DEVICE FOR MANAGING PARKING PLACES

Abstract

A device for the management of parking places in a parking lot where, for each vehicle received, there is a specific parking space specifically identified, and for which the presence of the vehicle received is to be detected and used using one or more sensors which detect its presence at a predetermined parking place. The sensors include respective flexible coils made of a flexible conductive wire. A plurality of sensors are embedded in the thickness of a flexible carpet configured to cover a corresponding multiplicity of parking spaces and to be fixed to the ground.

Claims

1. A device (1) for managing parking places in a parking lot wherein, for each incoming vehicle, a suitably identified specific parking space is provided, to detect and manage there a presence of the incoming vehicle by using sensors detecting the presence of the incoming vehicle at a predetermined parking place, comprising: a flexible carpet (3), having a thickness, configured to cover a corresponding plurality of parking spaces and to be fastened to the ground a plurality of flexible coils (2), implemented by a flexible conducting wire embedded in the thickness of said flexible carpet (3), wherein said coils produce signals which are sent, through dedicated slave boards connected to at least one master board, to a control unit comprising a software whereby said signals are processed by a probability function, for determining the number of free parking places, based on the area covered by each coil, on the distribution of the coils through the parking lot, and on the nominal sizes of a vehicle to calculate a free distance between vehicles existing in the parking lot.

2. The device (1) according to claim 1, wherein the flexible carpet (3) comprises a lower base layer (4) configured to be applied to the road surface; an upper base layer (5) placed above the lower base layer (4) thereby forming grooved channels for said coils (2) therebetween; and a surface finishing layer of (6) forming a floor surface of the device (1), wherein, at a longitudinal edge of the carpet (3), an abutment (7) is provided which is part of the surface finishing layer (6), extending longitudinally to the flexible carpet (3), and having channels to receive the communicating slave boards, one for each coil (2), through coaxial cables.

3. The device (1) according to claim 1, wherein said coils (2) are arranged along the longitudinal center line of the flexible carpet (3), equidistant therebetween.

4. The device (1) according to claim 1, wherein the flexible carpet (3) is made of rubber obtained from recycled tires, combined with polyurethane resins and thermoplastic polymers.

5. The device (1) according to claim 2, wherein the lower base layer (4) comprises a plurality of lower grooved seats (8) intended to contain the coils (2), and wherein the upper base layer (5) comprises a plurality of upper grooved seats (11) complementary to the above-mentioned lower grooved seats (8) and intended to form, once overlapped and coupled, a housing for the coils (2).

6. The device (1) according to claim 2, wherein the lower base layer (4) comprises pins (10) projecting from an upper face thereof, faced upwards, and wherein the upper base layer (5) comprises a plurality of recesses (13) configured to receive said pins (10), to determine geometrical references so as to guarantee coupling between said grooved seats (8, 9).

7. The device (1) according to claim 2, wherein the lower and upper base layers, once coupled, are glued along a periphery thereof.

8. The device (1) according to claim 2, wherein the surface finishing layer (6) is made of a porous material, which allows drainage.

9. The device (1) according to claim 1, further comprising low consumption radio transmitters that work in wireless mode to form a network.

10. The device (1) according to claim 1, further comprising: magnetic sensors, having magnetic coil, for detecting metal objects and, then, motor vehicles; 1-Wire Network Linear Topology: local bus network at the flexible carpet for the wired communication of information from the magnetic sensor towards LORA module and viceversa; LoRA MCU Interface: wireless interface communicating between the device and IIOT gateway; and at least one battery (18) with long-lasting autonomy, not lower than 5 years (LiSOCl2 Lithium-thionyl Clorur, 12V, 8.4 Ah).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0029] The present invention will hereinafter be described according to a preferred embodiment thereof, given as a non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a general scheme which illustrates the management device for parking spaces according to the present invention;

[0031] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view from above of a first component of the device of FIG. 1;

[0032] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view from below of a second component of the device of FIG. 1;

[0033] FIG. 4 shows a side perspective view of a third component of the device of FIG. 1;

[0034] FIG. 5 shows a side perspective view showing the assembly of the first, second and third components of FIGS. 2, 3 and 4;

[0035] FIG. 6 shows a block diagram illustrating the operation of the sensors in the device of FIG. 1;

[0036] FIG. 7 shows a diagram of an example of sensor usable in the device of FIG. 1; and

[0037] FIG. 8 shows a block diagram illustrating the integration of several sensors in a network in the device of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0038] With reference to the figures, a device for managing a certain number of parking spaces, arranged side by side, or in line, is indicated by 1. In FIG. 1 the parking spaces are arranged side by side, but this is obviously one of the possible examples of the device, and they are arranged to be occupied by a vehicle C, shown schematically.

[0039] Here and in the following, for brevity and simplicity with the term car or car is indicated any vehicle that could occupy a parking space. Obviously, parking lots may be provided for vehicles other than cars, from motor vehicles to large transport vehicles, including trailers. Obviously, in the case of different vehicles, the dimensions of the stalls and devices designed to detect the presence of vehicles will change.

[0040] In the present example, the device described is intended to occupy a parking space having a length of L meters, along which a number of N parking places are arranged side by side; at each car stall there is a sensor which comprises a respective coil 2 made of at least one conductive material wire, such as copper.

[0041] The coils 2 are arranged along the longitudinal center line of the device 1, equally spaced to each other. A vehicle in the parking lot will be identified, considering the mass of ferromagnetic material thereof, by the coil whose magnetic field is concatenated with the vehicle itself. From the knowledge of the position of the coil, it is possible to obtain both the identification of the stall or the occupied parking space, and the number of free stalls obtained from the sum of the number of free stalls to the right of the occupied stall and the number of free stalls to the left of the occupied stall.

[0042] It is also intended that, for each parking space, the device 1 could comprise several sensors, i.e. more coils or other additional sensors of other type, both to obtain a redundancy and to compute the distance between the vehicles present, at least in a reliable manner, in case they do not exactly occupy a stall conventionally identified by lines drawn on the ground.

[0043] The device 1 according to the invention comprises a flexible mat or carpet 3, made of a durable and resistant material, for example rubber, in particular rubber obtained from the recycling of used tires which is supplied in granular form with granules of various sizes.

[0044] This type of rubber, obtained by means of suitable treatments, is combined with polyurethane resins and thermoplastic polymers to form layers which will achieve the carpet 3 of the management device 1.

[0045] The carpet 3 is subdivided into four distinct components: a layer of lower substrate 4 (FIG. 2) made of rubber, a layer of upper substrate 5 (FIG. 3) made of rubber, a surface finish layer 6 (FIG. 4) made of rubber and an abutment 7 (FIG. 4), which assembled have a predetermined thickness, preferably included between 10 and 20 mm.

[0046] With reference to FIG. 2, the lower substrate layer 4 consists of a rubber granule sheath suitable for being fixed directly to the road surface, with a thickness of, for example, 5 mm.

[0047] The lower substrate layer 4 comprises a plurality of lower grooved channels 8 designed to contain the coils 2: in the illustrated example the channels 8 have a bi-lobate shape and have a lower exit section 9. For example, the groove depth is of 3 mm, so that the distance between the coil and the road surface is at least 2 mm.

[0048] The lower substrate layer 4 is designed to ensure the necessary adhesion between the carpet 3 and the road surface, and a resistance to external factors, such as the temperature reached by the road surface in summer or winter, but above all to improve the flatness of the road surface.

[0049] The lower substrate layer 4 includes pins 10 projecting from the upper face thereof, directed upward.

[0050] The upper substrate layer 5 (FIG. 3) is substantially specular with respect to the lower substrate layer 4. It has a plurality of upper grooved channels 11 complementary to the aforementioned lower grooved channels 8 and designed to form, once overlapped and coupled, a housing for the coils 2. As for the lower substrate layer 4, also the upper substrate layer 5 complementary to the aforementioned lower output portions 9 and designed to form, once overlapped and coupled, an output channel for each coil 2.

[0051] Moreover, the upper substrate layer 5 comprises a plurality of recesses 13 adapted to receive said pins 10, to determine geometric references such as to ensure the coupling between the grooved channels and the lower outlet sections 8, 9 and the grooved channels and the upper exit 11, 12.

[0052] The rubber-based material with which the upper substrate layer 5 is made is similar to the material of the lower substrate layer 4.

[0053] The magnetic coil that embodies the sensors of the device 1 must be inserted into the grooved channels; it is covered with a waterproof and resistant rubber to ensure a longer life to the system. It determines the oscillation frequency together with the capacitive counterpart present on a slave board. For each stall there will be one to four coils depending on the distance resolution you want to obtain.

[0054] An example of a coil for the present application has a diameter of 25 cm, but it is intended that this measurement may vary according to the specific needs of the device.

[0055] The upper and lower substrate layer 4, 5, once coupled, are glued along their perimeter. As an example, their overall thickness can be 9 mm.

[0056] The carpet 3 further comprises a rubber surface finish layer 6, which is intended to provide the external appearance and the support surface of the device 1. It is fixed to the upper substrate layer 5 and it may have a thickness of 5 mm. From the point of view of the technical specifications, this layer must have a high resistance to wear and to atmospheric agents.

[0057] Preferably, it is made of a porous material, a rubber-based compound, which makes the carpet 3 draining, so as to guarantee greater safety and durability to the system. The rubber finishing layer can be customized according to the customer and the installation site and can be completed with a layer of anti-trauma flooring (cert EN 1177) or with a synthetic grass finish.

[0058] At a longitudinal edge of the carpet 3, the device comprises an abutment 7 which is an integral part of the surface finishing layer 6 and extends longitudinally to the carpet 3, i.e. along the maximum dimension of the standard parking carpet, in front of the pavement, or facing towards the edge of the road surface, either a sidewalk, a curb, a wall or similar.

[0059] It is made by a rubber strip specifically shaped, and it has a thickness such that it is placed between the upper substrate layer 5 and the surface finishing layer 6, ensuring the planarity of the upper surface of the surface finishing layer 6. The abutment 7 is joined to the aforesaid layers 4, 5, 6 thanks to a locking system with pins 14 projecting towards the inside of the carpet 3 (FIG. 4), specifically designed to keep the rubber layers subjected to different loads aligned.

[0060] The abutment has at least one channel accommodating the communicating slave cards, one for each loop, through coaxial cables.

[0061] The slave cards are arranged sequentially inside the abutment 7, and they communicate to each other through coaxial cables. The slave cards are managed by a master card placed at one end of the abutment 7.

[0062] The architecture described is structured for a standard matrix, validated with respect to the dimensions of a parking stall.

[0063] Depending on the different types of parking, the matrix positioning scheme will be designed, having a length relative to the type of stall, with an approximate width between 1.0 and 1.5 m. The continuity of the system is guaranteed by the union of several matrices that follow the principle described above. Each matrix is in fact joined to the other thanks to a locking system with pins.

[0064] The architecture of the device described above will be presented in greater detail below.

[0065] The carpet 3 of the management device 1 is applied to the road surface and allows to detect if the parking stalls are occupied or not: the carpet 3 comprises a thin band of coil sensors 2 programmed to detect the presence of cars and the distance therebetween, so that to suggest if the available stall is suitable for the requesting vehicle.

[0066] The device 1 is also equipped with low-power radio transmitters which operate wireless for the formation of a network, for example of the LORAWAN type (FIG. 6).

[0067] The system architecture consists of:

[0068] Magnetic sensors: magnetic loop for the detection of metallic objects and, therefore, of cars.

[0069] 1-Wire Network Linear Topology: local area bus network for wired communication of information from the magnetic sensor to the LORA module and vice versa.

[0070] LoRA MCU Interface: wireless communication interface between the device and the IIOT gateway.

[0071] Autonomous power supply: the system is designed to be electrically powered by a battery 18 with long-term autonomy of not less than 5 years (LiSOCl2 Lithium-thionyl Clorur, 12V, 8.4 Ah).

[0072] The material with which the carpet is made is characterized by an adequate flexibility and mechanical strength such as not to cause mechanical damage to the electronics of the sensors and the magnetic coils underlying when the cars occupy the stalls.

[0073] The environmental design stresses for the device 1 include an extended thermal range (from 45 C. to +85 C.) and an IP68 index for the mechanical protection case.

[0074] The basic principle of operation on which the management device 1 is based is the phenomenon of mutual magnetic coupling.

[0075] With reference to FIG. 8 a schematic representation of the hardware architecture of a node of the network of the device is shown, consisting of n sensors for the management of a car park of K places (in general K<n).

[0076] The sensors 2, located at the parking spaces, are made of magnetic coils and they are electrically affected by a known frequency current wave, produced by a special oscillator, which generates a magnetic field that changes through the time: when a car occupies a space, it will be affected by the flow of the magnetic field which will inevitably connect with it from the coil. This magnetic coupling is translated into a variation of the magnetic inductance of the sensor circuit to which a variation of the current wave frequency corresponds. Thanks to the presence of a phase detector (PLL), provided in the sensor electronics, or in the slave board 15, this frequency variation is intercepted by transforming it into a corresponding variation of the electric voltage (VCO). The electric voltage demodulated by the PLL is compared with a reference voltage that relates to a voltage comparator; and the result of the comparison (presence/absence of the car) is sent to a 1-Wire interface which will transmit it, via cable 16 and only on command, to the corresponding node present in the electronics of the master card 17.

[0077] The wireless interface, provided therein, will record the result of the command in its internal memory due to the presence of a complete 32-bit ARM-based chipset. In order to compose the global status of the stalls, the ARM microcontroller will execute, sequentially and for all the managed sensors, the status query that, at the end of the procedure, can then send (but only by a previous request), via the LORA network, to an external gateway for processing it.

[0078] The master card 17 is the link between the LORA wireless network and the system management server, which is a device or a set of devices.

[0079] The functionality of the master card 17 is described through the definition of the interfaces that make it up, ie power supply from the battery, LORA MCU interface and 1-Wire Master interface.

[0080] The slave board is the interface between the 1-Wire bus and the actual magnetic sensor; also the functions of the slave board are described through the definition of its interfaces: power supply: the board receives the power supply through the coaxial connector (BNC) P2 which redirects to the components present in it; 1-Wire Slave interface; interface with the loop module.

[0081] In turn, in the present example, the magnetic sensor 2 is a magnetic loop realized by performing four electric windings of rectangular cross-section, as shown by way of example in FIG. 7.

[0082] In order to minimize the undesired effects of mutual coupling between adjacent turns, the section of the same will be preformed during the installation of the carpet.

[0083] Since the magnetic field has a radial pattern with respect to the plane of the loop, with an intensity that decays quadratically with the distance, layouts of the same coil different from the rectangular one can be used.

[0084] The algorithm implemented by a generic node of the device 1 allows for the determining of all the parameters necessary for the management of the relative parking spaces.

[0085] Considering a linear parking of known length L and known width H without definition and/or delimitation any of the stalls used to stop, and also assuming that along the parking centerline Ns mutually identical magnetic coils are arranged, having a rectangular cross-section with a length ls and a width hs, hs>ls, and the coils are arranged with the long side hs parallel to the width H of the road,

A.sub.s=l.sub.s*h.sub.s

[0086] is the area of each magnetic coil. Because of the undesired effects of mutual coupling between adjacent coils, the minimum area of effective measurement corresponding to each magnetic coil is characterized by a larger area equal to:

A.sub.m=l.sub.i*H i=0 . . . (N.sub.s1)

[0087] having denoted by l_i>l_ss the minimum separation distance between the coils themselves. Apparently, this parameter corresponds to the measurement accuracy of the whole system. Assuming that:

l.sub.il.sub.0constant with i=0 . . . (N.sub.s1)

therefore:

N.sub.s=L/l.sub.0

{tilde over (L)}=N.sub.s*l.sub.0

with

|({tilde over (L)}L)|<l.sub.0

[0088] The algorithm described here implies the introduction of the standard model of the car, that is a car with a rectangular section of size l.sub.a*h.sub.a with:

l.sub.a=kl.sub.0 and h.sub.a=h.sub.s, k being an integer

[0089] It is noted that, to ensure that the single coil effectively correspond to the LSB of the measurement, it is assumed the following behavior (edge effect):

[0090] coil completely covered by the car: LSB=1

[0091] coil partially covered by the car: LSB=NA

[0092] It is immediate to obtain, by construction of the model, that the total parking area can be expressed as follows:

Ap=.sub.i=0.sup.Ns-1Am(i)=.sub.i=0.sup.Ns-1H*li=H*{circumflex over (L)}

[0093] To identify the dynamic polygonal coverage, that is, the area covered (or free) of the parking lot in a generic instant it is useful to define the following functions:

[00001]$i=0.Math..Math.\mathrm{.Math.}.Math..Math.\mathrm{Ns}-1.Math..Math.\mathrm{idle}\left(\mathrm{Am}\left(i\right)\right)=\{\begin{array}{c}1.Math..Math.\mathrm{if}.Math..Math.\mathrm{Am}.Math..Math.\left(i\right).Math..Math.\mathrm{is}.Math..Math.\mathrm{partially}.Math..Math.\mathrm{covered}\\ 0.Math..Math.\mathrm{if}.Math..Math.(\mathrm{Am}.Math..Math.\left(i\right).Math..Math.\mathrm{is}.Math..Math..Math.\mathrm{fully}.Math..Math.\mathrm{covered}\end{array}.Math..Math.i=0.Math..Math.\mathrm{.Math.}.Math..Math.\mathrm{Ns}-1.Math..Math.\mathrm{busy}\left(\mathrm{Am}\left(i\right)\right)=\{\begin{array}{c}0.Math..Math.\mathrm{if}.Math..Math.\mathrm{Am}.Math..Math.\left(i\right).Math..Math.\mathrm{is}.Math..Math.\mathrm{partially}.Math..Math.\mathrm{covered}\\ 1.Math..Math.\mathrm{if}.Math..Math.(\mathrm{Am}.Math..Math.\left(i\right).Math..Math.\mathrm{is}.Math..Math..Math.\mathrm{fully}.Math..Math.\mathrm{covered}\end{array}$

[0094] Furthermore

i=0 . . . Ns1 idle(Am(i))+busy(An(i))=1

[0095] this relationship must be considered in a probabilistic and non-deterministic way as it expresses the law of total probability applied to the distribution of the coils in the parking lot, i.e. it is a probabilistic and non-deterministic law due to the behavior assumed for the generic coil to which a generic error in the measurement of distances occurs, equal to 10.

[0096] With the introduction of the logical functions idle( ) and busy( ), it is immediately clear that:

[00002]${\mathrm{Tot}}_{{\mathrm{idle}}_{\mathrm{Area}\left(t\right)}}=\underset{i=0}{\overset{\mathrm{Ns}-1}{.Math.}}.Math..Math.\mathrm{idle}\left(\mathrm{Am}\left(i\right)\right)*\mathrm{Am}\left(i\right)=\underset{i=0}{\overset{\mathrm{Ns}-1}{.Math.}}.Math..Math.\left[1-\mathrm{busy}\left(\mathrm{Am}\left(i\right)\right)\right]*\mathrm{Am}\left(i\right)==H*\left[\tilde{L}-L.Math.\right]$$.Math.N_{{\mathrm{vehicle}}_{\mathrm{standard}}}\left(t\right)=\frac{L.Math.}{\mathrm{la}}$

[0097] where L indicates the total length occupied at the instant to which directly corresponds the estimate to the first order on the number of standard cars or vehicles present therein.

[0098] In the same way, it is obtained that:

Tot.sub.Busy.sub.Area=.sub.i=0.sup.NS-1busy(Am(i))*Am(i)=.sub.i=0.sup.NS-1[1idle(Am(i))]*Am(i)=

=H*[{tilde over (L)}]

[0099] Where indicates the total free length at the time ta in which the first-order estimate directly corresponds to the number of parking spaces available for standard cars.

[0100] Therefore, it can be concluded:

[00003]$N_{{\mathrm{places}}_{{\mathrm{standard}}_{\mathrm{available}}\left(t\right)}}=.Math.\frac{\mathrm{la}}{}.Math.$

[0101] The data structure that has been assumed for the implementation of the parking management procedures is the data type abstract linear list, applied to the sections containing the individual coils.

[0102] The methods that typically apply to the management of the linear list type find a direct correspondence to the parking management procedures:

[0103] full( ), empty( ): return the corresponding Boolean global status information of the list (parking);

[0104] idle( ), busy( ): return the corresponding Boolean information of local status of the elements of the list (sections containing the individual turns);

[0105] push( ), pop( ): respectively indicate the methods for inserting/deleting that group of elements of the list corresponding to the arrival departure of a car (whose dimensions are expressed in a standard car).

[0106] It is noted that the feature of the pop( ) and push( ) methods applied to parking management is that of being implicit methods and not explicit methods as, instead, it happens traditionally in the management of the list type. More precisely, since the arrival and departure of the cars is a random process, the status of the list changes implicitly over time. Then, to correctly determine the status of the list itself, the need arises to manage a regular and cadenced interrogation process of all the elementary cells.

[0107] The data structures on which the state query process is processed is defined as follows:

TABLE-US-00001 #define IDLE 1 struct Contiguous_Stalls: { int Num; boolean attribute; Stall_List[Ns]; }Contiguous_Stalls_List[Ns]; #define BUSY 0

[0108] where the first field int Num indicates the number of cells contiguous with respect to the attribute boolean attribute that can only assume the values IDLE (TRUE) and BUSY (FALSE).

[0109] Stall_List [Ns] is the specific lis of contiguous stalls,

TABLE-US-00002 struct Busy_Contiguos_Stalls: { int Num; Contiguos_Stalls_List[Ns]; }Busy_Contiguous_List[Ns];

[0110] it represents the list of contiguous stalls with respect to the IDLE attribute; the first field indicates the number of lists of contiguous stalls of which the list is composed.

[0111] The above procedure P-Carpet_Searching ( ), as anticipated, searches, at time t, in the stalls_list [Ns] list the list of all the stalls contiguous with respect to the IDLE and BUSY attribute. These lists allow to determine the complete status of the parking being managed

[0112] The software that manages the use of the device consists of a cloud platform and a dedicated client app.

[0113] Both, in different ways, support the provision of various services for different users: municipalities, drivers, individuals.

[0114] The cloud platform supports the integration of existing hardware and software, allowing the management of mobility services on a single platform.

[0115] Thanks to the variety of services offered and their centralization with a simple and intuitive interface, it increases the effectiveness of urban mobility.

[0116] Therefore, the device according to the invention is capable of generating real and immediate pieces of information, and it is able to reduce the burden and stress in the search for free parking as the only data necessary are the type of car you are driving and where you are directed.

[0117] In addition, it is possible to have a specific system for helping people with disabilities, providing the necessary tools to respond to abuse, inconvenience and ensure prompt assistance. In fact, this device is able to detect if the stall used for the disabled is occupied correctly or illicitly thanks to any type of tag, applied to the vehicle, that the device can detect. If the stall is unlawfully occupied, the device can notify both the authorities and the disabled person before he reaches his destination, so as to be able to promptly report the abuse.

[0118] Through the cloud platform it is possible to offer a variety of services that, thanks to their nuances, are transformed into consistent solutions, for example:

[0119] parking payment: users will be able to pay the parking fee correctly with constantly updated rates and for the duration actually required; the stop can also be extended by paying the extra parking fee thanks to the dedicated app;

[0120] reminder: to remember the end of the booked parking, with an alarm that warns that the rate paid for the stop is about to end, so the user decides whether to prolong or end it;

[0121] navigator: marked the destination and activated the navigator, all that remains is to get comfortable and be accompanied to the free stalls in its vicinity;

[0122] car search: allows you to find the car when you do not remember where it was parked, as its location can be geolocated;

[0123] anti-theft: the user can be notified in case of removal of the vehicle from the stall;

[0124] parking reservation: in particular for private parking lots.

[0125] It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but is intended to cover all modifications which are within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims; the above description; and/or shown in the attached drawings.