Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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CA 02511461 2006-08-02
1
~if PEG 5IDT7~
g.~.eld of thrl Yavsrstian
$ The prarrnt inve~ation r*Iatea to .n urban pa.tkinq ayat.rn.
Morr xpenifiea.Lly, the presenC i,nvent.ian xbl$te9 to an urban
parking system in ahieh a tiirel*ya nat~rork ~.a utilized to
C8IlIIGIIn:ICi~~ vl~l~Gh parkiAq otatua intarmaeien rrom a p~ayenant
t4fmj:nal to portable checking te~nals.
saeJtqzvurvd of flea W vastion
In Ctta present urban pwrk~.rlg systsena in uaa in North
Rmer~,ca, parking i~ paid !or on moat urban stseete and ~y Gity
loCa by inaarti:xg co3.ne into a parking fistar eaaiqned to each
.park3nQ apace. A parfcinp warden or el~aekar pariodi,ca7,ly Cheeks
seen ~rki,ng .AaCar and each c4rreapo4din9 parking spate to
deterroinv ii' a citation should b~ written up.
par she motorist. thv convwnienao at being able to pay at
the cctrb and than by on one's way is o! great importance.
xt xe kno,.m is the art from vs 1,812,905 to x.aee,rt at ax.
2D and Q9 4, 876, 540 to 9exthan at al. to provide pozwtable teL'il~in~~.~
which receive Vehicle parking statue data pairs ii.e- vetiiala TD
number and expiration time) from eurbeide paymone eerninalr, and
to provide s loy energy conaumpbion dste ccmwunicaci.oh ayat*m
among t#sa payment terminals. 9ueh an elactfoaic urban parki=1~
syote~w is ebla to ceesply l~it?1 the baeit requis'amentr !or an
rttl,oienC ~yatam, namaiy, the motorist; ~y pay at a Gt~rhe~.de
payment tarmi,nal and may than tis Eras to go vithoWt.returning Co
their V~ahicle to plac6 a proof of payment inrtrument, grad the
bortabla torminala may be provisos with aufficienxly accurat*
data tc drtexmine with reaaoner~~,e accuracy vhbtrer a vehicle's
parking i~a Paid tbr.
Also dine~.os*d io th* prior art era retvr*ncea Hp-A-
93/20539 to Janason, Nhi,ch ciiacloaaa an urben parking which
,~t~,xxaa a visaleaa tletsldrk, and FR 2, 600, 140 to Zaller it al
uhiah discloaee a parking system incorporating a plurality at
payment te~lhala. Also known in the art 13 GB 2,291.290A Yhirh,
a1t11cnigh no$ direstlar s*lat*d to a parking eyst.~xa, doer d~,sc~.oaa
a hbnd held vehicle idantl.Yier.
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However, in larger urban areas, Applicants have
determined that a large number of payment terminals are
required fox motorists' convenience, especially when harsh
climate conditions of cold, heat and precipitation are
5 common. Motorists may, for convenience, wish to pay for
parking indoors or at a payment terminal not immediately
associated with the parking space occupied. Since payment
may take place far away from the parking space, it is no
longer sufficient far a parking warden to acquire local
10 information from neighboring curbside payment terminals=
For these reasons, it is desirable to make large areas,
such as entire business districts, into individual parking
zones and permit payment of parking from any terminal in
the zone, or even from outside the zone. To accommodate
15 such marketing, a large number of payment terminals needs
to provide data to a large number of portable terminals
and at longer distances.
Under such circumstances, the amount of vehicle data
received from the payment terminals and transferred to
20 portable checking terminals requires special consideration
for efficient handling. It has been determined that the
known handling of parking data, i.e. either transmission
from the payment terminal periodically to an individual
portable terminal or transmission from the payment
25 terminal upon request to the requesting portable terminal,
cannot efficiently handle the required large amount of
data transfer when a large number of payment terminals are
used and when parking zones encompass a number of payment
terminals. In addition, data transferred locally from a
30 payment terminal to portable terminals periodically and
upon request is neither complete nor up to date when
motorists are allowed to park anywhere within a zone
including many payment terminals.
35 Summary of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide
an urban parking system of the type having curbside
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payment terminals and portable electronic wireless
terminals in which data relating to parking payment is
efficiently handled.
It is a further object of the present invention to
make use of a public wireless network in such an urban
parking system.
It is yet another object of the present invention to
provide an urban parking system of the type having
curbside payment terminals and portable electronic
wireless terminals in which, in response payment made at
one of the payment terminals, data is automatically
transmitted concerning the payment made to all portable
terminals by wireless means.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an
urban parking system of the type having curbside payment
terminals, a central control system connected to a
wireless transmitter and portable electronic wireless
terminals, which cooperate in unison to handle data
relating to parking payment efficiently.
According to the invention, there is provided an
urban parking system comprising: a wireless network
covering a large local geographic area; a large number of
payment terminals provided in the geographic area each
located near a plurality of parking spaces, each payment
terminal comprising data collection means for gathering
parking data from a motorist, the parking data including
at least one of vehicle identification data and parking
space identification data; communication means for
transferring the parking data from the data collection
means to the wireless network in response to payment made
at the payment terminals; a plurality of portable
terminals for use by parking wardens inspecting the
parking spaces of the geographic area, the portable
terminals including wireless communication means, a memory
for storing the parking data, and a user interface means;
and broadcast means associated with the wireless network
for transmitting the parking data substantially upon
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receipt from the communication means to the portable
terminals in the geographic area.
The invention also provides a method of communicating
vehicle parking data in an urban parking system, the
5 method comprising the steps of: providing a wireless
network covering a large local geographic area; providing
a large number of payment terminals provided in the local
geographic area each located near a plurality of parking
spaces: gathering parking data from motorists at the
10 payment terminals, the parking data including at least one
of vehicle identification data and parking space
identification data; transferring the parking data from
the payment terminals to the wireless network in response
to payment made at the payment terminals; providing a
15 plurality of portable terminals for use by parking wardens
inspecting the parking spaces of the local geographic
area; and using the wireless network to transmit the
parking data substantially upon receipt from the payment
terminals to the portable terminals in the local
20 geographic area.
Briaf Description of the Drawings
The invention will be better understoad by way of the
following description of a preferred embodiment of the
25 invention with reference to the appended drawings, in
which:
Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the urban
parking system according to the preferred embodiment;
Fig. 2 is a basic flow chart illustrating the steps
30 carried out during a parking payment in the system
according to the preferred embodiment;
Fig. 3 is a front view of the parking payment
terminal according to the preferred embodiment;
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the parking payment
35 terminal according to the preferred embodiment: and
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the portable terminal
according to the preferred embodiment.
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Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment
As shown in Fig. 1, the urban parking system 10
according to the preferred embodiment has a large number
of payment terminals 12 schematically illustrated as being
numbered from 1 through N. The payment terminals 12
include wireless communication means for communicating
bidirectionally with a public wireless transmitter 14 of a
public wireless network. The wireless network in the
preferred embodiment is a packet data wireless network,
and in particular in North America this may be an ARDIS
network.
The parking system ZO has a central control computer
16, which in the preferred embodiment is a network of
computers, for recording parking data in a database 17.
The parking data is broadcast from transmitter 14 to a
number of mobile terminals 18 used by parking wardens.
The terminals 18 are illustrated as being numbered from 1
through N_ In the preferred embodiment, a payment
terminal 12 sends parking data for each vehicle parked to
all mobile terminals by sending a packet to a group
address shared by the mobile terminals 18 as well as the
central computer 16_ In this way, the payment terminal 12
controls the flow of data to the mobile terminals 18 and
the central computer has no control over directing data
transmission_ For security purposes, the parking data is
encrypted before transmission_
The central computer 16 also processes other
transactions, such as credit card and bank card purchases
handled via a bank link or gateway 20. The public can
inquire about parking status and citation status by a
public access computer equipped with Internet capability
and/or with DTMF responsive automated voice
communications. The mobile terminals 18 have docking
stations 28 for recharging batteries and for providing a
continued wired link between the parking data being
received by computer 16 and the mobile terminals 18.
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As illustrated in Fig. 2, the method according to the
preferred embodiment can be described as follows. For
each payment for parking, a motorist goes to a payment
terminal and enters vehicle identification data and either
5 (a) a desired parking duration, (b) a desired parking end
time, or (c) a desired amount of money to be paid. The
vehicle identification data may be stored on a motorist's
smart card or on a magnetic stripe card accepted by the
terminal, in which case entering of the data each time a
10 motorist parks is not required. The payment terminal
accepts the data and the funds either by use of a coin or
bill acceptor or by electronic payment. Electronic
payment may be in the form of a credit or debit
transaction, or electronic funds recorded on the smart
15 card or the mag stripe card. In the case of a credit or
debit transaction, the payment terminal may communicate
with a financial institution transaction processing host
to confirm the availability and transfer of funds. Such
additional communication is shown in the steps of Fig. 2.
20 The payment terminal then sends a data packet including
the parking data with a group address so that the central
computer and all portable terminals receive the parking
data- This is shown in Fig. 2 as two separate
transmissions because, in the preferred embodiment, the
25 payment terminal first transmits the parking data to the
public wireless transmitter, which in turn relays the
packet data to the central computer by land network fox
recording the vehicle status data in the central database
and to all mobile terminals over the air waves. At this
30 point, all mobiles and the central database have received
the parking data created by the parking time purchase
carried out at the parking payment terminal. If a mobile
terminal does not acknowledge receipt of a packet, the
packet is resent automatically by the public wireless
35 transmitter. In the preferred embodiment, resent packets
are sent by individual addressing instead of a group
address.
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With reference to Fig. 3, details of the payment
terminal 12 according to the preferred embodiment will now
be described. Terminal 12 has a vandalism resistant
composite shell housing 40 including an upper access panel
30, a touch screen 31, a coin acceptor slot 32, a smart
card acceptor/dispenser slot 33, a coin return/printer
output slot 34, and a lower service door 35. Internally,
there is provided a coin container 37, an electrical entry
38, and wireless communications electronics 41. The base
is equipped with an anchor 39 for securing the terminal 12
to the sidewalk. The access door 35 is key locked, and
the escrow box 43 requires a separate key. For additional
security, an identity smart card for identifying the
service personnel must be inserted into the reader 33'
before opening the door 35 otherwise a wireless alarm
message is sent. The service personnel will also be
required to enter a personal security password. The
system may also require authorization from the central
computer 16 before access to the escrow coin box is
permitted.
As illustrated in Fig. 4, the payment terminal 12 has
the following basic operating components. A computer
controller 42 communicates by data connection to the touch
video screen 31, a smart card dispenser 33, a smart card
reader 33', a printer 34, a wireless modem 41, and a coin
acceptor 37. The coins collected by the acceptor 37 are
delivered into a coin escrow unit 43.
As can be appreciated, in the case that a payment
terminal works only with smart cards already programmed
with license plate data and loaded with funds, a much
w smaller payment terminal may be provided which could be
mounted to a building wall, a Lamp post or to a former
parking meter post. Such a compact terminal would contain
the wireless modem 41, the smart card reader 33' and a
much simpler display screen and key pad entry device.
Such a terminal could be battery powered and powered up
only during use. The only input required from the
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motorist would be parking time. Of course, if a motorist
needed to load more funds onto a card, the full featured
payment terminal 12 as illustrated would be used.
As illustrated in Fig. 5, each portable terminal 18
according to the preferred embodiment has an LCD touch
sensitive keypad/display 51, a wireless data modem 52, a
smart card reader 53, a citation or ticket printer 54,
and a magnetic stripe card reader 55. As can be
appreciated, the terminal 18 is small, portable and hand
7.0 held. External input/output devices axe also provided,
namely an audio headset 59 for receiving voice
commands/data and relaying audio signals to the parking
warden. A CCD video camera (not shown) may be connected
at 56 for taking images of license plates, which can be
analyzed to obtain license plate number data by OCR
methods in the computer inside the terminal 18. A bar
code reader (not shown) may be connected at 57 for reading
bar code stickers placed on the inside of windshields_ A
replaceable, rechargeable battery 58 provides the terminal
18 with sufficient power for operation during a normal
inspection run.
For security purposes, the user interface of terminal
18 will only operate in the preferred embodiment when the
parking warden inserts a personal identification smart
card into the reader 53 and then enters a personal
identification code using the key pad 51. If the smart
card is removed from the reader during normal use of the
terminal 18, the terminal is locked out.
The operation of receiving parking data packets via
modem 52 from the public wireless network broadcasts takes
place continuously in the background without interruption.
Tn the preferred embodiment, the portable terminals 18
have a computer memory able to store data on all parked
vehicles in a jurisdiction or geographical area. The
parking warden enter a license plate number, using one of
the keypad 51, the microphone on the headset 59 or the
camera connected to 56, and the portable terminal return
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the information available on the vehicle. If no match is
found for the vehicle, the closest matches in the database
are returned. For each vehicle, the data retrieved and
displayed on the LCD screen 51 is that contained in the
5 database, namely the vehicle plate number, the time when
parking was purchased, the duration, and the payment
terminal used. The warden examines the data and decides
whether a citation should be issued. In the case that a
citation is issued, the portable terminal is used to
10 prepare the citation by filling in extra data, as would
normally be done with a manually prepared citation, such
as vehicle location, vehicle color, make, model, and the
exact nature of the parking violation. The latter is
important since even vehicles having parking paid for may
15 be found in special parking zones where there is a shorter
parking limit, or a restriction to commercial vehicles
only.
The portable terminal 18 also provides the parking
warden with the ability to cancel or correct citations.
20 If a motorist wishes to settle a citation on the spot, the
portable terminal is equipped with both a smart card
reader 53 and a swipe card reader 55 which may be used to
accept funds from the motorist, the financial transaction
being preferably immediately processed by wireless
25 communication with the banking institutions via the
central computer 16. Whether a parking warden issues a
citation, cancels a citation and/or settles a citation,
the citation data can be stored for communication from the
terminal 18 to the central computer 16 for audit and
30 accounting purposes. If a parking warden issues a
citation, and within a short grace period of five minutes
or less, the motorist goes to a payment terminal 12 to pay
for parking, the citation is automatically canceled,
according to the preferred embodiment. This is the case
35 since it is considered plausible that a motorist may be en
route to a payment terminal when the parking warden checks
the vehicle. In the preferred embodiment, the citation is
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canceled, although a small surcharge of an extra amount,
for example 25 cents, may be applied, especially if the
time elapsed is close to the maximum grace period limit.
The central computer may also keep a record of such
automatically canceled citations and report any vehicle
that regularly receives such citations, since this would
be a sign of likely abuse by a motorist keeping watch on
the vehicle while not having paid for parking.
As can be appreciated, the motorist could be
requested to enter parking space identification data
instead of vehicle identification data, and spaces could
be checked instead of vehicles. In the preferred
embodiment, vehicles are checked instead of curbside
parking spaces, and vehicles may park anywhere within a
curbside parking zone without needing to fit into a
predetermined parking space_
The payment terminals in the preferred embodiment
dispense and sell the parking smart cards. Storage of
vehicle identification data in the cards is optional. The
telecommunications system connecting the central computer
to the payment terminals may be used to transmit video
advertising data for display on the screens of the payment
terminals when the terminals are not in use . A schedule
for presenting advertising video may be provided for
displaying ads at specific times of day or at a specific
frequency. The schedules and video data can be updated as
desired from the central computer. The payment terminals
may print advertising on the receipts given to motorists,
or the reverse side of the receipts may contain printed
advertising. The central computer may send to the payment
terminals parking tariff tables to change parking rates as
desired, or to accommodate special events.
Although the invention has been described above with
reference to a preferred embodiment, it is to be
understood that the above description is intended merely
to illustrate the invention and not to limit the scope of
the invention as defined in the appended claims.
