Parking application and management system

Abstract

Devices, methods, and systems for parking management are described herein. One device includes instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to receive a first indication via a mobile device that a user intends to park a vehicle in a parking spot of a parking area, display directions to an available parking spot in the parking area via the mobile device, receive a second indication via the mobile device that the user has parked the vehicle in the available parking spot, and provide a third indication via a different mobile device that the available parking spot is no longer available.

What is claimed: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
 receive a first indication via a mobile device that a user intends to park a vehicle in a parking spot of a parking area;   display directions to an available parking spot in the parking area via the mobile device;   receive a second indication via the mobile device that the user has parked the vehicle in the available parking spot; and   provide a third indication via a different mobile device that the available parking spot is no longer available.   
     
     
         2 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions include instructions to:
 display a rendering of the available parking spot in a first color before the receipt of the first indication; and   display the rendering of the available parking spot in a second color responsive to receiving the first indication.   
     
     
         3 . The medium of  claim 2 , wherein the instructions include instructions to display the rendering of the available parking spot in a third color responsive to receiving the second indication. 
     
     
         4 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions include instructions to prevent the different mobile device from indicating that a user associated with the different mobile device has parked a different vehicle in the parking spot responsive to receiving the first indication. 
     
     
         5 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions include instructions to prevent the reception of the first indication responsive to a vehicle occupancy associated with the parking area exceeding a particular threshold. 
     
     
         6 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions include instructions to display a rendering of the parking area having a plurality of zones. 
     
     
         7 . The medium of  claim 6 , wherein the instructions include instructions to display each of the plurality of zones using a particular color based on a respective number of available parking spots in each zone. 
     
     
         8 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions include instructions to receive a payment corresponding to an amount of time the vehicle was parked in the parking area. 
     
     
         9 . The medium of  claim 8 , wherein the instructions include instructions to process the payment without any user input. 
     
     
         10 . The medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions include instructions to:
 receive a fourth indication from the mobile device that the vehicle is no longer parked in the parking spot; and   provide a fifth indication via the different mobile device that the unavailable parking spot is now available.   
     
     
         11 . A system for parking management, comprising:
 a first reader associated with an entrance of a parking area and configured to determine that a vehicle has entered the parking area;   a second reader associated with an exit of the parking area and configured to determine that the vehicle has exited the parking area;   a plurality of beacons located in the parking area; and   a computing device, configured to:
 receive an indication of the vehicle entering the parking area from the first reader; 
 determine an available parking spot a zone of the parking area; 
 track a movement of the vehicle in the parking area based on communications between the plurality of beacons and a mobile device associated with the vehicle; 
 receive an indication from the mobile device associated with the vehicle that the vehicle is parked in the available spot; 
 receive an indication of the vehicle exiting the parking area from the second reader; and 
 determine a length of time the vehicle spent in the parking area based on the indications from the first reader and the second reader. 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the first reader and second reader are license plate readers, and wherein the first and second indications are indications of the license plate number of the vehicle entering and exiting the parking area, respectively. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein each of the plurality of beacons is associated with a respective zone of the parking area. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the computing device is configured to determine a payment to be made by a user associated with the mobile device based, at least in part, on the length of time the vehicle spent in the parking area. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the computing device is configured to process the payment based on user information pre- registered with an entity managing the parking area. 
     
     
         16 . A method for parking management, comprising:
 displaying a rendering of a parking area via a user interface of a mobile device, wherein the rendering includes a plurality of parking spots, and wherein each of the parking spots is designated as available, held, or reserved;   receiving an indication via the user interface that a user intends to park a vehicle in a particular parking spot, wherein the particular parking spot is designated as available before the indication is received;   designating the particular parking spot as held responsive to receiving the indication;   receiving a subsequent indication via the user interface that the user has parked the vehicle in the particular parking spot;   designating the particular parking spot as reserved responsive to receiving the subsequent indication; and   re-designating the particular parking spot as available responsive to determining that the vehicle has exited the parking area based on information received from a reader associated with an exit of the parking area.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the method includes guiding the mobile device to the vehicle subsequent to designating the particular parking spot as reserved. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the method includes predicting a number of the plurality of parking spots designated as available, held, or reserved based, at least in part, on information received from an outside source. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the method includes determining a license plate number of the vehicle and storing the determined license plate number in memory. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the method includes providing occupancy information associated with the parking area to an entity managing the parking area.