WO2006129270A2

WO2006129270A2 - System and method for payment of parking fee for a motor vehicle

Info

Publication number: WO2006129270A2
Application number: PCT/IB2006/051713
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christoph Herrmann
Original assignee: Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh; Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Priority date: 2005-06-02
Filing date: 2006-05-30
Publication date: 2006-12-07
Also published as: WO2006129270A3

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and a method for payment of a parking fee for a motor vehicle (11). The method comprises the steps of: transmitting (21, 31) an identification code by the driver to a central parking terminal (12) by use of a mobile communication terminal (13); registering (22, 32) a time of transmitting and the identification code within the central parking terminal (12); charging of parking fee onto an account of a mobile communication terminal (13) depending on the identification code; transmitting (24, 33) a registration data unit from the central parking terminal (12) to the mobile communication terminal (13) of the driver; transmitting (26, 35) the registration data unit from the mobile communication terminal (13) to a receiving device (14) located in the motor vehicle (11) or associated to the parking slot (15) and storing (25, 36) the registration data unit in the receiving device (14). By retransmitting a registration data unit to the mobile communication terminal (13) the registration data unit can be signaled to a traffic warden (17). This provides the advantage that the traffic warden (17) may issue a parking fine ticket to the motor vehicle (11) at the moment of checking. A further advantage is that the communication effort is reduced for the traffic warden (17). So the number of motor vehicles (11) which may be checked in a certain amount of time is increased in comparison to the situation where the traffic warden (17) has to contact a central parking terminal (12) for each motor vehicle (11) separately.

Description

System and method for payment of parking fee for a motor vehicle

The invention relates to a method for payment of a parking fee for motor vehicle. Further, it relates to a system for payment of parking fee.

Currently, automobile drivers have to buy a parking ticket for their car in public parking places at a ticketing machine somewhere in the area and to deposit the ticket in their car. The ticket machines are sparsely distributed near the parking area. So it can be time consuming to find the ticket machine, buy the ticket, go back to the car, again open the door and deposit the ticket.

The checking whether the parking fees are correctly paid can only be performed by a traffic warden in a spot check manner. To simplify the above-mentioned procedure it is known to use the mobile communication terminal of the driver.

The WO 96/11453 Al describes a pay -parking management system built around a mobile telephone network, where the user makes a call with his mobile telephone to a parking server in order to indicate the selected parking area and supply a vehicle identifier such as a license plate number and possibly a personal identifier code. The parking server records the call data and the time when the parking period starts. When the user leaves the parking space he or she calls the server once again to inform the server of the leaving time. The server calculates the fees due from the user and makes out a bill, either directly to the user or through the mobile phone operator or through other parties such as banks.

Since there is no feedback to the driver or the motor vehicle parked or the parking slot the traffic warden may contact the parking server for checking whether the considered car is registered correctly, i.e. it is known to the server that the motor vehicle is occupying a parking slot. In case that the car is not correctly registered the driver will receive a ticket indicating a parking fine, which is called in the following a "parking fine ticket". In contrast to this, the ticket, which indicates that the car is allowed to occupy a parking slot is called a "parking ticket" in this document. However, the traffic warden has to contact the parking server for each car separately. This requires a lot of communication effort. A further possibility is that the traffic warden only stores the registration number of the car and the time and day when the car was found parking on the parking slot. When the traffic warden returns to his/her office he/she could connect his/her portable device to the parking server to check, whether the registered car did have a valid parking ticket at the point in time. This solution is clearly simpler and cheaper since the traffic warden does not have to contact the parking server for each motor vehicle separately. However, this solution does not allow issuing a parking fine ticket to the driver already at the moment when the traffic warden has noticed that the paid parking time has elapsed or the car is not registered.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to simplify the procedure of paying parking fees and to simplify the checking whether a motor vehicle is correctly registered or not.

The object is solved by the features of the independent claims. The invention bases on the thought that a central parking terminal or server transmits a registration data unit directly to the mobile communication terminal of the driver in reply to the driver or any person, who wants to obtain the right for parking his car on the considered parking place having announced via a mobile communication terminal that he wants to occupy the parking slot. In particular he transmits his identification code comprising at least the car's identification, such as a license plate number only. The central parking terminal is registering the received identification code, i.e. adds the identification code together with the point-in-time, when parking starts to a database, so that the car, which is identified by the identification code, becomes legitimated to use the parking place until the end of the parking duration. At the moment of registering the identification code, the time is taken to define the point of starting the parking period. The registration data unit may be stored in the mobile communication terminal as a receipt, indicating that the car has been registered. By transmitting a registration data unit to the driver's mobile communication terminal it is also possible to transfer this registration data unit to an additional receiving device located in the motor vehicle or at the parking slot. The additional receiving device may be easily checked by a traffic warden or an authorized person by means of reading equipment (e.g. RF-ID reader). In other words, the registration data unit contains all the information, which is necessary so that the traffic warden can find out, whether the car occupying a particular parking place has paid the parking fee at the moment in time, when the traffic warden checks whether the car is authorized to occupy the parking place. For charging of parking fees depending on the identification code the account of the mobile communication terminal or any other authorized account may be used.

This provides the advantage that the traffic warden may issue a parking fine ticket to the motor vehicle at the moment of checking. A further advantage is that the communication effort is drastically reduced for the traffic warden. So the number of motor vehicles which may be checked in a certain amount of time is increased in respect to the situation described above where the traffic warden has to contact the parking server for each motor vehicle separately.

Further advantageous implementations and embodiments of the invention are set forth in the respective sub-claims.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the identification code transmitted by the mobile communication terminal from the driver to the central parking terminal includes at least one of a license plate number, a parking slot identification number, a type of parking fee payment and a parking area code. Depending on the implementation it is possible to transmit only one of the elements or a combination thereof or all of them. The parking fee payment type may be one of "exact time payment" or the intended duration e.g. in minutes. The central parking terminal or server may only allow fixed parking durations (e.g. 10, 20 30, 40, 50, 60min), in which case the reservation data unit will contain a point in time for the end of parking, which corresponds to a duration closest to the parking duration, which the driver has issued in his initial message. It may also be possible that the driver modifies the parking negotiation directly after he has received the reservation data unit, e.g. after he has found out that he entered the wrong parking duration.

In addition, it may also be possible that the driver extends or shortens the parking duration before the end of the negotiated parking duration, by a further message sent to the central parking terminal or server.

It is proposed in the present invention to provide different types of paying parking fees. Therefore an additional signaling element is included in the first transmitting step which signals to the central parking terminal that the driver wishes to pay a fixed time. This type of payment is advantageous since only a first call is required to register at the central parking terminal. The central parking terminal can directly charge the parking fee for the time which is signaled by the driver via its mobile communication terminal.

An alternative type of parking is the so-called exact time payment. If the driver chooses this type of parking payment he only transmits his registration number as identification code. The central parking terminal registers the time of transmission of the identification code to define the point of starting the parking period. If the driver leaves the parking slot he calls again the central parking terminal to announce his leaving time, which may also be identical with the time of transmission of this message. After having registered the leaving time the central parking terminal can charge the parking fee calculated based on the exact parking time.

Additionally a parking area code may be transmitted to the central parking terminal. Since there are different parking areas within a city the parking fee may be different. To consider these different parking areas the driver transmits the parking area code to the central parking terminal. So the parking fee is calculated based on the parking area code.

In a further preferred embodiment of the invention the receiving device is installed in the motor vehicle. There are three alternatives, which could be used for realizing the receiving device. The receiving device could be realized as a display device for displaying or visualizing the registration data unit received via the mobile communication terminal from the central parking terminal. To display the registration data unit, the mobile communication terminal of the driver transmits the received registration data unit to the receiving device including the display. This could be performed by a suitable wireless communication protocol between the mobile communication terminal and the receiving device within the motor vehicle. Since most mobile communication terminals include an infrared interface or a Bluetooth interface it would be sufficient, if the receiving device is a Bluetooth or an infrared receiver which can receive the registration data unit for being displayed on the display. So for checking whether the motor vehicle is registered at the central parking terminal the traffic warden has just to check the display. Depending on the displayed registration data unit he/she can determine whether the motor vehicle is correctly registered or not. In case of not being correctly registered, the traffic warden will issue a parking fine ticket for the motor vehicle directly. It is possible to use windscreen displays already installed in the car, which are used for different applications.

A further solution to provide a simple checking procedure for the traffic warden is to provide the motor vehicle with a small printing device like a label printer. The mobile communication terminal of the driver is receiving the registration data unit from the central parking terminal. After having received the registration data unit the mobile communication terminal transmits the registration data unit to the receiving device, which is coupled to the printer. The printer prints out a small label containing the information of the registration data unit. So the traffic warden can easily check whether the motor vehicle is correctly registered or not. In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention the receiving device is embodied as wireless receiver, e.g. an RF-ID Chip. The mobile communication terminal of the driver transmits the received registration data unit to the RF-ID receiving device. The traffic warden, who is checking the correct registration of the motor vehicle, is requesting the RF-ID Chip to transmit its registration data unit to a control device of the traffic warden. So the traffic warden can easily check the registration data unit transmitted from the RF-ID Chip on its control device. In this embodiment it is not necessary to install a display or a printer in a motor vehicle.

The object is also solved by a system for payment of parking fees of an motor vehicle comprising a mobile communication terminal of the driver, a central parking terminal, a receiving device located in the motor vehicle or associated to the parking slot, wherein a mobile communication terminal is adapted to transmit an identification code to the central parking terminal, which is adapted to register the time of transmission and an identification code, the central parking terminal is further adapted to transmit the registration data unit to the mobile communication terminal of the driver, the mobile communication terminal is adapted to transmit the registration data unit to the receiving device. In a preferred embodiment a positioning device is provided within the mobile communication terminal of the driver or installed in the motor vehicle. Such positioning device, e.g. a GPS sensor, provides positioning information of the occupied parking slot at the time of parking. This positioning information is transmitted to the central parking terminal and is used for defining the parking area code to calculate the parking fee depending on the parking area code. Usage of a positioning device simplifies car registration for the driver, since he does not have to enter the area code for the parking slot. Hence, the system becomes less error-prone as well as guards against deliberate deception by the driver, who may on purpose choose a different area code for the parking slot different from the actual one, which different area may allow cheaper parking fees. In addition, it simplifies the work of the traffic warden, since he/she can assume that the area code is the correct one, if it was provided by a GPS device so that he/she does not have to check the area code.

The GPS positioning device may also help in reminding the driver, when he leaves the parking place, that he has to indicate his leaving time, if the option of "exact time payment", as mentioned above, is available and chosen.

Using GPS positioning devices simplifies operation of a parking fee management system, even if different parking fees do not differ in different parking areas, if the same phone number should be used for example in different towns for registering motor vehicle for parking purposes. The invention is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic illustration of the system according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows an alternative of the system according to the present invention; Fig. 3 shows a further alternative of the system according to the present invention;

Fig. 4 shows a flowchart for illustrating a method according to the present invention; Fig. 5 shows a flowchart for an alternative method according to the present invention.

Fig. 1 represents the components of a system according to the present invention. An motor vehicle 11 is parked on a parking slot 15. The driver of the motor vehicle 11 transmits by use of its mobile communication terminal 13 an identification code to the central parking terminal 12. At the central parking terminal 12 the time of transmission and the identification code are stored. The time of transmission is used for defining the point of starting the parking period. Further, a registration data unit is retransmitted from the central parking terminal 12 to the mobile communication terminal 13 of the driver. The mobile communication terminal 13 transmits the registration data unit to a receiving device 14. If a traffic warden 17 controls whether the motor vehicle 11 is correctly registered the receiving device 14 provides information of the registration data unit directly to the traffic warden 17 or to a control device 16 of the traffic warden 17. The motor vehicle 11 is equipped with a positioning device 50, which provides positioning information of the occupied parking slot 15. This positioning information may be inputted by the driver for being transmitted to the central parking terminal 12 together with the identification code. Alternatively the positioning information may be transmitted wirelessly from the positioning device 50 to the mobile communication terminal 13 of the driver. So no inputting is required. By receiving the positioning information the central parking terminal 13 can define the parking area code and can calculate the parking fees based on different fees for different parking areas.

Fig. 2 represents an alternative of the system according to the present invention. The receiving device 14 is incorporated in the car, wherein it is connected to a display device 18. After having received the registration data unit by the central parking terminal 12 the mobile communication terminal 13 transmits the registration data unit to the receiving device 14. The receiving device 14 provides the information to the display device 18, which is incorporated in the car. The display device 18 is located near the windscreen of the car or any other suitable location, where the traffic warden 17 can check the displayed registration data unit. Further it is illustrated in figure 2 to incorporate the positioning device 50 into the mobile communication terminal 13 of the driver. So the positioning device 50 provides the positioning information integrately to the mobile communication terminal 13 for being transmitted to the central parking terminal 13.

As illustrated in Fig. 3 the registration data unit is provided from the receiving device 14 to a small label printer 19, which is installed in the car. After having received the registration data unit the printer 19 prints out a label 20 containing the registration data unit. So the driver puts the label 20 viewable in its car. The traffic warden 17 can easily control whether the motor vehicle 11 is correctly registered or not. It is not illustrated in Fig. 1 that the receiving device 14 may be incorporated in the motor vehicle 11 or may be associated to the parking slot 15.

Depending on the construction of the parking slots 15 it is possible to incorporate or assign the receiving device 14 to the parking slot 15. In such case the driver has to transmit the number of the parking slot 15 and its license plate number to the central parking terminal 12. This is advantageous since the car 11 does not need to be equipped with any additional receiving device 14, display 18 or printer 19. So the operator of the parking place may provide all parking slots 15 with a separate RF-ID Chip, which may be easily checked by a control device 16 of the traffic warden 17.

Since the distance between the mobile communication terminal of the driver to the receiving device 14 at the moment of receiving of the registration data unit is very small, some suitable wireless communication protocols are possible to be implemented in the receiving device 14. A first possibility is to realize the receiving device 14 as an RF-ID Chip. So the mobile communication terminal 13 must be equipped with the transmitter for transmitting a signal on the RF-ID Chip protocol. An alternative may be an infrared receiving device 14. Since each mobile communication terminal 13 comprises an infrared interface the registration data unit may be transferred to the receiving device 14 via infrared. Also, a Bluetooth or WLAN interface is possible to transmit the registration data unit to the receiving device. The traffic warden may query the receiving device 14 by the same wireless communication protocol.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart according to a method of the present invention. At step 21 the mobile communication terminal 13 transmits the ID-code to the central parking terminal 12. At step 22 the time of transmission of the ID-code and the ID-code are registered in the central parking terminal 12. If the driver has signaled that he wants to pay a fixed parking time the parking fee is directly charged onto the account of the mobile terminal of the driver in step 23. In step 24 a registration data unit is transmitted from the central parking terminal 12 to the mobile terminal 13 of the driver. This transmission of the registration data unit may be decoded. In step 25 the registration data unit is received by the mobile communication terminal 13 of the driver. After having received the registration data unit the mobile communication terminal 13 transmits the registration data unit to the receiving device 14 in step 26. Depending on the realization of the receiving device 14 the registration data unit is stored, printed or displayed in step 27. A traffic warden 17 may check in step 28 whether the registration data unit is valid or not.

In case the motor vehicle 11 is not correctly registered a parking fine ticket will be provided to the motor vehicle 11 directly in step 29.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart for an alternative method according to the present invention. In step 31 the ID-code is transmitted to the central parking terminal 12. Further, it is signaled to the parking terminal 12 that the driver wishes to pay the exact parking time. In step 32 the motor vehicle 11 is registered in the central parking terminal 12. In step 33 a registration data unit is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal 13 of the driver. After having received the registration data unit in step 34 the registration data unit is transmitted by the mobile communication terminal 13 in step 35 to the receiving device 14. Depending on the realization of the receiving device 14 the registration data unit is stored, printed or displayed. In step 37 a traffic warden 17 may check whether the registration data unit is valid or not. In case of invalid registration a parking fine ticked is provided in step 39 to the motor vehicle 11. In step 38 the driver of the motor vehicle 11 transmits the time of leaving to the central parking terminal 12. In step 40 the parking fee is charged onto the account of the mobile communication terminal 13 of the driver. The exact time payment provides the advantage that the driver has not to signal how long he intends to park in advance. However, the disadvantage is that he has to call a second time the central parking terminal 12 to signal his leaving time.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. Method for payment of a parking fee for an motor vehicle (11) comprising the steps of: transmitting (21, 31) an identification code by a person, who wants to obtain the right for parking to a central parking terminal (12) by use of a mobile communication terminal (13); registering (22, 32) a time of transmitting and the identification code within the central parking terminal (12); charging of parking fee onto an account depending on the identification code; - transmitting (24, 33) a registration data unit from the central parking terminal (12) to the mobile communication terminal (13) of the person, who wants to obtain the right for parking; transmitting (26, 35) the registration data unit from the mobile communication terminal (13) to a receiving device (14) located in the motor vehicle (11) or associated to the parking slot (15). storing (25, 36) the registration data unit in the receiving device (14).

2. Method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the identification code includes at least one of a license plate number, a parking slot identification number, a type of parking fee payment and a parking area code.

3. Method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the type of parking fee payment includes a fixed time payment or an exact time payment, wherein for exact time payment a further transmitting step (S38) is required at leaving the parking slot (15).

4. Method as claimed in one of the claims 1-3, comprising further the steps of: checking the registration of the motor vehicle (11) parked on a billable parking slot (15) and registered by transmitting (21, 31) the identification code to the central parking terminal (12) by querying (28, 37) the receiving device (14) in the motor vehicle (11) or associated to the parking slot (15) by an authorized person (17).

5. Method as claimed in claim 4, comprising further the steps of: - requesting the receiving device (14) to transmit the registration data unit to a control device (16) of the authorized person (17), wherein the control device (16) is able to receive the registration data unit.

6. System for payment of parking fees of a motor vehicle (11) comprising: - a mobile communication terminal (13) of the person, who wants to obtain the right for parking; a central parking terminal (12) a receiving device (14) located in the motor vehicle (11) or associated to a parking slot (15), wherein the mobile communication terminal (13) is adapted to transmit an identification code to the central parking terminal (12), which is adapted to register a time of transmission and an identification code, the central parking terminal (12) is further adapted to transmit a registration data unit to the mobile communication terminal (13) of the person, who wants to obtain the right for parking , the mobile communication terminal (13) is adapted to transmit the registration data unit to the receiving device (14).

7. System according to claim 6, wherein the mobile communication terminal (13) is communicating with the central parking terminal (12) by use of GSM, GPRS, UMTS, WLAN or a suitable wireless communication standard.

8. System according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the receiving device (14) is realized as a printer (19) for printing the registration data unit (20), as a display (18) for visualizing the registration data unit or as a wireless receiver, which is able to transmit the stored registration data unit to a control device (16) of an authorized person (17).

9. System according to claim 8, wherein the receiving device (14) is an RF- ID-Chip mounted on the motor vehicle (11) or associated to the parking slot (15), wherein the mobile communication terminal (13) of the person, who wants to obtain the right for parking is adapted to transmit the registration data unit to the RF-ID Chip (14), wherein the RF-ID Chip (14) is adapted to transmit the registration data unit on request of the control device (16) of the authorized person (17) to the control device (16).

10. System according to claim 6, including further a positioning device providing a positioning information of the occupied parking slot (15), wherein the positioning device is located in the mobile communication terminal (13) of the person, who wants to obtain the right for parking, or installed within the motor vehicle (11), wherein the position information is transmitted with the identification code to the central parking terminal and is used for defining the parking area code of the occupied parking slot (15).