whole of the carrier surface and the means for marking is by scoring the indicia on said paper material.

6. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 5 wherein the means for marking is by indenting the indicia on said paper material.

7. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claims 3 to 6 wherein the indention or scoring is made by a fingernail or car key.

8. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claims 1 to 5, wherein the carrier contains additional non-indicia information interspersed in pre-determined areas on the carrier.

9. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 6, wherein both indicia and non- indicia information are interspersed and contained on each side of the carrier.

10. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claims 6 and 7, wherein the non- indicia information is message from one or more sponsor sources.

11. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 2 wherein the configuration of the indicia is composed of more than one complete sets of numbers.

12. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 2 wherein the configuration of the indicia is composed of one or more complete sets of alphabets.

13. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 2 wherein the configuration of the indicia is composed of one or more complete sets of motif, symbol and characters.

14. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claims 1 wherein the configuration of the indicia allows the parked vehicle locating aid to accommodate for a few parking location designation in used.

15. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 1 wherein said carrier is carbon paper.

16. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claims 1 wherein used said means for marking can be replaced by new said means for marking for reusing the parked vehicle locating aid for marking a new parked vehicle's location.

17. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 16 wherein said means for marking is friable masks covering or adjacent to the each of the indicia that is removed for composing the combination of indicia.

18. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claim 16 wherein said means for marking is by punching the indicia on the carrier.

19. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claims 1 to 18 wherein the carrier is a parking ticket for the parked vehicle.

20. The parked vehicle locating aid as claimed in claims 1 to 19 wherein the indicia contains a combination for the user to mark and thereby record one or more time information.