US 2023/0056678 A1Published application

Parking methods and systems

AssigneeMunicipal Parking Services, Inc.

InventorsMark J. MORAN, Richard W. KELLEY, II, David E. COLLINS, JR., Marcus N. SCHMIDT, Christopher W. BALDWIN, Padmavathi Ramuni

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Abstract

Disclosed are devices, systems and methods for managing parking monitoring and enforcement. Parking at a meter or in a parking lot or ramp can be provided as a subscription. A registration and verification process for the subscription service can be provided as a multi-step process that combines the smart parking meter with a QR code, a mobile parking app for a smartphone, a central parking management system, and digital images of the parked vehicle(s). The registration process verifies that only vehicles owned by the subscriber are associated with the subscriber's account. Steps can also be employed to ensure that subscribers are not incorrectly issued parking citations by determining whether license plate data for a vehicle initially determined to be in violation matches an active subscription parker's roster of registered vehicles.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A smart parking system, comprising:

a parking meter, including a housing and a microcontroller disposed inside of the housing;
a camera in communication with the microcontroller, wherein the camera is aimed towards a parking space that is monitored by the parking meter;
and
a central control computer networked with the parking meter,
wherein the microcontroller of the parking meter is configured to generate a first machine-readable code in response to an input from a user and transmit a first machine-readable code data for the first machine-readable code to the central control computer,
wherein the central control computer is configured to perform a vehicle registration verification, comprising:
receiving a second machine-readable code data from a smartphone app executing on a smartphone of the user that is networked with the central control computer;
receiving a license plate data from the smartphone app of the user for a vehicle that the user wishes to register for a subscription parking service;
performing a license plate recognition on an image of a license plate of a vehicle located in the parking space that is monitored by the parking meter;
comparing the first machine-readable code data to the second machine-readable code data to determine whether there is a machine readable code match;
comparing the license plate data to a result of the license plate recognition to determine whether the vehicle located in the parking space that is monitored by the parking meter matches the license plate data for the vehicle that the user wishes to register for the subscription parking service.

8 more elements

A method of registering a vehicle for a parking subscription service, the method comprising:

inputting by a user a license plate data for a vehicle to be registered for the parking subscription service into a smartphone app that is executing on a smartphone networked with a parking management computer system;
generating by a parking meter a machine-readable code;
transmitting by the parking meter a data for the machine-readable code to the parking management computer system;
scanning the machine-readable code with the smartphone of the user;
transmitting data for the scanned machine-readable code to the parking management computer system;
capturing with a camera coupled to the parking meter an image of a license plate of a vehicle located in a parking space that is monitored by the parking meter;
transmitting the image of the license plate to the parking management computer system;
performing a license plate recognition procedure on the image of the license plate of the vehicle located in the parking space that is monitored by the parking meter;
determining by the parking management computer system whether the data for the machine-readable code scanned with the smartphone of the user matches the data for the machine-readable code transmitted by the parking meter;
determining whether a result of the license plate recognition procedure matches the license plate data inputted by the user;
and
registering the vehicle for the subscription parking service only if both the data for the machine-readable code scanned with the smartphone of the user matches the data for the machine-readable code and the result of the license plate recognition procedure matches the license plate data inputted by the user.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 17/982,098Filed 7 Nov 2022
Priority: 12 Dec 2018
Published: 23 Feb 2023
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification22 codes

G07B 15/02
Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points: taking into account a variable factor such…
G06K 7/1417
The method being specifically adapted for the type of code: 2D bar codes
G06Q 20/127
Specially adapted for electronic shopping systems: shopping or accessing services according to a time-limitation
G06Q 20/3224
Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices]: transactions dependent on location of M-devices

Family

Application62/778,642Us provisional application · filed 12 Dec 2018
Application16/712,687Continuation · filed 12 Dec 2019
Application17/982,098Continuation
US 11,495,059 B2Related patent
US 11,810,403 B2Related patent
US 2020/0193722 A1Published application
US 2023/0056678 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

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