Parking Space Routing Using Real-Time Availability Ranking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current parking systems are inefficient and costly, as drivers waste time and fuel searching for available parking spaces, leading to congestion and accidents, especially in large events where manual routing by attendants is imprecise or absent.
Innovation Solution
A system that aggregates parking data from various sources, such as GPS, cameras, and sensors to identify available spaces and compute ranked routes to these spaces based on metrics like convenience and congestion, which can be provided to drivers or autonomous vehicles for efficient navigation, and includes features like parking meter reservation and bidding interfaces.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If drivers manually search for parking spaces without assistance, then no additional routing infrastructure is needed, but drivers waste significant time and fuel, leading to congestion and accidents
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a central server as an intermediary that aggregates parking data from multiple sources (sensors, cameras, GPS) and provides routing guidance to drivers. This mediator coordinates the complex information processing and route calculation, resolving the contradiction by centralizing the computational complexity while keeping individual driver interactions simple.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical searching and physical navigation with automated electronic systems including GPS tracking, digital map routing, and electronic data aggregation. This substitution eliminates the need for drivers to manually search for parking spaces, reducing time loss while the electronic infrastructure handles the system complexity.
2Ease of operation
If parking attendants are deployed to manually route drivers, then drivers receive guidance to parking spots, but the system becomes costly and imprecise due to coordination difficulties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces human parking attendants with an automated electronic routing system that uses GPS, digital maps, and centralized server coordination. This electronic system provides more precise and consistent routing guidance without the coordination difficulties inherent in human-to-human communication using walkie-talkies.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements real-time feedback loops where the central server continuously receives updated parking space availability data from sensors and cameras, recalculates optimal routes, and provides updated guidance to drivers. This dynamic feedback mechanism ensures accurate and current routing information without requiring manual recoordination.
3Loss of energy
If no parking attendants are present, then costs are reduced, but drivers are left to themselves causing congestion and accidents
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables drivers to self-navigate to parking spaces using automated electronic routing guidance provided by the central server. Drivers receive turn-by-turn directions and real-time parking availability information, allowing them to independently find parking without manual attendants while avoiding congestion through optimized route guidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses real-time feedback from parking sensors, cameras, and vehicle GPS data to dynamically update routing recommendations. This feedback mechanism prevents congestion by guiding drivers to currently available spaces and reduces accidents by providing accurate, up-to-date navigation information without requiring human attendants.
Data Source
AI summary
One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for parking space routing. For example, parking data for a parking region, such as a parking lot, may be obtained from one or more data sources (e.g., vehicle sensor data, a parking lot camera, parking meter transaction data, etc.). Routes from a current location of a vehicle to available parking spaces within the parking region may be computed. The routes may be ranked based upon various criteria, such as convenience, congestion, travel time, travel distance, a parking space fill order, etc. A route, having a rank above a threshold (e.g., a highest ranked route), may be provided to a driver of the vehicle, such as through a vehicle navigation unit, a mobile device, a wearable device, etc. The route may be provided to autonomous driving functionality of the vehicle for automatic routing and navigation of the vehicle to the parking space.