Parking occupancy estimation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10013880-B2
Application number	US-201715613576-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2017
Priority date	Jun 8, 2015
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

One or more techniques and/or systems are provided for estimating parking occupancy. For a paid parking period, parking meter transaction data may be acquired for a parking meter encompassed by a zone of one or more parking spaces. The parking meter transaction data may be evaluated to determine status data, such as an estimation of whether one or more parking spaces are available, occupied, and/or will become available. A parking occupancy, indicative of a likelihood of available parking spaces, may be estimated based upon the status data. For a free parking period, the parking occupancy may be estimated based upon vehicle flow data that is indicative of vehicles entering, parking, and/or leaving the one or more parking spaces. In this way, the parking occupancy may be provided to a driver to mitigate wasted time and/or gas otherwise spent searching for an available parking space.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for estimating parking availability, comprising:
defining a zone encompassing a parking meter;
acquiring cellular data associated with the parking meter;
evaluating the cellular data to determine status data for one or more parking spaces, the status data comprising an estimation as to whether the one or more parking spaces are available or occupied, the status data comprising an estimated availability time at which one or more occupied parking spaces are estimated to become available;
estimating a parking availability for the zone based upon the status data; and
displaying the parking availability through a user interface, the displaying comprising:
responsive to the parking availability corresponding to a high availability threshold range, displaying a high availability status for a user interface element representing the zone through the user interface;
responsive to the parking availability corresponding a medium availability threshold range, displaying a medium availability status for the user interface element;
responsive to the parking availability corresponding a low availability threshold range, displaying a low availability status for the user interface element; and
responsive to the parking availability being indicative of a parking obstruction, displaying an obstruction status for the user interface element.

2. The method of claim 1 , the cellular data comprising vehicle flow data associated with one or more vehicles, the method comprising:
evaluating the vehicle flow data to determine a start trip count of vehicles that started trips from the zone;
evaluating the vehicle flow data to determine an end trip count of vehicles that ended trips in the zone;
determining a net number of vehicles within the zone at a point of time based upon a difference between the end trip count and the start trip count;
integrating the net number of vehicles over time to determine a net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone; and
updating the parking availability for the zone based upon the net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone to create an updated parking availability for the zone.

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:
matching parking meter transaction data for the parking meter to the net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone to obtain a scale factor and offset; and
applying the scale factor and offset to the net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone.

4. The method of claim 2 , the updating the parking availability for the zone comprising:
normalizing the net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone based upon parking meter transaction data for the parking meter.

5. The method of claim 2 , the vehicle flow data comprising a location of a vehicle, a speed of the vehicle, and a heading of the vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
estimating a set of parking availabilities for one or more zones encompassing portions of a block of parking spaces;
determining a block parking availability for the block of parking spaces based upon the set of parking availabilities; and
displaying the block parking availability through the user interface.

7. The method of claim 6 , the displaying the block parking availability comprising:
responsive to the block parking availability corresponding to the high availability threshold range, displaying the high availability status for a block user interface element representing the block through the user interface;
responsive to the block parking availability corresponding the medium availability threshold range, displaying the medium availability status for the block user interface element;
responsive to the block parking availability corresponding the low availability threshold range, displaying the low availability status for the block user interface element; and
responsive to the block parking availability being indicative of the parking obstruction, displaying the obstruction status for the block user interface element.

8. The method of claim 6 , the displaying the block parking availability comprising:
responsive to the block parking availability being indicative of a restriction, displaying a restriction status for a block user interface element representing the block through the user interface.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
evaluating parking meter transaction data for the parking meter to determine a payment rate for the parking meter; and
displaying the payment rate through the user interface.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
identifying a business within a threshold distance of the zone; and
adjusting the parking availability based upon a business type of the business.

11. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
generating a parking availability model based upon the parking availability; and
predicting a future parking availability for the zone based upon the parking availability model.

12. The method of claim 11 , the generating a parking availability model comprising:
training the parking availability model based upon parking availabilities associated with at least one of a weather condition, a season, or an event occurrence.

13. The method of claim 1 , the displaying the parking availability comprising:
displaying a textual indication of the parking availability through the user interface.

14. The method of claim 1 , the cellular data comprising global positioning system (GPS) data.

15. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining a total paid parking duration for a first time period; and
estimating a first parking availability for the first time period based upon the total paid parking duration.

16. The method of claim 1 , comprising:
acquiring parking meter transaction data for the parking meter, the parking meter transaction data comprising a parking meter identifier, a timestamp associated with when the parking meter was paid, and a paid parking duration for which parking was paid, the evaluating based upon the parking meter transaction data.

17. A system for estimating parking availability, comprising:
a parking availability estimator configured to:
define a zone encompassing a parking meter;
acquire cellular data associated with one or more vehicles;
evaluate the cellular data to determine a start trip count of vehicles that started trips from the zone;
evaluate the cellular data to determine an end trip count of vehicles that ended trips in the zone;
determine a net number of vehicles within the zone at a point of time based upon a difference between the end trip count and the start trip count;
integrate the net number of vehicles over time to determine a net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone;
match parking meter transaction data to the net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone to obtain a scale factor and offset;
apply the scale factor and offset to the net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone;
estimate a parking availability for the zone based upon the net number of vehicles observed to be remaining in the zone compared to leaving the zone; and
display the parking availability through a user interface.

18. The system of claim 17 , the parking availability estimator configured to:
acquire the parking meter

Assignees

• Inrix Inc
• Inrix Inc

Inventors

• Scofield Christopher L

Classifications

• G07B15/02

  taking into account a variable factor such as distance or time, e.g. for passenger transport, parking systems or car rental systems (G07B15/06 takes precedence; taximeters G07B13/00; parking meters per se G07F17/24) · CPC title

• G08G1/144

  on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA] · CPC title

• G04B15/02

  permanently in contact with the regulating mechanism · CPC title

• G08G1/0141

  for traffic information dissemination · CPC title

• G08G1/0116

  from roadside infrastructure, e.g. beacons · CPC title