Method and apparatus for estimation of waiting time to park

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018336784-A1
Application number	US-201715598043-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 17, 2017
Priority date	May 17, 2017
Publication date	Nov 22, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

An approach is provided for estimation of waiting time to park. The approach involves processing parking data from a parking area to determine a probability that all parking spots in the parking area are occupied. The parking data is collected from one or more parking sensors. The approach also involves building a remaining parking duration model for a plurality of cars parked in said all parking spots based on the parking data. The approach further involves calculating an estimated conditional waiting time to park in the parking area based on the remaining parking duration model. The approach further involves calculating an estimated unconditional waiting time to park in the parking area based on the blocking probability and the conditional waiting time to park.

First claim

1 . A method comprising:
processing parking data from a parking area to determine a blocking probability that all parking spots in the parking area are occupied; building a remaining parking duration model for a plurality of cars parked in said all parking spots based on the parking data and at least one of a predetermined probability distribution of parking durations and a predetermined probability distribution of remaining parking duration; and calculating a conditional waiting time to park in the parking area based on the remaining parking duration model, wherein a user interface of a device is presented to display the conditional waiting time to park.

2 . A method comprising:
processing parking data from a parking area to determine a blocking probability that all parking spots in the parking area are occupied; building a remaining parking duration model for a plurality of cars parked in said all parking spots based on the parking data; calculating a conditional waiting time to park in the parking area based on the remaining parking duration model; and calculating an unconditional waiting time to park in the parking area based on the blocking probability and the conditional waiting time to park, wherein a user interface of a device is presented to display the unconditional waiting time to park.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
classifying all path segments between a driver parking search starting point to a driver parking search end point as occupied to determine the blocking probability, wherein the user interface is presented at the device when the device is detected to approach the parking area within a distance threshold.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is presented at the device when the device requests a navigation route to a destination within a threshold distance of the parking area.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating a remaining parking duration at a specified time for each of the plurality of cars from the parking data using the at least one of the predetermined probability distributions, to build the remaining parking duration model, wherein the remaining parking duration is a duration from the specified time to when said each of the plurality of cars leaves one of said all parking spots, and wherein the remaining parking duration model is based on the remaining parking duration for said each of the plurality of cars.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
calculating a cumulative distribution function of the remaining parking duration for said each of the plurality of cars; and calculating a probability density function of the remaining parking duration for said each of the plurality of cars from the cumulative distribution function, wherein the remaining parking duration model is based on the probability density function.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the predetermined probability distributions include an exponential distribution, a log-normal distribution, or a combination thereof.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the parking data is collected from one or more parking sensors.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more parking sensors include one or more embedded sensors in the parking area, one or more vehicle sensors of a plurality of cars parked in said all parking spots, or a combination thereof.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the parking data is collected in real-time from a plurality of vehicles parking in the parking area, and wherein the estimated waiting time to park is a real-time estimation.

11 . An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
receive, at a navigation device, a request for a navigation route to a destination;
process parking data from a parking area within a threshold distance of the destination to determine a probability to park in the parking area;
build a remaining parking duration model for a plurality of cars parked in said all parking spots based on the parking data and at least one of a predetermined probability distribution of parking durations and a predetermined probability distribution of remaining parking duration;
calculate an estimated conditional waiting time to park in the parking area based on the remaining parking duration model; and
adjust an estimated time of arrival at the destination based on the estimated conditional waiting time to park.

12 . An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following,
receive, at a navigation device, a request for a navigation route to a destination;
process parking data from a parking area within a threshold distance of the destination to determine a probability to park in the parking area;
build a remaining parking duration model for a plurality of vehicles parked in said all parking spots based on the parking data;
calculate an estimated conditional waiting time to park in the parking area based on the remaining parking duration model; and
calculate an estimated unconditional waiting time to park in the parking area based on the probability to park and the estimated conditional waiting time to park,
wherein an estimated time of arrival at the destination is adjusted based on the estimated unconditional waiting time to park.

13 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
present the estimated time of arrival as a single value in a user interface of the navigation device, wherein the single value is the adjusted estimated time of arrival.

14 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
present the estimated time of arrival as a first value and a second value in a user interface of the navigation device, wherein the first value is the estimated time of arrival before the adjusting; and wherein the second value is the estimated conditional waiting time to park conditioned on that the parking area is fully occupied.

15 . The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
calculate a remaining parking duration at a specified time for each of the plurality of vehicles from the parking data using the at least one of the predetermined probability distributions, to build the remaining parking duration model, wherein the remaining parking duration is a duration from the specified time to when said each of the plurality of vehicles leaves one of said all parking spots, and wherein the remaining parking duration model is based on the remaining parking duration for said each of the plurality of vehicles.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the apparatus is further caused to:
calculate a cumulative distribution function of the remaining parking duration for said each of the plurality of vehicles; and calculate a probability density function of the remaining parking duration for said each of the plurality of vehicles from the cumulative distribution function wherein the remaining parking duration model is based on the probability density function.

17 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more

Assignees

• Here Global Bv

Inventors

• Liu Xiang

Classifications

• G08G1/143 Primary

  inside the vehicles · CPC title

• G08G1/096883

  where input information is obtained using a mobile device, e.g. a mobile phone, a PDA · CPC title

• G08G1/141

  with means giving the indication of available parking spaces · CPC title

• G08G1/0969

  having a display in the form of a map · CPC title

• G08G1/144

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