Technique for facilitating and monitoring vehicle parking

Claim 1

A system for determining and indicating to operators of vehicles availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of vehicles in said spaces; indicator means situated proximate to said spaces and operative upon receipt of an indicator signal for directing said operators to said spaces in which said sensing means has determined a vehicle to be absent; and control means connected to the sensing means and the indicator means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals, for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal, for generating said indicator signal corresponding to said spaces which are available, and for periodically addressing each indicator means and supplying the indicator signal to the addressed indicator means.

Claim 2

A system for determining and indicating to operators of vehicles availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of vehicles in said spaces; indicator means situated proximate to said spaces and operative upon receipt of an indicator signal for directing said operators to said spaces in which said sensing means has determined a vehicle to be absent; and control means connected to the sensing means and the indicator means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals, for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal, for generating said indicator signal corresponding to said spaces which are available, and for periodically addressing each indicator means and supplying the indicator signal to the addressed indicator means.

Claim 8

A system as defined in claim l, wherein: said vehicle parking facility has a plurality of parking areas each parking area has an entrance and exit through which vehicles enter and depart the parking area, and wherein: at least one of said sensing means has a location at the entrance and exit of said areas and is operative for determining and generating an entry signal indicative of the entry of the vehicles into the parking area and is further operative for determining the departure of vehicles from the parking area and generating an exit signal indicative of the departure of the vehicles from the parking area; the control means is receptive of the entry and exit signals and is operative in response thereto to calculate a net number of said vehicles in the parking area and the number of available spaces in the parking area, to supply said information signal related to at least one of a group consisting of the net number of vehicles in the parking area and the number of available spaces in the parking area; and wherein said indicator means includes a display means which responds to the information signal by displaying information related to at least one of a group consisting of the net number of vehicles in the parking area and the number of available spaces in the parking area.

Claim 15

A system for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of said vehicles in said spaces; indicator means operative upon receipt of an indicator signal for indicating the availability to park in said spaces; control means connected to the sensing means and the indicator means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals, for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal, for generating said indicator signal corresponding to said spaces which are available, and for periodically addressing each indicator means and supplying the indicator signal to the addressed indicator means; and wherein: the control means is further operative for generating from each of said availability signals a status signal and for storing said status signal representative of the available and occupied status of said spaces and for periodically tabulating from the status signals stored a number of vehicles parked in spaces in a predetermined parking area of the facility, for generating an information signal indicative of the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area and a total number of spaces within the parking area; and wherein: the control means compares the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area with the number of spaces in the parking area and supplies the indicator signals to the indicator means in the parking area only if the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area reaches a predetermined threshold value relative to the number of spaces in the parking area; and wherein: the control means ceases supplying the indicator signals to the indicator means of said parking areas after having previously done so when the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area reaches a second predetermined threshold value different than the predetermined threshold value first aforesaid, the second threshold value being a quantity of the number of spaces in the parking area.

Claim 16

A system for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of said vehicles in said spaces; indicator means operative upon receipt of an indicator signal for indicating the availability to park in said spaces; control means connected to the sensing means and the indicator means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals, for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal, for generating said indicator signal corresponding to said spaces which are available, and for periodically addressing each indicator means and supplying the indicator signal to the addressed indicator means; and wherein: the control means is further operative for generating from each of said availability signals a status signal and for storing said status signal representative of the available and occupied status of said spaces and for periodically tabulating from the status signals stored a number of vehicles parked in spaces in a predetermined parking area of the facility, for generating an information signal indicative of the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area and a total number of spaces within the parking area; and wherein: the control means compares the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area with the number of spaces in the parking area and supplies the indicator signals to the indicator means in the parking area only if the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area reaches a predetermined threshold value relative to the number of spaces in the parking area; and wherein: the control means ceases supplying the indicator signals to the indicator means of said parking areas after having previously done so when the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area reaches a second predetermined threshold value different than the predetermined threshold value first aforesaid, the second threshold value being a quantity of the number of spaces in the parking area.

Claim 18

A system for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of said vehicles in said spaces; control means connected to the sensing means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal; and wherein: the control means is further operative for generating from each of said availability signals a status signal and for storing said status signal representative of the available and occupied status of said spaces, and for periodically tabulating from the status signals stored a number of vehicles parked in spaces in a predetermined parking area of the facility, for generating an information signal related to the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area and a total number of spaces within the parking area; further comprising: telecommunications interface means connecting an external communication network to the control means and operative for communicating information between the control means and the external communication network; and wherein: the information communicated from the control means to the external communication network is communicated to a prospective user and indicative of availability of spaces in the facility.

Claim 19

A system for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of said vehicles in said spaces; control means connected to the sensing means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal; and wherein: the control means is further operative for generating from each of said availability signals a status signal and for storing said status signal representative of the available and occupied status of said spaces, and for periodically tabulating from the status signals stored a number of vehicles parked in spaces in a predetermined parking area of the facility, for generating an information signal related to the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area and a total number of spaces within the parking area; further comprising: telecommunications interface means connecting an external communication network to the control means and operative for communicating information between the control means and the external communication network; and wherein: the information communicated from the control means to the external communication network is communicated to a prospective user and indicative of availability of spaces in the facility.

Claim 22

A system for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, wherein the parking facility further includes a plurality of reservable spaces, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of said vehicles in said spaces; control means connected to the sensing means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals, for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal; and wherein: the control means is further operative for generating from each of said availability signals a status signal and for storing said status signal representative of the available and occupied status of said spaces, and for periodically tabulating from the status signals stored a number of vehicles parked in spaces in a predetermined parking area of the facility, for generating an information signal related to the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area; further comprising: telecommunications interface means connecting an external communication network to the control means and operative for communicating information between the control means and the external communication network; and wherein: the control means reserves said space for a prospective user in response to a request to reserve said space made by the prospective user over the communications network through telecommunications interface by assigning a unique identification code corresponds to the prospective user and to the spaces reserved.

Claim 23

A system for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, wherein the parking facility further includes a plurality of reservable spaces, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of said vehicles in said spaces; control means connected to the sensing means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals, for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal; and wherein: the control means is further operative for generating from each of said availability signals a status signal and for storing said status signal representative of the available and occupied status of said spaces, and for periodically tabulating from the status signals stored a number of vehicles parked in spaces in a predetermined parking area of the facility, for generating an information signal related to the number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area; further comprising: telecommunications interface means connecting an external communication network to the control means and operative for communicating information between the control means and the external communication network; and wherein: the control means reserves said space for a prospective user in response to a request to reserve said space made by the prospective user over the communications network through telecommunications interface by assigning a unique identification code corresponds to the prospective user and to the spaces reserved.

Claim 25

A system for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of said vehicles in said spaces; control means connected to the sensing means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals, for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal; and wherein: the control means generates data representing utilization of the spaces and generates a report on the revenue to be collected for the utilization of the spaces.

Claim 26

A system for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: sensing means for determining presence and absence of said vehicles in said spaces and for generating an availability signal indicative of the absence of said vehicles in said spaces; control means connected to the sensing means and operative for polling each sensing means of the facility during each of a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals, for receiving the availability signal of each sensing means polled during each of said intervals, for determining the availability of said spaces in response to the availability signal; and wherein: the control means generates data representing utilization of the spaces and generates a report on the revenue to be collected for the utilization of the spaces.

Claim 28

A method for determining and indicating to operators of vehicles availability of spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: polling said spaces in the facility during a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals to determine presence or absence of a vehicle in said spaces; and periodically indicating the availability of said spaces; directing said operators to said spaces in which a vehicle has been determined to be absent, for parking a vehicle therein.

Claim 29

A method for determining and indicating to operators of vehicles availability of spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: polling said spaces in the facility during a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals to determine presence or absence of a vehicle in said spaces; and periodically indicating the availability of said spaces; directing said operators to said spaces in which a vehicle has been determined to be absent, for parking a vehicle therein.

Claim 39

A method for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: polling said spaces in the facility during a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals to determine presence or absence of a vehicle in said spaces; identifying said spaces which are available during each of said intervals; periodically indicating uniquely with respect to said spaces the availability of such spaces for parking a vehicle therein; calculating a net number of vehicles in the parking area by determining the difference between the number of spaces in the facility and the number of available spaces; further comprising: comparing the net number of vehicles parked in the parking area with the number of available spaces; and indicating availability of spaces in the parking area only if the number of available spaces in the parking area reaches a first (27) predetermined threshold value relative to the number of available spaces in the parking area; further comprising: ceasing the indication of available spaces in the parking area after having previously indicated the availability of spaces in the parking area when the number of available spaces in the parking area reaches a second predetermined threshold value being different than the predetermined threshold value first aforesaid.

Claim 40

A method for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: polling said spaces in the facility during a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals to determine presence or absence of a vehicle in said spaces; identifying said spaces which are available during each of said intervals; periodically indicating uniquely with respect to said spaces the availability of such spaces for parking a vehicle therein; calculating a net number of vehicles in the parking area by determining the difference between the number of spaces in the facility and the number of available spaces; further comprising: comparing the net number of vehicles parked in the parking area with the number of available spaces; and indicating availability of spaces in the parking area only if the number of available spaces in the parking area reaches a first (27) predetermined threshold value relative to the number of available spaces in the parking area; further comprising: ceasing the indication of available spaces in the parking area after having previously indicated the availability of spaces in the parking area when the number of available spaces in the parking area reaches a second predetermined threshold value being different than the predetermined threshold value first aforesaid.

Claim 41

A method of determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: polling said spaces in the facility during a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals to determine presence or absence of a vehicle in said spaces; identifying said spaces which are available during each of said intervals; periodically tabulating the number of available spaces within a predetermined parking area of the facility; developing information indicative of a number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area and a total number of available spaces within the parking area; and further comprising: communicating information over an external communication network to a prospective user relative to the availability of spaces in the facility.

Claim 42

A method of determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: polling said spaces in the facility during a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals to determine presence or absence of a vehicle in said spaces; identifying said spaces which are available during each of said intervals; periodically tabulating the number of available spaces within a predetermined parking area of the facility; developing information indicative of a number of vehicles parked in spaces in the parking area and a total number of available spaces within the parking area; and further comprising: communicating information over an external communication network to a prospective user relative to the availability of spaces in the facility.

Claim 44

A method for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: polling said spaces in the facility during a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals to determine presence or absence of a vehicle in said spaces; identifying said spaces which are available during each of said intervals; further comprising: generating data representing utilization of the spaces and generating a report on the revenue to be collected for the utilization of the spaces.

Claim 45

A method for determining and indicating availability of predetermined individual spaces for parking vehicles in a vehicle parking facility, comprising: polling said spaces in the facility during a plurality of re-occurring repetitive intervals to determine presence or absence of a vehicle in said spaces; identifying said spaces which are available during each of said intervals; further comprising: generating data representing utilization of the spaces and generating a report on the revenue to be collected for the utilization of the spaces.