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    US7899583B2

    Uploaded by

    ShahdAhmedElkabbary
    devices

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    (2) 6 76) « ey @y 63) (60) oy (32) 68) (6) ‘USOOT89955 United States Patent Mendelson SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DETECTING AND NAVIGATING TO EMPTY PARKING SPACES, Inventor Springs, FL Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the teem ofthis pateat is extended or adjusted under 35 USC. 1540) by 548 days. Appl. No 11/396,843 Filed: Apr. 3,2006 Prior Publication Data US 200610253226 A1 Nov. 9, 2006 Related U.S. Application Data Provisional application No, 601570,007, fled on Ape. 12, 2008. Int. Cl Gosr 1700 US.C1 O11; 3401932.2 Field of Classification Search ‘OU "701/200-202, 207, 213-215, 3401932. 340/005, 12, 530.1 ‘See aplication file for complete search history. (200601) References Cited USS. PATENT DOCUMENTS BIB0298 A 41964 Schuare BUSS A 1/1964 Meaney 366732 A L965 jum 110 8382 (10) Patent No. 4s) Date of Patent: US 7,899,583 B2 Mar. 1, 2011 3867615 A 2197S. Siu Samag) A 121903 Kato SootG A ‘31904 Kakihara SalO7I2 A $1995 Geier 543208 A 7/1998 Jackson SADE A 81905 Mushal SaS4AGL A 10/1995 Jacobs S504482 A 411996 Schroder 5600505 A 21997 Kyrtsos SO10982 A * 61909 Schmit etal 340995.12 @970.101 BL* 112608 Squire stat 399322 7026954 B2* 42006 Skmmeret a 609322 2oudo0Ri6at AL* 22006. Jaypee M0932, * cited by examiner Yonel Reaulicw ‘Gold & Rizvi, PA; Gena E Primary Examiner (4) Attorney, Agent, oF Firm Golds Hob Rizvi on ABSTRACT Te parking detetion system method described herein could aide people around urban eavitonments detect guide and favigate them to empty parking spaces, add-on to the ca based navigation systems and or to the cellular phone. We have focused on the task of detecting and navigating even ia siiuatons ia which Global Positioning Systems (GPS) euanot provide this information, suchas when the person is indoors ‘rin crowded urban areas where theres no line of site to the GPS satellites and without the neod for centeal computer system or intemet connections. The parking information will be received directly from RF sensors and will display a8 & dleating overlay on the existing navigation system and or cellular phone as Bluetooth application. 24 Claims, § Drawing Sheets 150 U.S. Patent Mar. 1, 2011 Sheet 1 of 5 b “Bis U.S. Patent Mar. 1, 2011 Sheet 2 of 5 US 7,899,583 B2 Fig. 2 210 it U.S. Patent Mar. 1, 2011 Sheet 3 of 5 US 7,899,583 B2 Fig. 3 310 106 330 U.S. Patent Mar. 1, 2011 Sheet 4 of 5 US 7,899,583 B2 Fig. 4 U.S. Patent Mar. 1, 2011 Sheet 5 of 5 US 7,899,583 B2 Fig. 5 No Parking 530 US 7,899,583 B2 1 SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DETECTING AND NAVIGATING TO EMPTY PARKING. SPACES, RELATED APPLICATIONS, This application isa Non-Provisional Application, claim ing the benefitof US. Provisional application No, USGON6T0, (097 filed Apr. 12, 2008, which is ineorporated herein in is ceatiety FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is directed penerally tothe field of location based navigation and, more particulary, to such systems and the method to be used in detecting and navigating to empty available parking spaces. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Location based services are rapidly expanding. Outdoor location technologies are mainly based on GPS technologies. GPS does ot perform properly indoors and is not adequate; recently, s esl, indoor location systems are appearing on the market ‘The need for a system such as ours stems from various ‘market segments and applications. One example, inthe mar- ket for integrated positioning and navigation systems wsing GPS receivers as their primary positioning echoology isthe "Car mavigatr” However, a major limitation of GPS is that uninterrupred satelite reception isnot possible in many situations. Densely populated areas and radio-fequency-signal shadowed loea- tions, suc as urban centers ("urban canyons"), generally do not allow proper operation oFGPS, yet iis in these locations thatthe nded is greatest “There isa clear need fora cost efletive system that main= tains performance indoors, a urban canyons and in ety cen- "Another important ise, GPS itself ix susceptible to jam= ring and other man-made interference. Description of GPS System, ‘The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation and time transfer system developed by the US. Department of Defense. GPS serves marine, itbome and terrestrial users, both military a civilian, Specially, GPS includes the Standard Positioning Service (SPS) that provides lian users with 100 meter accuracy sto the location oF Position ofthe user. It aso serves military users with the Precise Positioning Service that provides 20-meter accuracy forthe wer. Both ofthese services are available worldwide ith no requirement for any local equipment View of GPS Limitations: Tint limitation of GPS is that wpon activation the GPS: receiver scans for signals from the GPS satellites. The unit ‘mus locate and receive signals from atleast fourstelites to be abe wo determine its location. This process of locating the satellites, receiving the data and achieving position fix can take several minutes. This delay canbe problematic for many (GPS applications. ‘Second limitation of GPS is thatthe receiver needs clea view of the sky to sucessfully receive signals from the sat- cites, again under untriendly RF conditions such as inside buildings. or in “urban canyons” or under shadows of high buildings. the GPS suffers frm alipath effects and there- {re shows poor performance, or none at al, 0 o 2 Third Limitation limited ceuracy: There's a problem of limited accuracy of civilian GPS signal. While knowing your position to within 50.200 feet anywhere on the planet is @ Taj technological fast, is still not accurate enowgh, t0 locate and navigate to an empty parking space, where each space measures about 10 fect and most parking garages are Jocated where the GPS is cannot work efectivey. ‘Most of the navigation systems, such as the in-car naviga- sion system, are based on GPS and have the aforementioned limitations Another significant factor adding othe limitations ofthe GPS based systems isthe important ole of map production: it is obvious that the user, driver, requires a map to be as Seized and as up-to-date as possible, However the existing maps used by the GPS based systems provide limited detail and the changes are not reflected ona timely basis Tin this modem age when urban development is exploding, the lack of details and updates of the topographic maps and satelite images is critical; additionally and. imporanty, indoor location maps are not available at all forthe GPS navigation systoms, Application Tn general, oursystem i based of applying machine-leaen ing techniques tothe task of infering aspects of the wser's slate froma steam of inpot from sensors ‘We have focused on indoor navigation, or navigation in crowded urban ares, where GPS based systems, de © hick ‘of aecess to satellites ofthe GPS Himitaions detailed previ- ‘ously, cannot achieve the required results ‘We have focused on the tisk of interatively guiding the rt a desired indoor destination. ‘Our system has minimal need to know the user's location to carry out this ask. Examples of ladoor Applications "The user may be looking fr # certain store ina shopping small, or particular aisle in a departmeat store, The user may be looking for a certain conference room in ‘convention center, fora point of intrest in an amusement park or fora point of interest in a museum, "The user may be looking fora tn location ina station, or stops ina lange subway or underground tain station ‘Or may just want to find available parking space. Parking Detection and Navigation Application: ‘There sno easy way to find empty parking spaces in busy city. Drivers usually either wastes time driving around the farea looking for an open space, or abandons the seach, pay ing a Tange fee to park in a garoge, orto use a valet parking service. It would be very advantageous to be able to provide 8 driver looking fora parking space with Parking Detector, ‘capable of identifying available, empty parking spaces in the driver's proximity, andwith acompetiive edge over somone ‘without such 2 Parking Detector, ‘Every working day 105 Million drivers are looking for place 16 park! I is estimated that 40°% of urban tafe is due 10 this “Search for parking a space” ‘The tp 85 US cities fae increasing congestion problems ‘because of steady population prowl and the lack of locations to build additional parking. Trafic congestion is estimated to cost travelers in the 85 biggest US cities a whopping 3.5 billion hours a year, more thin SO hours a year per driver in major cities, almost a week of work, ‘Traffic and trifle congestion are 10 main reasons for pollution, and vehicle emissions contribute significantly to the “areen house effet” US 7,899,583 B2 3 In our society where time, convenience and comfort are precious commodities, parking is a major perk, or major headache, ‘Our “Parking Detection System” provides the answer {0 the most demanding neod of any drive, "Where ean | park?” With the implementation of our system, navigating and detecting available parking spaces will become part of the information revolution. ‘Our system, a nerwork of self organizing sensors will ‘enable municipalities and other parking authorities to easily ‘entify, exploit and manage revenve opportunities while at the same time providing better service at lower operating ‘With our system, drivers will save time, reduce the fasta ‘ion ofhunting forparking spaces andalsowillsavemoney on as usage and car maintenance costs ‘By using and modifying existing technology, our system will integmite easily with other transportation and communi- ‘cation systems, Reference to Prior At ‘Despite the problems encountered by vehicle operators at parking facilities, most existing parking monitoring systems Tocus on colleting information for mangement. Some prior ant systems employ sensors at entrances and exits w parking Tacilities or sections of such facilities (See US. Pat. No. 3,130,298 to Schwarz), These sensors Iigger a counter 10 determine the numberof eas in the monitored area By sub teacting the numberof cars leaving the area from those that have entered. Atleast one ofthese monitoring systems also ‘engages timer to determine the aggregate usage time ofthe Jacilityby summing the otal time from theentry of the ears 0 their departure (Soe US. Pat, No 3,867,615 to Sioufi. These systems profess to be useful in monitoring the usage of the parking fii Prior Art curbside parking monitoring systems have been ‘coupled with centralized signals which inate general areas ‘where drivers may find a curbside parking space (See US. Pat, Nos. 3,114,128 and 3,166,732 0 Ljungiman), Upon se ing that space adjacent a parking meters vacant, the system is drivers from a signpost at an intersection of the city block slong which the parking space is vacant. The signal “appears ina binary yes oe no stating that one o more parking spices areavailablein theadjacent block-long area, However, because the driver seeing a parking available signal is not advised othe number and speifi locaton of parking spaces that are avaiable in that block, the vebiele operator may proceed to the indicated location‘ fi tata single available space has already been oecupied or thatthe space will not ‘commode his vehicle. Incithe situation, the binary avail ability signal may lead the vehicle operator on a fruitless quest Another monitoring system fora parking Facility compares the number of ears within a designated area (determined by ‘counting cars entering minas ears departing the area) with the numberof spaces within that area, Whea the net number of ‘ars euals the numberof spaces, the system registers thatthe ‘area is completely full and signals divers to proceed t the next area (See US. Pat. No. 3,158,836 t0 McCauley). Unfor- tunately, such systems awain only yield a binary yes or no nal to the drivers. Even i an area contains only one avai able space, even ifthe space is obstructed, will not aecom- ‘modale the driver's ea, ors otherwise undesirible, a driver sil will be lead vo that rea, “These prior art systems are of only Timited help to vehicle ‘operators and de not resolve many concemns ascciated with parking an automobile 0 o 4 USS. Pat, No. $.293,163 to Kakihara ea. entitled, "Navi sation Apparatus for Vehicles” describes system for finding ‘garages of other parking facilites wih available parking spaces. It provides for the display of avilable parking infor- ‘mation ia map format. Thit vehicle navigational system patent dacs not address the problem of locating available ‘nesttet parking, Instead, it addresses the problem of loca ing parking lots with available spaces. Parking lots in con- ested city areas are not very cost eflective, and they may not be in close proximity to the driver's destination. The patent doesnot dirt drivers dirty to an available metered space, ‘less expensive alternative, bu simply to a lange parking lot ‘where they will have to search for an available space. In ‘addition, the Kakihara map display only direts the driver as tar as.a parking facility. The driver still must navigate around the parking fait to locate an available space. ‘USS. Pat No. 5,432,508 to Jackson, entitled, “Technique {or Facilitating and Monitoring Vehicle Parking”, describes scheme for finding available parking spaces in garages and ‘other parking facilites I provides forthe display of available parking information at the entrance of «garage and makes a provision fora light souree to be mounted above a parking pace to indicate its availability. Remote acest to the data is provided by a dial-up telecommunication interface. Because the technique described operates overa wireline medium, it {does not lend itself to being easily deployed ina wide area ‘Also, hocause parking information is never provided w any ‘device withina vehicle, deivers sill ned to navigate dough fa garige to locate available spaces. ?Parking meters with sensors, parking meters with transmi ters, and navigational equipment receiving and displaying «extemal information are well known in the art, U.S. Pt. No. 442,348 entitled, “Computerized Parking Meter", for ‘example, deseribes a parking meter utilizing an ultrason transducer to detect when acaris occupying a parking space, Similarly, US. Pat. No, 5,454,461 entitled, “Electronic Park- ing Meter and System" doserbes a parking meter utilizing a sonar transducer for paved vehicle detection and radio means {or receiving billing information, ‘At present, there is no on-board vehicle navigational sys- tem that delivers accurate and realtime parking space infor ‘mation directly from the vehicle or ether portable phone application upon entering a specific geographic aca Accurate Navigation USS. Pat. No. 5,508,482 to Schroder deseribes an automo- bile equipped with an inemial and satelite navigation system as well 2. local arca digitized street map. The main use of this patents forroute guidance in the presence of afi jams, ce. Schreder deseribes how information aso the state ofthe ‘ellie on a highway can be transmitted and utilized by a properly equipped vehicle to change the roule the driver ‘would take in going to his destination. Sehreder does not disclose sub-meter vehiele location aocuraey detemnination Vehicle Location USS. Pat. No. 5,272,483 to Kato deseribos an automobile ‘navigation system. This invention attempts to correct for the ‘inaccuracies in the GPS system through the use of an inertial uidance, geomagnetic sensor, of vehicle erank shalt speed sensor. However, itis unclear as to wheter the second pos sion system is actually more accurate than the GPS system. ‘This combined system, however, cannot be used for sub- eter positioning of an automobife US. Pat. No. 5,383,127 to Shibata uses map matching algorithms wo comet fr eros in the GPS navigational sy3- tem to provide a more accurate indication of where the vehicle i of in particular, on what road the vehiele is. This US 7,899,583 B2 5 procedure does not give sub-meter accuracy lis main purpose 1s for navigation and, i particular, in determining theroad on whieh the vehicle i traveling US. Pat.No. $416,712 o Geier, etal. relates generally t0 navigation systems and more specifically to global postion- Jing systems that use dead reckoning apparatus to il in as backup during periods of GPS shadowing such as occur amongst obsticles, eg. tll buildings in lame eties. This patent shows a method of optimally combining the informa- tion available from GPS even when less than 3 or 4 satellites ae available with information from a low-cost, inertial gyro, having errors that range from 1-5%. This patent provides a ‘excellent analysis of how to use a modified Kalman filter to ‘optimally use the available information US. Pat. No. §.606,506 to Kyrtsos provides 2 good back- round ofthe GPS satellite system. It discloses a method for Improving the accuracy ofthe GPS system using an inertial ukdance system. This is based on the Lact that the GPS signals used by Kyrtsas do not eontain a differential eorrec- tion and the selective acces feature is on Locating a vacant Parking space is an ordeal that causes frustration for many ‘commuters. Even if commuter pays fo enter a parking Tot, valuable time is consumed searching for a parking space Within the parking lot. I seems that parking los that service hospitals, airports, mass transit stations, entertainment Jorums, shopping alls and the like are always the most ‘rovided, when time isthe most crucial. urban and subur- ban regions become more populated nding vacant parking space will become increasingly difficult for commuters US. Pat. No. $,910,782 to Schmitt etal. ("782 patent) discloses a system for finding available on-street parking tusing an on-board vehicle navigation system and parking meters equipped with sensing devices. According tothe "782 patent, eal time metered parking space information can be ‘access from central location or directly by a veicle, up ‘entering a specific geographic area USS. Pat No. 5,940,481 to Zeitman (481 patent discloses ing mangement contol system used to report parking ‘monitor parking and reserve parking spaces. Aecording to the "481 patent, a user reports parking in « particular parking Jacilty to @ central control unit using a personal non-

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