Abstract:
A parking violation recording system, for recording parking violations committed by violating vehicles, using an official vehicle having cameras located along the passenger side and along the driver side near the front and rear of the official vehicle. The operator of the official vehicle positions said vehicle substantially alongside the violating vehicle, and views images from the cameras on a display unit within the official vehicle. Once satisfied with the content of the images, the recording system acquires the images at the operator&#39;s request, and creates a data record memorializing the violation. Numerous data records are stored in image memory for later retrieval.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to a parking violation recording system. More particularly, the invention relates to a system for quickly recording multiple traffic violations. 
     The standard practice of issuing parking violations in most urban areas involves the use of officials, commonly known as “meter-maids”. They scour the streets in search of a violator. Once a violating vehicle is located, the official must exit their vehicle (if not on foot), record important vehicular information, and write out a written acknowledgment of the violation—commonly known as “a ticket”. 
     One of the main limitations of this process is that considerable time must be spent by the official to write up the violation. This time would be more productively used scouring the streets for another violator. In addition, parking violations officials frequently happen upon a street where numerous vehicles are simultaneously violating. Once the official starts “writing up” one vehicle. The owners of the other vehicles quickly catch on, and exit the scene before a violation can be issued to them. 
     While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the invention to provide a parking violation recording system which allows parking violations to be quickly recorded and issued to violating vehicles. Accordingly, the system photographically records the vehicles identity so that a violation can be issued. 
     It is another object of the invention to provide a parking violation recording system which allows multiple parking violations to be quickly recorded. Accordingly, the photographic vehicle identification aspect of the present invention requires minimal time, so that another violating vehicle can be quickly identified by the system shortly thereafter. 
     It is a further object of the invention to immediately notify the vehicle owner that a violation has occurred, and then provide a formal notification thereafter. Accordingly, a receipt sticker is generated, which is placed on the vehicle windshield if time permits, and a formal violation is mailed to the registered owner several days later. 
     It is a still further object of the invention that the identification of the vehicle also serves as evidence of the violation. Accordingly, the identifying photographs may also show the vehicle illegally parked, and are encoded with time and date information, as well as codes for the type of violation. 
     The invention is a parking violation recording system, for recording parking violations committed by violating vehicles, using an official vehicle having cameras located along the passenger side and along the driver side near the front and rear of the official vehicle. The operator of the official vehicle positions said vehicle substantially alongside the violating vehicle, and views images from the cameras on a display unit within the official vehicle. Once satisfied with the content of the images, the recording system acquires the images at the operator&#39;s request, and creates a data record memorializing the violation. Numerous data records are stored in image memory for later retrieval. 
     To the accomplishment of the above and related objects the invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Attention is called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only. Variations are contemplated as being part of the invention, limited only by the scope of the claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the drawings, like elements are depicted by like reference numerals. The drawings are briefly described as follows. 
     FIG. 1 is a top plan view, illustrating the present invention, installed within an official vehicle, recording photographic images of a violating vehicle 
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram, illustrating functional interconnection of various components of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a perspective view (front elevational view?) of a portion of the official vehicle dashboard, showing the display unit in use, displaying to the operator prospective images of the violating vehicle. 
     FIG. 4 is a top plan view of a violating vehicle, wherein a notification card has been placed in the windshield of the violating vehicle. 
     FIG. 5 is a top plan view, illustrating how the present invention may be used to record multiple violating vehicles in rapid succession. 
     FIG. 6 is a flow diagram, illustrating major steps taken in practicing the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 1 illustrates a parking violation recording system  10  in use. The recording system  10  is installed in an official vehicle  12 , having a front  12 F, a rear  12 R, a driver side  12 DS, and a passenger side  12 PS. Cameras  14  are located along the passenger side  12 PS and driver side  12 DS and are oriented at various angles therefrom. 
     As illustrated in FIG. 1, the official vehicle  12  is traveling down a street  20  having a curb  22 . Parking meters  21  are located along the curb  22 . Parked along the curb  22  are civilian vehicles  24 , which each have a license plate  25 . Included among the civilian vehicles  24  is a violating vehicle  24 V which is parked adjacent to an expired parking meter  21 E. Advantageously, an operator of the official vehicle  12  spots the violating vehicle  24 V and positions said official vehicle  12  so that the violating vehicle  24 V and the expired meter  21 E is viewable by the cameras  14 . The official vehicle  12  is then able to record the violation using images acquired by the cameras  14  to an extent necessary to legally establish the violation and the identity of the violating vehicle. 
     In the example of FIG. 1, cameras located along the passenger side  12 S, near the front  12 F and the rear  12 R, are used to record the violation. Installing these cameras alone is suitable for recording parking violations on a two-way street. However, on a one way street, the official vehicle  12  would be “blind” to violations occurring on the driver side  12 DS. Accordingly, the official vehicle should be provided with cameras  14  on both the driver side  12 DS and passenger side  12 PS, arranged in selectable camera arrays for selectively recording violations occurring on either side of the official vehicle  12 . 
     Referring to FIG. 2, the parking violation recording system  10  includes several cameras  14 , which are connected to an image digitizer  30  through a multiplexer  32 , which allows selection of a specific output signal from a specific one of the cameras  14 , so that said output signal can be digitized. 
     Data from the image digitizer  30  is transferred to a processor unit  36 , which provides overall control and functionality to the various components of the parking violation recording system  10 . In particular, the image digitizer  30  is in communication with an image memory unit  38  which is capable of storing numerous data records, which each provide a recordation of a single parking violation or single violating vehicle. A further part of each data record is provided by the time and date clock  40 , such that along with the images, a time stamp is created to provide the necessary evidentiary authentication to the images. The data records may be transferred to a removable storage drive  42 , which is capable of accepting removable media  44 , such as a magnetic disk, magnetic tape cartridge, optical disk, or the like. The data records may be transferred from the image memory  38  to the removable storage drive  42  in plurality at the request of the operator, at a certain pre-set time, or may be transferred individually as the images are acquired. 
     When acquiring the images, it is helpful for the operator to view the images, to ascertain whether they properly memorialize the violation, and to allow the operator to testify to their content. Accordingly, a display unit  46  is provided. In addition, the operator controls  48  allow, among other things, selection of an appropriate time to acquire images. Reference to FIG. 3 illustrates how the operator chooses to acquire the images when appropriate. 
     In FIG. 3, the display unit  46  is located within the official vehicle  12 , in its interior  15 , adjacent to a steering wheel  17 . The display unit  46  shows a pair of display images  60  which represent what one or more of the cameras are currently viewing. The operator controls  48  are located immediately adjacent to the display unit  46 , including an acquire button  50 , view buttons  52 , and a passenger/driver select button  54 . 
     When the official vehicle  12  is in the vicinity of the violating vehicle, the operator views the display unit  46  to determine whether the violating vehicle is properly within the view of the cameras  14 . Referring momentarily to both FIG.  1  and FIG. 3, advantageously when the official vehicle  12  is nearly alongside the violating vehicle, cameras  14  near the front  12 F and rear  12 R provide the display images  60  viewed on the display unit  46 . Depending on which side of the street the violating vehicle is located, the user may press the passenger/driver select button  54  to select cameras on the passenger side  12 PS or driver side  12 DS of the official vehicle  12 . 
     In the case of the violation indicated in FIG. 1, the official vehicle  12  is positioned alongside and just rearward of the violating vehicle  24 V. One of the cameras  14 , located near the front  12 F of the official vehicle  12 , has the side of the vehicle in full view, and is also able to record the violation, by viewing the expired parking meter  21 E. As seen in FIG. 3, this image is shown to the operator as one of the display images  60 . In addition, another one of the cameras  14 , located near the rear  12 R of the official vehicle  12 , has the rear and side of the violating vehicle  24 V in view, and most importantly has the license plate  25  of the violating vehicle  24 V in full view. This image is also shown to the operator as one of the display images. The operator is prompted “ACQUIRE IMAGES?” on the display unit  46 . If the operator is satisfied that the display images  60  adequately record the violation, the operator may press the acquire button  50 , causing the display images  60  to be digitized and stored along with the date and time as a data record. If the operator is not satisfied that the display images  60  adequately record the violation, the operator may reposition the official vehicle  12  until the display images are satisfactory, or may use other means which may be provided to either select alternate cameras or reposition the cameras themselves. The view buttons  62  may be used to scan through the data records previously recorded into the image memory. 
     Referring to FIG. 4, once the violation has been successfully recorded, the operator leaves a notification sticker  70  on the violating vehicle  24 V. The notification sticker  70  may be left under a windshield wiper  27  of the violating vehicle  24 V as shown, or may be adhered to a window  29  of the violating vehicle. The notification sticker  70  preferably contains indicia which informs the driver of the violation, and may be numbered for referencing purposes, either by law enforcement personnel, or possibly even by the civilian owner of the violating vehicle  24 V. 
     To summarize the process by which parking violations are recorded according to the present invention, refer to FIG.  6 . Initially the operator patrols the streets in the official vehicle, until the operator spots a parking violation  100 . Then, depending on the side of the street the violating vehicle is located, the user selects passenger or driver side cameras  102 . Then the operator positions the official vehicle near the violating vehicle  104 , and views the display images on the display unit  106 . Upon viewing the display images, the operator must decide whether crucial data is contained within the display images  108 —in other words, is the violation adequately recorded with the display images  108 . If not, then the operator once again returns to the step of positioning the official vehicle near the violating vehicle  104  and viewing the display image on the display unit  106 , which may be repeated until the operator is satisfied with the display images as viewed on the display unit. When the operator does determine that the crucial data is contained with the display images, the operator chooses to acquire the images  110  by pressing the acquire button among the operator controls, which initiates image acquisition which includes digitization of the images. The current date and time are ascertained  112 , and a data record is created with both the images, and date and time  114 . Of course locational data may also be encoded with the data record using GPS or other location technology. The operator would then leave notification on the violating vehicle  116 . After the violation has been recorded and the operator notified, the operator can immediately return to patrolling the streets for another violating vehicle, until a violation is once again spotted by the operator  100 . 
     Referring to FIG. 5, the parking violation recording system  10  of the present invention is most useful when multiple violations are spotted in the same locale. In FIG. 5, several violating vehicles  24 V are present on the same street  20 , including two violating vehicles  24 V parked next to expired parking meters  21 E, and one “double-parked” vehicle. Using the present invention, all three violations can be recorded within a very short amount of time—before any of the vehicle owners can “catch on” and move their vehicle. In a slight deviation from the ordered steps in FIG. 6, the operator may choose to record all three parking violations before leaving notification on the vehicles. Then, the operator may exit the official vehicle  12  and place notifications on the windshields of each of the vehicles. 
     In conclusion, herein is presented a parking violation recording system which allows an official vehicle to immediately record parking violations when spotted, to increase the efficiency with which parking violations are recorded and the volume which they may be recorded by the official vehicle. The invention is illustrated by example in the drawing figures and the accompanying description. However, such examples are illustrative only. Numerous variations are possible while adhering to the inventive principles. Such variations are contemplated as being a part of the present invention.