Patent ID: 7253747

Claim:
A parking lot management system comprising: a sever for managing parking information about a parking lot having a plurality of parking spaces; a plurality of wireless LAN base stations installed in the parking lot for wirelessly transmitting and receiving the parking information, each of the plurality of wireless LAN base stations having a transmittable and receivable area, the plurality of wireless LAN base stations forming a wireless LAN system such that each of the plurality of wireless LAN base stations can wirelessly connect to a wireless LAN mobile station of a mobile object when the mobile object exists in its own transmittable and receivable area; and communication means for communicating the parking information between the plurality of wireless LAN base stations and the server via an IP network operating with internet protocol, a plurality of parking condition detection devices respectively corresponding to the plurality of parking spaces, wherein the wireless LAN mobile station and the server can communicate the parking information through the wireless LAN system and the communication means, wherein the wireless LAN mobile station of the mobile object has unique identifying information, and accepts or rejects an incoming wireless signal depending on whether identification information in the incoming wireless signal matches the unique identifying information, wherein parking space identification information is provided at each parking space to identify the respective parking space, wherein each of the plurality of parking condition detection devices includes parking condition detecting means for detecting a parking condition showing whether the corresponding parking space is occupied or not by a vehicle, and outputs a parking condition signal showing the parking condition, the parking condition detecting means including an optical sensor, and the parking condition information signal indicating that the corresponding parking space is not occupied by a vehicle if the optical sensor can sense the parking space identification information that is provided at the corresponding parking space and indicating that the corresponding parking space is occupied by a vehicle if the optical sensor cannot sense the parking space identification information that is provided at the corresponding parking space, wherein the server includes parking condition registration means for identifying and registering the parking condition signal per each parking space, wherein the wireless LAN system is configured such that each of the plurality of wireless LAN base stations is wirelessly connected to the corresponding parking condition detection devices within its own transmittable and receivable area, and wherein the parking information is communicated between the plurality of parking condition detection devices and the server through the wireless LAN system and the communication means, and the parking condition signal is supplied to the server so as to be registered by the parking condition registration means.