Parking lot management system, parking lot management apparatus, parking lot management method, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

A parking lot management method performed by a parking lot management system including an image capturing apparatus configured to capture vehicles parked in a plurality of parking spots in a parking lot and to acquire license plate numbers of the vehicles and spot numbers of the parking spots, cart terminals mounted on a plurality of carts that are usable by customers who are occupants of the vehicles parked in the parking spots, a display apparatus configured to display a parking state in the parking lot, and a management apparatus configured to communicate with the image capturing apparatus, the cart terminals, and the display apparatus, the method comprising:

• the step, performed by the management apparatus, of acquiring, and storing as parking information, the license plate number and the spot number of the parking spot from the image capturing apparatus;
• the step, performed by the management apparatus, of acquiring, from the cart terminal, information that enables specification of the parking information of the vehicle of the customer using the cart and an identification number of the cart terminal, and storing the identification number of the cart terminal in association with the parking information;
• the step, performed by the management apparatus, of detecting return of the cart to a predetermined location, and calculating a predicted time until the parking spot is freed up;
• and
• the step, performed by the management apparatus, of updating display on the display apparatus based on the predicted time.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a parking lot management program for causing a computer to perform a parking lot management method performed by a management apparatus of a parking lot management system including an image capturing apparatus configured to capture vehicles parked in a plurality of parking spots in a parking lot and to acquire license plate numbers of the vehicles and spot numbers of the parking spots, cart terminals mounted on a plurality of carts that are usable by customers who are occupants of the vehicles parked in the parking spots, a display apparatus configured to display a parking state in the parking lot, and the management apparatus configured to communicate with the image capturing apparatus, the cart terminals, and the display apparatus,

• the program being configured to cause the computer to perform the steps of:
• acquiring, and storing as parking information, the license plate number and the spot number of the parking spot from the image capturing apparatus,
• acquiring, from the cart terminal, information that enables specification of the parking information of the vehicle of the customer using the cart and an identification number of the cart terminal, and storing the identification number of the cart terminal in association with the parking information,
• detecting return of the cart to a predetermined location, and calculating a predicted time until the parking spot is freed up, and
• updating display on the display apparatus based on the predicted time.