WO2012077086A1

WO2012077086A1 - Method and system for parking spaces reservation

Info

Publication number: WO2012077086A1
Application number: PCT/IB2011/055580
Authority: WO
Inventors: Eliyahu Sharon
Original assignee: Eliyahu Sharon
Priority date: 2010-12-09
Filing date: 2011-12-09
Publication date: 2012-06-14
Also published as: IL216880A0

Abstract

Availability statuses of parking spaces are marked, as vacant or occupied, based on parking space reports received from users. The availability statuses and details of the parking spaces, which reside in various geographical locations, are stored in a parking space storage. A vacant parking space is selected from the parking spaces, based on a required parking location and a reservation timing, indicated in a parking reservation request received from a user, and based on the availability statuses of the parking spaces. The vacant parking space is allocated for the user and location details of the vacant parking space are transmitted to the user.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PARKING SPACES RESERVATION

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to parking spaces reservation and, more particularly, to a system and method for receiving reports on availability of parking spaces located within private or public domains, spread over various geographical locations and then allocating vacant parking spaces in response to parking reservations that specify desired parking locations and timing.

Parking spaces, within private or public domains, are generally not being utilized up to their full 100% capacity. For example, a person that owns a parking space near his residence, uses his parking space after work, on evenings and nights, but the parking space is not being used while the person is staying at the office, during a significant part of the day. This person may also attend, for example, a card game in a community center every Tuesday evening and leaves behind an empty parking space. This person may occasionally take long vacations and leave his parking space empty for couple of weeks. Since this parking space is located in a private zone, no other driver is allowed to use this parking space during the working hours of this person, on Tuesday nights or during the long weeks when this person in away on vacation.

Another example of the inefficient usage of parking spaces - consider a person that is driving towards a crowded location in a downtown. This person is not aware of all the parking spaces that exist and are currently vacant in the streets around his final destination. These vacant parking spaces may reside in a public lot, in the streets or within private backyards of a private people who are not utilizing their parking space at present. This person cannot figure out which of all the vacant parking spaces around are the closest ones to his final destination. ϊ It would be desirable to have a system and method that could direct people to a closest vacant parking space and to allow people that own parking spaces to let their parking to other people, when not in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided a method for reserving parking spaces that includes: (i) marking availability statuses of parking spaces as vacant or occupied, based on parking space reports received from users; wherein the availability statuses and details of the parking spaces are stored in a parking space storage and wherein the parking spaces reside in various geographical locations;

(ii) allocating a vacant parking space, selected from the parking spaces, based on a required parking location and a reservation timing, indicated in a parking reservation request recei ved from a user, and based on the availability statuses of the parking spaces; and (iii) transmitting location details of the vacant parking space to the user.

At least part of the parking spaces may be private parking spaces.

The marking of parking spaces may be according to an availability schedule for at least one parking space, included in a parking space report or according to an indication of an immediate vacancy of at least one parking space, included in a parking space report.

The allocation may be done for a future time included in the reservation timing. Alternatively, the allocation is according to a recurrent schedule included in the reservation timing, of a parking space in the vicinity of the required parking location. Another option is allocating the parking to the present time, if the reservation timing is indicating an immediate reservation.

The allocation may include automatically identifying a current location of the user and the required parking location is then determined from the current location of the user. The allocation of the vacant parking space may be replaced, if a location of the vacant parking space inadequately matches the required parking location, with another vacant parking space that better matches the required parking location.

Users that provide trusty parking spaces reports may be credited for their reports. According to the present invention there is provided a parking spaces reservation system, that includes: (i) a parking space storage for storing details of parking spaces that reside in various geographical locations; (ii) a processor for: marking availability statuses of the parking spaces as vacant or occupied, based on parking space reports received from users; and allocating a vacant parking space, selected from the parking spaces, based on a required parking location and a reservation timing, indicated in a parking reservation request received from a user, and based on the availability of the parking spaces; and (iii) a communication interface for transmitting location details of the vacant parking space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments are herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a parking reservation system, according to embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for reserving parking spaces, according to embodiments of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, and components have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.

The present invention provides a system and method for managing a pool of parking spaces and each of the parking spaces in the pool is marked with its current availability status (either vacant or occupied). People that need a parking, either at the present or in the future can request a parking reservation for a specific location and time. According to the invention, people that own parking spaces can rent their parking to other people, when not in use, through this system.

The parking spaces in the pool may be public parking spaces, i.e. spaces located in public domains or may be private parking spaces owned by people that does not use their private parking spaces all the time and thus wish to offer the parking spaces, when not used by the owners, for parking by others. The pool may be a mixture of private parking spaces and public parking spaces, the latter reside in various parking lots or even in the streets or any other public domain. The parking spaces in the pool may belong to a specific geographical region, a city, multiple cities, the whole country, or spread out over any other geographical domain.

Each parking space within the pool is marked with its current availability status, i.e. either occupied or vacant.

The invention provides a parking reservation system that receives parking requests of people who are seeking for parking spaces and binds the parking requests with parking offers, made by people that own parking spaces and wishes to rent their parking spaces when not being used.

The parking reservation system allows a person to report a parking space as vacant or occupied. The parking space report can be done by using any kind of computerized apparatus having communication capabilities, e.g. a desktop computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a laptop, an immobile phone, a mobile phone/ Smartphone, any other mobile device, and so on. The reported parking spaces and their availability statuses are then registered in the parking reservation system for future processing and allocation. In addition, the parking space report can be done by calling to a parking pool representative and ask him /her to mark his/her parking space as vacant or occupied.

The person that reports a parking space(s) might be: (i) the owner of the parking space(s), in which case the report is considered as having a high credibility and guaranty for vacancy on the time and days that are specified in the report; and (ii) any passerby who has just spotted a vacant parking space in a public parking domain. In the latter case the marking is provided without guaranty.

A person who is seeking for a parking space can reserve a vacant parking space by communicating with the system, by using any kind of computerized apparatus having communication capabilities, e.g. a desktop computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a laptop, an immobile phone, a mobile phone/ Smartphone, any other mobile device, and so on. In addition, the parking space reservation request can be done by calling to a parking pool representative and ask him /her to reserve a parking space.

For using the parking reservation system, a person will be required to: (1) register to the parking reservation system and provide personal information. The type of registration may include, but not limited to: one time usage, specific time range in days/month or monthly recurrent; (2) Provide information regarding his parking preferences. The preferences may include, but not limited to: preferred parking zone and maximum distance (radius) from the preferred zone, final destination, time/date, size of the car, the duration of the parking, etc.; (3) Provide means of payment, which may include, but not limited to: credit card, prepaid card, bank funds transfer, etc.; and (4) reservation timing, which may be one of the following types: a. in advance reservation - when this reservation timing type is selected, the parking reservation system allocates a parking space, in advance, using the parking preferences information (as described above), which is provided by the user. The parking reservation system has the ability to continuously optimizing the location of the parking space, according to the parking preference, up to the time indicated in the reservation. For example, if a user asks for a parking space near a specific address and the parking reservation system could not find a parking space within a fair proximity, at the time that the reservation was made and the allocation was executed, the parking reservation system allocates the best vacant parking space it can find at the reservation time and later on will try to optimize and find a better alternative until the parking time. The parking reservation system may also change the allocated parking space due to internal considerations.

b. real-time/ immediate reservation - allows the user to access the parking reservation system (most likely, by using a mobile device) and reserve a parking space in real-time for an immediate parking. In this case the parking reservation system, may detect the user current location (e.g. using the mobile device's built in GPS, Cellular triangulation, etc.) so as to calculate an optimal real-time proximity that matches the requested parking zone as indicated in the parking preferences.

c. recurrent reservation - same as "in advance" reservation, but in addition, allows the user to define the reservation as a periodic parking reservation and therefore allows the user to find a parking space according to the recurrence definition: time/day, weekly, day(s) in month etc.

Paying for the parking space starts at the requested date/time, if reserved in advance, or few minutes after a real time reservation is accepted.

When the user arrives to the reserved parking space, he may find the parking space in one of the following states: 1. Vacant - in this case the user can just park. No further report is required, as the system already marked the parking space as occupied.

2. Occupied by another car - in this case the user reports that the space is occupied by another and asks the parking reservation system to immediately reserve (i.e. perform a real-time/ immediate reservation) a new vacant space with the same preferences. In this case the user will not pay again for the additional parking space reservation. If the parking reservation system detects that the unexpectedly occupied space is located in a private domain, it will also ask the user for the car number which is currently parking in the reserved parking space, if the car number does not belong to the owner of the parking space, the parking reservation system might use punitive actions, such as towing the invader.

3. Vacant but close, e.g. by an automatic gate block - the automatic gate block is a means of disabling entrance to a parking space and may be remotely controlled for opening (and optionally for closing) the entrance to the parking space. In case the entrance to the parking space is blocked, the parking reservation system will enable the user to report that he is waiting for the gate block to be opened. Upon receiving the user request for opening, the system will signal a gate block controller that is coupled to the gate block. As the parking reservation system opens the gate block, it may assume that the parking space is not vacant anymore and therefore will mark it as occupied.

4. Occupied by another car and closed by an automatic gate block (in this case the parking is probably being occupied by the owner of the parking space) ~ the user reports the space as occupied, optionally provides the parking car number and. asks the parking reservation system to immediately reserve a new vacant space with the same preferences.

5. The parking space does not meet the requested preferences, e.g. too far from the destination, too small for the size of the car, etc. - the user reports the inadequateness to the parking reservation system and requests a reservati on of a more adequate parking space. In order to ensure the integrity of vacancy reports and reduce the^'false-positive reports of vacant parking spaces, the parking reservation system might use the following approach:

i. Encouraging users to report on a vacant or occupied space by giving some credit points for a true report. The sum of these credit points will grant the user with a parking space free of charge, from time to time.

ii. Disqualifying users that abuse the system (e.g. false vacancy reports, use the space beyond the specified hours limit, etc.). The disqualifying may be by blocking the user or ignoring his reports. The parking reservation system gathers statistics on every user and implements a special algorithm for detecting fraud and abuse.

Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a parking reservation system 100. Users 161- 164 of parking reservation system 100 can be either parking space reporters or parking reservation requesters. Preferably, each user can act sometimes as a parking space reporter while in other times as a parking reservation requester. Parking space reporters may be parking spaces owners or passerby. Parking reservation system 100 communicates with users 161-164 via various communication channels, e.g.: cellular network, PSTN (public switch telephone network), Internet, etc, via multiple communication interfaces 120, such as: wireless communication interface, PSTN communication interface and Internet communication interface. The PSTN communication interface is for users (e.g. user 161 that utilizes a regular phone) that wish to report their own parking space's availability and for users that wish to reserve a parking space for a future use. Parking reservation system 100 may further include an Internet communication interface for users (e.g. users 162, 163 that utilize computers 172, 173) that wish to report their own parking space's availability and for users that wishes to reserve a parking space for a future use. Most probably, parking reservation system 100 includes a wireless communication interface for users that utilize their cellular phone (e.g. user 164 that utilizes cellular phone 174) for any kind of reporting or parking reservation, but the most popular usage of the cellular phone is for reporting a vacant parking space by a passerby and for immediate reservation of a parking space, in the vicinity of a current location of the requester. Users that use a regular phone for accessing system 100 will be served by an automated, answering service that guides the user to report by using DTMF (Dual-tone multi -frequency) signaling or by using speech recognition. Users that use a cellular phone/device for accessing system 100 can access through the automated answering service or through the internet interface .

Communication interfaces 120 are also utilized for sending parking space allocation information to parking reservation requesters, in response to a parking space reservation. The allocation information includes the address and description of the allocated parking space and may also include other details that confirm the reservation, such as the time range allocated for the reservation. The allocation information may be transmitted to the user device that issued the request, but may optionally or additionally transmit the allocation information to the cellular phone of the requester.

The wireless communication interface further communicates with multiple remote gate block controllers 181-183. Gate block controllers 181-183 are controllers that are coupled to gate blocks of parking spaces and are configured for opening the parking gate upon a request from the parking reservation requester, when approaching the parking space that he reserved. An owner of a parking space, whose parking space is protected with an automatic gate block, who wishes to offer and report availability of his private parking space, is required to install a gate block controller in order to allow access to users who reserve his parking space, when marked as vacant. When the owner registers his parking space in parking reservation system 100, he also provides an access code (e.g. a cellular number) that enables opening of the gate. The ceJiular number used by system 100 for accessing gate block controllers, should be provided to the gate block controller for authentication purposes (e.g. to be registered in a white list of allowed phone numbers that can open the gate).

A users storage 150 stores registration details of users, for example: personal details of a user, car number, cellular number that is used for reporting and for reservations, parking preferences and payment details. Each of the users in the system may also be an owner of a parking space that is registered in a parking spaces storage 160.

Parking spaces storage 160 stores for each parking space registered in system 100: . the parking space location, the owner (user identification) if exists, gate block access number (optional, for opening the gate if protected by a gate block), current availability of the parking space and a scheduled availability of the parking space. The scheduled availability is affected by parking spaces' owners that report future or recurrent availability of their parking spaces (either when the parking space is available or when it is occupied). The scheduled availability is further affected by parking space requesters that place future or recurrent reservations.

Storages 150 and 160 may reside in a separate server(s).

Processor 110 is configured to: (i) receive registration requests from users, to admit their details to users storage 150 and to admit their parking space details (for owners) to parking spaces storage 160; (ii) handle parking space reports and parking reservation requests through various communication interfaces 120; (iii) allocate parking spaces according to their availability and according to parking preferences indicated by the requesters; and (iv) credit users for trustable reports.

System 100 may be coupled to a call center or to at least one representative, such as representatives 191 and 192, that are capable of receiving phone calls from users that wishes to reserve parking spaces or to report availability of parking spaces and are also capable of inputting the requests/ reports to system 100.

Fig. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method 200 for reserving parking spaces. The method includes a step 210 for receiving, from users, parking space reports, that include parking spaces' identifiers and corresponding availability indications; and marking availability statuses of the parking space, as vacant or occupied, based on the availability indications.

The received parking space reports may further include an availability schedule for the reported parking space(s). The availability schedule is typically included when the reporter is the owner of the parking space. The availability schedule includes dates and hours in which the parking space is vacant (or occupied).

The parking space identifiers may include an address of the parking space.

Alternatively, the address of the parking space may be provided by the owner in a parking registration step (not illustrated) that precedes step 210. The parking registration step may provide a parking space unique code, in response to the registration of the parking space. The parking space unique code can be used as a parking space identifier in step 210.

If the parking space report is provided by a passerby that spots a vacant parking space, then the timing of the vacancy is an immediate vacancy and system 100 marks the parking space as vacant, immediately. The authenticity of a report made by a passerby may be restricted, by assigning an expiration period to such a report. After the expiration period, the availability of the parking space may be set to 'unknown' or even 'occupied' (so as to avoid allocation of such a parking space). Additionally, the low credibility of such a report can be considered, by applying a low priority to an allocation of a parking space that was indicated as vacant by a passerby.

Step 210 is a background continuous step that is performed in parallel to other steps of method 200. Method 200 further includes a step 220 for receiving a parking reservation request from a user. The parking reservation request includes a reservation timing, for example: in- advance reservation that includes a future specific time and date, immediate reservation (the time for parking is the current time) and recurrent reservation that includes recurring time and day (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.).

The parking reservation request may also include a desired parking location and a tolerated distance from the desired location. The desired parking location may be a specific address, a street name, . a point of interest, a junction, a. neighborhood name, . or any other geographically indication. Alternatively, the desired parking location may be concluded from the current location of the requester, especially when the reservation timing is defined as immediate reservation.

The parking reservation request may further include requester details for billing purposes. The requester details may include Ml details in case of a first time request from that user. The full details may include: billing details, personal details, car number, cellular phone number that will be used for future reservations, etc. The full details may also be provided upon a user registration step (not illustrated) that precedes step 220. Alternatively, the requester details, in case of a non-first request of this requester, may merely include a user identification number, e.g. a car number, that identifies the already registered user within the system. Alternatively, if the requester is using a cellular phone which number was previously registered in the system, then the system may recognize the requester according to the dialing number.

Step 220 is followed by a step 230 of allocating a vacant parking space, selected from the parking spaces, based on the required parking location and the reservation timing and based on the availability statuses of the parking spaces.

Step 230 also includes transmitting location details of the vacant parking space to the parking reservation requester. The location details include an address and/or a description of the location. Other details may also be transmitted, such as the time range allocated for the parking. Step 230 further includes marking the availability status of the parking space as Occupied'.

Optionally, step 230 includes a step 232 of detecting a current location of the requester and allocating the vacant parking space in a vicinity of the current location of the requester. This is applicable, especially when the reservation timing is an immediate timing.

Step. 23.0. may . include a step 233 of performing a recurrent allocation of the vacant parking space if the timing preference indicates a recurrent reservation.

Step 230 may be followed by a step 240 of replacing the allocation of the vacant parking space, with another vacant parking space whose location matches the required parking location. Step 240 may be executed in case that the allocation that was made during the reservation is of an inadequately matched parking location. The location of the new allocated parking space is typically within a shorter distance from the required parking location, when compared to the location of the originally assigned parking space. Step 240 may be executed periodically or when a new parking space report is received (with a vacant indication), after the reservation is made, and before the time of the parking is reached. Step 240 may also be executed upon a second request from the requester that realizes that the allocated parking space is not satisfying.

Step 230 or step 240 may be followed by a step 250 of re-aliocating a second parking space with the same preferences as the preferences of the parking reservation request, in case that the vacant parking space that was allocated, is unexpectedly occupied by another car.

Each of steps 230-250 may be followed by a step 260 of remotely opening an automatic gate block of the vacant parking space, if the requester reports that the vacant parking space is blocked.

Method 200 may include a step 270 of crediting a user. The crediting may be for a user that provides trusty reports. The crediting may also be for a user that let his own parking space, upon each time his parking space serves another user. The crediting may include accumulating scores for the user and upon the score reaches a predefined, limit, entitling the user for a free of charge parking.

Method 200 may include a stage 280 of disqualifying users that abuse the system. Abusing the. system may include overtime parking, false reports, etc. The disqualifying may include: blocking the user from using the system, ignore parking space reports from the user, etc.

While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, it will be appreciated that many variations, modifications and other applications of the invention may be made. Therefore, the claimed invention as recited in the claims that follow is not limited to the embodiments described herein.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS

1. A method for reserving parking spaces, comprising:

m arking availability statuses of parking spaces, as vacant or occupied, based on parking space reports received from users; wherein the availability statuses and details of the parking spaces are stored in a parking space storage and wherein the parking spaces reside in various geographical locations;

allocating a vacant parking space, selected from the parking spaces, based on a required parking location and a reservation timing, indicated in a parking reservation request, received from a user, and based on the availability statuses of the parking spaces; and

transmitting location details of the vacant parking space to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least part of the parking spaces are private parking spaces.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the marking is according to an availability schedule of at least one parking space, included in a parking space report.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the marking is according to an indication of an immediate vacancy of at least one parking space, included in a parking space report.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocating is for a future time included in the reservation timing.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocating is according to a recurrent schedule included in the reservation timing, of a parking space in the vicinity of the required parking location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the allocating is to the present time, if the reservation timing is indicating an immediate reservation.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocating includes automatically identifying a current location of the user and wherein the required parking location is determined from the current location of the user.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising replacing the allocation of the vacant parking space, if a location of the vacant parking space inadequately matches the required parking location, with another vacant parking space that better matches the required parking location.

10. The method of claim I further comprising remotely opening an automatic gate block of the vacant parking space, if the user reports that the vacant parking space is blocked.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising crediting users that provide trusty parking spaces reports.

12. A parking spaces reservation system, comprising: a parking space storage for storing details of parking spaces that reside in various geographical locations; a processor for: marking availability statuses of the parking spaces, as vacant or occupied, based on parking space reports received from users; and allocating a vacant parking space, selected from the parking spaces, based on a required parking location and a reservation timing., indicated in a parking reservation request received from a user, and based on the availability of the parking spaces; and a communication interface for transmitting location details of the vacant parking space.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein at least part of the parking spaces are private parking spaces.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to mark based on an availability schedule for at least one parking space, included in a parking space report.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to mark according to an indication of an immediate vacancy of at least one parking space, included in a parking space report.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to allocate the vacant parking space for a future time included in the reservation timing.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to allocate according to a recurrent schedule included in the reservation timing, of a parking space in the vicinity of the required parking location.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to allocate the vacant parking space to the present time, if the reservation timing indicates an immediate reservation.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to: automatically identify a current location of the user; and to detennine the required parking location based on the current location of the

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to replace the allocation of the vacant parking space, if the location of the vacant parking space poorly matches the required parking location, with another vacant parking space that better matches the required parking location.

21. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured to credit users that provide trusty parking spaces reports.

22. The system of claim 12 wherein the processor is configured, to remotely opening, via the communication interface, an automatic gate block of the vacant parking space, if the user reports that the vacant parking space is blocked