Abstract:
A parking lot management system comprising a computer host, a handheld device, an entrance sensor, an entrance camera, an entrance stop, an exit sensor, an exit camera, and an exit stop is disclosed. The handheld device interactively transmits data with the entrance sensor and the exit sensor by near-field communication techniques. Each of the entrance camera and the exit camera takes a photo and acquires a license plate number of a vehicle and communicates this information with the computer host. After the computer host confirms and verifies some specific data, the computer host sends instructions to the entrance stop or the exit stop for allowing the vehicle to either enter or exit a parking lot. When exiting the parking lot, the parking fee is paid by the electronic wallet of the handheld device.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    The application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 100114475, filed Apr. 26, 2011, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    1. Field of Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to a parking lot management system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a parking lot management system using near-field communication techniques and license plate recognition techniques. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    With increased modernization, it has become very common to use vehicles for daily transportation. Therefore, parking lots are necessary facilities for any city. There are several kinds of parking lots, such as level parking lots, multi-story parking lots, and mechanical parking lots. One or more parking lot attendants commonly manage a pay parking lot. In this case, the parking lot attendants read a car plate and record an entry time, and may even direct the driver to an available parking space. When the vehicle leaves the parking lot, the calculation and payment related to the parking fee is also proceed by the parking lot attendants. The advantages of such a system include high accuracy in the identification to vehicles and high security of the parking lot due to the presence of the parking lot attendants. The disadvantages include high cost, and the difficulties encountered when the parking lot attendants have to manage a large parking lot. Moreover, data recorded by the parking lot attendants may be used to ascertain the business condition of a particular day, and any type of long-term business analysis is not possible. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    Hence, an aspect of the present invention is to provide a parking lot management system. The parking lot management system comprises a computer host, an entrance sensor, an entrance camera, an entrance stop, an exit sensor, an exit camera, and an exit stop. The computer host has a database. The parking lot management system can work with a handheld device. The handheld device is arranged in a vehicle having a license plate number and comprises a near-field communication interface, a display panel and an electronic wallet. 
         [0007]    The entrance sensor is arranged near an entrance of the parking lot and communicates with the computer host. If the entrance sensor senses a serial number data from the near-field communication interface of the handheld device, the entrance sensor is configured for sharing the serial number data with the computer host to identify a vehicle status, for recording an entry time data and transmitting it to the computer host, and for communicating using near field communication techniques a parking space data generated based on the database with the handheld device to thereby cause the handheld device to display the parking space data on the display panel. The entrance camera is arranged near the entrance of the parking lot and communicates with the computer host. If the vehicle stops by the entrance, the entrance camera is configured for capturing a first photo data of the vehicle, for acquiring a first license plate number data from the license plate number of the vehicle, and for transmitting the first photo data and the first license plate number data to the computer host. The entrance stop is arranged near the entrance of the parking lot and is controlled by the computer host so as to open after receiving an entrance permission signal. 
         [0008]    The exit sensor is arranged near an exit of the parking lot and communicates with the computer host. if the exit sensor senses the serial number data from the near-field communication interface of the handheld device, the exit sensor is configured for transmitting the serial number data to the computer host for a first verification so as to confirm the vehicle status, for recording an exit time data and transmitting it to the computer host, and for communicating with the handheld device using near field communication techniques to pay a parking fee by the electronic wallet. 
         [0009]    The exit camera is arranged near the exit of the parking lot and communicates with the computer host. If the vehicle stops by the exit, the exit camera is configured for capturing a second photo data of the vehicle, for acquiring a second license plate number data from the license plate number of the vehicle, and for transmitting the second photo data and the second license plate number data to the computer host for a second verification of comparing the first photo data with the second photo data and comparing the first license plate number data with the second license plate number data. 
         [0010]    The exit stop is arranged near the exit of the parking lot and is controlled by the computer host so as to open after receiving an exit permission signal generated after the second verification completed. 
         [0011]    In other embodiments, the computer host searches in the database after receiving the serial number data from the entrance sensor. If the search fails to find the serial number data in the database, the vehicle status is set to access permission granted and the computer host stores the serial number data, the first photo and the first license plate number data in the database. 
         [0012]    In other embodiments, the parking space data comprises a parking space number, a location of the parking space, and a route to the parking space. 
         [0013]    In other embodiments, the parking lot management system further comprises a stolen vehicle database and an alarm. The computer host checks the first photo data and the first license plate number data of the vehicle with the stolen vehicle database and activates the alarm if there is a match of either or both the first photo data and the first license plate number data of the vehicle in the stolen vehicle database. 
         [0014]    In other embodiments, the computer host starts searching in the database after receiving the serial number data from the exit sensor. If the serial number data is found in the database, the first verification is completed and the vehicle status is set to departure access granted. 
         [0015]    In other embodiments, the computer host calculates the parking fee based on a time duration between the entry time data and the exit time data and transmits the parking fee to the exit sensor. 
         [0016]    In other embodiments, the parking lot management system further comprises an alarm, wherein the computer host activates the alarm if an error occurs in the first verification or the second verification. 
         [0017]    In other embodiments, the parking lot management system further comprises a parking space sensor arranged in a parking space corresponding to the parking space data and which transmits shop information to the handheld device using near-field communication techniques. 
         [0018]    In other embodiments, the shop information comprises at least one of sales information, shop location information and parking fee information. 
         [0019]    Thus, the above embodiments of the parking lot management system can improve the efficiency and security of the parking lot and also provide convenient financial management to the customers. 
         [0020]    It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]    The invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows: 
           [0022]      FIG. 1A  is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a parking lot management system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 1B  is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of the parking lot management system as shown in  FIG. 1A  in a parking lot. 
           [0024]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating processes associated with a car entering a parking lot using the parking lot management system as shown in  FIG. 1A . 
           [0025]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating processes associated with a car departing from the parking lot using the parking lot management system as shown in  FIG. 1A . 
           [0026]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing an image of an NFC mobile phone using the parking lot management system as shown in  FIG. 1A . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0027]    Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. 
         [0028]      FIGS. 1A-1B  are schematic diagrams showing a parking lot management system in this present application. The parking lot management system comprises a computer host  102  having a database, a car  100  with a license plate number, and a mobile phone  101 . An entrance sensor  105 , an entrance camera  104  and an entrance stop  103  are set up at the entrance  112  of a parking lot. An exit sensor  109 , an exit camera  108  and an exit stop  107  are set up at the exit  110  of the parking lot. A parking space sensor  106  is set up at a parking space  111  of the parking lot. The entrance sensor  105 , the exit sensor  109 , and the parking space sensor  106  can share data with the mobile phone  101  by near-field communication (NFC). 
         [0029]    The mobile phone  101  is held by a passenger or driver in the car  100  and embedded with a near-field communication (NFC) interface, a display panel and an electronic wallet. The database of the computer host  102  comprises a plurality of car data, such as serial number data, entry time data, exit time data, first license plate number data, second license plate number data, first photo data, second photo data, parking space data and parking fee data. 
         [0030]    Each of the entrance camera  104  and the exit camera  108  works with an identification system so as to identify relevant information of the car with reference to the first photo data and the second photo data, such as model, the license plate number, and color. 
         [0031]    As is evident from  FIG. 1B , the entrance  112 , the exit  110  and the parking space  111  may be arranged in various configurations to thereby be suitable for different kinds of parking lots. Hence, the parking lot management system shown in  FIG. 1A  can have widespread applications. 
         [0032]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating processes associated with a car entering the parking lot using the parking lot management system as shown in  FIG. 1A . When the car arrives at the entrance  112 , the car stops in front of the entrance stop  103  (Step  201 ). If the entrance sensor  105  set up near the entrance  112  of the parking lot senses, using near-field communication techniques, a serial number data from the NFC interface of the mobile phone  101 , the entrance sensor  105  shares the serial number data with the computer host  102  to identify a vehicle status, for recording an entry time data and transmitting it to the computer host  102 . Meanwhile, the entrance camera  104  set up near the entrance  112  of the parking lot captures a first photo data of the car, and acquires a first license plate number data from the license plate number of the car. The first photo data and the first license plate number data are transmitted to the computer host  102  (Steps  202 - 203 ). 
         [0033]    The entrance sensor  105  transmits the serial number data to the computer host  102 . The computer host  102  starts searching in the database after receiving the serial number data from the entrance sensor  105  (Step  204 ). If the computer host  102  fails to find the serial number data in the database, the vehicle status of the car  100  is set to access permission granted. The computer host  102  thus stores the serial number data, the first photo and the first license plate number data in the database (Step  205 ). If there is any error, for example, the serial number data has been stored in the database or the serial number data is linked with a stolen car, the computer host  102  activates an alarm (Step  206 ). 
         [0034]    Next, the computer host  102  allocates an available parking space to the car  100  according to the content of the database, such as non-occupied parking spaces of the parking lot at that time, and generates parking space data of the available parking space and transmits the same to the mobile phone  101  for display on the display panel of the mobile phone  101  (Steps  207 - 208 ). The parking space data can be a parking space number, a location, and a route to the available parking space. For example, if the computer host  102  allocates a non-occupied parking space A 1  to be the available parking space for the car  100 , the parking space data that is generated and shown on the mobile phone  101  may include the parking space number of A 1  and a map of the parking lot with an indication of the parking space A 1  and a route from the entrance to the parking space A 1 . 
         [0035]    In addition, in some embodiments, when the car  100  stops at the entrance  112 , the computer host  102  further checks the first photo data and the first license plate number data with a stolen vehicle database obtained from a public website established by the police. When such a check results in a match, the computer host  102  activates an alarm (Steps  209 - 210 ). 
         [0036]    If the above Steps  201 - 210  are executed without activation of an alarm in Step  206  or  210 , the computer host  102  will send an entrance permission signal to the entrance stop  103 , which in response, opens (e.g., a gate is lifted up) to thereby allow the car  100  to move into the parking lot. The driver can thus park the car  100  in the assigned parking space according to the parking space data (Steps  211 - 212 ). 
         [0037]    After the car  100  is parked in the parking space, the user can use the mobile phone  101  to communicate with the parking space sensor  106  set up at the parking space  111  for obtaining shop information, such as daily sales information, information related to shop locations around the parking lot, parking fee information, etc. (Step  213 ). Communication at this time may be conducted using near-field communication techniques. The parking space sensor  106  can thus prevent arbitrary parking and route blocking by the car  100  being parked in the assigned parking space. The parking space sensor  106  may even help to ensure proper use of handicapped parking spaces. 
         [0038]    Therefore, the car driver can easily access parking spaces in the parking lot and quickly know the route and location of the available parking spaces without having to visually search for parking spaces. 
         [0039]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating processes associated with a car departing from the parking lot using the parking lot management system as shown in  FIG. 1A . When leaving the parking lot, the driver can directly drive the car  100  to the exit stop  107  at the exit  110  (Step  301 ). The user in the car  100  uses the mobile phone  101  to communicate with the exit sensor  109  set up at the exit  110  so that the computer host  102  in response proceeds with a first verification, which involves recognizing the vehicle status of the car  100  according to the serial number data. Communication at this time may be conducted using near-field communication techniques. The exit sensor  109  records an exit time data and transmits the same to the computer host  102 . 
         [0040]    Further, the exit camera  108  at the exit  110  captures a second photo data of the car  100  and acquires a second license plate number data from the license plate number of the car  100 . Next, the exit camera  108  transmits the second photo data and the second license plate number data to the computer host  102  for a second verification (Steps  302 - 307 ). 
         [0041]    Specifically, during the first verification, after the computer host  102  receives the serial number data from the exit sensor  102 , the computer host  102  starts searching for the serial number data in the database. If it is determined from the search that the serial number data has been stored in the database, the first verification is completed and the vehicle status of the car  100  is set to departure access granted. At the same time, if any error occurs during the first verification, the computer host  102  activates the alarm immediately (Steps  305 - 306 ). 
         [0042]    During the second verification, after receiving the second photo data and the second license plate number data, the computer host  102  compares the first photo data and the first license plate number data with the first photo data and the second license plate number data, respectively. If the comparison result (degree of similarity) is higher than a default threshold, the second verification is completed. Next, the computer host  102  generates an exit permission signal and sends the exit permission signal to the exit stop  107 . In response, the exit stop  107  opens (e.g., a gate is lifted up) to thereby allow the car  100  to leave the parking lot. At the same time, if any error occurs during the second verification, the computer host  102  activates the alarm immediately to thereby enhance security (Steps  307 - 308 ). 
         [0043]    As a result, if any error occurs during the first verification or the second verification, the computer host  102  activates the alarm immediately. On the other hand, if the first verification and the second verification are completed without any error occurring, the computer host  102  calculates the parking fee based on a time duration between the entry time data and the exit time data and o transmits the parking fee to the exit sensor  109 . The driver can use an electronic wallet of the mobile phone  101  to pay the parking fee. The electronic wallet can be recharged using an internet banking service. After all verification is complete, the computer host  102  sends an exit permission signal to the exit stop  107 , and in response, the exit stop  107  opens (e.g., a gate thereof lifts up) to allow the car  100  to leave the parking lot (Steps  309 - 313 ). 
         [0044]      FIG. 4  depicts a diagram showing an image of an NFC mobile phone using the parking lot management system as shown in  FIG. 1A . After the above-mentioned operations, the mobile phone  101  can display information, such as the serial number data, the entry time data, the exit time data, the parking space number, the parking fee and the electronic wallet balance, on the display panel as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0045]    As is evident from the description provided above, for drivers of vehicles using the parking lot management system disclosed in this present application, it is easy to enter the parking lot by communicating using the NFC chip embedded in the mobile phone with the NFC sensors set up in the parking lot. Such communication only takes a few seconds. The driver thus can know the number, location, and even route to an available parking space right away. When departing, the driver can also use the NFC chip of the mobile phone to communicate with the other NFC sensors set up in the parking lot so as to pay the parking fee and leave the parking lot easily and quickly. As to security provided by the parking lot management system, the cameras at the entrance and exit of the parking lot, which capture images of the vehicles entering and exiting the parking lot and are capable of identifying license plates, can provide a triple-check mechanism. In particular, the first check is that related to determining if the entering car is a stolen car at the entrance, the second check, is that related to determining if the car is parked in the right parking space, and the third check is that related to executing the second verification at the exit. 
         [0046]    Moreover, the parking lot management system disclosed in this present application can further statistically analyze the vehicle data to help establish a better management flow. 
         [0047]    For at least all these reasons, it is obvious that the parking lot management system disclosed in this present application provides a time-saving, convenient, and safe way to manage a parking lot. 
         [0048]    Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. 
         [0049]    Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.