Systems and methods for parking violation detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11830360-B2
Application number	US-202017076118-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2020
Priority date	Dec 1, 2015
Publication date	Nov 28, 2023
Grant date	Nov 28, 2023

Abstract

Provided is a technology that allows, inter alia, two different patrol-vehicles to be used to enforce parking regulations. Unique systems and methods, inter alia, allow a patrol vehicle or the like to collect parking data pertaining to parked vehicles, and to wirelessly transmit such parking data to a server. A later patrol vehicle or the like can wirelessly receive parking data related to parking events related to its parking enforcement situation and determine whether parking violations, such as overtime or permit sharing violations, are occurring using a combination of parking data generated locally and extraneous parking data collected by the previous patrol vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for in-the-field parking enforcement executed on a mobile parking enforcement device, the mobile parking enforcement device comprising:
a wireless interface for communicating wirelessly with a remote parking enforcement server;
a data interface for communicating with parking data acquisition hardware for receiving therefrom parking data;
a processor in communication with the wireless interface and the data interface;
computer-readable memory in communication with and accessible by the processor;
the method comprising:
generating, at the processor, a first parking event for a nearby vehicle using parking data pertaining to the nearby vehicle received at the data interface from the parking data acquisition hardware, the first parking event comprising a vehicle identifier of the nearby vehicle;
receiving, at the wireless interface of the mobile parking enforcement device, a subset of past parking events of a set of past parking events from the parking enforcement server storing the set of past parking events, the subset of past parking events comprising past parking data captured by at least one other parking enforcement device and corresponding to at least one past parking event, the subset of past parking events excluding at least some parking data of the set of past parking events;
searching, by the processor, the computer-readable memory of the mobile parking enforcement device to identify a particular past parking event in the subset of past parking events that matches the first parking event;
determining, at the processor, a parking violation of the nearby vehicle based on the particular past parking event and the first parking event; and
outputting, by the processor, a parking violation event for the parking violation.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of past parking events corresponds to a plurality of past parking events, each past parking event in the plurality of past parking events comprising partial parking data that has omitted therefrom context data.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
upon identifying the particular past parking event, generating a tentative violation event representing a potential parking violation;
transmitting to the parking enforcement server via the wireless interface a request for the context data associated with the particular past parking event;
receiving, via the wireless interface, the context data associated with the particular past parking event; and
wherein determining the parking violation comprises processing the context data to confirm the parking violation.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein processing the context data to confirm the parking violation comprises displaying at least a portion of the context data via a user interface and receiving via the user interface confirmation that the tentative violation event is a parking violation.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the partial parking data of each said past parking event in the plurality of past parking events comprises a license plate identifier and a location identifier, and wherein the context data omitted from each said past parking event in the plurality of past parking events comprises one or more of a license plate image, a vehicle image and a tire image.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the location identifier is a GPS location of the other parking enforcement device that captured the past parking event.

7. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising transmitting to the parking enforcement server via the wireless interface at least one parameter for the parking enforcement server to identify the subset of past parking events based on the at least one parameter, and wherein the at least one past parking event of the subset of past parking events corresponds to one or more past parking events with the at least one parameter.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one parameter comprises the vehicle identifier.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle identifier is a license plate identifier.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the vehicle identifier is a permit number.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one parameter comprises a parking zone.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving via a user interface input for past parking data;
transmitting, via the wireless interface, a request for past parking data with athe at least one parameter to the parking enforcement server for the parking enforcement server to identify the subset of past parking events with the at least one parameter.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the parking enforcement server selecting the subset of past parking events from the set of past parking events.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of past parking events corresponds to a plurality of past parking events, each past parking event in the plurality of past parking events occurring in a particular parking zone.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving via a user interface the particular parking zone; and
transmitting, via the wireless interface, the particular parking zone to the parking enforcement server for the parking enforcement server to identify the subset of past parking events occurring in the particular parking zone.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
determining, by the processor, the particular parking zone based on a geographical location of the mobile parking enforcement device; and
transmitting, via the wireless interface, the particular parking zone to the parking enforcement server for the parking enforcement server to identify the subset of past parking events occurring in the particular parking zone.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising transmitting, via the wireless interface, a geographical location of the mobile parking enforcement device to the parking enforcement server for the parking enforcement server to determine that the mobile parking enforcement device has entered a geographical area associated with the particular parking zone and identify the subset of past parking events occurring in the particular parking zone.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, via the wireless interface, a geographical location of the mobile parking enforcement device to the parking enforcement server for the parking enforcement server to identify the subset of past parking events based on the geographical location.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the subset of past parking events comprises receiving a first plurality of past parking events for a first parking zone and receiving a second plurality of past parking events for a second parking zone when the mobile parking enforcement device enters the second parking zone.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of past parking events corresponds to a plurality of past parking events, each past parking event in the plurality of past parking events occurring within a certain timeframe.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of past parking events corresponds to a plurality of past parking events, each past parking event in the plurality of past parking events occurring within a certain timeframe and in a particular parking zone.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein said receiving the subset of past parking events comprises receiving a first plurality of past parking events at a first time and receiving a second plurality of past parking events when

Assignees

• Genetec Inc

Inventors

• Yigit Chris
• Lambert Jean
• Nadeau Mathieu
• Aublet Yannick
• Brousseau Guy
• Commeyne Christophe

Classifications

• G08G1/017 Primary

  identifying vehicles (G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence) · CPC title

• G06T7/292

  Multi-camera tracking · CPC title

• G06V20/56

  exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle · CPC title

• 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

• G08G1/0175

  by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules · CPC title