10090 results about "Parking lot" patented technology

Method and apparatus for analyzing a status of an object in a predetermined area of a parking lot facility having a plurality of parking spaces. A distinctive marking is projected into at least one predetermined area. An image of the predetermined area, that may include one or more objects, is captured. A three-dimensional model is produced from the captured image. A test is then performed on the produced model to determine an occupancy status of at least one parking space in the predetermined area. An indicating device provides information regarding the determined occupancy status.

When information regarding position of a facility, such as a parking lot, is requested from a terminal (22), an information center (10) supplies position information to the terminal (22) as a relative position using a landmark, such as a neighboring road. The terminal (22) computes a shift from a position of a landmark in a local map database (24) and a position of a received landmark in a map matching processor (34), and corrects the facility position. If the landmark has not been stored in the map database (24) at the terminal (22), relative data based on another road is resent.

An optical transmission tube for illumination is uniquely incorporated into any one of a variety of automotive, commercial, retail, structural, architectural, safety, or other products including running boards, vehicle interior compartments such as a glove box, approximate the license plate attachment area on a vehicle, a trunk, a vehicle hood, on a vehicle door, a vehicle bumper, a vehicle luggage rack, a picture frame, a flashlight, a building, a guard rail, a construction barrier, a bicycle, a sign, an appliance interior compartment such as a refrigerator, a part bin, a retail display shelf, a clipboard, a step, a tractor trailer, a desk, a walkway, a room or storage chamber, a runway, an instrument panel, a railroad crossing gate, an emergency sign, an elevator doorway, a swimming pool, a dog collar, a fish tank, a baby crib a hand rail, an inline skate an island in a parking lot or on a street, affixed to a curb, or on safety clothing.

Utilizing a spatial calendar device and service, the user can associate an event reminder to a location in space. The location can be fed into the device manually, from the map unit, GIS address book unit, or from the current reading of the GPS unit, as well as any other source of GPS location media. An event reminder can be text and / or audio to remind the user of a specific thing to do or pick once he or she approaches the location. Examples: once at the parking lot of an airport (inside the car or in the vicinity of the car), the user can associate a reminder (text, audio, or visual) to the location of his / her vehicle at the airport. In this case the system will automatically read the GPS location of the car and will prompt the user to enter an audio or text event reminder.

A parking guidance system tracks available parking spaces and leads users to vacant spots through display boards placed at strategic locations in the parking lot. Sensor nodes are deployed at parking spaces or within traffic lanes to monitor parking space occupancy and wirelessly transmit this information. The sensor nodes form a wireless network that routes the knowledge of available spaces to the corresponding display boards and updates them in real time. Parking availability information may also be shared with users in a variety of other ways such as through the Internet, personal digital assistants, computers, mobile telephones, in-vehicle dashboards, and others.

The invention is a new method and apparatus that can be used to detect, recognize, and analyze people or other objects in security checkpoints, public-places, parking lots, or in similar environments under surveillance to detect the presence of certain objects of interests (e.g., people), and to identify their activities for security and other purposes in real-time. The system can detect a wide range of activities for different applications. The method detects any new object introduced into a known environment and then classifies the object regions to human body parts or to other non-rigid and rigid objects. By comparing the detected objects with the graphs from a database in the system, the methodology is able to identify object parts and to decide on the presence of the object of interest (human, bag, dog, etc.) in video sequences. The system tracks the movement of different object parts in order to combine them at a later stage to high-level semantics. For example, the motion pattern of each human body part is compared to the motion pattern of the known activities. The recognized movements of the body parts are combined by a classifier to recognize the overall activity of the human body.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for generating electrical power from multiple vehicles powered by fuel cells while the vehicles are parked in a parking lot. A plurality of spaced-apart electrical receptacles are provided for receiving an electric cable for connection to a parked vehicle for electrically connecting the fuel cell in each of the parked vehicles to the plurality of electrical receptacles. An electric power grid is electrically connected to the plurality of electrical receptacles for transferring D.C. electrical power from the fuel cells in the parked vehicles to the electric power grid. At least one electric power collection station is electrically connected to the electric power grid for collecting at a common point the D.C. electric power in the electric power grid. In addition, at least one inverter is electrically connected to the electric power collection station for converting the D.C. electric power to A.C. electric power. Apparatus is provided for supplying the A.C. electric power to a load or a utility grid.

To manage a plurality of parking spaces, one or more images are acquired, with each parking space appearing in at least one image. Periodically acquired images of occupancy and identity are used in directing a customer to a parked vehicle. Periodically acquired images of just occupancy are used in controlling respective environment aspects, such as illumination and ventilation, of the parking spaces. For these purposed, the images are classified automatically as “vacant” or “occupied”, and are displayed along with their classifications so that the classifications can be corrected manually.

An intelligent lighting system employs energy efficient outdoor lighting and intelligent sensor technology in cooperation with video analytics processing. The lighting system selectively illuminates outdoor spaces and identifies and evaluates events in a scene monitored by a video camera, thereby to facilitate proactive and appropriate security responses to those events. Selective use of advanced lighting fixtures may significantly reduce costs of lighting areas that are monitored by security systems such as streets, public parks, and parking lots, while simultaneously improving security, safety, and traffic control. Energy savings alone, for a properly designed system, are estimated at 50%-90% of current usage. When combined with remote monitoring, such systems may prevent accidents and criminal activity.

The system described is an integrated parking management system which makes use of patented vehicle detectors to collect and transmit data, essentially in near real time, as to all events happening as to single or multiple parking spaces (e.g. current and historic use, length of time of occupancy of current occupant) to a central clearing device for which patent application has been made which serves as a logic core and repository, making use of proprietary software, analyzing, displaying and distributing the data so developed as to a parking plant and all of its components to allow all parties (including prospective users) who are concerned with the various aspects of a parking plant and its components (e.g. determination as to availability of spaces, maintenance and repair of meters, collection of revenues and enforcement of parking regulations) not only to access and make passive use of the information developed, in near real time, to permit them to identify what's happening to the plant and its components as to their own particular interest in such plant and so maximize the efficient use both of the resources of the plant and their own resources directed to the particular aspect of their interface with the plant and its components but also to access and make active use of such information for whatever purpose and in whatever fashion using whatever means of access they may wish. While others have made claim to certain of the individual functions described, e.g. vehicle detection, nobody has identified or patented

The present disclosure relates to a device and a method for self-automated parking lots for autonomous vehicles based on vehicular networking, advantageous in reducing parking movements and space. It is described a device for self-automated parking lot for autonomous vehicles based on vehicular networking, comprising: a vehicle electronic module for receiving, executing and reporting vehicle movements, a parking lot controller for managing and coordinating a group of vehicles in parking and unparking maneuvers, the vehicle module and controller comprising a vehicular ad hoc networking communication system. It is also described a method comprising moving autonomously in platoon one or more rows of already parked vehicles in order to make available a parking space for a vehicle arriving to the parking space; and moving autonomously in platoon one or more rows of parked vehicles in order to make a parked vehicle able to exit the parking space.

The invention relates to a charging system for automobiles and discloses a no-obstacle parking charging system, which comprises a cloud platform server, a plurality of parking lots being in data exchange with the cloud platform server through a network, a plurality of automobile owner terminal devices being in data exchange with the cloud platform server through the network, and a third-party payment system being in data exchange with the cloud platform server through the network. The invention also discloses a no-obstacle parking charging method, which comprises the following steps: S10, a member is registered; S30, an automobile enters the parking lot; and S40, the automobile is driven out of the parking lot. According to the system and the method disclosed by the invention, the time of passing through an entrance guard of the parking lot by the automobile is greatly saved, the process of parking charging is simplified, the operation efficiency of the parking lots is improved, and the parking lots are managed intensively through the cloud platform server, so that great convenience is brought to automobile owners.

Systems and methods of directing parking in a parking lot include: (a) detecting the presence and / or absence of a vehicle in respective parking spaces in a parking lot having a plurality of parking spaces to monitor the availability of parking spaces; (b) identifying the space location of parking spaces that are available for use based on the detecting and monitoring steps; and (c) automatically providing the location of the identified available spaces to prospective users in substantially real-time.

Provided are an intelligent parking guidance apparatus and method. The intelligent parking guidance apparatus includes: an image sensor node recognizing a vehicle number of a vehicle, sensor nodes determining whether the vehicle exists in their own positions, a parking management server generating information for guiding the vehicle to an available parking space, and a mobile communication terminal receiving the information. The intelligent parking guidance apparatus and method provide information regarding parking lots which are within a predetermined distance from a destination and available parking spaces of each parking lot, to a driver, as well as provide a road guidance service to the driver to guide his / her vehicle to the destination, so that the driver can select an optimal parking lot. Also, when the vehicle enters the parking lot, the intelligent parking guidance apparatus and method guide the driver to an available empty parking space, thereby reducing difficulties in finding a parking space in a place which is unfamiliar to the driver.

When a vehicle is traveling along a route toward a parking lot located near a destination facility, if traffic congestion along the route is detected, the navigation apparatus searches for an alternative parking lot that allows a user to reach the destination facility earlier than can by using the original parking lot. If such an alternative parking lot is detected, the predicted driving time and the predicted walking time are displayed together with a route to the parking lot. When traffic congestion is encountered when transporting a passenger by vehicle, the navigation apparatus determines a quicker way for the passenger to reach the destination facility. If the navigation apparatus detects that the passenger can reach the destination facility earlier if the passenger disembarks the vehicle and walks to the destination facility, the navigation apparatus presents information indicating a best point at which the passenger should disembark the vehicle.

An Automated Electric Vehicle Charging Station is disclosed. The Charging Station should can automatically connect to an electrically-powered vehicle and commence the recharging process. The charging process involves the charging station discovering and locating the vehicle's charging port. Once discovered and located, the charging station can reach out and make the electrical interconnection with the vehicle while the vehicle is located at an adjacent parking space. The charging station is retrofittable into an existing parking lot, in addition to its being a part of the original lot construction. A companion software application on a computing device such as a mobile phone may be used to activate and monitor the charging process, amd locating charging stations and providing customer billing status. Docking between the charging station robotic arm and the vehicle can be facilitated by a variety of locating / handshaking methods, including wireless signalling, video camera and infrared triangulation, for example.

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for navigating a customer to a parking space. A customer sends a request from a mobile device or vehicle navigation system for directions to a parking space in a store parking lot. A store computer receives the customer request along with parking requests from other customers. The store computer identifies appropriate candidate parking spaces utilizing camera systems, sensor systems, location of customer mobile devices, and point-of-sale (POS) activity. The store computer identifies the candidate spaces for each customer based on their proximity to the store and their parking preferences. The store computer transmits navigation instructions to parking spaces via the customer mobile devices and / or the vehicle navigation systems. The parking space is stored in the customer mobile device and is used by the customer upon exiting the store for navigation instructions back to the customer parking space.

Integrated cross-platform perimeter access control system with a RFID-to-Bluetooth selective adapter configured with a RFID lock, a wireless communication conversion unit configured for operating under a first wireless communication platform and a second wireless communication platform, and a smartphone is disclosed. RFID-to-Bluetooth selective adapter is installed above sensor area of RFID lock to facilitate RFID lock to interrogate the RFID-to-Bluetooth selective adapter. RFID-to-Bluetooth selective adapter equipped with photo sensor unit can be turned on in a contactless manner using smartphone with camera light source. Methods adapted for short-range or long range space / room management automation, transportation vehicle rental management, and automated vehicle parking lot management are included. Low-power infrared proximity sensing circuit of infrared type having an infrared transmitter and receiver unit or of capacitive type having a metal plate can be added to the RFID-to-Bluetooth selective adapter so that the RFID reader can be actuated to perform RFID signal reading.

A system, method, computer program product and propagated signal for an automatic parking system. The system includes a sensing subsystem for detecting an occupancy status of a vehicle parking space, said sensing subsystem providing a real-time occupancy status signal for said vehicle parking space wherein said occupancy status signal includes an occupied mode and an unoccupied mode; a communications subsystem, coupled to said sensing subsystem, for transmitting said occupancy status signal; and a management subsystem for receiving said occupancy status signal, said management subsystem processing a parking transaction for said vehicle parking space automatically upon a mode change of said occupancy status signal. A method includes automatically opening a parking transaction upon detecting an occupation of a parking space or area and automatically closing a parking transaction upon detecting a vacation of a parking space or area. Additional elements may include an authorization system and a notification system. The methods include identified parking methods for detecting automatically changes in an occupancy status of one or more parking spaces or areas and automatically initiating / closing, as appropriate, parking transactions responsive to appropriate detected changes in occupancy status signals associated with each of the one or more parking spaces, as well as methods of making and using the disclosed systems. Computer program products and propagated signals include computer-executable instructions for implementing the systems and methods.

A parking lot reservation system in which each vehicle sends to a remote server through a GPRS module a park reservation request carrying the information of the ID code and current location of the vehicle and specific conditions, and the remote server searches a parking lot database to select the qualified parking lot information subject to the park reservation request and then sends a reservation command to the parking lot computer of the associated parking lot through the Internet to finish the reservation. After success of reservation, the parking lot computer sends a response message indicative of successful reservation to the GPRS module of the vehicle via the remote server.

The invention discloses a long-distance automatic parking system and method based on multi-sensor fusion. The system comprises a central data processing module, a path planning module, a mapping module, a parking module, a communication module and a control unit. The sensor comprises but is not limited to an IMU, a vehicle-mounted all-round looking camera, an ultrasonic wave radar and a binocular camera. According to the embodiment of the invention, through planning paths for the obtained parking lot map, obstacle information, parking place information and road information within a vehicle running range are judged according to a disparity map obtained by the binocular camera and are fed back to the central data processing module in real time; and after calculation, the central data processing module gives an instruction to the control unit so as to realize long-distance automatic parking of vehicles from entering the parking lot to parking in the parking place.

The invention discloses an intelligent guiding and car locating system for a parking lot. The intelligent guiding and car locating system comprises a vehicle detecting coil, an automatic card sender, a license plate identifying camera, position identifiers, a vehicle guide display screen, an application server, a database server, an intelligent searching terminal, and a parking lot visible management system. The devices are communicated with one another by accessing a router through a wired network. When a car owner drives a car into the parking lot, the intelligent guiding and car locating system guides and indicates the car owner to find a parking space conveniently and rapidly. Meanwhile, parking cards are bound with license plates, so that a vehicle parking position is recorded by the position identifier mounted above each parking space. When the car owner finds the car, the parking space can be found by inputting a license plate number through the intelligent searching terminal or slotting the parking card, and an optical car taking route is obtained simultaneously.

The invention discloses a parking information management and intelligent parking communication system and method. The system includes a personal mobile terminal, a garage management terminal, and a cloud server. The garage management terminal includes a garage total controller, a garage module and parking lot entrance-exit control module. The garage module includes a first controller, a vehicle entrance unit, a vehicle information unit, a vehicle exit unit. The parking lot entrance-exit control module includes a second controller, an obstacle detector, a parking stall lock driving device, a loudspeaker, a second camera, a parking stall monitor, a vehicle obstacle controller, a second timer, and an indicator light controller. The system, in view of two aspects including user convenience degree and parking lot utilization rate, enables all steps that can be simplified in a parking process to be processed by a cloud server, greatly avoids mistakes of manual operation, and optimizes the original parking system of the parking lot so as to improve the overall efficiency of the parking lot.

The invention discloses an intelligent parking induction system and a method. The intelligent parking induction system comprises an information collection system, a communication network, a central control system, an Internet and a user terminal, wherein the information collection system is connected with the central control system by the communication network, and the central control system is connected with the user terminal by the Internet. By adopting the technical scheme disclosed by the invention, the use rate of a parking lot can be greatly enhanced, the traffic jam of a city is reduced, the wastage of parking resources is avoided, and the management cost is lowered; and moreover, the satisfaction degree of a user can be enhanced, and a positive action is provided for improving the traffic condition of the city and the service level of a parking lot industry.

Systems and methods of directing parking in a parking lot include: (a) detecting the presence and / or absence of a vehicle in respective parking spaces in a parking lot having a plurality of parking spaces to monitor the availability of parking spaces; (b) identifying the space location of parking spaces that are available for use based on the detecting and monitoring steps; (c) automatically providing the location of the identified available spaces to prospective users in substantially real-time; and (d) electronically correlating a parking space to a user to allow a parking space to be identified if a patron forgets where he / she parked.

A method for guiding a motor vehicle in a parking facility encompasses steps of ascertaining, externally to the motor vehicle, a trajectory in the parking facility from a starting position to a destination position; transmitting at least a segment of the trajectory to the motor vehicle via a communication network; and monitoring the motor vehicle, by way of a monitoring system external to the motor vehicle, as the segment is traversed, to determine a deviation, the trajectory being ascertained as a function of a property of the motor vehicle. Also described are a corresponding apparatus, a parking system, and a computer program.

An infrastructure of Bluetooth and / or Wi-Fi enabled RF tags or beacons deployed within a structure, an urban environment, a residence, buildings, real estate property, in a parking area, etc. The deployed beacons can be integrated with sensors to initiate or trigger an application. The infrastructure being used to recognize a presence of a user within the area to trigger activities, initiate Location Based Services (LBS), provide navigation, provide mapping, convey of information, initiate a link to a server or software, provide support during an emergency, provide assist to E-911 services, trigger an automation function, provide real estate information, and the like.

The invention discloses a cloud computing and big data-based parking method and system. The method comprises the steps: a cloud server receives parking lot information query instruction of an intelligent terminal, wherein the parking lot information query instruction comprises destination data information of the intelligent terminal; according to the received parking lot information query instruction, information data collected through a plurality of parking lot terminals is searched for corresponding parking lot information, and query results are sent to the intelligent terminal. According to the cloud computing and big data-based parking method and system, a car owner can quickly and comprehensively learn about the information of charge of a parking lot nearby the destination, real-time available parking spaces and the like; by comprehensively analyzing factors, such as weather, road conditions, major events which affect the traffic nearby the destination, and parking lot selection of car owners who frequently park nearby, the optimal parking lot and path are provided for the user, thus, the car owner can quickly make a wise selection even in a strange place or environment, and the parking efficiency can be improved.

The invention relates to the field of application systems orienting to industry and enterprise informatization in electronic information and provides an intelligent parking-place public service system. The intelligent parking-place public service system comprises parking-place information acquisition equipment, a parking-place internal parking data server, an information management service platform and an information issuing terminal. The intelligent parking-place public service system provided by the invention has the advantages that the intelligent parking-place public service system orienting to cities is reformed into a component of a smart city, so that shortage resources of parking spots can be fully shared, the decision-making basis is provided for the urban parking planning of a government, guidance is provided for trip parking of a vehicle owner, further the traffic can be eased, data support is provided for public safety management, and simultaneously the parking place that the vehicle owner often comes in and goes out is reformed into a service channel, so that the vehicle owner can enjoy the service nearby.