PARKING VEHICLE LOCATION GUIDE SYSTEM AND ITS METHOD Technical Field The present invention relates to a system and method guiding a position of a car to be parked, and more particularly to a system and method guiding a position of a car to be parked, which collect the position information of the car through each terminal attached to the user's car, display the position information by using a electronic map, provide to geographical position of the car, thereby quickly inform user of the position of his or her car.

Background Art Generally, systems guiding a position of a car trace a position of a car by using Global Positioning System (GPS) and Mobile System (MS)..

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of artificial satellites 11 to 14 exchange signals with a GPS transmitter-receiver 15 attached to a car and transmit GPS signals including time and position information of the car to the car.

The GPS signals are transmitted to a control server 17 through a GPS base station 16. The control server 17 analyzes the position information of the car received from the GPS base station 16, calculates absolute coordinates of latitude, gradient, altitude, and reference time by means of the analyzed information and makes map showing the position of the car by means of the calculated values.

This GPS can easily offer time and position information of the car and can very efficiently make sure of the position of the car when the GPS is used outdoors. In particular, error ratio remarkably decreases when the GPS makes sure the position of the

stopped car. However, there are problems that the GPS equipment is very expensive, requires a high cost of maintenance, and cannot trace the car going into doors or undergrounds.

Meanwhile, a system detecting a position of a car by using the mobile system, such as PCS terminal, detects position information of a car equipped with a mobile system 25 from a plurality of base stations 21 to 23.

The control server 27 receives the detected information from each of the base stations 21 to 23 and makes a map by calculating the position of the car.

The car position detecting system using the mobile system 25 can discover a position of a car not only outdoors but also indoors or underground if only it has a base station, and requires a lower installation cost for transmission/reception in comparison with the GPS.

However, the system detecting the position of the car using the mobile system 25 has error range as large as the frequency range radius of the base stations 21 to 23, requires a maintenance cost, such as communication charges, and has a problem that the ratio of data loss occurs about at a 20 percentage.

Accordingly, when the GPS or the mobile station is employed as a parking management system for locating positions of cars and managing information of the positions, many problems occur.

Disclosure of the Invention Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method guiding a position of a car to be parked, which comprise the RFID card installed cars, DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication) system which shows the

position of moving (or parking) car by RF communication and information of user's own car on the GIS (Geographic Information System) electronic map to users.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method guiding a position of a car to be parked in a system which includes a first base station, a plurality of second base station and a management server, the method detecting the position of the car by using communication between an RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier) card attached to the car going into a parking place and the first base station or the second base stations for monitoring the RFID card, the first base station monitoring the car at an entrance of the parking place, the second base stations monitoring the car in a predetermined place of the parking place, and the management server calculating the current position of the car, the method comprising the steps of: receiving information of the car from the RFID card attached to the going car by the first base station ; transmitting the information of the car from the first base station to the management server and opening a gate of the parking place for the car admitted to go in and out ; detecting positions data by communication with the RFID card according to the movement of the car going into the parking place and transmitting the positions data to the management server by the second base stations; transmitting a detected distance between the base stations and the car according to parking of the car to the management server by the second base stations; calculating the position of the car by using the distance from each second base station and storing the calculated position in a car position database by the management server; accessing the parking position data corresponding to the information of the car when the information of the car is inputted the information

of the car through a terminal by the car position database; and converting the parking position data inputted into a position on a map layer from a GIS (Geographic Information System) database and displaying the position on the map layer on the terminal.

Also, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system guiding a position of a car to be parked which comprises a RFID card for being attached to the car going into a parking place and for transmitting information of the car by wireless and a card recognition unit for detecting the car information from the RFID card and the car position, The system comprising : a plurality of base stations which receive the car information periodically detected, calculate each distance until the corresponding car, and transmit the detected information of the car and the each distance to a network ; a management server which stores the information and the distances data from the base stations, calculates the position of the corresponding car by using the distances data from the base stations, maps the calculated car information on the map layer, and provides user's terminal with the car position information via the network; and a GIS database which stores the map layer of the parking place and provides the management server with the map layer.

Brief Description of the Drawings The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 illustrates schematically a system tracing positions of cars by using GPS according to the prior

art ; FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a system tracing positions of cars by using mobile systems according to the prior art; FIG. 3 illustrates schematically a structure of a system guiding positions of cars to be parked according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG 4 illustrates a structure of a parking control connection system in order to detect positions of cars of base stations shown in FIG. 3; FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment for calculating the positions of cars to be parked by measurement triangulation according the present invention ; FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a moving object management unit of a management server shown in FIG. 3 in detail ; FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a parked car information offer unit of a management server in detail in FIG. 3; and FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart showing the procedure guiding the positions of parked cars.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention Hereinafter, a rear plate of a system and method guiding positions of cars to be parked according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 illustrate schematically a structure of a system guiding a position of a car parking according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 illustrates a structure of a parking control connection system for detecting a position of a car in base stations of FIG. 3.

The present invention includes a RFID card 110,

which is provided for a plurality of cars and transmits information of the car by wireless to its base station; a card recognition unit 211 which detects the information of the car, such as a distance to the car, etc. , in which the information is received from the RFID employed for the car approached at a predetermined range ; a plurality of base stations which are set up on each of floors and have each base station computer 212, in which each base station computer calculates the information of the car and transmits the calculated information to an wireless network; controllers 201 to 203 which control and interface data transmitted from a plurality of the base stations 200 to 230 on each of the floors, in which controllers 201 to 203 are on the floors ; a management server 300 which stores the information of the car and a distance data transmitted by the controllers 201 to 203, calculates a position of the car from the distance data, maps the calculated position of the car on a map layer, and provides the position of the car for user's terminals 401 to 403 by the Internet; a car information database 301 which stores and supplies the information of the car transmitted form each of the base stations; and a car information database 301 which stores and supplies the information of the car transmitted form each of the base stations.

Herein, the management server 300 includes an interface unit 311 which receives periodically a identification number of the car, the car number, the position information of the car; a movement object management unit 310 which calculates periodically the position of the moving car inputted from the interface unit 311 by means of measurement triangulation, traces and stores the calculated position of the moving car; and a parking car information offer unit 320 which

calculates the position of the parked car inputted from the interface unit 311 by means of measurement triangulation and offers user's terminal the calculated positions of the car while outputting a geographical position by GIS operations using the positions of the car.

Herein, the movement object management unit 310 includes a movement object inquiry management unit 312 which determines whether the moving car is registered at the management server 300 or not, and monitors periodically the positions of the registered car via the base station 200; a movement object data management unit 314 which stores the owner name, of a car, the car number, current time, and RFID of the car requesting a registration to the movement object inquiry management unit 312; and a movement object operation management unit 313 which calculates the positions of the car transmitted by a plurality of base stations 200 to 230 by measurement triangulation in order to output the current position of the car.

The parking car information offer unit 320 includes an information offer interface unit 311 which interfaces information between the user's terminal 401 to 403 and the base station 200; a map layer management unit 322 which analyses user's requirements transmitted through the information offer interface unit 311, is requested to search a map layer corresponding to the user's requirements, and transmits the position information of parking cars on the map layer to the information offer interface unit 311; the GIS index management unit 323 which searches map layer index of a position required though the map layer management unit 322 by user; a GIS data management unit 323 which extracts the map layer required through the GIS indices management unit 323 from the GIS database 302 ; and a GIS

operation processor unit 326 which makes mapping between the position of the pared car and the map layer provided from the GIS data management unit 324 according to requirements of the map layer management unit 322.

First, the present invention uses an RFID card which stores information and an ID of a car. Also, the present invention sets up a base station on each of parking place floors in order to detect information of all cars to be parked and distances between the base station and all cars (or other base stations) and transmits the detected positions of cars to the management server 300. The management server 300 makes a map and provides users with the map.

FIG. 3 illustrates schematically a structure of a system guiding positions of cars to be parked according to an embodiment of the present invention. Cars, which are equipped with the RFID card and admitted to go in a parking place, move to be parked. The management server 300 receives an ID of a car detected in a parking place entry and determines whether the car is registered in a car information database 301 or not. If the car is registered, then the management server 300 admits the car to go into the parking place and stores information of the car and date, at which the car is going into the parking place, in the car information database 301.

Each of the base stations 200 to 230 detects the position of the car through periodical RF communication with the RFID card 110 whenever the car moves for parking.

Each RFID card recognition unit 211 of the base stations 200 to 230 transmits a high frequency signal through an antenna (ANT) to the RFID card of the car having gone into predetermined range and, in response to this, the RFID card 110 transmits the information of the car stored in a memory in RF mode.

The base station computer 212 calculates distances between the car and the base station as well as information of the car detected by RFID card recognition unit 211 by operation of the RF frequency intensity and the information of the car detected by the RFID card recognition unit 211 and transmits to the management server 300.

The base stations 200 to 230 on each floor calculate the traced information of the car and the distances and transmit through controllers 201 to 203 on each floor to the management server 300. On this occasion, data are transmitted between each base station and each floor controller and between each floor controller and the management server 300 in networks having TCP/IP protocols.

The management server 300 calculates the position of the car by using the received distances data between the car and a plurality of the base stations 200 to 230.

The position of the car is calculated by means of a measurement triangular as shown in FIG. 5.

The following is measurement triangular.

The management server 300 knows more than three distances received from more than three base stations which are around each car to be parked or to be being parked, in which the distance is between each car and each base station, and knows a mutual distance of each base station. Therefore, the management server 300 knows the exact position of each car by using more than three distances and the mutual distance of each base station.

The position information of the car calculated like this, is stored in the car information database 301. When user's demand for making sure of his or her own position is received, the management server 300 displays the position of his or her car from the database 301 on a map layer.

Here, user's terminal comprises personal computer 401, project on defense alternatives (PDA) 402, or PCS 403 as a terminal accessible to the Internet. The user accesses to the Internet by using their own terminal like the above terminal and inputs information of their car which requires. confirmation of its position. Thus, the management server 300 makes a map between the information stored in the car information database 301 and the map layer accessed through the GIS database 302 and provides the user's terminal with the map.

FIGs. 6 and 7 illustrate a structure of a location based system (LBS) in the management server. FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a movement object management unit for detecting a position of a moving car in parking place. FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of parked car information offer unit for detecting and offering a position of the car to be parked in parking place.

The location based system (LBS) in management server 300 can detect a position of man or material regardless of place or time and can be employed in variable fields by using wireless communication and mobile computing. In the LBS, the movement object management unit 310 and the parked cars information unit 320 detect the position of the moving or parked car and provide users'terminals 401 to 403 with the position, in which the movement object management unit 310 traces and manages the position of the moving car and the parked cars information unit 320 manages the parked car in the parking place.

First, as described in FIG. 6, the movement object management unit 310 reads periodically information of the car, such as IDs of RFID cards, the car number, and the position information of the car, from an interface unit 311 in order to trace the positions of the moving

car.

After a movement object inquiry management unit 312 makes sure that the information read periodically is in the movement object data management unit 314, if the information is in the movement object data management unit 314, the movement object inquiry management unit 312 stores the information of the car, such as IDs of RFID cards, the car number, and the position information of the car.

The car certificated by the movement object inquiry management 312 periodically is monitored by each of the base stations 200 to 230.

Meanwhile, the exact position of the car is calculated by means of measurement triangular and stored in the movement object data management 314.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of a parked car information offer unit 320. When user asks the systems to make sure the position of user's. car by inputting the information of user's car though user's terminal, the parked car information offer unit 320 receives the information of the car through the data offer interface unit 320.

The map layer management unit 322 searches for data corresponding to requirements inputted through the data offer interface unit 320. Namely, the map layer management unit 322 searches for indices through the GIS index management unit 324 and searches a GIS database 302 for a map layer corresponding to the indices and transmits to the map layer management 322. The map layer management unit 322 selects a map layer corresponding to requirements from the data offer interface unit 321 and transmits the map layer to the map presentation management unit 325.

The map presentation management unit 325 calculates the position of the car on the map layer

through the GIS operation processing unit 326 and displays the position of the car on the map layer.

The data displayed as the position of the car on the map layer are transmitted through the map layer management unit 322 to the data offer interface unit 320. The data offer interface unit 320 transmits the data to user's terminal having requested to verify parking of his own car via the Internet. The data are displayed on the map of the user's terminal window.

Here, the data are displayed by means of texts and/or images in order to guide the position of the user's car.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart that shows the procedure guiding the positions of parking cars.

A base station installed in entrance of a parking place looks around the RFID card 110, discovers a car going into the parking place, and then extracts RFID from the RFID card 110 attached to the car (steps 104 and 106).

After the base station reads the information of the car from the RFID card, the base station determines whether the car is admitted to be parked in the parking place or not. The base station makes sure of a list of registered cars in the car information database 301 (step 110) so that the base station may admit the car to be parked in the parking place (step 110).

If the car is registered, then the car directly is admitted entrance of the parking place, if not, the car is admitted entrance of the parking place after taking a RFID card of a visitor (steps 112 and 114).

If the car passes through the entrance of the parking place and moves in order to park, then the base stations 200 to 230 monitor the car by means of RF communications (Step 116).

A base station computer 212 of each base station

outputs in real time the position of the monitored car and the monitored car number and transmits to the management server 300 (step 118).

The management server 300 stores the information of the car and the current position of the car in the car information database 301. Here, the position of the moving car, which is calculated and outputted by the base stations 200 to 230, periodically is received and stored in the car information database 301 by the management server 300. Also, the position of the parked car is calculated by the corresponding base station and stored in the car information database 301 by the management server 300 (step 120).

When user wants to make sure of the parking position of his own car, the user connects to the management server 300 via Internet by means of the terminal accessible to Internet (step 122).) If the user inputs the car number, an owner name, an owner ID or etc. by means of the user's terminals 401 to 403, the management server 300 checks presence of the corresponding car by searching the car information database 301 (steps 124 to 128).

If the corresponding car is present, then the management server 300 accesses to the data of the corresponding car in the car information database 301 and the map layer corresponding to the parking floor of the parked car in the GIS database 302 (step 132).

The GIS operation processing unit 326 maps the position of the car on the map layer and transmits the mapped position to the user's terminal (step 134).

. The user's terminal displays the map on its window so that the user confirms the position of the car and can easily look around his or her car (step 136).

Industrial Applicability

As can be seen from the foregoing, a system and method guiding a position of a car to be parked and method according to the present invention can provide that user can look around the moving or parked car position by means of a DSRC system and a RFID attached to the car trough the RF communication.

Further, where the present invention is used, a user can quickly look around user's own car wherever the car is, because GIS data offer user the information of his or her car on the map layer.

Also, the present invention is employed wherever a position of a car is detected and can variably employ Bluester, etc. without limiting to RFID as non-contact type identifier system.

While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiment and the drawings, but, on the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and variations within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.