JPH11272997A - Parking meter parking guidance system and parking meter management system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a parking meter parking guidance system which is inexpensive and easily realizable. SOLUTION: A display device 1 with a wireless device displays the availability of each of the parking meters 3a to 3d. Radios 2a to 2d are connected to the parking meters 3a to 3d, respectively. The wireless device 2 uses a specific low-power wireless device that requires no license, is economical, and is easy to handle. This is because, since the communication distance is short, the parking meter radio 2c, which is far from the display 1, such as the parking meters 3c and 3d,
From 2d, data cannot be directly transmitted to the display device 1. In contrast, for example, each wireless device 2 is provided with a relay function so that the parking
The data is sequentially transmitted by the bucket brigade method until the transmission. At this time, the relaying wireless device adds its own data to the received data and transmits the data. The relay destination is determined using an ID individually assigned to each wireless device 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a parking meter parking guidance system and a parking meter management system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of cars, the shortage of parking lots in urban areas, urban areas and the like has become serious. As one of the countermeasures, a parking meter is installed using an empty part of a road.

[0003] The parking meter is provided for the purpose of parking for a relatively short time, such as a small shopping at a shopping street, etc., so that the guidance of the place is easy. Usually not done. At best, there is a time-out indicator for the administrator. For this reason, even if there is a space, the driver cannot be found, and the parking meter cannot be said to be fully utilized.

[0004] Therefore, there is a need for a parking vacancy information guidance system that informs a driver of the vacancy status of a parking meter. Here, the parking meter is usually installed separately on the road, and generally, the parking meter includes a coin discriminator for collecting tolls, a meter for measuring time, a time-out indicator, and the like. It is usually provided only with AC100 (V) as a power supply.

As one method of realizing the above-mentioned parking vacancy information guidance system of a parking meter, a display device for displaying the vacancy status of a parking meter installed in a certain area is provided, and each parking meter is used by the parking meter. A system for transmitting medium / empty information to a display device is conceivable. As a transmission means for performing this transmission, a dedicated line is established, a telephone line is drawn, or a wireless (cellular phone, P
For example, a method using an HS, a third-party wireless communication, or the like is generally considered.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned wired system in which a dedicated line is provided or a telephone line is provided, the parking meters are dispersedly installed on public roads as described above. It is difficult to realize this from the viewpoints of cost and cost.

[0007] On the other hand, although it is feasible in a system using wireless communication, a basic charge is applied when a mobile phone, a PHS, or the like is used, and a fee is charged for each communication, resulting in high introduction and maintenance costs. . Parking meters are often installed unavoidably in order to avoid traffic congestion due to illegal parking. Therefore, it is a fact that high cost methods cannot be introduced. The same applies to a wireless system that requires a license or requires expensive wireless equipment, and has a problem that it is practically difficult to introduce the wireless system.

An object of the present invention is to provide a parking meter parking guidance system which is inexpensive and easily realizable. Another object is to provide a parking meter management system.

[0009]

A first parking meter parking guidance system according to the present invention comprises a radio device, and a display device for displaying the availability of each parking meter according to data received by the radio device; A wireless device provided for each parking meter, having a transmitting means for transmitting empty status data of its own parking meter, and a wireless device having relay means for relaying empty status data transmitted from another wireless device; The parking relay system of the present invention is configured to transmit the vacancy status data of a parking meter at a position where it cannot directly communicate with the wireless device of the display device by the relay means of each wireless device between the parking meter and the display device. Is transmitted to the display device.

In the first parking meter parking guidance system, each parking meter is provided with, for example, a wireless device of a specified low-power radio, and transmits the vacancy status data to the display device by radio to determine the vacancy status of each parking meter. A display system can be easily realized at low cost. The vacancy status data of a parking meter at a position where data cannot be directly transmitted to the display device is relayed by a bucket brigade method and transmitted to the display device.

A second parking meter parking guidance system according to the present invention includes a radio device installed in various meters in a wireless automatic meter reading system or a radio device capable of communicating with a radio master device, and transmits data received by the radio device. A display device for displaying the vacancy status of each parking meter in response thereto, and a parking meter having a wireless device capable of communicating with a wireless slave unit or a wireless master device installed in various meters in the wireless automatic meter reading system. Wirelessly transmitting the vacancy status data of each parking meter to a wireless slave unit or a wireless master device of the wireless automatic meter reading system located at a position where it can communicate with the wireless device of each parking meter, and automatically reading the vacancy status data. A wireless slave unit of a wireless automatic meter reading system located at a position where it can communicate with the display device via a system network, or By sending a radio cell station, for transmitting availability data for each parking meter on the display device.

In the second parking meter parking guidance system, data on the availability of a parking meter at a position where data cannot be directly transmitted to the display device is sent to the display device by using an automatic meter reading system such as a wireless automatic meter reading system. Can be.

Various systems can be realized by applying the second parking meter parking guidance system. For example, a parking meter management system can be realized. The parking meter management system according to the present invention includes a wireless device that can communicate with a wireless slave unit or a wireless master device installed in various meters in a wireless automatic meter reading system, and an input unit that allows a user to input his or her own telephone number. Preparing for a parking meter, in each parking meter, before and after parking effective time, wirelessly transmitting the telephone number data to a wireless slave unit or a wireless master unit of the wireless automatic meter reading system at a position where communication with the wireless unit is possible. To inform the host device via the network of the wireless automatic meter reading system, and let the host device call the telephone number to inform the user of the expiration, or after a predetermined time has passed the effective parking time, the parking meter It is characterized by notifying the administrator.

[0014] Such a parking meter management system that can provide convenience and control for the user can be easily realized at low cost.

[0015]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of a parking meter parking guidance system and a parking meter management system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a parking meter parking guidance system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a vacant display device 1 with a wireless device displays, for example, a vacant information of a parking meter in a certain area according to status information (vacant / in use) sent from each parking meter 3. Device.

A radio 2 is connected to each parking meter 3. The wireless device 2 uses a wireless device called a so-called specific low-power wireless device having a frequency band of 400 (MHz) used for, for example, a telemeter and a telecontrol, and has a configuration shown in FIG. It implements various functions.

The specified low-power radio is economical and easy to handle because it does not require a radio fee or license, but has a short communicable distance. For this reason, for the parking meter 3 located within a communicable distance with the wireless device of the display device 1, for example, the wireless communication for the state sensing is started from the display device 1 and the parking meter 3 closest to the radio wave is used. By polling one by one, the status (free / in use) of each parking meter 3 can be known. However, it is considered that there are many cases where the parking meter 3 cannot directly communicate with the display device 1. In response to this, the status (free / in use) of each parking meter 3 is transmitted to the display 1 by the method described below.

First, an individual identification number (ID) is assigned to each wireless device 2 in advance. This means, for example, that each wireless device 2
Has a setting switch and the like, and operates the switch manually to set the ID. Alternatively, each wireless device 2 has a small-capacity PROM (programmable ROM), and the ID is stored in this PROM. Then, if individual IDs are set and arranged for all the communication devices 2,
A communication test is performed between the wireless devices 2 adjacent to each other to confirm that wireless communication can be performed. When the confirmation is completed, each wireless device 2 transmits its own ID to the wireless devices 2 on both sides of itself, and stores its own ID. From this, each radio 2
Stores the ID of the wireless device 2 on both sides of itself. As a result, when data is received from the wireless device 2 adjacent to the own device, a relay route for transmitting the data or data obtained by adding the own data to the data to the wireless device 2 adjacent to the own device is determined. You. Lastly, a radio device 2 (in this figure, for example, a radio device 2d located farthest from the display device 1) for activating the operation is determined.

When the arrangement is completed as described above, during actual operation, for example, the radio 2d, which performs the above-mentioned activation at regular time intervals, changes the current state (vacant /
(In use), and transmits this status data. Each area of the transmission destination, the transmission source, and the status data is allocated as the format of the data to be transmitted, and the ID of the adjacent wireless device (2c) stored in advance is stored in the transmission destination area. Stores the ID of its own device (wireless device 2d) and transmits the status data. Thus, even if there is a wireless device other than the wireless device 2c within the communication range of the wireless device 2d, the wireless device 2c relays.

The wireless device 2c adds its own status data to the received status data of the wireless device 2d and, as in the case of the above-described wireless device 2d, transmits the received status data to the adjacent wireless device 2d.
The transmission is performed including the ID of b and its own ID as the transmission source.
In the same manner, in the same manner, the transmission and reception are performed along the predetermined relay route, and the data is sequentially relayed while adding own data by the bucket brigade method (hereinafter referred to as a snowball transmission). ). As described above, by performing the snowball transmission, the data collection time can be significantly reduced.

The relay route can be automatically determined. For example, first, one of the radios 2
Activate configuration control. Activated radio 2
Sends its own ID. Upon receiving this, the wireless device 2 stores the ID. After a time interval determined by multiplying the ID by an appropriate numerical value, the other wireless device 2 transmits its own ID by adding the ID received so far. By performing this one after another, the communication routes of all the wireless devices 2 can be known after a predetermined time determined by the number of wireless devices. That is, since the IDs confirmed by the respective wireless devices 2 are different, if the IDs are collected at one location, it is possible to determine how to relay data from one wireless station to another wireless station. .

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. By the way, here, in recent years, electricity, gas,
Automatic meter reading systems for automatic meter reading of water supply and the like have become widespread in ordinary households, and recently, wireless automatic meter reading systems using wireless devices have been developed, and introduction to ordinary households has been studied. The automatic meter reading system (wired) is a public telephone line (or recently a CATV network, or a so-called third party radio MCA (Multi).
(A business-use voice communication system such as Channel Access), a teleterminal, or the like may be used). However, in this system, the read meter value is transmitted to the center device side via a public telephone line via a modem. Construction work to connect the telephone line to the modem attached to the gas, water, etc. meter is necessary, which is troublesome and costly.In addition, the appearance of a general house is impaired. Various problems arise, such as the necessity of permission from the management union when wiring in spaces.

In order to solve such a problem, introduction of the above wireless automatic meter reading system is being studied. In this wireless automatic meter reading system, a wireless master unit is attached to a telephone set, and a wireless slave unit is attached to a meter side to perform wireless data transmission. The wireless device usually uses what is called a specific low-power radio, and the communication distance is short,
No license is required, and it has features such as realization of a low-cost, low-power-consumption wireless unit.

As described above, introduction of the wireless automatic meter reading system is considered as a system that can be constructed very economically. On the other hand, if such a wireless automatic meter reading system becomes widespread, electricity and gas will be used in each home. , A wireless device will be connected to a meter such as water, but since meter reading of electricity, gas, water, etc. is performed only once a month,
It is expected to be idle most of the time.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, a parking meter parking guidance system is realized by using the above wireless automatic meter reading system (using a long unused time zone).

That is, as described above, the parking meter 3 is connected to the wireless device 2 of the specified low-power radio, so that a parking meter parking guidance system can be realized by a wireless system in which a license is not required and wireless equipment is inexpensive. May not be able to transmit data directly from each wireless device 2 to the display device 1. On the other hand, in the first embodiment, the data transmission is performed by relaying the data between the wireless devices 2 by the bucket brigade method. In the second embodiment, the above wireless automatic metering system is used. The parking meter 3 is, by its nature (for the purpose),
Generally, it is often installed in a place where there are many houses, buildings, etc. in an urban area, an urban area, etc., so that most of the wireless devices 2 of the parking meter 3 can communicate with wireless devices of a nearby wireless automatic meter reading system. Yes, you can take advantage of this.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a parking meter parking guidance system according to the second embodiment. In FIG. 2, the wireless automatic meter reading system includes a meter reading center 1.
0, a network 20 (public telephone line network, etc.), telephones 31a, 31b installed in each house 30a, 30b, wireless base units 32a, 32b, wireless slave units 33a, 33b, meters 34a, 34b, etc. .

In the wireless automatic meter reading system having the above configuration, for example, when meter reading of the meter 34 of the house 30a is performed, when the meter reading center 10 calls the house 30a and sends a meter reading command, the telephone 31a (a modem (not shown)). The wireless master device 32a connected to the wireless base device establishes a wireless line with the wireless slave device 33a in response to the meter reading command. In response, the wireless handset 33a wirelessly transmits the meter reading data of the meter 34a to the wireless master 32a. The wireless master device 32a sends the received meter reading data to the meter reading center 10 via the network 20 (public telephone network).

In the above configuration, for example, it is assumed that a parking meter with a radio 4 is installed near the house 30a. It is also assumed that there is a house 30b near the empty display device 5 with a wireless device.

When detecting that the parking meter has become empty, the wireless device 4 transmits a search radio wave for a certain period of time. Upon receiving this search radio wave, the wireless handset 33a
Establish a wireless line with the wireless device 4. Then, it receives data wirelessly transmitted from the wireless device 4 and transmits it to the meter reading center 10 via the network 20 via the wireless master device 32a and the telephone 31a.

Here, in the automatic meter reading system, a gas meter or the like has a function of transmitting an alarm to the meter reading center 10 when an abnormal gas use condition or the like is detected for safety reasons. Thus, in the wireless automatic meter reading system, the above-described search radio wave is detected and the wireless line is opened with the wireless device 4 to the wireless slave device connected to the meter to establish the wireless device 4.
By adding the function of relaying the data transmitted from the parking meter, the information of the parking meter can be read from the meter reading center 10.
Can be sent to

As a structure of data to be transmitted and received, an area of a destination (meter 34, meter reading center 10, display device 5) and an area of status data of the parking meter and / or display data to the display device 5 are allocated. In the above case,
From the wireless device 4, the above destination is the meter reading center 10,
The status data of the parking meter is transmitted. Thus, the wireless slave device 33a that has received this data can determine the destination and perform the relay.

The function of the above-mentioned wireless slave unit is as follows.
This is realized by executing a program stored in a ROM in the microprocessor by a microprocessor (CPU) (the configuration of the wireless slave device is shown in FIG. 3).

The meter reading center 10 knows the availability of each parking meter from the data transmitted as described above. Then, when data is transmitted from the parking meter, or at regular intervals, a process of transmitting the vacancy data to the display device 5 is performed. Meter reading center 10
A function required for realizing the parking meter parking guidance system according to the second embodiment is added to the second embodiment.

In the wireless automatic meter reading system, as described above,
When performing meter reading, meter reading data is sent from the meter side by the meter reading center calling each home and sending a meter reading command.

In this embodiment, the availability of each parking meter can be transmitted to the display 5 by preparing a display-addressed command which is an expanded function of the meter reading command. For example, the “destination” in the configuration of the data to be transmitted and received may be the display device 5.

In the meter reading center 10, for example, the telephone number of the house 30b near the display device 5 is registered in advance, and the command to the display device is sent by calling the house 30b. From this, the wireless slave device 33b of the house 30b determines that the data is relayed to the display device 5, establishes a wireless line with the wireless device provided in the display device 5, and establishes a wireless line for each of the parking meters. The availability data is wirelessly transmitted to the display device 5.

The display device 5 displays the latest parking meter availability according to the received data. The display mode may be one that displays the number of parking meters that are currently vacant.For example, a road map and the arrangement of parking meters on this road are displayed, and the parking meter in use is red and vacant. The parking meter that is displayed may be displayed in blue. In this case, it is necessary to individually distinguish the empty state of each parking meter. For example, a unique ID is assigned to each parking meter in advance, and its own ID is added to data transmitted from the parking meter to the meter reading center. To do it.

In the above description, the wireless slave unit 31 of each house 30 has been described as wirelessly relaying with the wireless unit 4 of the parking meter or the empty display unit 5 with a wireless unit, but communication is possible. Then, the wireless master device 32 may perform this.

As described above, according to the parking meter parking guidance system according to the second embodiment, if the wireless automatic meter reading system becomes widespread in each home, it can be used to indicate the availability of each parking meter. Can be sent to a display device to display parking meter parking guidance.

Further, in the second embodiment, since data indicating the availability of each parking meter is once collected at the meter reading center, not only data is sent to the display device but also information is provided on a homepage on the Internet, for example. It is also possible to provide parking meter availability information to a system that sends real-time traffic information and the like to a car navigation system mounted on a car.

In the second embodiment, an example in which a wireless automatic meter reading system is used has been described. However, in the field of the automatic meter reading system, the development of an automatic meter reading system using a power line carrier technology has been advanced. Is expected. In this method, information is transmitted while being superimposed on a power line. As described above, the parking meter uses AC100 (V) as a power source. Therefore, by using this power supply line as a signal transmission line, substantially the same as in the case of the wireless automatic metering system, The availability information of the parking meter can be transmitted without having to perform new wiring.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a wireless device connected to the parking meter. Radio 40 shown in FIG.
Has a CPU 41, a ROM 42, a RAM 43, and an RF module 44. The CPU 41 and the ROM 42
May be a one-chip CPU with a built-in ROM. The wireless device 40 is connected to the parking meter by a parking meter connection interface. This is the CPU 41
Interface using a serial port or the like.

The CPU 41 reads out and executes a program stored in the ROM 42, thereby realizing the functions of the wireless device 2 of FIG. 1 or the wireless device 4 of FIG.

The configurations of the radio 2 and the radio 4 are basically the same as those shown in FIG.
2 is different. The RAM 43 is a memory for temporarily storing received data when relaying data.

The RF module 44 is a power supply circuit (transmitter / receiver circuit) for supplying a high-frequency signal to the antenna.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the empty display device with a wireless device.

An empty display device 50 with a radio device shown in FIG.
CPU / ROM 51, RF module 52, RAM 5
3, a display controller 54 and a display unit 55 are provided.
The RAM 53 is a memory for temporarily storing data received by the antenna and the RF module 52, and stores / updates the latest parking meter vacancy information. C
The PU / ROM 51 is a CPU with a built-in ROM.
By executing the program stored in M,
By controlling the display controller 54, the latest parking meter parking guidance information is displayed on the display unit 55 based on the data stored in the RAM 53.

In a system in which an information processing device such as a meter reading center as shown in FIG. 2 is interposed, not only a parking meter parking guide system is realized, but also various applications are possible. For example, it is possible to realize a parking meter management system that manages the usage status of the parking meter.

Here, the general procedure for using the parking meter is as follows. When a user of the parking meter inserts a coin into the parking meter when parking, a slip on which a time limit (effective parking time) is printed is issued. The user puts this slip on the car and goes out for business, but if the user inadvertently passes the validity time, it will be a parking violation.

In order to avoid such a problem, the parking meter is provided with, for example, a numeric keypad, and the user inputs his / her telephone number such as a mobile phone, PHS, and pager. If it is detected that the car is not moved even when the parking effective time comes (or when the parking effective time has passed a fixed time or when the parking effective time is approaching), the meter reading center or the like is transmitted via the wireless automatic meter reading system described above. Send data to At this time, the data to be transmitted includes the information indicating the time-out and the data of the telephone number.

Thus, the meter reading center or the like can call the user's mobile phone or the like to notify that the time has expired (or to notify the user that the time is about to expire).
Alternatively, on the other hand, there is a malicious user who knows that the time is up and leaves the car. In such a case, the parking validity time may be notified after a predetermined time elapses, for example, to the administrator of the parking meter, and the control may be performed. It can be expected that even just indicating that such a function is present will greatly reduce the possibility of a violation.

[0053]

As described in detail above, the parking meter parking guidance system of the present invention provides a specific low-power radio for each parking meter, and transmits the empty information of each parking meter to the display device by a bucket brigade method. By transmitting, it can be easily realized at low cost. A similar effect can be obtained by using an automatic meter reading system such as a wireless automatic meter reading system. Further, it is possible to realize a parking meter management system in which the convenience and control of the user can be achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a parking meter parking guidance system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a parking meter parking guidance system according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a wireless device connected to a parking meter.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a vacant display device with a wireless device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Empty display device with a wireless device 2 Wireless device 3 Parking meter 4 Wireless device 5 Empty display device with a wireless device 10 Meter reading center 20 Network (public telephone network) 30 House 31 Telephone 32 Wireless base unit 33 Wireless slave unit 34 Meter 40 Wireless Device 41 CPU 42 ROM 43 RAM 44 RF module 50 Empty display device with wireless device 51 CPU / ROM 52 RF module 53 RAM 54 Display controller 55 Display unit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A display device, comprising: a wireless device, for displaying the availability of each parking meter according to data received by the wireless device; and a wireless device provided for each parking meter, wherein the own parking meter is provided. A wireless device having a transmitting means for transmitting the empty status data of the wireless communication device and a relay device for relaying the empty status data transmitted from the other wireless device, and a position which cannot directly communicate with the wireless device provided in the display device. A parking meter parking guide system, wherein the vacancy status data of the parking meter is transmitted to the display device in a bucket brigade manner by the relay means of each wireless device between the parking meter and the display device. 2. A wireless automatic meter reading system, comprising a wireless device installed in various meters or a wireless device capable of communicating with a wireless master device, and displaying the availability of each parking meter according to data received by the wireless device. A display device, each having a parking meter provided with a wireless device that can communicate with a wireless slave unit or a wireless master device installed in various meters in the wireless automatic meter reading system, and vacancy status data of each parking meter, Wirelessly transmits to the wireless slave unit or the wireless master device of the wireless automatic meter reading system at a position where it can communicate with the wireless device of the parking meter, and transmits the vacancy data to the display device via the wireless automatic meter reading system network. By sending the message to the wireless slave unit or wireless master unit of the wireless automatic meter reading system at a position where communication is possible, each park Parking meter parking guidance system characterized by transmitting the availability data of the meter. 3. Each parking meter includes a wireless device capable of communicating with a wireless slave unit or a wireless master device installed in various meters in the wireless automatic meter reading system, and input means for allowing a user to input his / her own telephone number. In each of the parking meters, before and after the parking valid time, the telephone number data is wirelessly transmitted to a wireless slave unit or a wireless master device of the wireless automatic metering system at a position where the wireless telephone can communicate with the wireless automatic meter reading device. Notify the host device via the system network, let the host device call the telephone number to notify the user of the expiration, or notify the parking meter manager after a predetermined time has passed the effective parking time. A parking meter management system.