Patent ID: 7123167

Claim:
A vehicle parking assistance electronic timer system comprising: data storage means for storing sets of data relating to: (a) parking locations at which a vehicle is to be parked, and (b) parking regulations, individually associated with the parking locations, that govern at least one of: (1) the days of the week and the times of the day during which the parking of vehicles is permitted at the associated parking locations, and (2) the days of the week and the times of the day during which the parking of vehicles is not permitted at the associated parking locations; data entry means for entering data relating to: (a) a selected one of the stored parking locations, (b) the day of the week that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location, (c) the time of the day that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location, and (d) the period of time that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location; means for: (a) accessing from the data storage means, in response to the entered data relating to the selected parking location, the stored data relating to the parking regulations associated with the selected parking location, and (b) processing: (1) the entered data relating to the day of the week that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location, (2) the entered data relating to the time of the day that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location, and (3) the entered data relating to the period of time that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location with the accessed data relating to the parking regulations associated with the selected parking location to determine: (1) if parking a vehicle at the selected parking location for the period of time that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location is permitted, and (2) when the period of time that a vehicle is permitted to be parked at the selected parking location will expire; display means for displaying information relating to at least one of: (a) a selected one of the stored parking locations, (b) the day of the week that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location, (c) the time of the day that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location, (d) the period of time that a vehicle is to be parked at the selected parking location, and (e) the parking regulations associated with the selected location; and alarm means, responsive to: (a) the determination that parking at the selected parking location is permitted, and (b) the determination when the period of time that a vehicle is permitted to be parked at the selected parking location will expire, for notifying a user of the vehicle parking assistance unit that the time period for the parking of a vehicle at the selected parking location will expire in a predetermined period of time.