The present invention relates to a courtesy warning device, in particular for the urban parking.

The increasingly hectic pace of life and the need for the motorist to make brief stops in cities, where the allowed parking are virtually nonexistent, are creating a real urban parking emergency.

These frustrating occasions often lead to exasperation, and sometimes degeneration, the motorist, prompting him to use all the free areas, even if only temporarily, as the only viable solution.

Technology meets these situations, allowing the realization of an electronic device, such as the one proposed according to the present invention, which allows the motorist pressed by tasks, even of short duration but with no parking possibility, to use, even for a few minutes , all free areas available for tasks such as taking the children to school, picking up documents from the accountant, having a coffee at the bar, dining in a restaurant, etc., with the possibility of being immediately notified and called to remove the obstacle, without prolonging procured hindrance.

Therefore, the possibility of proving the car with the device according to the invention, allows the owner of the car to live the various moments of short stop, inevitable in the city devoid of free places authorized, and therefore devoid of space able to receive the car, under minimum tension condition and sense of responsibility against third parties affected by the temporary (private or public) blockage.

With the device according to the invention, the motorist blocked, or a policeman, can activate, immediately the contact with the car owner, who can arrive early, allowing a polite behaviour and regulating a harbinger practice bringing to tension and discomfort among car owners.

The object of the present invention is to obviate the above mentioned drawbacks, and in particular to devise a courtesy warning device, in particular for urban parking, to enable the driver who has made an "irregular" parking to timely receive warning of a request for removal of the vehicle.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a warning device that is not damageable by means of vandalism. It is therefore specific object of the present invention a warning device, in particular for urban parking, applicable to a vehicle, and capable of communicating with a predetermined receiving unit, said device comprising:

- at least a first element comprising

first coupling means to the outer surface of the vehicle, at least one activation element for the device,

and

- at least a second element, arranged inside the vehicle, and comprising

a transceiver element, which receives the activation control from said at least one activation element, and transmits it to said receiving unit.

Preferably, according to the invention, said receiving unit can be a mobile phone, a fixed phone, a pager, a radio frequency transceiver, etc.

Further according to the invention, said receiving unit can be set in the user device.

Still, according to the invention, said first element and said second element may both be applied on a window of the vehicle, respectively internally and externally to the vehicle.

Always according to the invention, said first element and said second element can be connected by an intermediate element, so as to realize a substantially book-shaped structure.

Still, according to the invention, said first element may provide a pocket.

Furthermore, according to the invention, said at least an activation element can be comprised of a button.

Further according to the invention, said button can be a soft rubber spherical cap comprising a cylindrical container suitable for housing a first magnet, and said transceiver may provide a piston element with a second integral magnet, of opposite polarity with respect to said first magnet, and an activation button of the transmitter of said transceiver, whereby when the button is pressed, first magnet approaches to the second magnet, said second magnet retracts and, moves along with the piston, the latter, at the end of its stroke, interferes with the activation button of the transceiver. Still according to the invention, said second element may provide second coupling means.

Always according to the invention, said first and/or second coupling means are comprised of magnets and/or suckers, and/or Velcro®, and/or adhesive.

Finally, according to the invention, said transceiver unit can comprise a transmitter contained within a shell, said transmitter being a radiofrequency transmitter or a cellular phone.

The invention will be now described, for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, with particular reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings, wherein:

figure 1 is a schematic front view of a preferred embodiment of a warning device according to the present invention;

figure 2 is a first schematic perspective view from a first side, of the warning device of figure 1 ;

figure 3 is a second schematic perspective view from a second side of the warning device of figure 1 ;

figure 4 is a schematic side view of the warning device of Figure

1 ; and

figure 5 is a schematic perspective view of the activation button of the warning device of figure 1 .

With reference to the figures, there is shown a preferred embodiment of a warning device, in particular for urban parking, generally indicated by the reference number 10.

A semi-rigid booklet element 1 , comprises a first face 1 1 and a second face 12, opposite the first face 1 1 . In a particular embodiment of the invention, the booklet element 1 has a thickness lower than one millimetre, and includes the pocket 4 for the insertion of a message, for example on a sheet of paper, from the driver to the calling user.

The booklet element 1 is positioned astride a window (not shown) of a vehicle (not shown), by means of magnets 2, 21 , in such a way that the first face 1 1 is on the outside of the vehicle, and the second face 12 inside the vehicle.

Magnets 2, 21 are four in number, circular, coaxial in pairs of two, and placed respectively on the first face 1 1 and second face 12 of the booklet 1 , so as to attract each other through the glass 5 of the window and make the booklet element 1 integral with the same. The first face 1 1 comprises an activation button 3, positioned so as to be accessible by a user outside the vehicle itself.

Said activation button 3 includes a first cylinder 31 within which is provided a first magnet (not shown). The activation button 3 can be made up example of soft rubber, and has a cup shape.

The second surface 12 comprises a shell 6, provided so as to be symmetrical to the activation button 3 with respect to the glass 5.

Said shell 6 contains a transmitter (not shown) and comprises a second cylinder (not shown), coaxial to the first cylinder 31 of the activation button 3.

The transmitter may for example be a radio frequency transmitter or a mobile phone, and is arranged to be activated by the pressure of a button (not shown). If activated, the transmitter sends a warning signal to a telephone number, for example by means of mobile phone text messages.

A piston (not shown) slides inside the second cylinder, adapted to press the button of the transmitter. This piston is spaced from the second surface 12 by means of a spring (not shown), adapted to keep the piston in a rest position, and comprises a second magnet (not shown), acting to reject the first magnet with the activation button 3.

The operation of the warning device 10 is as follows: the driver who makes an irregular stop, temporarily leave the vehicle in a place of hindrance to the mobility of vehicles or pedestrians. A calling user wishing that the vehicle is removed from the irregular parking position, and that should therefore call the driver, presses the activation button 3: the first magnet in the first cylinder 31 approaches the glass 5, rejects the second magnet of the piston and in doing so it causes the sliding of the piston within the cylinder, which presses the button on the transmitter, activating it.

The driver receives the warning on his/her receiver that the vehicle is in an irregular stop and should be removed, and can promptly return to the parking place. The user releases the activation button 3, and the spring draws the piston in the rest position.

Preferably, the warning device 10 may comprise two activation buttons 3, one available of a caller who has suffered a hindrance due to the vehicle in an irregular stop, and one for the traffic police, who are to make a fine for stop irregular against the driver. So, from the above it is clear how it is proposed, according to the invention, a device that is easy to identify by the caller, easy to use by the caller, in a tamper-proof, safe position inside the car, easy to interface with the device, and very cheap and easy to replace.

The present invention has been described for illustrative but not limitative purposes, according to its preferred embodiments, but it is to be understood that variations and/or changes can be introduced by one skilled in the art, without departing from the scope of protection as defined in the appended claims.