WO2024116239A1 - Parking lot reservation system, information processing device, information processing method, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

An information processing device (100) comprises: a selection unit (102) that selects a parking lot having a parking space available for parking; a calculation unit (104) that calculates the degree of difficulty of driving to park in the parking space available for parking at the parking lot selected by the selection unit (102); and a presentation unit (106) that presents information with which the parking lot can be identified and the degree of difficulty.

Description

Parking lot reservation system, information processing device, information processing method, and recording medium

The present invention relates to a parking lot reservation system, an information processing device, an information processing method, and a recording medium.

An example of a system for managing reservations for parking lots, such as hourly parking lots, is described in Patent Document 1. The parking lot guidance system in Patent Document 1 includes an information processing device that communicates with a mobile communication terminal carried by a user of a vehicle parked in the parking lot. The information processing device collects location information of the mobile communication terminal multiple times, and each time it collects location information, it calculates the arrival time at which the user will arrive at the parking lot based on the location information and changes in the location information. The information processing device uses the average value of the calculated arrival times to calculate the predicted arrival time at which the user will arrive at the parking lot.

The parking lot management system of Patent Document 2 comprises a car stop control means for controlling the operation of a car stop device provided for each parking space, a reservation reception means for receiving reservations for parking spaces, a planned usage time estimation means for estimating the planned time at which a reserved vehicle will use the parking lot, and a parking space securing means for securing a reserved parking space. The car stop device control means is configured to operate the car stop device provided in the parking space secured by the parking space securing means when the planned time estimated by the planned usage time estimation means arrives, thereby preventing a vehicle from entering the parking space.

In the parking lot reservation system of Patent Document 3, the parking lot's partition equipment acquires an ID from the onboard device of an approaching user's vehicle, converts the user number, attaches it to an entry request, and sends it to a user management server. The user management server then associates the user's personal information with the user number and registers it in advance in a user information storage unit, receives the entry request, and forwards the request with the personal information corresponding to the user number to the parking lot management server. The parking lot management server then provides partition vacancy information to the user's mobile terminal, acquires partition reservation information and registers it in the parking lot management information storage unit together with the reservation start time, instructs the partition equipment to lock the partition, and when the entry request is received, instructs it to unlock if a reservation has been made with the personal information.

JP 2019-28564 A JP 2009-223721 A JP 2008-242555 A

The technology described in the above patent documents aims to make it possible to reserve parking spaces from a user's terminal, etc., and to utilize parking spaces efficiently. As a result, it does not take into account the difficulty of driving to park in the parking space, so there is a possibility that a parking space that does not suit the driver's driving skills may be reserved. As a result, the technology described in the above patent documents has the problem that parking takes time, which can lead to congestion in the parking lot and accidents in the parking lot.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, one example of the objective of the present invention is to provide a parking reservation system, an information processing device, an information processing method, and a recording medium that improve convenience by taking into account the difficulty of parking.

According to one aspect of the present invention,
A selection means for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation means for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park in the available parking space of the parking lot selected by the selection means;
A display unit is provided for displaying information that can identify the parking lot and the difficulty level of the parking lot.
An information processing device is provided.

According to one aspect of the present invention,
An information processing device;
A user terminal,
The information processing device includes:
A selection means for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation means for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park the vehicle in the available parking space in the selected parking lot;
A display unit displays the information that can identify the parking lot and the difficulty level of the parking lot on a display unit of the user terminal.
A parking reservation system is provided.

According to one aspect of the present invention,
One or more computers
Select a parking lot with available parking spaces,
Calculating the difficulty of driving to park in the available parking space in the selected parking lot;
Present information that can identify the parking lot and its difficulty level;
A method for processing information is provided.

According to one aspect of the present invention,
On the computer,
A selection process for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation process for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park in the available parking space of the parking lot selected in the selection process;
A presentation process for presenting information that can identify the parking lot and its difficulty level;
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the above is provided.

Another aspect of the present invention may be a program for causing at least one computer to execute the method according to the above aspect, or a computer-readable recording medium having such a program recorded thereon. The recording medium includes a non-transitory tangible medium.
The computer program includes computer program code which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to carry out the information processing method on an information processing device.

In addition, any combination of the above components, and any conversion of the present invention into a method, device, system, recording medium, computer program, etc., are also valid aspects of the present invention.

Furthermore, the various components of the present invention do not necessarily have to be independent entities, but may be formed as a single member by multiple components, one component may be formed from multiple components, one component may be part of another component, or part of one component may overlap with part of another component, etc.

In addition, although the method and computer program of the present invention describe multiple steps in a sequential order, the order in which the steps are described does not limit the order in which the steps are executed. Therefore, when implementing the method and computer program of the present invention, the order of the multiple steps can be changed to the extent that it does not interfere with the content.

Furthermore, the multiple steps of the method and computer program of the present invention are not limited to being executed at different times. Therefore, a step may occur while another step is being executed, or the execution timing of a step may overlap in part or in whole with the execution timing of another step, etc.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a parking reservation system, an information processing device, an information processing method, and a recording medium are obtained that improve convenience by taking into account the difficulty of parking.

1 is a diagram showing an overview of an information processing device according to an embodiment; 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a system configuration of a parking lot reservation system according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a computer that realizes an information processing device. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of an application of the parking lot reservation system. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen that a presentation unit displays on a display of a user terminal. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of parking lot information. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of driver information. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a logical configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by a presentation unit using a display mode determined by the presentation unit; FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of a screen that the presentation unit displays on the display of the user terminal. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of the information processing device according to the embodiment. 1 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a system configuration of a parking lot reservation system according to an embodiment.

Below, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that in all drawings, similar components are given similar reference symbols and descriptions will be omitted where appropriate. Also, in the following drawings, configurations of parts that are not related to the essence of the present invention have been omitted and are not shown.

In the embodiment, "acquisition" includes at least one of the following: the device itself goes to retrieve data or information stored in another device or storage medium (active acquisition), and the device itself inputs data or information output from another device (passive acquisition). Examples of active acquisition include making a request or inquiry to another device and receiving a reply, and accessing and reading information from another device or storage medium. An example of passive acquisition is receiving information that is distributed (or transmitted, push notification, etc.). Furthermore, "acquisition" may mean selecting and acquiring data or information from received data or information, or selecting and receiving distributed data or information.

<Minimum configuration example>
1 is a diagram showing an overview of an information processing device 100 according to an embodiment. The information processing device 100 includes a selection unit 102, a calculation unit 104, and a presentation unit 106.
The selection unit 102 selects a parking lot having an available parking space.
The calculation unit 104 calculates the difficulty level of driving until parking in an available parking space in the parking lot selected by the selection unit 102.
The presentation unit 106 presents information that can identify a parking lot and its difficulty level.

<Example of operation>
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the information processing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment.
The selection unit 102 selects a parking lot that has an available parking space (step S101). The calculation unit 104 calculates the difficulty of driving to park in an available parking space in the parking lot selected in step S101 (step S103). The presentation unit 106 presents information that can identify the parking lot and the difficulty level (step S105).

In this information processing device 100, the selection unit 102 selects a parking lot that has an available parking space. The calculation unit 104 calculates the difficulty of driving to park in an available parking space in the parking lot selected by the selection unit 102. The presentation unit 106 presents information that can identify the parking lot and the difficulty level.
Therefore, according to the information processing device 100, the advantage of improving convenience by taking into account the degree of difficulty of parking can be obtained.

A detailed example of the information processing device 100 is described below.

First Embodiment
<System Overview>
FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually showing the system configuration of the parking lot reservation system 1 according to the embodiment.
The parking lot reservation system 1 includes an information processing device 100 that manages the parking lot 10, and a user terminal 50 of a user U who uses the parking lot 10. The information processing device 100 and the user terminal 50 are connected via a communication network 3, for example.

The information processing device 100 is a computer such as a server computer. The information processing device 100 includes a storage device 120. The storage device 120 may be provided inside the information processing device 100 or may be provided externally. In other words, the storage device 120 may be hardware that is integrated with the information processing device 100, or may be hardware that is separate from the information processing device 100.

The user terminal 50 is a terminal device operated by a user U who uses the services of the parking lot reservation system 1. The user terminal 50 is, for example, a computer 1000 such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or a personal computer. In another example, the user terminal 50 may be a computer such as a car navigation device of the vehicle 30 driven by the user U.

Possible scenarios for using the parking lot reservation system 1 include reserving a parking lot by specifying a date and time in advance, and searching for parking lots near a destination.

The service of the parking lot reservation system 1 can be used, for example, by installing and starting a specific application on the user terminal 50, or by accessing a specific website using a browser or the like. In this embodiment, an example of using the service by starting an application will be described.

For example, in order to use the service, user U completes procedures such as user registration in advance and obtains account information. When using the service, the user can log in to the parking lot reservation system 1 on the user terminal 50 using the account information. If authentication is successful, the user can use the service on the user terminal 50.

<Hardware configuration example>
Fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a computer 1000 that realizes the information processing device 100. The user terminal 50 in Fig. 3 is also realized by the computer 1000. The functions of the information processing device 100 may be shared and realized by the user terminal 50 (or the car navigation device and the information processing device 100). The functions of the image processing device 130 of the embodiment described later may also be shared and realized by the information processing device 100, the user terminal 50, and the image processing device 130.

The computer 1000 has a bus 1010, a processor 1020, a memory 1030, a storage device 1040, an input/output interface 1050, and a network interface 1060.

The bus 1010 is a data transmission path for the processor 1020, memory 1030, storage device 1040, input/output interface 1050, and network interface 1060 to transmit and receive data to and from each other. However, the method of connecting the processor 1020 and other components to each other is not limited to a bus connection.

The processor 1020 is a processor realized by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).

Memory 1030 is a main storage device realized by RAM (Random Access Memory) or the like.

The storage device 1040 is an auxiliary storage device realized by a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), memory card, or ROM (Read Only Memory). The storage device 1040 stores program modules that realize each function of the information processing device 100 (e.g., the selection unit 102, the calculation unit 104, the presentation unit 106, the decision unit 108 described later, etc.). The processor 1020 loads each of these program modules into the memory 1030 and executes them, thereby realizing each function corresponding to the program module. The storage device 1040 may also store each data of the storage device 120 of the information processing device 100 or the storage device 140 of the image processing device 130 described later.

The program module may be recorded on a recording medium. The recording medium on which the program module is recorded may include a non-transitory, tangible medium usable by the computer 1000, and the program code readable by the computer 1000 (processor 1020) may be embedded in the medium.

The input/output interface 1050 is an interface for connecting the computer 1000 to various input/output devices. The input/output interface 1050 also functions as a communication interface for short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and NFC (Near Field Communication).

The network interface 1060 is an interface for connecting the computer 1000 to the communication network 3. This communication network 3 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network). The method for connecting the network interface 1060 to the communication network 3 may be a wireless connection or a wired connection.

Then, the computer 1000 connects to necessary devices (e.g., a display, an operation unit, a touch panel, a camera, a speaker, a microphone, etc., not shown) via the input/output interface 1050 or the network interface 1060.

Each component of the information processing device 100 of each embodiment shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 9 described later is realized by any combination of hardware and software of the computer 1000 of FIG. 4. Those skilled in the art will understand that there are various variations in the implementation method and device. The functional block diagram showing the information processing device 100 of each embodiment shows logical functional blocks, rather than a hardware-based configuration.

<Overview of the application operation of parking lot reservation system 1>
The parking lot reservation system 1 enables the user U to use the service by executing an application. Fig. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the application of the parking lot reservation system 1. For example, when the application is started on the user terminal 50, this flow starts.

First, by selecting a destination input menu in a parking reservation menu or the like, a destination input screen is displayed. There are no particular limitations on the method of inputting the destination. The information processing device 100 accepts the input of the destination by, for example, searching using at least one of a postal code, telephone number, name, address, etc. (step S11).

When the information processing device 100 accepts the input of the destination, it selects parking lots 10 with available parking spaces around the destination and displays them together with the difficulty level (step S13). In this step S13, the information processing device 100 performs processing according to the procedure of the flowchart in FIG. 2 described above. Available parking spaces around the destination are, for example, parking lots 10 that exist within a specified range from the destination and that are not being used within the parking lot 10, i.e., vacant parking spaces. For example, when a destination is selected using a car navigation device, the information processing device 100 may obtain the destination and select an available parking space.

In addition, in step S11, the information processing device 100 may also accept input of a reservation time (start time and end time of use) in addition to the destination. In this case, the fact that the reserved time has not been reserved by another user is added to the selection conditions for an available parking space.

6 is a diagram showing an example of a screen 300 that the presentation unit 106 displays on the display of the user terminal 50. The screen 300 includes an image element (for example, an icon shown as "P" in the figure) indicating the location of parking lots 10 that have available parking spaces, and a difficulty level display 302 that displays information indicating the difficulty level for each parking lot 10. The image element and the difficulty level display 302 are superimposed on the map. The screen 300 further includes an image element indicating the location of the destination, and a destination display 304 that points to the destination. The image element indicating the location of the destination is a highlight such as hatching that indicates the location of the destination. The image element and the destination display 304 are also superimposed on the map. In the example of FIG. 6, the difficulty level display 302 and the destination display 304 are shown in the shape of a speech bubble, but are not limited to this and various forms can be adopted, and it is preferable that the form be such that the association with the corresponding image element can be recognized.

In the example of FIG. 6, the difficulty level display 302 indicates the level of difficulty using characters such as "difficult" indicating that parking is difficult and "easy" indicating that parking is easy. The method of indicating the level of difficulty is not limited to this. In another example, the level of difficulty may be indicated in stages using symbols, pictograms, etc. In yet another example, the level of difficulty may be indicated in stages using numbers. For example, a level of difficulty may be indicated in stages from 1 to 5, with the higher number indicating that parking is more difficult. Conversely, the higher number indicating that parking is easier. Alternatively, in yet another example, the level of difficulty may be indicated in stages using colors. For example, red may indicate that parking is very difficult, yellow may indicate that parking is somewhat difficult, and green may indicate that parking is easy. Alternatively, in yet another example, the level of difficulty may be indicated in stages using the size of the difficulty level display 302. The larger the size of the difficulty level display 302, the easier it may be to park. Conversely, the larger the size of the difficulty level display 302, the more difficult it may be to park.

The information processing device 100 accepts the selection of the parking lot 10 to be reserved (step S15). The information processing device 100 can accept the selection of the parking lot 10 to be reserved, for example, by accepting a user operation to press an icon representing the parking lot 10 on the screen 300.

When the reservation is accepted, the information processing device 100 performs a reservation process for a parking space in the parking lot 10 (step S17). The reservation process includes measures to prevent other users' vehicles from entering the reserved parking space. Measures to prevent other users' vehicles from entering (hereinafter referred to as "entry prevention measures") include, for example, control such as driving a locking device (not shown) that uses a locking plate or the like to lock entering vehicles, thereby raising the locking plate.

A method for determining when to implement anti-intrusion measures is exemplified below.
For example, it is preferable that the intrusion prevention measures be continuously implemented for a predetermined period of time including before and after the reserved time.

Alternatively, it is preferable that the information processing device 100 estimates the scheduled time of arrival of the vehicle 30 at the destination, and continues to implement the prevention of entry measures for a predetermined period before and after the estimated scheduled arrival time. The information processing device 100 can calculate the distance between the vehicle 30 and the parking lot from location information acquired using the GPS (Global Positioning System) receiving function of the user terminal 50 of the user U and location information of the reserved parking lot. The information processing device 100 can then calculate the scheduled time of arrival from the calculated distance. Alternatively, the information processing device 100 may cooperate with a car navigation system and acquire the scheduled time of arrival from the car navigation system.

The specified period before the reservation time or scheduled arrival time is, for example, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc. before the reservation time or scheduled arrival time. The specified period after the reservation time or scheduled arrival time may include, for example, the usage time specified by user U when making the reservation (30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, etc.) or a time that is preset with a certain time limit (for example, 2 hours, etc.). In this case, it is preferable to notify user U in advance that there is a limit on parking time.

In addition, if the time until the reservation time or the scheduled arrival time is longer than a predetermined time (for example, it may be a certain time that is the limit of the parking usage time described above), and if there is another user who wishes to use the parking space during the period until the reservation time or the scheduled arrival time, the other user may be allowed to use the parking space. In that case, the information processing device 100 may temporarily cancel the entry prevention measures, park the other user's vehicle, and apply the entry prevention measures again after the other user's vehicle has left the parking lot.

In addition, if the vehicle 30 of user U who has reserved the parking space has not arrived even after a predetermined time has passed, the information processing device 100 may perform a process to cancel the reservation. The cancellation process also includes a process to cancel the reserved status on the screen 300. The cancellation process also includes a process to cancel the measure to prevent entry into the parking space.

Furthermore, in the reservation process, if the reserved parking space is the last available space in the parking lot, the information processing device 100 may instruct the control device of the bulletin board to change the display on the bulletin board for that parking lot to "full."

The information processing device 100 detects that the vehicle 30 has arrived at the parking lot 10 (step S19). There are various possible detection methods. For example, the information processing device 100 registers the license plate number of the vehicle 30 at the time of reservation, and identifies the license plate number of the vehicle 30 that has entered the parking lot 10 by performing image processing on an image captured by a camera installed at the entrance to the parking lot 10. When the license plate number of the reserved vehicle 30 is detected, the information processing device 100 detects that the reserved vehicle 30 has arrived at the parking lot 10.

Alternatively, the information processing device 100 may acquire location information of the user terminal 50 and detect that the vehicle 30 (user terminal 50) has arrived at the location of the parking lot 10. When the arrival of the vehicle 30 is detected, the information processing device 100 also performs a process of lowering the locking plate that was locked in step S17 to release the lock.

The information processing device 100 further performs processing to identify the parking situation of the vehicle 30 by processing images from a camera installed in the parking lot 10 or a camera mounted on the vehicle 30 (step S21). This processing will be described in detail in the embodiment described later.

The above is an overview of the operation of the parking lot reservation system 1 application.

<Functional configuration example>
Next, an example of a functional configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
The information processing device 100 includes a selection unit 102 , a calculation unit 104 , and a presentation unit 106 .

The selection unit 102 selects a parking lot 10 that has an available parking space.
The selection unit 102 acquires information about the parking space for each parking lot 10. The information about the parking space may be, for example, information indicating whether parking is possible for each parking space in the parking lot 10, or information indicating whether there is a parking space available for parking for each parking lot 10. The information about the parking space includes information that allows a parking space to be selected based on a selection condition described later.

The selection unit 102 selects a parking lot 10 that has an available parking space based on the acquired information about the parking space and further by determining whether the vehicle 30 can be parked based on the selection conditions.

The selection conditions that specify whether parking is possible include conditions related to at least one of time and space. Conditions related to time include whether the space is currently available, whether it is available at the reserved time, etc. Conditions related to space include whether a space that fits the size of the vehicle 30 is available, etc. In this case, the information related to the parking space includes information indicating the availability of the parking space.

The selection unit 102, for example, obtains information indicating the drive and release status of the locking device from the control device of the locking device in the parking lot 10 (for example, information such as a control signal for the locking device). The selection unit 102 may then identify a parking space with an unlocked locking device as vacant based on the obtained information. Alternatively, the information indicating the availability of parking spaces may be obtained by processing images captured by a camera installed in the parking lot 10 described in an embodiment below, or a camera such as a drive recorder of another vehicle in the parking lot.

Furthermore, the selection unit 102 may determine the availability of parking spaces in the parking lot 10 by analyzing and processing satellite images using an image processing device 130 described below.

The time-related conditions may be selectable by the user U, or may be determined for each application or menu. For example, an application for searching for immediately available parking spaces and an application for reserving parking spaces by specifying a date and time may be different applications. Alternatively, one application may include a menu for searching for immediately available parking spaces and a menu for reserving parking spaces by specifying a date and time.

The size of the vehicle 30 used in the space-related conditions is identified based on information about the vehicle 30. The user U may register the type (model) of the vehicle 30 in advance as information about the vehicle 30, or the model may be identified and registered by processing an image of the vehicle 30, as described below. The model and size of the vehicle 30 may be associated and stored in the storage device 120 as model information. The information about the parking space also includes the size of the vehicle 30 that can be parked in the parking space. The selection unit 102 identifies the size of the vehicle 30 from the model of the vehicle 30, and selects a parking space that can accommodate the identified vehicle 30 size.

The size of the vehicle 30 includes at least one of the vehicle body size and vehicle height. The information about the parking spaces includes the size of the vehicle that can be parked in each parking space (vehicle body width, vehicle body height (in the case of a mechanical parking lot, etc.)). Furthermore, in order to prevent a situation in which the locking plate of the parking space hits the underside of the vehicle body and locking is not possible when the vehicle height is low, or a situation in which the underside of the vehicle body hits a step in front of the parking space, the information about the parking space may also include the vehicle height that can be parked in each parking space.

Also, as described above, the selection conditions may include a condition that the parking space is within a predetermined distance from the destination. In this case, the information about the parking space includes the location information of the parking lot 10 of the parking space. The selection unit 102 can select a parking lot 10 within a predetermined distance from the destination using the location information of the parking lot 10 and the location information of the destination. However, when searching for an immediately available parking lot as described above, instead of accepting the input of the destination, the selection unit 102 may obtain the current location of the vehicle 30 and select a parking lot 10 within a predetermined distance from the location. The current location of the vehicle 30 may be obtained from the car navigation device of the vehicle 30, or location information obtained using the GPS receiving function of the user terminal 50 may be used.

Furthermore, the selection conditions may include conditions related to the sidewalk from the parking lot 10 to the destination. In this case, the information about the parking space may include, for example, information about the parking lot 10 of the parking space and the sidewalk to the destination. This information about the sidewalk includes at least one of the following: the distance of the route from the parking lot 10 to the destination, the presence or absence of a sidewalk, the width of the sidewalk, whether or not the roadway is crossed, whether or not there is a traffic light at the crossing point, etc.

The conditions regarding the sidewalk may include, for example, at least one of the following conditions: the distance of the route from the parking lot 10 to the destination is less than a predetermined value, there is a sidewalk, the width of the sidewalk is greater than a predetermined value, there is no crossing of the roadway, and if there is a crossing of the roadway, there is a traffic light at the crossing point. In other words, it is preferable that the conditions regarding the sidewalk include conditions that allow the user to reach the destination from the parking lot 10 safely and conveniently.

Information about sidewalks may be obtained from existing road information or road information databased in the parking lot reservation system 1, or from a car navigation system.

Furthermore, the selection conditions may include the time required to walk from the parking lot 10 to the destination. In this case, the information about the parking space includes the time required to walk from the parking lot 10 of the parking space to the destination. Alternatively, the information about the parking space may include the distance of the route from the parking lot 10 of the parking space to the destination, and the selection unit 102 may calculate the time required to walk from the distance. The selection conditions include the required time being within a predetermined value. Alternatively, when the selection unit 102 accepts input of a desired arrival time from the user U, the selection unit 102 may select a parking lot 10 with the selection condition that the planned arrival time estimated from the required time will be in time for the desired arrival time.

The calculation unit 104 calculates the difficulty of driving to park in an available parking space in the parking lot 10 selected by the selection unit 102.

The calculation unit 104 calculates the difficulty level using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot 10, the roadway accessing the parking lot 10, and the available parking spaces.

The parameters include at least one of the various parameters shown below.
The various parameters include parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching parking lot 10, whether to turn right or left when entering parking lot 10 from the direction of travel toward parking lot 10, the width of the entrance to parking lot 10 from the roadway, the number of entrances, how crowded the entrance is, whether a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether or not there is a gate at the entrance and exit of parking lot 10, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space within parking lot 10, whether the parking space is parallel parking or not, the width of the driving space within parking lot 10, the availability of space within parking lot 10, and whether parking lot 10 is self-propelled or mechanical.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of parking lot information 200. Parking lot information 200 is stored, for example, for each parking lot 10 or each parking space, in association with identification information of the parking lot 10 or parking space (shown as a parking lot ID in the figure), the parking lot name, location information such as an address, and the various parameters described above. Parking lot information 200 is stored in storage device 120. However, the information contained in parking lot information 200 is not limited to these.

The calculation unit 104 may further calculate the difficulty level using information related to the driver's driving technique.
8 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the driver information 210. In the driver information 210, for example, identification information of the user U (hereinafter referred to as a user ID), information indicating the driving technique of the user U, and the model of the vehicle 30 of the user U are stored in association with each other for each user U. The driver information 210 is stored in the storage device 120. However, the information included in the driver information 210 is not limited to these.

The information on the driver's driving technique is information indicating at least one of the techniques that the driver is good at and the techniques that the driver is weak at. The information on the driver's driving technique includes, for example, information indicating whether the driver is good at or weak at driving techniques such as turning right, turning left, backing up, parallel parking, and turning around. The information on the driver's driving technique may be registered in the driver information 210 by having the user U select the driving technique that the user is good at or weak at using a predetermined setting menu.
Alternatively, as will be described in the following embodiments, images taken while driving may be processed to identify the driver's weak and strong skills.

The calculation unit 104 may calculate the difficulty level using the presence or absence of at least one of an automatic driving function and an automatic parking function of the vehicle 30 and the level of the automatic driving function.
The functional level of the vehicle 30 may be determined according to, for example, the presence or absence of a fully automated driving function, a semi-automated driving function, the presence or absence of a driving guide output (display, voice), the presence or absence of a voice navigation system, the presence or absence of an alarm sound output, etc. The vehicle model of the vehicle 30 and the presence or absence of various functions may be associated with each other and stored in the storage device 120 as vehicle model information.

The presentation unit 106 presents information that can identify the parking lot 10 and the difficulty level. Specifically, the presentation unit 106 displays information that can identify the parking lot 10 and the difficulty level on the display of the user terminal 50 of the user U.

Information that can identify a parking lot 10 includes image elements that indicate the location of a parking lot 10 with an available parking space, superimposed on a map, as exemplified in screen 300 of FIG. 6. Alternatively, information that can identify a parking lot 10 may include information about a parking lot 10 with an available parking space (at least some of the information such as the name of the parking lot, the address of the parking lot, a telephone number, and a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the homepage), as exemplified in screen 320 of FIG. 11 described below.

In addition, the information that can identify the parking lot 10 may include information that can identify an available parking space or section within the parking lot 10. The information that can identify an available parking space or section may include at least some of the following information: identification information (such as a symbol or number) assigned to the parking space, location information on a map that indicates the parking space or section within the parking lot 10, etc.

The calculation unit 104 may calculate the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type (model) and size of the vehicle 30. The information indicating at least one of the type (model) and size of the vehicle 30 corresponds to the information about the vehicle 30 described above.

The calculation unit 104 may calculate the difficulty level using information on the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked.
The information regarding ease of driving includes information indicating whether the car is familiar to the driver, whether it is a rental car, whether it is a left-hand drive or right-hand drive, the size of the car body, the vehicle height, the height of the driver's seat, etc.

<Example of operation>
An example of the operation of the information processing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment will be described below with reference to Fig. 2. As described above, the flow in this figure corresponds to the process of step S13 in the application process procedure in Fig. 5.

The selection unit 102 selects parking lots 10 that have available parking spaces (step S101). For example, the selection unit 102 selects parking lots 10 that are within a predetermined distance from the destination selected by the user U. The selection unit 102 further narrows down the selected parking lots 10 to parking lots 10 that have available parking spaces. From the narrowed down parking lots 10, the selection unit 102 selects parking lots 10 that satisfy the selection conditions (parking lots 10 that have parking spaces).

The calculation unit 104 calculates the difficulty of driving to park in an available parking space in the parking lot 10 selected by the selection unit 102 (step S103). The calculation unit 104 acquires information indicating the driver's driving skill level, the type of vehicle 30, the parking lot 10, the roadway accessing the parking lot 10, and the attributes and status of the available parking space, and calculates the difficulty using the acquired information and parameters.

The presentation unit 106 presents information that can identify the parking lot 10 and the difficulty level thereof (step S105). For example, the presentation unit 106 displays the screen 300 in FIG. 6 on the display of the user terminal 50 of the user U.

When user U presses, for example, an icon of the parking lot 10 that he/she wishes to reserve on screen 300, information processing device 100 accepts the selection of the parking lot 10 to be reserved in step S15 of FIG. 5 (step S15). Upon accepting the reservation, information processing device 100 performs a reservation process for a parking space in parking lot 10 (step S17). On screen 300, an image element indicating that the reservation of parking lot 10 selected by user U has been completed, i.e., a reserved status, may be superimposed on the position indicating the parking lot 10 selected by user U.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the information processing device 100 includes a selection unit 102, a calculation unit 104, and a presentation unit 106. The selection unit 102 selects a parking lot 10 that has an available parking space. The calculation unit 104 calculates the difficulty of driving to park in an available parking space in the selected parking lot 10. The presentation unit 106 presents information that can identify the parking lot 10 and the difficulty level. This information processing device 100 can improve convenience by taking into account the difficulty level of parking. Furthermore, according to this embodiment, by presenting the difficulty level of available parking spaces, congestion in the parking lot 10 can be alleviated and accidents in the parking lot 10 can be prevented.

In addition, in this embodiment, even if the location or condition of nearby parking lots is unknown when traveling or in an area that is not usually visited, the presentation unit 106 presents the location of available parking spaces and the difficulty of parking, so the user can understand the situation and use the parking lot 10. In addition, in this embodiment, the selection unit 102 selects a parking lot 10 that has available parking spaces, and the presentation unit 106 presents the available parking spaces in real time. Therefore, compared to a case where the user only checks the location of the parking lot 10 and then heads to the parking lot 10, this embodiment can prevent a situation where the parking lot 10 is full when the user arrives there. Furthermore, since there is no need to go to the trouble of searching for the parking lot 10 again, which occurs when the parking lot 10 is full, this embodiment allows the user to arrive at the destination smoothly.

Furthermore, the selection unit 102 selects a parking lot 10 while taking into consideration the route from the parking lot 10 to the destination after parking, which is convenient for the user U and allows the user U to travel safely from the parking lot 10 to the destination, thereby preventing traffic accidents.

Second Embodiment
9 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a logical configuration of the information processing device 100 according to the embodiment. This embodiment is similar to the above embodiment except that when multiple parking lots 10 are selected by the selection unit 102, a recommended order is determined and the display mode of the parking lots 10 is determined using the recommended order. The configuration of this embodiment may be combined with at least one of the configurations of the other embodiments to the extent that no contradiction occurs.

<Functional configuration example>
The information processing device 100 further includes a determination unit 108 in addition to the configuration shown in FIG.
When multiple parking lots 10 are selected by the selection unit 102, the determination unit 108 determines the recommendation order of the multiple parking lots 10 using the difficulty level of each parking lot 10.
The presentation unit 106 determines the display mode of the parking lot 10 using the recommendation order.

In addition, if the parking lot 10 selected by the selection unit 102 includes multiple parking spaces available for parking, the determination unit 108 may determine the recommendation order of the multiple parking spaces.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a screen 310 displayed using the display mode determined by the presentation unit 106. The screen 310 includes an icon indicating the location of a parking lot 10 having available parking spaces, an image element indicating the location of the destination, and a destination display 304, just like the screen 300 in FIG. 6, and further includes a recommended order display 312.

The recommended order display 312 displays the recommended order determined by the determination unit 108. If multiple available parking spaces are included, the recommended order display 312 displays the identification information of the parking spaces along with the recommended order for each parking space. Alternatively, in this case, the recommended order display 312 may display only the identification information of the parking space with the highest recommended order in one parking lot 10 along with the recommended order.

Note that the screen 310 in FIG. 10 may further include the difficulty level display 302 of the screen 300 in FIG. 6.

Furthermore, the presentation unit 106 may display screen 320 of FIG. 11 on the display of the user terminal 50. Screen 320 displays a list of information on multiple parking lots 10 selected by the selection unit 102 in the order of recommendation determined by the determination unit 108. The list on screen 320 of FIG. 11 includes, as an example, the parking lot name, difficulty level, address, etc. for each parking lot 10. Screens 300 and 320 may be displayed side-by-side on the display of the user terminal 50, or may be displayed by switching between them alternatively.

The determination unit 108 may further determine the recommendation order using information about the route to reach each parking lot selected by the selection unit 102.

The information about the route may include at least one of the following: distance, whether there is traffic congestion, estimated travel time (or estimated arrival time), difficulty of the route (for example, the difficulty increases when there are many lanes, traffic volume, number of bicycles, number of pedestrians, etc.), width of the roadway, proportion of large vehicles, presence of sidewalks, presence of bicycles on the roadway, etc.

<Example of operation>
12 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the information processing device 100 according to the embodiment. This flow further includes steps S201 and S203 in addition to the flow in FIG.
After step S103 in FIG. 2, the determination unit 108 determines the recommendation order of the multiple parking lots 10 selected by the selection unit 102 using the difficulty level of each parking lot 10 (step S201).
The presentation unit 106 then uses the recommendation order to determine the display mode of the parking lots 10 (step S203).The presentation unit 106 then presents the parking lots 10 and their difficulty levels (step S105).

As described above, the information processing device 100 of this embodiment further includes a determination unit 108. When multiple parking lots 10 are selected by the selection unit 102, the determination unit 108 determines the recommendation order of the multiple parking lots 10 using the difficulty level of each parking lot 10. The presentation unit 106 determines the display mode of the parking lots 10 using the recommendation order.

In this way, the information processing device 100 of this embodiment has the same effects as the above embodiment, and furthermore, the presentation unit 106 recommends and presents parking lots 10 that suit the driver's driving skills, allowing for smooth parking. Smooth parking also helps to alleviate traffic congestion in the parking lots 10 and around the destination.

Third Embodiment
FIG. 13 is a diagram conceptually showing the system configuration of a parking lot reservation system 1 according to an embodiment.
This embodiment is similar to any of the above-mentioned embodiments, except that it has a configuration for processing an image captured by a camera to identify the driving technique of the driver of the vehicle 30. This embodiment will be described based on the configuration of the first embodiment in Fig. 1, but the configuration of this embodiment may be combined with the configuration of the second embodiment in Fig. 9 to the extent that no contradiction occurs.

<System Overview>
The parking lot reservation system 1 of the embodiment has a similar configuration to the parking lot reservation system 1 of Fig. 3, and further includes cameras 5a, 5b, and an image processing device 130. The camera 5a is a camera such as a drive recorder mounted on the vehicle 30. The camera 5b is a camera installed in the parking lot 10. The image processing device 130 processes images captured by the cameras 5a and 5b. The image processing device 130 may also process images captured using a camera (not shown) of the user terminal 50. Hereinafter, when there is no particular need to distinguish between the cameras 5a, 5b, and the camera of the user terminal 50, they will simply be referred to as cameras 5.

The camera 5 has an imaging element such as a lens and a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensor, and is, for example, a network camera such as an IP (Internet Protocol) camera. The network camera has, for example, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) communication function, and is connected to the communication network 3, i.e., the image processing device 130, via a relay device such as a router (not shown). These cameras 5 may be equipped with a mechanism for controlling the orientation of the camera body and lens, zoom control, focusing, etc. by following the movement of the vehicle 30.

The images generated by the camera 5 are preferably taken in real time and transmitted to the image processing device 130. However, the images transmitted to the image processing device 130 do not have to be transmitted directly from the camera 5, but may be images delayed by a predetermined time. The images captured by the camera 5 may be temporarily stored in another storage device, and the image processing device 130 may read them out from the storage device sequentially or at predetermined intervals. Furthermore, the images transmitted to the image processing device 130 are preferably moving images, but may also be frame images at predetermined intervals or still images.

The image processing device 130 includes a storage device 140. The storage device 140 may be provided inside the image processing device 130 or may be provided externally. In other words, the storage device 140 may be a piece of hardware that is integrated with the image processing device 130, or may be a piece of hardware that is separate from the image processing device 130.

<Functional configuration example>
The information processing apparatus 100 has a configuration similar to that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, so an example of the functional configuration of the information processing apparatus 100 of the embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

The image processing device 130 processes the captured image of the vehicle 30 to identify at least one of the type and size of the vehicle 30 .
The selection unit 102 selects a parking lot 10 having a parking space available for parking the vehicle 30 using information indicating at least one of the type (model) and size of the identified vehicle 30.
The calculation unit 104 calculates the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type (model) and size of the identified vehicle 30.

The calculation unit 104 uses the driver's driving history information to identify the driver's weak and strong driving techniques, and identifies information related to the driving techniques.

The calculation unit 104 identifies the driver's good and bad driving techniques by having the image processing device 130 process images captured by the camera 5 of the driver driving in a parking space in the parking lot 10.
The image processing device 130 identifies, for example, the time taken for parking, the number of turns, etc., through image processing. If at least one of the time taken for parking and the number of turns exceeds a respective first threshold, the calculation unit 104 identifies that parking in a parking space having the characteristics of the parking space is difficult. Alternatively, if at least one of the time taken for parking and the number of turns is below a respective second threshold, the calculation unit 104 may identify that parking in a parking space having the characteristics of the parking space is easy.

The characteristics of the parking space are stored in the storage device 120 as parking space information for each parking space. The parking space information may be the same as the information indicating the parameters used to calculate the difficulty of the parking space.

Similar to the embodiment described above, the calculation unit 104 may calculate the difficulty level using information regarding the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked. The information regarding the ease of driving includes information indicating whether the vehicle is familiar to the driver, whether it is a rental car, whether the steering wheel is left-hand or right-hand, etc., the size of the vehicle, the vehicle height, the height of the driver's seat, etc.

By having the image processing device 130 process an image of the vehicle 30, the information processing device 100 may read the license plate information and determine whether the vehicle 30 is a rental car or not, and whether the vehicle 30 is owned by the driver. As will be described later, the information processing device 100 may identify information about the vehicle 30, such as whether the steering wheel is left-hand or right-hand, the size of the vehicle body, the vehicle height, and the height of the driver's seat, by having the image processing device 130 process an image of the vehicle 30.

The information about the vehicle 30 is not only used by the calculation unit 104 to calculate the difficulty level, but can also be used by the selection unit 102 to select a parking space as described above. The information about the vehicle 30 can be identified from the model of the vehicle 30 input by the user U, or can be identified using an image of the vehicle 30.

For example, the user U may input the vehicle model through a setting menu of an application, and based on the accepted vehicle model, the information processing device 100 may obtain information about the vehicle 30 from existing vehicle information or vehicle information databased by the parking lot reservation system 1.

Alternatively, the vehicle model registration menu of the application or the like may be used to have the camera of the user terminal 50 capture an image of the vehicle 30, and the captured image may be processed by the image processing device 130, thereby allowing the information processing device 100 to acquire information about the vehicle 30. The information processing device 100 can acquire information about the vehicle 30 by using the image processing results to identify the vehicle model of the vehicle 30, or the vehicle size, vehicle height, driver's seat height, and the like. For example, the vehicle model registration menu outputs guidance to the user U to capture images of the vehicle 30 from four directions: front, rear, left, and right. The user U can follow the guidance to capture images of the vehicle 30.

Alternatively, the information processing device 100 may obtain information about the vehicle 30 by having the image processing device 130 process images captured by the camera 5b installed in the parking lot 10.

The information processing device 100 may determine the vehicle height of the vehicle 30 using the size of the tires included in the captured image of the vehicle 30.

The acquired information about the vehicle 30 may be stored in the storage device 120 in association with the driver information 210 of the user U.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the parking lot reservation system 1 includes a camera 5 and an image processing device 130 that processes images captured by the camera 5. The image processing device 130 processes images captured of the vehicle 30 to identify at least one of the type and size of the vehicle 30.

In this way, this embodiment provides the same effects as the above embodiment, as well as the following effects. According to this embodiment, it is possible to identify the model of the vehicle 30 by image processing, and to identify the difficulty level and the parking space in which the vehicle can be parked. Therefore, according to this embodiment, even in the case of a large vehicle 30 or a vehicle 30 with a high vehicle height, it is possible to avoid a situation in which the size of the parking space does not match the vehicle 30 and the vehicle cannot be parked. This allows for smooth parking, which is expected to alleviate traffic congestion around the parking lot.

The above describes embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings, but these are merely examples of the present invention, and various configurations other than those described above can also be adopted.

Other Embodiments
The selection unit 102 may further use, as conditions for selecting a parking lot 10, weather information at the parking lot 10 or around the destination at the planned parking time and conditions related to the sidewalk from the parking lot 10 to the destination. For example, when rain or snow is forecast, the selection unit 102 may set a selection condition to give priority to parking lots with a roof on the sidewalk to the destination. Alternatively, when rain or snow is forecast, the selection unit 102 may set a selection condition that the destination and the parking lot 10 are in the same building.

Furthermore, the information processing device 100 may be configured to allow the user U to register whether or not he/she wishes to use a parking space reserved for disabled persons. If the user U wishes to use a parking space reserved for disabled persons, the selection unit 102 selects a parking lot 10 that has a vacant parking space reserved for disabled persons, in accordance with the registered contents. Furthermore, if the user U has not registered a desire to use a parking space reserved for disabled persons, the selection unit 102 will not select the parking space, even if a parking space reserved for disabled persons is vacant.

In addition, in the above embodiment, a configuration for accepting operations on a screen has been described as a method for inputting an operation menu in an application of the information processing device 100. However, from the viewpoint of enabling operations while driving, the information processing device 100 may also include a configuration for accepting operations by voice input. The information processing device 100 may accept the operation content by accepting voice input from the user U through a microphone of the user terminal 50 and analyzing and processing the input voice.

In addition, in the multiple flow charts used in the above explanations, multiple steps (processing) are described in order, but the order in which the steps are executed in each embodiment is not limited to the order described. In each embodiment, the order of the steps shown in the figures can be changed to the extent that does not cause any problems in terms of content. In addition, the above-mentioned embodiments can be combined to the extent that the content is not contradictory.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. Various modifications that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.
In the present invention, when information about a user (user U, driver, etc.) is acquired and used, this is done legally.

A part or all of the above-described embodiments may be described as, but is not limited to, the following supplementary notes.
1. A selection means for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation means for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park in the available parking space of the parking lot selected by the selection means;
An information processing device comprising information capable of identifying the parking lot and a presentation means for presenting the parking lot's difficulty level.
2. In the information processing device according to 1.
and a determination means for determining, when a plurality of parking lots are selected by the selection means, a recommendation order of the selected plurality of parking lots using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
The presentation means determines a display mode of the parking lot using the recommendation order.
3. In the information processing device according to 2.,
The information processing device, wherein the determination means further determines the recommendation order using information regarding a route to arrive at each of the parking lots selected by the selection means.
4. In the information processing device according to any one of 1 to 3,
The calculation means calculates the difficulty level using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the roadway accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces.
5. In the information processing device according to 4.,
The parameters are:
An information processing device that includes at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrance is, whether or not a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether or not there is a gate at the entrance and exit of the parking lot, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking or not, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the vacancy status within the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical.
6. In the information processing device according to any one of 1 to 5,
The calculation means calculates the difficulty level using information regarding the driver's driving technique.
7. In the information processing device according to 6.,
The calculation means is an information processing device that uses driving history information of the driver to identify the driver's weak and strong driving techniques and identifies information related to the driving techniques.
8. In the information processing device according to any one of 1 to 7,
The information processing device, wherein the calculation means calculates the difficulty level using the presence or absence of at least one of an automatic driving function and an automatic parking function of the vehicle.
9. In the information processing device according to any one of 1. to 8.,
The calculation means calculates the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle.
10. In the information processing device according to any one of 1. to 9.,
The calculation means calculates the difficulty level using information regarding the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked.

11. An information processing device;
A user terminal,
The information processing device includes:
A selection means for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation means for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park the vehicle in the available parking space in the selected parking lot;
A parking lot reservation system having information for identifying the parking lot and a presentation means for displaying the difficulty level on a display means of the user terminal.
12. In the parking reservation system according to 11.,
The information processing device includes:
and a determination means for determining, when a plurality of parking lots are selected by the selection means, a recommendation order of the selected plurality of parking lots using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the presentation means of the information processing device determines a display mode of the parking lot using the recommendation order.
13. In the parking lot reservation system according to 12.,
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the determination means of the information processing device further determines the recommendation order using information regarding a route to arrive at each of the parking lots selected by the selection means.
14. In the parking lot reservation system according to any one of 11 to 13,
A parking lot reservation system in which the calculation means of the information processing device calculates the difficulty level using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the road accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces.
15. In the parking reservation system according to 14.,
The parameters are:
A parking reservation system including at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrances are, whether a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether the entrance and exit of the parking lot has a gate, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking or not, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the vacancy status in the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical.
16. In the parking reservation system according to any one of 11 to 15,
A parking lot reservation system in which the calculation means of the information processing device calculates the difficulty level using the presence or absence of at least one of an automatic driving function and an automatic parking function of the vehicle.
17. In the parking lot reservation system according to any one of 11. to 16.,
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the calculation means of the information processing device calculates the difficulty level using information regarding the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked.
18. In the parking lot reservation system according to any one of 11. to 17.,
In addition, the camera and
an image processing device that processes an image captured by the camera,
A parking lot reservation system in which the image processing device processes an image of a vehicle captured by the camera to identify at least one of the type and size of the vehicle.
19. In the parking reservation system according to 18.,
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the calculation means of the information processing device calculates the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle identified by the image processing device.
20. In the parking lot reservation system according to 18. or 19.,
A parking lot reservation system in which the selection means of the information processing device selects a parking lot having an available parking space using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle identified by the image processing device.
21. In the parking lot reservation system according to any one of 18. to 20.,
The image processing device processes an image of the driver's driving in the parking space to identify the driver's driving technique;
The calculation means of the information processing device
A parking lot reservation system that calculates the difficulty level using information about the driver's driving skill identified by the image processing device.
22. In the parking lot reservation system according to 21.,
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the calculation means of the information processing device uses driving history information of the driver to identify the driver's weak and strong driving techniques and identifies information regarding the driving techniques.

23. One or more computers:
Select a parking lot with available parking spaces,
Calculating the difficulty of driving to park in the available parking space in the selected parking lot;
An information processing method that presents information that can identify the parking lot and its difficulty level.
24. In the information processing method according to 23.,
the one or more computers,
When a plurality of parking lots are selected, a recommendation order of the selected plurality of parking lots is further determined using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
An information processing method that uses the recommended order to determine the display mode of the parking lot and presents the difficulty level.
25. In the information processing method according to 24.,
the one or more computers,
The information processing method further comprises determining the recommendation order using information regarding a route to reach each of the selected parking lots.
26. In the information processing method according to any one of 23 to 25,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method, which calculates the difficulty level using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the roadway accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces.
27. In the information processing method according to 26.,
The parameters are:
An information processing method including at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrance is, whether a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether or not there is a gate at the entrance and exit of the parking lot, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking or not, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the vacancy status in the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical.
28. In the information processing method according to any one of 23 to 27,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method for calculating the difficulty level using information regarding a driver's driving technique.
29. In the information processing method according to 28.,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method for identifying good and bad driving techniques of a driver using driving history information of the driver, and identifying information relating to the driving techniques.
30. In the information processing method according to any one of 23. to 29.,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method that calculates the difficulty level using the presence or absence of at least one of an automatic driving function and an automatic parking function of a vehicle.
31. In the information processing method according to any one of 23. to 30.,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method, comprising: calculating the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle.
32. In the information processing method according to any one of 23. to 31.,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method, comprising: calculating the difficulty level using information regarding the drivability of the vehicle to be parked.

33. To the computer:
A selection process for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation process for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park in the available parking space of the parking lot selected in the selection process;
A presentation process for presenting information that can identify the parking lot and its difficulty level;
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the above.
34. The recording medium according to 33.,
When a plurality of parking lots are selected by the selection process, the computer is further caused to execute a determination process of determining a recommendation order of the plurality of selected parking lots using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for determining a display mode of the parking lots using the recommended order in the presentation process.
35. The recording medium according to 34.,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program, wherein in the determination process, the recommendation order is determined using information regarding the route to arrive at each of the parking lots selected in the selection process.
36. The recording medium according to any one of 33 to 35,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that calculates the difficulty level in the calculation process using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the roadway accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces.
37. The recording medium according to 36.,
The parameters are:
A computer-readable recording medium having a program stored therein, the computer-readable recording medium including at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrance is, whether or not a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether or not the entrance and exit of the parking lot has a gate, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the availability of space in the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical.
38. The recording medium according to any one of 33 to 37,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for calculating the difficulty level using information related to the driver's driving technique in the calculation process.
39. The recording medium according to 38.,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that, in the calculation process, uses driving history information of the driver to identify the driver's weak and strong driving techniques and identifies information about the driving techniques.
40. The recording medium according to any one of 33 to 39,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that calculates the difficulty level in the calculation process using the presence or absence of at least one of the vehicle's automatic driving function and automatic parking function.
41. The recording medium according to any one of 33. to 40.,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that calculates the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle in the calculation process.
42. The recording medium according to any one of 33 to 41,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for calculating the difficulty level in the calculation process using information regarding the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked.

43. To the computer:
A selection process for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation process for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park in the available parking space of the parking lot selected in the selection process;
A presentation process for presenting information that can identify the parking lot and its difficulty level;
A program for executing.
44. In the program according to 43.,
When a plurality of parking lots are selected by the selection process, the computer is further caused to execute a determination process of determining a recommendation order of the plurality of selected parking lots using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
A program that, in the presentation process, determines a display mode of the parking lots using the recommendation order.
45. In the program according to 44.,
The program further comprises, in the determination process, determining the recommendation order using information regarding a route to arrive at each of the parking lots selected in the selection process.
46. In the program according to any one of 43 to 45,
A program that, in the calculation process, calculates the difficulty level using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the roadway accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces.
47. In the program according to 46.,
The parameters are:
The program includes at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrances are, whether a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether the entrance and exit of the parking lot has a gate, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking or not, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the availability of space in the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical.
48. In the program according to any one of 43 to 47,
A program that calculates the difficulty level using information regarding the driver's driving technique in the calculation process.
49. In the program according to 48.,
The program, in the calculation process, uses driving history information of the driver to identify the driver's weak and strong driving techniques, and identifies information about the driving techniques.
50. The program according to any one of 43 to 49,
A program that calculates the difficulty level in the calculation process using the presence or absence of at least one of an automatic driving function and an automatic parking function of the vehicle.
51. In the program according to any one of 43. to 50.,
The program calculates the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle in the calculation process.
52. In the program according to any one of 43. to 51.,
A program that calculates the difficulty level in the calculation process using information regarding the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked.

1 Parking lot reservation system 3 Communication network 5, 5a, 5b Camera 10 Parking lot 30 Vehicle 50 User terminal 100 Information processing device 102 Selection unit 104 Calculation unit 106 Presentation unit 108 Determination unit 120 Storage device 130 Image processing device 140 Storage device 200 Parking lot information 210 Driver information 300 Screen 302 Difficulty level display 304 Destination display 310 Screen 312 Recommended order display 320 Screen 1000 Computer 1010 Bus 1020 Processor 1030 Memory 1040 Storage device 1050 Input/output interface 1060 Network interface

Claims (42)

A selection means for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation means for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park in the available parking space of the parking lot selected by the selection means;
An information processing device comprising information capable of identifying the parking lot and a presentation means for presenting the parking lot's difficulty level. 2. The information processing device according to claim 1,
and a determination means for determining, when a plurality of parking lots are selected by the selection means, a recommendation order of the selected plurality of parking lots using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
The presentation means determines a display mode of the parking lot using the recommendation order. 3. The information processing device according to claim 2,
The information processing device, wherein the determination means further determines the recommendation order using information regarding a route to arrive at each of the parking lots selected by the selection means. 4. The information processing device according to claim 1,
The calculation means calculates the difficulty level using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the roadway accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces. 5. The information processing device according to claim 4,
The parameters are:
An information processing device that includes at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrance is, whether or not a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether or not there is a gate at the entrance and exit of the parking lot, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking or not, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the vacancy status within the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical. 6. The information processing device according to claim 1,
The calculation means calculates the difficulty level using information regarding the driver's driving technique. 7. The information processing device according to claim 6,
The calculation means is an information processing device that uses driving history information of the driver to identify the driver's weak and strong driving techniques and identifies information related to the driving techniques. 8. The information processing device according to claim 1,
The information processing device, wherein the calculation means calculates the difficulty level using the presence or absence of at least one of an automatic driving function and an automatic parking function of the vehicle. 9. The information processing device according to claim 1,
The calculation means calculates the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle. 10. The information processing device according to claim 1,
The calculation means calculates the difficulty level using information regarding the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked. An information processing device;
A user terminal,
The information processing device includes:
A selection means for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation means for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park the vehicle in the available parking space in the selected parking lot;
A parking lot reservation system having information for identifying the parking lot and a presentation means for displaying the difficulty level on a display means of the user terminal. The parking lot reservation system according to claim 11,
The information processing device includes:
and a determination means for determining, when a plurality of parking lots are selected by the selection means, a recommendation order of the selected plurality of parking lots using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the presentation means of the information processing device determines a display mode of the parking lot using the recommendation order. The parking lot reservation system according to claim 12,
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the determination means of the information processing device further determines the recommendation order using information regarding a route to arrive at each of the parking lots selected by the selection means. In the parking lot reservation system according to any one of claims 11 to 13,
A parking reservation system in which the calculation means of the information processing device calculates the difficulty level using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the roadway accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces. The parking lot reservation system according to claim 14,
The parameters are:
A parking reservation system including at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrances are, whether a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether the entrance and exit of the parking lot has a gate, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking or not, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the vacancy status in the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical. In the parking lot reservation system according to any one of claims 11 to 15,
A parking lot reservation system in which the calculation means of the information processing device calculates the difficulty level using the presence or absence of at least one of an automatic driving function and an automatic parking function of the vehicle. In the parking lot reservation system according to any one of claims 11 to 16,
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the calculation means of the information processing device calculates the difficulty level using information regarding the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked. A parking lot reservation system according to any one of claims 11 to 17,
In addition, the camera and
an image processing device that processes an image captured by the camera,
A parking lot reservation system in which the image processing device processes an image of a vehicle captured by the camera to identify at least one of the type and size of the vehicle. 19. The parking lot reservation system according to claim 18,
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the calculation means of the information processing device calculates the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle identified by the image processing device. 20. The parking lot reservation system according to claim 18 or 19,
A parking lot reservation system in which the selection means of the information processing device selects a parking lot having the available parking space using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle identified by the image processing device. In the parking lot reservation system according to any one of claims 18 to 20,
The image processing device processes an image of the driver's driving in the parking space to identify the driver's driving technique;
The calculation means of the information processing device
A parking lot reservation system that calculates the difficulty level using information about the driver's driving skill identified by the image processing device. 22. The parking lot reservation system according to claim 21,
A parking lot reservation system, wherein the calculation means of the information processing device uses driving history information of the driver to identify the driver's weak and strong driving techniques and identifies information regarding the driving techniques. One or more computers
Select a parking lot with available parking spaces,
Calculating the difficulty of driving to park in the available parking space in the selected parking lot;
An information processing method that presents information that can identify the parking lot and its difficulty level. 24. The information processing method according to claim 23,
the one or more computers,
when a plurality of parking lots are selected, a recommendation order of the plurality of selected parking lots is further determined using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
An information processing method that uses the recommended order to determine the display mode of the parking lot and presents the difficulty level. 25. The information processing method according to claim 24,
the one or more computers,
The information processing method further comprises determining the recommendation order using information regarding a route to arrive at each of the selected parking lots. 26. The information processing method according to any one of claims 23 to 25,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method, which calculates the difficulty level using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the roadway accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces. 27. The information processing method according to claim 26,
The parameters are:
An information processing method including at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrance is, whether a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether or not there is a gate at the entrance and exit of the parking lot, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking or not, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the vacancy status in the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical. 28. The information processing method according to any one of claims 23 to 27,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method for calculating the difficulty level using information regarding a driver's driving technique. 29. The information processing method according to claim 28,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method for identifying good and bad driving techniques of a driver using driving history information of the driver, and identifying information relating to the driving techniques. 30. The information processing method according to any one of claims 23 to 29,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method that calculates the difficulty level using the presence or absence of at least one of an automatic driving function and an automatic parking function of a vehicle. 31. The information processing method according to any one of claims 23 to 30,
the one or more computers,
An information processing method, comprising: calculating the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle. 32. The information processing method according to any one of claims 23 to 31,
the one or more computers,
The information processing method calculates the difficulty level using information about the drivability of the vehicle to be parked. On the computer,
A selection process for selecting a parking lot having an available parking space;
A calculation process for calculating a difficulty level of driving to park in the available parking space of the parking lot selected in the selection process;
A presentation process for presenting information that can identify the parking lot and its difficulty level;
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for executing the above. 34. The recording medium according to claim 33,
When a plurality of parking lots are selected by the selection process, the computer is further caused to execute a determination process of determining a recommendation order of the plurality of selected parking lots using the difficulty level of each of the parking lots;
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for determining a display mode of the parking lots using the recommended order in the presentation process. 35. The recording medium according to claim 34,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program, wherein in the determination process, the recommendation order is determined using information regarding the route to arrive at each of the parking lots selected in the selection process. 36. The recording medium according to any one of claims 33 to 35,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that calculates the difficulty level in the calculation process using parameters indicating attributes or conditions of at least one of the parking lot, the roadway accessing the parking lot, and the available parking spaces. 37. The recording medium according to claim 36,
The parameters are:
A computer-readable recording medium having a program stored therein, the computer-readable recording medium including at least one of parameters indicating the width of the roadway, the number of intersections at which to turn right or left before reaching the parking lot, whether to turn right or left when entering the parking lot from the direction of travel toward the parking lot, the width of the entrance to the parking lot from the roadway, the number of the entrances, how crowded the entrance is, whether or not a parking ticket needs to be obtained from a machine, whether or not the entrance and exit of the parking lot has a gate, the size of the parking space, the layout of the parking space, the angle of entry into the parking space relative to the driving space in the parking lot, whether the parking space is parallel parking, the width of the driving space in the parking lot, the availability of space in the parking lot, and whether the parking lot is self-propelled or mechanical. 38. The recording medium according to any one of claims 33 to 37,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for calculating the difficulty level using information related to the driver's driving technique in the calculation process. 39. The recording medium according to claim 38,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that, in the calculation process, uses driving history information of the driver to identify the driver's weak and strong driving techniques and identifies information about the driving techniques. 40. The recording medium according to any one of claims 33 to 39,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that calculates the difficulty level in the calculation process using the presence or absence of at least one of the vehicle's automatic driving function and automatic parking function. 41. The recording medium according to any one of claims 33 to 40,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that calculates the difficulty level using information indicating at least one of the type and size of the vehicle in the calculation process. 42. The recording medium according to any one of claims 33 to 41,
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for calculating the difficulty level in the calculation process using information regarding the ease of driving the vehicle to be parked.

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