Patent ID: 8632290

Claim:
An automated parking system for a multi-level parking structure, wherein the automated parking system includes a rack structure that is integrated as part of the parking structure, the system comprising: a controller for receiving a vehicle loading request from a vehicle customer; a loading bay for accepting the vehicle; a shuttle for transporting the vehicle horizontally on each level of the parking structure, wherein the shuttle is configured to transport the vehicle horizontally in a continuous operation between loading the vehicle onto the shuttle and removing the vehicle from the shuttle and includes: a carriage for moving horizontally along powered rails, a plurality of motorized rollers for providing motive power to transport the shuttle along the powered rails, a parasitic drive motor, and a powered conveyor for transferring the vehicle on and off the shuttle; a first plurality of powered parking cells, each powered parking cell of the plurality of powered parking cells including an RFID tag that includes data to flag whether a specific powered parking cell is occupied or empty, to indicate if a vehicle is present in the specific powered parking cell; a second plurality of parasitic parking cells, each parasitic parking cell of the plurality of parasitic parking cells having a parasitic conveyor for transferring the vehicle from the shuttle into said parasitic parking cell and including an RFID tag that includes data to flag whether a specific parasitic parking cell is occupied or empty, to indicate if a vehicle is present in the specific parasitic parking cell; and an intelligent Flag controller that triggers a WRITE command in response to the flag from one of the RFID tags, wherein the parasitic drive motor is structured and arranged to mechanically engage the parasitic conveyor of said parasitic parking cell to transfer the vehicle off of the shuttle and into said parasitic parking cell.