Parking information aggregation platform

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9754487-B1
Application number	US-201514610113-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 30, 2015
Priority date	Apr 21, 2011
Publication date	Sep 5, 2017
Grant date	Sep 5, 2017

Abstract

This document describes systems and techniques that may be used to aggregate information about open parking spots from various different parking providers or organizations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
identifying, by a first computing system, a geographic location of the first computing system;
sending, by the first computing system and for receipt by a remote, second computing system, a request for information that identifies available parking locations that are relevant to the geographic location;
receiving, by the first computing system and as having been sent by the second computing system in response to the first computing system having sent the request for the information that identifies the available parking locations, information that identifies a first parking location as being available and a second parking location as being available; and
generating, by the first computing system in response to the first computing system having received the information that identifies the first parking location as being available and the second parking location as being available, a user interface that includes:
(i) a first indication that the first parking location is available, and
(ii) a second indication that the second parking location is available.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the generated user interface includes:
(i) the first indication positioned on a map in the user interface at a location of the first parking location, and
(ii) the second indication positioned on the map at a location of the second parking location.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the generated user interface includes:
(i) an indication of a first number of multiple parking spots that are available at the first parking location, and
(ii) an indication of a second number of multiple parking spots that are available at the second parking location.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the generated user interface includes:
(i) an indication of a first price to park at the first parking location, and
(ii) an indication of a second price to park at the second parking location, the first price being different than the second price.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
information that identifies that the first parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a first organization that manages the first parking location; and
information that identifies that the second parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a second organization that manages the second parking location.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the first computing system, user input that selects a particular geographic location on a map as being a location of a particular parking location that is available;
sending, by the first computing system, an indication of the particular geographic location for receipt by the second computing system, so as to cause the second computing system to provide an indication to other computing devices that the particular geographic location is available.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein:
information that identifies that the first parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a first mobile computing device in response to user-input tagging a first location on a map as being a location of an available parking location; and
information that identifies that the second parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a second mobile computing device in response to user-input tagging a different, second location on a map as being a location of an available parking location.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the generated user interface includes:
(i) an indication of a first age of the information that identifies that the first parking location is available, and
(ii) a different indication of a different, second age of the information that identifies that the second parking location is available.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein:
the indication of the first age includes a user interface element of a first color that is positioned on a map in the user interface at a location of the first parking location; and
the indication of the second age includes a user interface element of a second color that is positioned on the map in the user interface at a location of the second parking location.

10. A computerized system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable devices including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of operations that comprise:
identifying, by a first computing system, a geographic location of the first computing system;
sending, by the first computing system and for receipt by a remote, second computing system, a request for information that identifies available parking locations that are relevant to the geographic location;
receiving, by the first computing system and as having been sent by the second computing system in response to the first computing system having sent the request for the information that identifies the available parking locations, information that identifies a first parking location as being available and a second parking location as being available; and
generating, by the first computing system in response to the first computing system having received the information that identifies the first parking location as being available and the second parking location as being available, a user interface that includes:
(i) a first indication that the first parking location is available, and
(ii) a second indication that the second parking location is available.

11. The computerized system of claim 10 , wherein the generated user interface includes:
(i) the first indication positioned on a map in the user interface at a location of the first parking location, and
(ii) the second indication positioned on the map at a location of the second parking location.

12. The computerized system of claim 11 , wherein the generated user interface includes:
(i) an indication of a first number of multiple parking spots that are available at the first parking location, and
(ii) an indication of a second number of multiple parking spots that are available at the second parking location.

13. The computerized system of claim 11 , wherein the generated user interface includes:
(i) an indication of a first price to park at the first parking location, and
(ii) an indication of a second price to park at the second parking location, the first price being different than the second price.

14. The computerized system of claim 10 , wherein:
information that identifies that the first parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a first organization that manages the first parking location; and
information that identifies that the second parking location is available was provided to the second computing system from a second organization that manages the second parking location.

15. The computerized system of claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving, by the first computing system, user input that selects a particular geographic location on a map as being a location of a particular parking location that is available;
sending, by the first computing system, an indication of the particular geographic location for receipt by the second computing system, so as to cause the second computing system to provide an indication to other computing devices that the particular geographic

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Woodard Jason
• Catalano Joseph
• Kotler Ryan
• Rogal Adam Richard

Classifications

• G08G1/148

  Management of a network of parking areas · CPC title

• G08G1/141

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

• G08G1/144 Primary

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

• G08G1/143 Primary

  inside the vehicles · CPC title

• G06Q50/30

  Physics · mapped topic