Gen II meter system with multiple processors, multiple detection sensor types, fault tolerance methods, power sharing and multiple user interface methods

Abstract

A parking space monitoring system, with multiple microprocessors for handling various parking space management conditions, including at least one of the following conditions: (1) Space Occupancy (vehicle detection); (2) Parking Meter Status; (3) Display of Parking Policy to Motorists; (3) Motorist User Interactions; (4) Maintenance User Interactions; (5) Radio Communications with a Central management system and Network; and (6) Coordination of the operation between various ones of the microprocessors.

Claims

1. A parking space monitoring system for handling various parking space management conditions, comprising: a parking space monitoring device for a parking space; a piece of electronic equipment having a plurality of microprocessors located within the parking space monitoring device, wherein the microprocessors are configured to monitor and respond to the various parking space management conditions of the parking space monitoring system; a power control mechanism configured to provide power to the piece of electronic equipment and the plurality of microprocessors; a mobile computer having a Global Positioning System (GPS) wherein the (GPS) reports in near real-time a current geographical location of the mobile computer; a remote processing center and communication network, wherein the mobile computer and the parking space monitoring device are communicably connected to the remote processing center by the communication network; and wherein the remote processing center and the parking space monitoring device are configured for dynamically determining a dynamic priority of a prospective response to various parking space management conditions, that match with parking management goals of a parking manager of the parking space monitoring system, based upon pre-determined parking space management characteristics of the parking space, the current geographical location of the mobile computer, historical various parking space conditions, and historical parking space management characteristics where the dynamically determining the dynamic priority comprises weighing at least one of the various parking space management conditions that reflects the parking management goals of the parking manager including a citation fine amount, violation type, type of equipment failure, historical usage rates in a location being monitored, meter rates, time in violation, current duration of equipment failure, type of residential or commercial parking location, charged parking rates, parking demand, turnover, parking time limits, violation fine levels, and historical violation durations, and other metrics effecting near real time exceptions from the predetermined parking space management characteristics of the parking space and which exceptions are actionable in near real time based on the current geographical location, of the mobile computer effecting a value maximizing response by a field personnel using the mobile computer maximizing the parking management goals.

2. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1, further comprising a power supply and solar cells for supplementing additional power shared with at least one external device including parking meters, digital signage and other types of related user interfacing devices.

3. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1 wherein the prospective response to the various parking space management conditions comprises current violations, maintenance issues or meter collection requirements.

4. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1 wherein the (GPS) of the mobile computer reports the current geographical location of the mobile computer in order to receive instructions from the remote processing center with respect to current violations, maintenance issues or meter collection requirements that are most proximate to the field personnel using the mobile computer.

5. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1 wherein the (GPS) of the mobile computer reports the current geographical location of the mobile computer in order to receive instructions from the remote processing center with respect to current violations, maintenance issues or meter collection requirements that are highest priority.

6. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of mobile computers used by field personnel of the parking space monitoring system, wherein the mobile computers and remote processing center are arranged so that remote access is provided for observation of a location of each of the field personnel in a monitored parking space, based on at least part of aggregate data, and identification of an emergent condition at a different location and for direction of a field personnel to the different location in response to identification of the emergent condition.

7. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1, further comprising a separate device employing at least one of an induction loop, magnetometer, RADAR, ultrasonic, infrared viable means, and a radio, said separate device monitoring a parking space's occupancy and communicates the parking space's occupancy status either directly through at least one of the radio, the communication network to which the separate device is connected, and by the remote processing center.

8. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 7 wherein the separate device is installed below grade in the parking spaces of said parking space monitoring system.

9. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 7 wherein the separate device is installed in the parking space monitoring device.

10. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1, wherein the parking space management conditions include at least one of the following conditions: Space Occupancy; Parking Meter Status; Display of Parking Policy to Motorists; Motorist User Interactions; Maintenance User Interactions; Radio Communications with a Central Management System and Network; and coordination of the operation between the plurality of microprocessors.

11. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1 wherein the networked mobile computers and remote processing center are arranged so that remote access is provided for observation of a location of each worker in a monitored parking space, based at least in part on the last transmission of GPS data, and identification of an emergent condition at different locations and for direction of a worker to the different location in response to identification of the emergent condition.

12. The parking space monitoring system as in claim 1 wherein the parking management goals comprise revenue maximization and space availability maximization.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows the inter-relationships among a Radio Processor, Application Processor and several controllers;

(2) FIG. 2 is a block diagrammatic representation of the multiple processor system of the invention;

(3) FIG. 3 illustrates a Global Positioning Satellite receiver-equipped computer connected to the Internet and a Central Command and Controller Interface (CCCI) for measuring the distance between a Mobile Computer and combining that distance data with other data from the CCCI for generating outputs via the internet to provide supervisor access by means of a standard computer; and

(4) FIG. 4 illustrates a process for interacting with a Central Database to independently monitor the viability of communications from the Gen II Meter System of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) In FIG. 1, the Application Processor of the GEN II System (1) queries the Radio Processor (2) and the entire plurality of other controllers (3, 4, 5) for their operability status on a periodic basis. If the status of any of the individual components is deemed unresponsive or fatal to the ongoing operation of that component, the Application Processor initiates a re-initialization of the component. Similarly, the Radio Processor (2) periodically queries the Application Processor (1) for its operational status. If the Application Processor is deemed unresponsive, it can be re-initialized by the Radio Processor.

(6) In FIG. 2, the Solar Cell (6) provides an electrical charge to the connected Rechargeable Battery (7) to maintain as full a charge as possible for a long a duration as possible. The Power Logic (8) then monitors the available power on the Rechargeable Battery (7) to determine if it is supplying enough power to supply the GEN II Meter Node System (10). If it is not able to do so, the Power Control Logic (8) switches the power draw over to the Primary Battery (9) to ensure ongoing operation of the GEN II Meter Node System (10). In the cases where the Power Control Logic (8) is drawing power from the Rechargeable Battery (7), the Power Control Logic (8) also determines if excess power is available from the solar supplied Rechargeable Battery (7). If excess power is being generated, the Power Control Logic (8) allows the excess power to be supplied to the Rechargeable Battery (7) for Digital Parking Meter (11). This battery is added to a primary battery connected to the Digital Parking M (11) in the GEN II Meter System to supply the necessary power for the operation of that device.

(7) In FIG. 3, the Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) Receiver-Equipped Mobile Computer (12) is connected to the Internet (13). This device transmits geographical coordinates on regular intervals by way of the Internet (13) to the Central Command and Control Interface (15) which then can measure the distance between the Mobile Computer (12) (and the operator, the field worker) and issues for which operator is responsible. The distance is then combined with the other data available in a typical installation of a Command and Control Interface (CCI), data such as the amount of fines, violation time, time out-of-service, turnover rates to score each work item based on the user's predefined rankings of what attributes are most important. The ranked results of work items is then returned to the mobile computer by way of the internet and the operator of that mobile computer can clearly identify those issues that are closest and of highest priority. Additionally, supervisor access combining data regarding the location of field personnel and relevant issues by way of a Standard Computer (14) connected to the Internet (13). This standard PC (12) connects to the CCI to retrieve maps indicating the location of both the remote staff and the work items to ensure that work is being done in a timely way or manually re-direct personnel to special problems most effectively.

(8) In FIG. 4, three processes independently interact with a Central Database (18) to monitor the viability of communications from each GEN II Meter Node and its supporting network communications equipment. When new messages are received at (16), they are recorded in the database along with a message sequence number (17). Once the database has been updated, the message listener process waits for the next message to process at (19). Independently thereof, a messaging monitoring process loops through a repeated process at regular intervals (20). The first step of the process (21) checks the records received for each space and identify if any gaps exist. If gaps in the records are found, they are indicated by marking the message record immediately after the sequence number gap as having a skipped message following the transmission (22) and then continuing the loop on regular intervals. If no message gaps are found, the next step is to see if older message gap indications are still valid (i.e. that the missing messages haven't since been received (23). If messages have been received that fill in gaps in the message number sequences, the incorrectly marked message gaps are cleared.