Coordinate-Based Parking Exemption System for Urban Delivery

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Solution Overview

Problem

In busy urban areas, the insufficient number of loading bays leads to a disproportionate number of penalty charge notices for commercial vehicles, and existing solutions like time slot booking and rising barriers are either ineffective or costly, while drivers often misinterpret parking restrictions, causing congestion and fines.

Innovation Solution

A method and system that define parking areas by coordinates, guiding vehicles into permitted areas without visible markings, using GPS and camera monitoring to determine if vehicles have permission to park, thereby reducing incorrect parking and fines, and allowing flexible exemptions for specific users and events.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If loading bays are marked on the road, then drivers can easily identify permitted parking areas, but unauthorized vehicles can also easily find and park in these areas

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevisibility of parking area location to driversVSAvoidexclusivity of parking area to authorized vehicles

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies different visibility properties to different user groups: authorized vehicles receive precise location information through the navigation system, while unauthorized vehicles cannot locate the parking areas. This local quality differentiation resolves the contradiction by making the parking areas visible only where needed (to authorized users) while maintaining exclusivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The navigation system acts as an intermediary that controls access to parking area location information. It mediates between the parking area locations and drivers by providing location data only to authorized vehicles, thus preventing unauthorized vehicles from finding these areas while still making them accessible to permitted users.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Productivity

If more loading bays are created, then more commercial vehicles can deliver goods, but traffic congestion and parking restriction violations increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedelivery capacity of commercial vehiclesVSAvoidtraffic congestion and parking violations

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-generated harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system segments the parking area network into multiple restricted zones with coordinates stored in the navigation system. This segmentation allows precise control over which vehicles can access which areas, enabling high delivery capacity for authorized vehicles while preventing unauthorized parking and reducing congestion through targeted enforcement.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system provides feedback to enforcement agencies about vehicle locations relative to restricted parking areas. This feedback mechanism enables automatic identification of parking restriction violations, allowing enforcement without manual monitoring and reducing the need for physical barriers or extensive signage that would congest the environment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

3Speed

If parking restrictions are strictly enforced, then traffic flow is maintained, but legitimate delivery vehicles receive disproportionate fines

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetraffic flow speedVSAvoidfines imposed on legitimate vehicles

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary action by pre-loading the coordinates of restricted parking areas into the navigation system before the vehicle journey. This allows the system to proactively guide authorized vehicles to appropriate parking locations and pre-identify potential violations, enabling enforcement officers to distinguish between legitimate and unauthorized parking before fines are issued, thus maintaining traffic flow while protecting legitimate vehicles from erroneous fines.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

This approach reduces the number of fines for legitimate users, enables efficient delivery operations, and maintains traffic flow without the need for physical infrastructure changes, while ensuring that only authorized vehicles use exempted parking areas.

Implementation Method 1

a GPS receiver (18) for receiving satellite signals

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectGPS satellite signal reception:

Implementation Method 2

a camera (30) for capturing images of the parking area

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectOptical image capture: Photography

Data Source

PatentUS9836975B2System and method for implementing an exception to a parking restriction

Publication Date: 2017.12.05 GRID SMARTER CITIES LTD

AI summary

An apparatus and method for implementing an exception to a parking restriction, the exception being a parking area defined by one or more coordinates, includes monitoring an area including the parking area; detecting a vehicle in the monitored area; determining whether the detected vehicle is positioned within the parking area; and determining whether the vehicle has permission to park in the parking area. The parking area is not marked on the road.