Abstract:
A parking management system and its control method for controlling a plurality of vehicles and efficiently managing a large-scale parking place are proposed. A parking management system for managing parking of a vehicle includes: a guiding system for automatically guiding the vehicle from a passenger space to a certain parking space; a control system for controlling the guiding system; and a management system for accepting a parking reservation of the vehicle from a terminal system and conveying reservation information and identification information of the vehicle to the control system, wherein after the vehicle arrives at the passenger space and a passenger gets off the vehicle, the control system causes the guiding system to guide the vehicle to, and park the vehicle at, the certain parking space on the basis of the reservation information and the identification information.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a parking management system and its control method. Particularly, the invention relates to a parking management system and its control method suited for use in parking management of a large number of vehicles at a large-scale parking place built on the premises of a large-scale facility such as a large-scale commercial facility or a large-scale amusement facility. 
       BACKGROUND ART 
       [0002]    For example, a parking apparatus described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2011-089354 is known as a conventional parking management system. This parking apparatus is designed for the purpose of making it possible to automatically park a vehicle equipped with a self-propelled function in a mechanical parking apparatus only by leaving the vehicle behind by a driver. The parking apparatus is configured so that a vehicle which moves onto an attitude control device from outside and stops there is detected by a vehicle measurement device and front and rear positions, directions, and size of the vehicle are calculated by an arithmetic controller of a receiving-side control device; and the arithmetic controller obtains a parking approval of the vehicle from a driving controller for a vehicle-side control device by means of radio communication and also issues a command to the vehicle-side control device to maintain the vehicle in a state capable of self-driving, further issues a direction change command to the attitude control device on the basis of the front and back positions and directions of the vehicle as calculated by the arithmetic controller to turn the front and rear directions of the vehicle towards a direction of a car stop space, and further issues a loading command from the receiving-side control device to the vehicle-side control device to have the driving controller make the vehicle automatically drive along a track calculated by the arithmetic controller and load the vehicle, which is on the attitude control device, into the car stop space. 
       CITATION LIST 
     Patent Literature 
       [0003]    PTL 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2011-089354 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Problems to be Solved by the Invention 
       [0004]    A large-scale facility such as a large-scale commercial facility or a large-scale amusement facility needs to manage parking of a large number of visiting vehicles; however, the conventional mechanical parking apparatus cannot be applied to such parking management in the first place. Thus, the actual circumstance is that: land or a building where the large number of vehicles can be parked is provided adjacent to the large-scale facility, and a visitor drives their vehicle by themselves to a parking space and parks the vehicle there, and then walks to an entrance of the large-scale facility. 
         [0005]    Then, the visitor has to experience inconveniences of, for example, having to: drive the vehicle for long time to find a parking space of the vehicle when the large-scale facility is crowded; and walk to the entrance for a long distance when the parking space of the vehicle is located far from the entrance. 
         [0006]    On the other hand, valet parking which is conducted at some hotels, restaurants, etc. is known as a parking management method capable of solving visitors&#39; inconveniences. Regarding the valet parking, when a visitor gets out their vehicle at the entrance, an attendant of the facility moves the vehicle to a parking space. Thus, the valet parking has the advantage of solving various inconveniences experienced by the visitor when they have to park the vehicle themselves. 
         [0007]    However, vehicle parking by the valet parking depends on manpower, so that it would be hardly acceptable to apply the valet parking to the parking management at the large-scale parking place built on the premises of the large-scale facility. 
         [0008]    Thus, the present invention aims at proposing a parking management system and its control method capable of solving the inconveniences caused upon parking vehicles at the large-scale parking place built on the premises of the large-scale facility, and efficiently managing parking of a large number of vehicles. 
       Means to Solve the Problems 
       [0009]    In order to solve the above-described problems, a parking management system for managing parking of vehicles according to the present invention includes: a guiding system for automatically guiding a vehicle from a passenger space to a certain parking space; a control system for controlling the guiding system; and a management system for accepting a parking reservation of the vehicle from a terminal system and conveying reservation information and identification information of the vehicle to the control system, wherein the control system causes, after the vehicle arrives at the passenger space and a passenger gets off the vehicle, the guiding system to guide the vehicle to, and park the vehicle at, the certain parking space on the basis of the reservation information and the identification information. 
       Advantageous Effects of the Invention 
       [0010]    A parking management system and its control method capable of solving the inconveniences caused upon parking vehicles at the large-scale parking place built on the premises of the large-scale facility, and efficiently managing parking of a large number of vehicles can be realized according to the present invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a parking management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a hardware block diagram of the parking management system according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a functional block diagram of the parking management system according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a vehicle route diagram of the parking management system according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a reservation information table according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is an environment information table according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  is a vehicle information table according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 8  is a processing flow of a control server according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 9  is a sequence diagram at the time of parking vehicles according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 10  is a sequence diagram at the time of unloading vehicles according to the embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 11  illustrates a guiding robot according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 12  illustrates a control robot and a control robot according to the embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 13  is a user history table according to the embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
       [0024]    A parking management system according to the present invention is preferred as it can efficiently achieve parking management of a large number of vehicles, even when the valet parking is applied to a large-scale parking place built on the premises of a large-scale facility. Embodiments of the present invention will be explained below with reference to the drawings. 
       (1) First Embodiment 
       [0025]    (1-1) Configuration of Parking Management System According to this Embodiment 
         [0026]    Referring to  FIG. 1  reference numeral  1  represents a parking management system according to this embodiment as a whole. This parking management system  1  is configured by including: a user terminal  11  held and used by a user of the parking management system  1 ; a vehicle  12  for the user to get in as a passenger; a control center  13  that accepts a reservation from the user terminal and issues instructions to the vehicle  12 ; and a parking place  14  that acquires environment information (information from a camera  14 B, a pressure sensor  14 A, a car stop sensor  14 C, etc., which will be described later, in the parking place  14 ) and informs the control center  13  of the status. 
         [0027]    The user terminal  11  which is a terminal system is a smartphone or a car navigation system, has a function exchanging information with the control center  13 , and transmits reservation information to the control center  13 . The control center  13  transmits detailed information to the user terminal  11  according to the reservation information. 
         [0028]    The parking place  14  is equipped with a pressure sensor  14 A, a camera  14 B, and a car stop sensor  14 C as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The parking place  14  acquires information indicating whether the vehicle  12  has passed the relevant place or not, from the pressure sensor  14 A, acquires availability information of the parking place from the car stop sensor  14 C, and acquires recognized object information (described later) (information about, for example, people and vehicles  30  described later which are not managed by the control center  13  and cannot be automatically guided) about a detected and recognized obstacle(s) from the camera  14 B. The parking place  14  transmits the acquired information to the control center  13 . The parking place  14  is equipped with an indicator light, a screen, a speaker, etc, which are not illustrated in the drawing and displays alert information and parking status on the indicator light, the screen, the speaker, etc. according to instructions from the control center  13 . 
         [0029]    The vehicle  12  is equipped with an automatic driving system which is a guiding system, and a control system described later causes a guiding system to prepare for automatic guiding of the vehicle  12  on the basis of the reservation information at the time of parking the vehicle  12 , and the guiding system parks the vehicle  12  in a parking space  140  (described later) designated according to an instruction from the control center. In other words, the control system remotely operates the vehicle  12  from a passenger space  140 A (described later) to the parking space  140  via the guiding system. 
         [0030]    Similarly, at the time of unloading the vehicle  12 , the control system causes the guiding system to prepare for automatic guiding of the vehicle  12  on the basis of the reservation information and the guiding system unloads the vehicle  12  from the designated parking space  140  according to an instruction from the control center  13 . 
         [0031]    The control center  13  is equipped with a control server  130  including an interface  13 A, a CPU  13 B, a memory  13 C, and an external storage apparatus  13 D as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . The control server  130  is a computer such as a server for an open system or a mainframe computer and the interface  13 A exchanges information with the user terminal  11 , the vehicle  12 , and the parking place  14 . 
         [0032]    The external storage apparatus  13 D is, for example, HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) or SSDs (Solid State Drives). The memory  13 C is, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a RAM (Random Access Memory) and stores various types of data and programs, etc. which are necessary for processing of the CPU  13 B which is a CPU (Central Processing Unit). 
         [0033]    The external storage apparatus  13 D is equipped with a management database  139  ( FIG. 3 ) including a reservation information table T 1  and an environment information table T 2  which will be described later. Furthermore, the memory  13 C includes a reservation module  131 , an environment analysis module  132 , a position selection module  133 , a route designing module  134 , a route instruction module  135 , a judgment module  136 , a status reception module  137 , and an image analysis module  138  as illustrated in  FIG. 3 . Note that the reservation module  131  is a management system; and the control system includes the environment analysis module  132 , the position selection module  133 , the route designing module  134 , the route instruction module  135 , the judgment module  136 , the status reception module  137 , and the image analysis module  138 . The management database  139  is used by the control system, but may be used by the management system. Note that the image analysis module  138  may be part of the environment analysis module  132 . 
         [0034]    The reservation module  131  receives the reservation information including positional information, which indicates a user ID, reservation time, and a present position, and entry-exit information from the user terminal  11  and transmits the reservation information to the judgment module  136 . The judgment module  136  judges a car stop position on the basis of the reservation information and transmits the car stop position to the reservation module  131 . In response, the reservation module  131  transmits detailed information including the car stop position to the user terminal  11 . Note that the judgment module  136  may judge, as the car stop position, a passenger space  140 A which is not crowded or the passenger space  140 A of a parking place  14  which has more empty spaces described later than those of other parking places  14 . 
         [0035]    The user ID is information for the parking management system  1  to identify the user and is determined unambiguously for each user. The reservation time is desired time to park or unload the vehicle, which is input by the user into the user terminal  11 ; and the positional information is information such as GPS (Global Positioning System) held by the user terminal  11 . The entry-exit information is information which is input by the user into the user terminal and is information about a reservation of parking the vehicle (parking reservation) or a reservation of unloading the vehicle (unloading reservation). 
         [0036]    In the case of the unloading reservation, when the reservation time is not input or unloading the vehicle is not completed by the reservation time, estimated unloading time, in addition to the car stop position, is included in the detailed information (unloading information); and when the unloading is completed, the detailed information (unloading completion notification) is transmitted again. Note that in the case of the unloading reservation, the user ID and the car number, in addition to the car stop position as an unloading position, may be included in the detailed information. Furthermore, in the case of the unloading reservation, the reservation information as unloading instruction information may not include the positional information. In the case of the parking reservation, when the reservation time is not input, time when the reservation is made is set as the reservation time. Note that in the case of the parking reservation, when the parking place  14  is crowded at that time, reservation time which is different from the reservation time entered by the user may be included in the detailed information so that the user will be requested to shift time to come to the parking place  14 . 
         [0037]    Note that the entry-exit information does not have to be input by the user and may be automatically judged by the reservation module  131  on the basis of the positional information, etc. For example, if the position indicated by the positional information is more than 10 km away from the parking place  14  and the reservation is for that day, it may be judged as the parking reservation. Furthermore, if a parking reservation of the same user is made immediately before the relevant reservation, the relevant reservation may be judged as the unloading reservation. 
         [0038]    In order to find a destination in the case of the parking reservation, the judgment module  136  receives information indicating which parking space  140  is empty (empty space), from the car stop sensor  14 C via the environment analysis module  132 . The judgment module  136  transmits judgment information to the position selection module  133  on the basis of this received information; and the position selection module  133  selects the parking space  140  as the destination to park each vehicle  12  on the basis of this judgment information. In other words, the control system searches for the empty space. In the case of the unloading reservation, the passenger space  140 A described later is the destination instead of the parking space  140 . 
         [0039]    The judgment module  136  receives information indicating which route is available, from the pressure sensor  14 A via the environment analysis module  132 . The route designing module  134  designs which route each vehicle  12  should take to the parking space  140  selected by the position selection module  133  also in consideration of this received judgment information. 
         [0040]    The route instruction module  135  receives design information from the route designing module  134  and issues a route instruction as a movement instruction to the vehicle  12 . Furthermore, in a case of a route change, the route instruction module  135  transmits route instruction information to the status reception module  137  (movement route modification instruction). 
         [0041]    The status reception module  137  receives a vehicle status from the vehicle  12  on the basis of the positional information from the GPS, etc. mounted on the vehicle  12  and speed information from a car speed sensor, etc. mounted on the vehicle  12  and transmits the vehicle status to the judgment module  136  (to perform, for example, the user&#39;s vehicle position notification). The judgment module  136  judges whether it is necessary to conduct a route change or not, on the basis of this vehicle status; and then issues an instruction to the route designing module. Note that in an indoor case, the position may be estimated by SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). 
         [0042]    Note that when the vehicle  12  transmits the vehicle status to the status reception module  137  for the first time after communication between the vehicle  12  and the status reception module  137  is established, vehicle information of a vehicle information table T 3  described later which is identification information of the vehicle may be transmitted to the status reception module  137 . The route designing module  134  acquires the vehicle information of the vehicle information table T 3  via the judgment module  136  and can thereby design a route by considering, for example, the difference in path traveled by front and rear wheels in turning. The vehicle information table T 3  is included in the management database  139 . 
         [0043]    The image analysis module  138  acquires image information from the camera  14 B and transmits the recognized object information based on the image information to the judgment module  136 . The judgment module  136  transmits judgment information based on the recognized object information to the position selection module  133  and the route designing module  134 ; the position selection module  133  selects the parking space  140  on the basis of the judgment information; and the route designing module  134  designs the route on the basis of the judgment information. 
         [0044]    (1-2) Outlines of Parking Management According to this Embodiment 
         [0045]      FIG. 4  illustrates the parking place  14 . The parking place  14  includes: the passenger space  140 A for the user who is a passenger of a vehicle  12  to get in or out the vehicle; a parking area  140 B to park a vehicle(s)  12 ; and a temporary parking space  140 C to temporarily park the vehicle(s)  12 . The parking area  140 B includes parking spaces  141 ,  142 ,  143 , and  144  for the respective vehicles  12  to park. 
         [0046]    Note that when the vehicle  12  is automatically guided to the passenger space  140 A by the guiding system at the time of unloading the vehicle and then the control system determines that predetermined specified time has passed without the user who is scheduled to use the vehicle  12  arriving at the passenger space  140 A, the control system causes the guiding system to move the vehicle  12  to the temporary parking space  140 C. Note that when the control system determines that the reservation time has passed, the control system may cause the guiding system to move the vehicle  12  to the temporary parking space  140 C. 
         [0047]    Referring to  FIG. 4 , the vehicle  12  represents vehicles  12 A,  12 B, and  12 C, each one of which is automatically guided. The user terminal  11  represents user terminals  11 B and  11 C. Let us assume that the user terminal  11 B made a parking reservation of the vehicle  12 B and the user terminal  11 C made an unloading reservation of the vehicle  12 C. Furthermore, the parking space  140  represents parking spaces  141 ,  142 ,  143 , and  144 . 
         [0048]    The parking space  144  is selected for the vehicle  12 A by the position selection module  133  ( FIG. 3 ); the parking space  141  is selected for the vehicle  12 B by the position selection module  133 ; and the vehicles  12 A and  12 B start to move respectively according to their routes designated by the route instruction module  135  ( FIG. 3 ). Furthermore, the vehicle  12 C has moved according to its route designated by the route instruction module  135  and has arrived at the passenger space  140 A selected by the position selection module  133 . 
         [0049]    Note that the passenger space  140 A, the parking area  140 B, and the temporary parking space  140 C can fluxionally change their partitions. Furthermore, the parking area  140 B may be set as an area here only the automatically guided vehicles  12  can pass, or an area where humans and the vehicles  30  which cannot be automatically guided can pass, or may be changed on a time basis. Furthermore, only part of the parking area  140 B may be set as an area where only the automatically guided vehicles  12  can pass, or its area partitions may be changed on a time basis. 
         [0050]    (1-3) Various Tables According to this Embodiment 
         [0051]      FIG. 5  illustrates the reservation information table T 1 . The reservation information table T 1  is composed of a user ID row T 11 , a reservation time row T 12 , an entry-exit row T 13 , a car stop position row T 14 , a positional information row T 15 , and a number row T 16 . 
         [0052]    The judgment module  136  stores the user ID, the reservation time, the entry-exit information, and the positional information, which are the reservation information received from the user terminal  11 , respectively in the user ID row T 11  to the entry-exit row T 13 , and the positional information row T 15  of the reservation information table T 1  for the management database  139 . The user ID and the car number of the vehicle  12  are associated with each other in a one-to-one relationship in the management database  139 ; and once the content of the user ID row T 11  is decided, the content of the car number row T 16  will be automatically decided. 
         [0053]    The judgment module  136  judges the car stop position, which is the detailed information, on the basis of the reservation information and the judgment module  136  stores the car stop position in the car stop position row T 14  of the reservation information table T 1  for the management database  139 . 
         [0054]      FIG. 6  illustrates the environment information table T 2 . The environment information table T 2  is composed of a recognition ID row T 21 , an intra-parking-place position (X-coordinate) row T 22 , an intra-parking-place position (Y-coordinate) row T 23 , a destination row T 24 , and a recognized object row T 25 . 
         [0055]    A recognition ID, an intra-parking-place position (X-coordinate), an intra-parking-place position (Y-coordinate), a destination, and a recognized object, which are the recognized object information, are stored in the recognition ID row T 21 , the intra-parking-place position (X-coordinate) row T 22 , the intra-parking-place position (Y-coordinate) row T 23 , the destination row T 24 , and the recognized object row T 25 , respectively. The judgment module  136  stores the recognized object information in the environment information table T 2 . The image analysis module  138  analyzes the recognized information from the image information and transmits the analyzed recognized information to the judgment module  136 . 
         [0056]    The image analysis module  138  assigns the recognition ID to recognized objects which are recognized by analyzing the image information acquired form the camera  14 B. For example, the numbers starting from one may be sequentially assigned as the recognition ID to the recognized objects in the recognized order. 
         [0057]    The image analysis module  138  analyzes the image information acquired from the camera  14 B and calculates the intra-parking-place position (X-coordinate) and the intra-parking-place position (Y-coordinate) which are values of the coordinate system (X-coordinate, Y-coordinate) illustrated in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0058]    The image analysis module  138  analyzes the image information acquired from the camera  14 B, extracts the outline of the recognized object and calculates the destination by tracking the outline across frames. 
         [0059]    The image analysis module  138  analyzes the image information acquired from the camera  14 B and recognizes the recognized object by means of, for example, pattern matching. In a case of a vehicle  30  which cannot be automatically guided, its car number is recognized by, for example, pattern matching. 
         [0060]    The environment information table T 2  illustrated in  FIG. 6  is configured only on the basis of the image information which the image analysis module  138  has acquired from the camera  14 B; however, the content of the environment information table T 2  may be configured on the basis of information from the pressure sensor  14 A and the car stop sensor  14 C. 
         [0061]    For example, the judgment module  136  may acquire the information of the pressure sensor  14 A via the environment analysis module  132  and judge the destination based on that information. Furthermore, the judgment module  136  may acquire the information of the car stop sensor  14 C via the environment analysis module  132  and may judge whether the vehicle is moving towards the parking space  140  or not. 
         [0062]      FIG. 7  illustrates the vehicle information table T 3 . The vehicle information table T 3  is composed of a vehicle ID row T 31 , a length row T 32 , a height row T 33 , a type row T 34 , a vehicle type row T 35 , a car number row T 36 , a color row T 37 , and an owner row T 38 . 
         [0063]    Vehicle information includes a vehicle ID, length information, height information, type information, a vehicle type, a car number, color information, and owner information. The judgment module  136  stores the vehicle information in the respective rows of the vehicle information table T 3 . 
         [0064]    The vehicle ID is information for identifying the relevant vehicle  12  and the numbers starting from one may be sequentially assigned to vehicles  12  in the identified order. The length information is information about the length of the vehicle  12  and may be used to, for example, calculate the difference in path traveled by front and rear wheels of the vehicle  12  in turning. The height information is information about the height of the vehicle  12 ; and when selecting the parking space  140 , the position selection module  133  may refer to the height information and compare it with, for example, information about height limitations of the parking space  140 . The type information is information about the type of the vehicle  12  and the difference in path traveled by front and rear wheels in turning may be set as a fixed value for each type. 
         [0065]    The vehicle type is information about a vehicle type of the vehicle  12  and the difference in path traveled by front and rear wheels in turning may be fixed for each vehicle type. The car number is a car number of the vehicle  12 ; the color information is a color of the vehicle  12 ; and the owner information is information about an owner of the vehicle  12 . 
         [0066]    (1-4) Various Processing According to this Embodiment 
         [0067]      FIG. 8  illustrates a processing flow of the control server  130 . Firstly, the position selection module  133  selects a parking space  140  for each vehicle  12  according to the reservation information from the user terminal  11  (SP 11 ) and transmits the selected content to the route designing module  134 . Next, the judgment module  136  judges positions and status (such as waiting time) of other vehicles  12  with respect to each vehicle  12  (SP 12 ) and transmits the judged content to the route designing module  134 . Subsequently, the route designing module  134  designs the shortest route to the relevant parking space  140  with respect to each vehicle  12  (SP 13 ). 
         [0068]    The judgment module  136  judges whether or not other vehicles exist on the shortest route designed by the route designing module  134  (SP 14 ). When an affirmative judgment result is obtained in SP 14  (SP 14 : YES), the judgment module  136  subtracts required time to pass the shortest route from required time to pass another route which is the second shortest route (which is designed by the route designing module  134 ) after the shortest route. The judgment module  136  judges whether the result of this subtraction is shorter than waiting time when the shortest route is selected (SP 15 ). Note that the judgment module  136  judges the required time and the waiting time by referring to the vehicle status of each vehicle  12 . 
         [0069]    When an affirmative judgment result is obtained in SP 15  (SP 15 : YES), the route instruction module  135  issues an instruction to the vehicle  12  to take another route (detour) (SP 16 ). When a negative judgment result is obtained in SP 14  (SP 14 : NO) and when a negative judgment result is obtained in SP 15  (SP 15 : NO), the route instruction module  135  issues an instruction to the vehicle to take the shortest route (SP 17 ). 
         [0070]      FIG. 9  is a sequence diagram at the time of parking the vehicle  12 . The user terminal  11  transmits the reservation information, including the user ID and the present position, to the control server  130  (SP 21 ). In response to this reservation information, the control server  130  transmits a response including the car stop position to the user terminal  11  (SP 22 ). 
         [0071]    After transmitting this response, the control server  130  transmits a movement instruction including the destination and the route information to the vehicle  12  (SP 23 ). In response to this movement instruction, the vehicle  12  transmits a response to the control server  130  (SP 24 ). After transmitting this response, the vehicle  12  regularly transmits the user&#39;s vehicle position notification to the control server  130  (SP 25 ). The control server  130  may transmit a movement route modification instruction, including the destination and the route information, to the vehicle  12  (SP 26 ). 
         [0072]    When the vehicle  12  arrives at the destination, it transmits an arrival notification to the control server  130  (SP 27 ). After receiving this arrival notification, the control server  130  may transmit a parking completion notification to the user terminal  11  (SP 28 ). 
         [0073]      FIG. 10  illustrates a sequence diagram at the time of unloading the vehicle  12 . Since steps SP 33  to SP 37  in which the control server  130  and the vehicle  12  exchange information with each other are similar to steps SP 23  to SP 27 , an explanation about them has been omitted. 
         [0074]    The user terminal  11  transmits unloading instruction information, including the user ID, to the control server  130  (SP 31 ). In response to this unloading instruction information, the control server  130  transmits unloading information, including the car number, estimated unloading time, and an unloading position, to the user terminal  11  (SP 32 ). After transmitting this unloading information, the control server  130  transmits a movement instruction, including the destination and the route information, to the vehicle  12  (SP 33 ). 
         [0075]    When the vehicle  12  arrives at the destination, it transmits the arrival notification to the control server  130  (SP 37 ). After receiving this arrival notification, the control server  130  transmits an unloading completion notification, including the user ID, the car number, and the unloading position, to the user terminal  11  (SP 38 ). 
         [0076]    (1-5) Advantageous Effects of this Embodiment 
         [0077]    With the parking management system  1  according to this embodiment for having the control center  13  manage the parking place as described above, individual vehicles  12  are not manage separately, but the vehicles  12  can share information through the intermediation of the control center  13 . 
         [0078]    Therefore, a plurality of vehicles  12  can be controlled and the large-scale parking place  14  can be managed efficiently by employing this parking management system  1 . 
         [0079]    Furthermore, as a result of informing the user of the estimated unloading time, the user can recognize how much longer they can stay at a store and, therefore, wasteful waiting time can be saved and the opportunities for the user to purchase products until the estimated unloading time can be increased. 
       (2) Second Embodiment 
       [0080]    The first embodiment is designed on the premise that the vehicle  12  is equipped with the guiding system and can be controlled by the control center  13  and be automatically guided; and if the vehicle  12  is not equipped with the guiding system, the first embodiment cannot be applied. 
         [0081]    Thus, in this embodiment, a vehicle  30  which cannot be automatically guided can be recognized as the vehicle  12  in a simulative manner by placing a guiding robot  20 , which is a carrier robot illustrated in  FIG. 11 , under the vehicle  30  which cannot be automatically guided, as illustrated in  FIG. 12 . Note that the guiding robot  200  may be caused by the control system to wait in the passenger space  140 A ( FIG. 4 ). Furthermore, the guiding robot  20  can be self-driven in a state where the vehicle  30  is mounted on it. 
         [0082]    The guiding robot  20  includes: a lengthwise-direction extension/contraction module  21  which can extend and contract according to the length of the vehicle  30  which cannot be automatically guided; and widthwise-direction extension/contraction modules  22  which can extend and contract according to the width of the vehicle  30  which cannot be automatically guided. The guiding robot  20  is equipped with a guiding system, so that the vehicle  30  can be recognized as being equivalent to the vehicle  12  by attaching the guiding robot  20  to the vehicle  30  which cannot be automatically guided. 
         [0083]    Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to automatically guide the vehicle  30 , which cannot be automatically guided, in the same manner as in the first embodiment. 
         [0084]    Furthermore, a control robot  40  equipped with a control system as illustrated in  FIG. 12  may control the guiding robot  20 . The control server may be equipped with a control system and the control robot  40  may serve an assisting role. 
       (3) Other Embodiments 
       [0085]    Note that in the first and second embodiments, the management database  139  may include a user history table T 4  illustrated in  FIG. 13 ; and whether the user will park their vehicle on that day or not, or whether the user will unload their vehicle if they have already parked it, may be predicted according to the user&#39;s behavior pattern in the past and a confirmation may be made by, for example, sending e-mail to the user. 
         [0086]    The user history table T 4  includes: a user ID row T 41  that stores the aforementioned user ID; a car number row T 42  that stores the aforementioned car number; a store visit date row T 43  that stores the user&#39;s store visit date; a store visit time row T 44  that stores time when the user visited the store; a store leaving time row T 45  that stores time when the user left the store; and a purchase history row T 46  that stores products purchased by the user at the store (purchased products). 
         [0087]    Note that regarding the store herein used, when there is a common parking place for a plurality of stores like a shopping mall, the individual stores may be displayed separately or the shopping mall may be displayed as one store. The judgment module  136  stores the content of each row of the user history table T 4  for the management database  139 . 
         [0088]    The information of the store visit date, the store visit time, the store leaving time, and the purchased products are acquired by the user terminal  11 ; the user terminal  11  transmits such information to the judgment module  136  via the reservation module  131 ; and the information is saved as, for example, a movement history of the vehicle in the management database  139 . 
         [0089]    Furthermore, in the first and second embodiments, the parking space  140  has a uniform size, but may be a variable space; and the position selection module  133  may select the parking space  140  of the vehicle  12  according to the vehicle information from the vehicle  12 . The number of parking spaces  140  in the parking place  14  where vehicles  12  are parked can be increased by making the parking space  140  variable. In other words, utilization efficiency of the parking dimensions, that is, the planar dimensions of the parking place  14  can be enhanced. Note that the utilization efficiency of the parking dimensions can be enhanced by narrowing or decreasing routes according to the vehicle information from the vehicle  12 . 
         [0090]    In the first and second embodiments, when there is any other vehicle(s) on the shortest route, only the second shortest route is considered as a comparison target as the other route; however, the number of routes to be compared is not limited to two. 
         [0091]    In the first and second embodiments, the car stop sensor  14 C is used to find the destination; however, the camera  14 B may also be used for that purpose. Furthermore, the pressure sensor  14 A is used to judge whether there is any available route or not; however, the camera  14 B may also be used for that purpose. 
         [0092]    Additionally in the first and second embodiments, the vehicle(s)  12 , and the vehicle(s)  30 , which is not guided and on which the guiding robot  20  is provided, are not presented together here, however may be presented together. Not only the guiding robot  20 , but also a forklift, etc. may be used to guide the vehicle  30  not guided. 
       REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 
       [0000]    
       
           1 : parking management system 
           11 : user terminal 
           12 ,  30 : vehicle 
           13 : control center 
           130 : control server 
           131 : reservation module 
           133  position selection module 
           134 : route designing module 
           135 : route instruction module 
           136 : judgment module 
           137 : status reception module 
           138 : image analysis module 
           139 : management database 
           14 : parking place 
           20 : guiding robot 
           40 : control robot