Patent ID: 6481622
Filing Date: 2002-11-19
Classification: G07B

Abstract:
A portable parking control unit for enabling a parking attendant to check whether a parked vehicle within a parking system properly commenced a parking period within the system, said control unit comprising:a. a vehicle registration plate reading device for optically reading and producing an image of a vehicle registration number carried by a vehicle registration plate, the reading device including sighting means for aligning the reading device directly with a vehicle registration plate to be read in order to accurately read the vehicle registration number carried by the registration plate, wherein the sighting means includes a low-power alignment laser that is manually aimed at the registration plate by a parking attendant to align the reading device carried by the portable parking control unit with the registration plate, and wherein the sighting means does not include an additional optical marker carried by the vehicle to be sensed to locate the vehicle registration plate; b. a communication unit for communicating with a parking system central computer and for receiving from the central computer vehicle registration numbers for vehicles that had properly commenced a parking period by registering an account number and a vehicle registration number at the commencement of a parking period within the parking system; c. a comparator for comparing vehicle registration numbers received from the central computer with a vehicle registration number that has been read by the reading device; and d. an indicator for providing to a parking attendant information regarding whether the registration number of a parked vehicle corresponds with a registration number of a vehicle that had properly commenced a parking period within the parking system.