JP2024118046A - Parking lot information system - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a system capable of guiding users to a parking lot on their request.SOLUTION: A parking lot guidance system includes: a parking lot information acquisition unit that acquires parking lot information, including the location of a parking lot at a facility and parking fees for the parking lot; a request information acquisition unit that acquires request information including at least one of a request for the time required for a user to park a vehicle in the parking lot and use the facility and a request for the money required for the user to use the parking lot; a determination unit that determines the parking lot that satisfies the request information on the basis of the parking lot information and the request information; and a display control unit that displays the determined parking lot on a display unit. The determination unit determines the parking lot that satisfies all of the requests in the request information as a parking lot that satisfies the request information and does not determine that the parking lot that does not satisfy at least one of the requests in the request information is a parking lot that satisfies the request information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a parking lot guidance system.

Conventionally, systems for providing guidance to parking lots are known. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a system that provides guidance to parking lots that minimizes the sum of the waiting time at the parking lot, the driving time to the parking lot, and the time required from the parking lot to the destination. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 describes a system that determines which parking lot to provide guidance to a user by weighting the distance to the parking lot, the parking fee, and the parking lot vacancy rate (or waiting time) according to the conditions that are emphasized.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 7-57188 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-239076

Conventional technology may not be able to guide users of parking lots in accordance with their needs. Users have different needs for parking lots, and such users may include, for example, users who prefer a short distance to their destination, such as a facility, even if it means a long wait time in the parking lot, users who prefer a short distance to their destination, such as a facility, even if it means a high parking fee, and users who prefer a low parking fee even if the distance to their destination, such as a facility, is far. Conventional systems may not be able to guide such diverse users to parking lots in accordance with their needs, and may even guide users to parking lots they do not want.

The present invention was made in consideration of the above problems, and aims to provide a system that can guide users to parking lots that meet their needs.

To achieve the above object, the parking lot guidance system includes a parking lot information acquisition unit that acquires parking lot information including the location of the facility's parking lot and the parking fee at the parking lot; a request information acquisition unit that acquires request information including at least one of a request regarding the time required for a user to park a vehicle in the parking lot and use the facility and a request regarding the amount of money required for the user to use the parking lot; a determination unit that determines a parking lot that satisfies the request information based on the parking lot information and the request information; and a display control unit that displays the determined parking lot on a display unit, and the determination unit determines a parking lot that satisfies all of the requests in the request information as a parking lot that satisfies the request information, and does not determine a parking lot that does not satisfy at least one of the requests in the request information as a parking lot that satisfies the request information.

That is, the parking lot guidance system determines a parking lot that meets the user's needs based on parking lot information and user request information. Specifically, the parking lot guidance system determines a parking lot that meets at least one of the user's financial needs when using the parking lot and the time required when using the parking lot. The parking lot determined in this way is a parking lot that meets all of the user's needs, so the user's needs are more reflected than when a parking lot is guided based on the result of a comprehensive judgment of several parameters. In other words, in a conventional system, it is possible to comprehensively judge multiple parameters and guide a parking lot that is close to the user's needs, but it does not necessarily meet the user's needs. In contrast, the parking lot guidance system only guides users to parking lots that meet all of the user's needs (in other words, if even one of the needs is not met, it is determined that there is no parking lot that meets the needs), so only parking lots that meet the user's needs are guided. As a result, the user is not guided to a parking lot that he or she does not want, and in other words, it is possible to guide a parking lot that meets the user's needs.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a parking lot guidance system. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of parking lot information. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of request information. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a parking lot guidance process. FIG. 5A is a diagram showing an example of route guidance from a current location to a parking lot, and FIG. 5B is a diagram showing an example of route guidance to the parking lot in the vicinity of the parking lot.

Here, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order.
(1) System configuration:
(1-1) Configuration of administrator terminal:
(1-2) Configuration of user terminal:
(1-3) Configuration of parking lot guidance system:
(2) Parking lot information processing:
(3) Other embodiments:

(1) System configuration:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a parking lot guidance system 10 according to the present invention. The parking lot guidance system 10 according to the present embodiment is a system that guides a user to a parking lot for using a facility that is a destination set by a vehicle when the destination is set by the vehicle. Here, the facility includes a department store, a shopping center, a restaurant, and a public facility such as a park. The user is assumed to be a driver or a passenger of the vehicle. When the user operates the user I/F unit to input the destination, the parking lot guidance system 10 guides the user to a parking lot according to the user's request. A facility has parking lots that can be used by the user when using the facility prepared in advance. The parking lots include parking lots within the facility (e.g., an underground parking lot of the facility, a first parking lot of the facility, etc.), parking lots managed by the facility that are within a predetermined range (e.g., within 100 m) from the facility (e.g., a second parking lot, a third parking lot of the facility), and parking lots affiliated with the facility that are outside the predetermined range from the facility and are within walking distance to the facility (e.g., within 1000 m). In the following explanation, parking lots within the facility and parking lots within a specified range of the facility are referred to as "nearby parking lots," and parking lots outside the specified range that are affiliated with the facility are referred to as "general parking lots." Users park their vehicles in nearby parking lots or general parking lots and walk from the parking lots to the facility. In the following explanation, when the term "parking lot" is used, it includes nearby parking lots and general parking lots.

As shown in FIG. 1, the parking lot information system 10 in this embodiment is, for example, a stationary general-purpose computer or a cloud-based server, and cooperates with a user terminal 100 and an administrator terminal 200 via communication. The user terminal 100 is a terminal used by a user who is a driver or passenger of a vehicle. The administrator terminal 200 is a terminal used by an administrator who manages the parking lot. In this embodiment, the administrator manages nearby parking lots and general parking lots. Also, there may be multiple users, but the example described below focuses on one user.

(1-1) Configuration of administrator terminal:
The manager terminal 200 is a terminal used by a manager who manages the parking lot of the facility. The manager terminal 200 is equipped with a control unit 210 equipped with a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., and a communication unit 220 for communicating with other devices. The manager terminal 200 also has a user I/F unit 230 for providing various information to the manager and accepting input from the manager. The user I/F unit 230 not only accepts input from the manager, but also has a display unit consisting of a display such as a touch panel (not shown), an input unit such as a switch, and an audio output unit such as a speaker, for providing various information to the manager.

In this embodiment, the control unit 210 can communicate with the parking lot guidance system 10 via the communication unit 220. The control unit 210 can execute a program (not shown) recorded on the recording medium 240. The program includes a program for generating parking lot information that serves as information for the parking lot guidance system 10 to determine which parking lot to guide the user to.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of parking lot information in this embodiment. Parking lot information is a parameter for determining which parking lot to introduce to the user. In other words, parking lot information is information output to allow parking lot guidance system 10 to determine which parking lot to introduce. Therefore, the generated parking lot information is transmitted to parking lot guidance system 10. Figure 2 shows an example of parking lot information associated with one parking lot among the parking lot information associated with each facility. As shown in Figure 2, the parking lot information includes a parking lot ID, parking lot type, parking lot location, distance/time from the parking lot location to the facility, parking fee per unit time, congestion level, and current congestion level.

The parking lot ID indicates the identification information of each parking lot, and as shown in Figure 2, various information such as the parking lot type is associated with this parking lot ID.

The parking lot type is information that indicates the type of parking lot. As described above, in this embodiment, parking lots include nearby parking lots and general parking lots. In the example shown in FIG. 2, for example, the parking lot ID "P1" is associated with "nearby," which indicates a nearby parking lot.

The parking lot position is the point where the parking lot is located, and as shown in FIG. 2, the identification information (P1) of the parking lot corresponds to the coordinates (( _X1 , _Y1 )), such as P1 ( _X1 , _Y1 ).

In the distance/time from the parking lot to the facility, the distance from the parking lot to the facility is the shortest distance when walking between the location of each parking lot and the facility. The time from the parking lot to the facility is the time required when walking along the road with the shortest distance. In the example shown in FIG. 2, for example, the parking lot ID "P1" is associated with the distance to the facility of "0 m/0 minutes". That is, the parking lot with the parking lot ID "P1" is a parking lot within the facility. On the other hand, the parking lot ID "P2" is associated with the distance to the facility of "1000 m/13 minutes", and it can be understood that the parking lot with the parking lot ID "P2" is a parking lot far from the facility. The route search for the shortest distance is executed, for example, by an external route search server (not shown) and transmitted to the administrator terminal 200. The route search server is a server that searches for a route that can be traveled between two points from each parking lot to the facility with the minimum travel cost using a known algorithm such as the Dijkstra algorithm, the A* algorithm, or an improved version of these algorithms. The time required to travel on foot is calculated, for example, assuming that the distance traveled in one minute on foot is 80 m. In addition, in this embodiment, the distance from the parking lot location to the facility and the time to reach the facility are shown, but the parking lot information only needs to include at least one of these pieces of information.

The parking fee per unit time is the parking fee per hour at each parking lot. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the closer the distance to the facility and the shorter the time to the facility, the higher the parking fee. As is conventionally known, the parking fee may be set to a maximum amount per day.

The congestion level is an index showing the degree of congestion obtained from the past congestion record of each parking lot. For example, the congestion level is associated with a combination of seasons (e.g., spring, summer, fall, winter, etc.), days of the week (e.g., weekdays, holidays, etc.), and time periods (e.g., morning, afternoon, evening, etc.). The congestion level indicates the degree of congestion and is defined in three stages, for example, crowded, slightly crowded, and empty. This congestion level is defined, for example, by installing a sensor such as a camera at the entrance/exit gate of each parking lot and counting the waiting time of vehicles at the entrance/exit gate per unit time. For example, if the waiting time per unit time is less than a first threshold (e.g., within 2 minutes), it is assumed that vehicles are entering and exiting smoothly and the congestion level is defined as "empty." If the waiting time at the entrance/exit gate is equal to or greater than a second threshold that is greater than the first threshold (e.g., 20 minutes or more), it is assumed that vehicles are entering and exiting stagnant and the congestion level is defined as "congested." If the waiting time at the entrance/exit gate is equal to or greater than the first threshold and less than the second threshold, the congestion level is defined as "slightly crowded." The example shown in FIG. 2 shows the congestion level of parking lot ID "P1" on summer holidays as an example. As can be seen from FIG. 2, the parking lot with parking lot ID "P1" is most crowded on summer holidays in the afternoon, followed by the evening and morning. Although not shown, the congestion level defines the expected waiting time in the parking lot according to each congestion level of "crowded, slightly crowded, and empty." For example, when the congestion level is "crowded," the waiting time is defined as 20 minutes, when the congestion level is "slightly crowded," the waiting time is defined as 10 minutes, and when the congestion level is "empty," the waiting time is defined as 0 minutes. Note that this waiting time is, for example, the average waiting time for each congestion level (crowded, slightly crowded, and empty), and the average time is recorded as the waiting time data.

The current congestion level indicates the current congestion status of each parking lot. In the example shown in FIG. 2, for example, the parking lot with parking lot ID "P1" is currently full. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the current congestion level is indicated by two types, full and empty, that is, if there is even one parking space available, it is empty. Note that the definition of the current congestion level is not limited to these two types, full and empty, and for example, the degree of vacancy may be defined according to the ratio of the number of cars in the parking lot. For example, if less than a certain ratio (e.g., 80%) of the number of cars in the parking lot is parked (in other words, if at least 20% are empty), it may be defined as "empty," and if more than a certain ratio (e.g., 80%) is parked and at least one car is empty, it may be defined as "crowded."

Parking lot information is generated in this manner, and the generated parking lot information is recorded on the recording medium 240 as parking lot information 240a. Of this parking lot information 240a, information other than the current congestion level is updated once every season (e.g., spring, summer, fall, winter) or once every few months, as described above, and the updated information is transmitted to the parking lot information guidance system 10. Also, information indicating the current congestion level among the parking lot information 240a is updated every short period of time (e.g., every minute), and the updated information is transmitted to the parking lot information guidance system 10. The transmitted parking lot information 240a is recorded on the recording medium 30 of the parking lot information guidance system 10.

(1-2) Configuration of user terminal:
The user terminal 100 is a terminal used by a driver or passenger of a vehicle, and is realized, for example, by a terminal mounted on the vehicle or a portable terminal carried by the driver or passenger. The user terminal 100 includes a control unit 110 including a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., a recording medium 120, a communication unit 130 for communicating with other devices, a GNSS receiving unit 140, and a user I/F unit 150. The user I/F unit 150 is an interface unit for inputting instructions from a user and providing various information to the user, and includes a display unit consisting of a touch panel display (not shown), an input unit such as a switch, and an audio output unit such as a speaker.

Various types of information can be recorded on the recording medium 120. In this embodiment, requested information 120a and map information 120b are recorded. The requested information 120a is a request made by a user when using a parking lot, and is a parameter for determining which parking lot to introduce to the user. In other words, the requested information 120a is information output to the parking lot guidance system 10 to allow the parking lot guidance system 10 to determine which parking lot to introduce. This requested information 120a is generated by inputting the destination when the user operates the user I/F unit 150 to input the destination. Therefore, the generated requested information 120a is transmitted to the parking lot guidance system 10 together with the destination information.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of request information 120a in this embodiment. The request information 120a includes a user ID, a planned stay time at the facility, an upper parking fee limit, a request for guidance to a public parking lot that allows the user to reach the facility on foot within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot, and the walking time/distance from the parking lot to the facility, and at least one of these pieces of information is associated with the user ID. Note that in Figure 3, for convenience of drawing, the request for guidance to a public parking lot that allows the user to reach the facility on foot within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot is written as "Guide with waiting time ≧ walking time".

The user ID indicates the user's identification information, and as shown in Figure 3, various information such as the planned length of stay at the facility is associated with this user ID.

The planned facility stay time is the planned time that the user plans to stay at the destination facility, and the planned time is input by the user by operating the user I/F unit 150. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the user ID "001" is associated with the planned facility stay time of "2 hours." In other words, it can be understood that the user with user ID "001" plans to stay at the destination facility for 2 hours.

The parking limit is an example of a request for money required when a user parks a vehicle in a parking lot and uses a facility that is a destination, and is the maximum amount that a user will pay when using the parking lot. In the example shown in Figure 3, it is "3,000 yen." In the following explanation, unless otherwise specified, the request for money required when a user parks a vehicle in a parking lot and uses a facility that is a destination will be referred to simply as "request for money."

A request to guide a user to a public parking lot that allows the user to walk to the facility within the waiting time at the nearby parking lot is an example of a request regarding the time required for the user to park the vehicle in the parking lot and use the destination facility. There are cases where the user is unable to park the vehicle in a nearby parking lot and can be guided to another public parking lot while waiting in line for entry. For example, it may be possible to park in a public parking lot and walk to the facility within the waiting time at the nearby parking lot. In such a case, there may be a user who wishes to park in that public parking lot. Therefore, the request information 120a in this embodiment includes a request to guide a user to a public parking lot that allows the user to walk to the facility within the waiting time at the nearby parking lot. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the user has "Y" because they wish to make this request.

The walking time/distance from the parking lot to the facility is the upper limit of the time or distance required to walk from the parking lot to the facility, and is an example of a user's request regarding the time required to park the vehicle in the parking lot and use the facility as a destination. In the example shown in Figure 3, the user's walking time is "10 minutes" and the distance is "800 m." In the following explanation, unless otherwise specified, the request regarding the time required to park the vehicle in the parking lot and use the facility as a destination will be referred to simply as "request regarding time."

In this way, the request information 120a is generated, and the generated request information 120a is transmitted to the parking lot guidance system 10 when the user operates the user I/F unit 150 to input the destination. The transmitted request information 120a is recorded on the recording medium 30 of the parking lot guidance system 10. Note that, as described above, the request information 120a is the request made by the user when using the parking lot, and may include a request regarding money and a request regarding time as in the example of FIG. 3, but it may also be the case that only some of these requests are requested (for example, a request regarding money and some of the request regarding time), or that there is no request at all.

The requested information 120a may be input by the user operating the user I/F unit 150 each time the user inputs a destination, or the content of the requested information may be determined from the user's history. The planned length of stay at the facility may be determined from statistics of general users, including other people. Although not shown in FIG. 3, the requested information 120a may also include other information such as an upper limit on the waiting time, which is the time the user can wait in a nearby parking lot.

Map information 120b is information used to search for routes and identify the vehicle's position, and includes node data indicating the positions of nodes corresponding to the endpoints of the road section on which the vehicle is traveling, shape interpolation point data indicating the positions of shape interpolation points for identifying the shape of the road between the nodes, link data indicating the connections between nodes, facility data indicating facilities on the roads and their surrounding areas, etc. Here, nodes correspond to intersections, and links correspond to road sections from one intersection to the next. Road types such as national roads and prefectural roads are assigned to the link data. Information indicating link costs is associated with the link data.

Facility data is information indicating the name, attributes, location, etc. of a facility. The facilities indicated by the facility data include parking lots in addition to the above-mentioned public facilities such as department stores, shopping centers, restaurants, and parks. Parking lots are facilities where vehicles can be parked, and as described above, include nearby parking lots that exist within a predetermined range from a facility including a destination facility (e.g., a department store) and general parking lots that exist outside a predetermined range from the facility. When the attribute of a facility is a parking lot, information indicating at least the location and name of the parking lot is included in the facility data. In this embodiment, when a parking lot is a parking lot that can be used when using a destination facility (e.g., a department store), the facility data indicating the parking lot includes information indicating that the parking lot is a parking lot that can be used when using the facility (e.g., a department store). Note that, depending on the facility, such as a small shop, parking spaces for parking vehicles in available parking lots may be determined. Facility data indicating such parking lots includes identification information of available parking spaces. Note that, in this embodiment, the facility data includes polygon information indicating the shape of the facility.

The GNSS receiver 140 is a device that receives signals from the Global Navigation Satellite System, receives radio waves from navigation satellites, and outputs a signal for calculating the current position of the vehicle via an interface (not shown). The control unit 110 acquires this signal to acquire the current position of the vehicle. Note that the configuration for acquiring the current position of the vehicle is not limited to the GNSS receiver 140, and various other configurations can be adopted. For example, the current position of the vehicle may be identified based on signals from a vehicle speed sensor and a gyro sensor (not shown) in addition to the signal from the GNSS receiver 140. The vehicle speed sensor and the gyro sensor are used to identify the vehicle's travel trajectory, and the current position is identified based on the starting position and travel trajectory of the vehicle, and the current position of the vehicle identified based on the starting position and travel trajectory is corrected based on the output signal from the GNSS receiver 140.

In this embodiment, the control unit 110 can communicate with the parking lot guidance system 10 via the communication unit 130. The control unit 110 can realize various functions by executing a program (not shown) recorded on the recording medium 120. In this embodiment, the control unit 110 acquires the current position of the vehicle and provides route guidance by a program (not shown). The control unit 110 periodically acquires the current position of the vehicle based on the output of the GNSS receiving unit 140, and transmits the acquired current position information to the parking lot guidance system 10 via the communication unit 130. The control unit 110 then acquires a map on which the parking lot position and the planned driving route are superimposed, which are output from the parking lot guidance system 10, and provides route guidance by displaying the acquired map on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150.

(1-3) Configuration of parking lot guidance system:
The parking lot information system 10 comprises a control unit 20 equipped with a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., a recording medium 30, and a communication unit 40. The communication unit 40 comprises a circuit for transmitting and receiving information to and from the above-mentioned user terminal 100 and manager terminal 200. The control unit 20 can communicate with the user terminal 100 and manager terminal 200 via the communication unit 40.

Parking lot information 30a, request information 30b, and map information 30c are recorded on the recording medium 30. As described with reference to FIG. 2, the parking lot information 30a is recorded on the recording medium 30 by transmitting information generated by the above-mentioned administrator terminal 200 to the parking lot guidance system 10. As described with reference to FIG. 3, the request information 30b is recorded on the recording medium 30 by transmitting information generated by the above-mentioned user terminal 100 to the parking lot guidance system 10. The parking lot information 30a and the request information 30b are parameters when determining the parking lot to guide the user to. Note that the map information 30c is the same as the map information 120b recorded on the recording medium 120 of the above-mentioned user terminal 100, so a detailed description will be omitted.

The control unit 20 can execute a program stored in the recording medium 30 or ROM. In this embodiment, the parking lot guidance program 21 can be executed as this program. Users have various requests regarding parking lots, and conventionally known systems for guiding users to parking lots may not be able to guide users to parking lots that meet their requests. Therefore, in this embodiment, a parking lot that meets the user's requests is determined and guided based on the above-mentioned parking lot information 30a and request information 30b. The parking lot guidance program 21 is a program for determining and guiding users to parking lots that meet the user's requests. When the parking lot guidance program 21 is executed, the control unit 20 functions as a parking lot information acquisition unit 21a, a request information acquisition unit 21b, a determination unit 21c, and a display control unit 21d. In the following, the processes described as being performed by the parking lot information acquisition unit 21a, the request information acquisition unit 21b, the determination unit 21c, and the display control unit 21d are processes realized by the control unit 20.

The parking lot information acquisition unit 21a is a function that acquires parking lot information including the locations of nearby parking lots that are within a specified range including the facility, such as a department store, and the locations of general parking lots that are outside the specified range including the facility, and the parking fees at the parking lots. That is, the control unit 20, using the function of the parking lot information acquisition unit 21a, refers to the parking lot information 30a in the recording medium 30 and acquires the locations of the nearby parking lots and the general parking lots that correspond to the parking lot ID, and the parking fees at the parking lots. As described above, the parking lot information 30a is generated by the administrator terminal 200, and the generated parking lot information is sent to the parking lot guidance system 10, where it is recorded on the recording medium 30.

The request information acquisition unit 21b is a function that acquires request information including a request regarding the time required for the user to park a vehicle in the parking lot and use the facility, and a request regarding the amount of money required for the user to use the parking lot. That is, the control unit 20, using the function of the request information acquisition unit 21b, refers to the request information 30b in the recording medium 30 and acquires information regarding the planned time to stay at the facility, the parking upper limit fee, a request for guidance to a public parking lot that the user can reach on foot within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot, and the walking time/distance. Note that the request information 30b is generated by the user terminal 100 as described above, and the generated request information is transmitted to the parking lot guidance system 10 and recorded on the recording medium 30.

The determination unit 21c is a function to determine a parking lot that satisfies the request information 30b based on the parking lot information 30a and the request information 30b described above. That is, the control unit 20, using the function of the determination unit 21c, refers to the parking lot information 30a and the request information 30b to determine a parking lot that meets the user's request. In this embodiment, the request information 30b, which is the request when the user uses the parking lot, includes a request regarding money and a request regarding time, as described in FIG. 3 above. The request regarding time also includes a request to guide the user to a general parking lot that allows the user to reach the facility on foot within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot, and a request regarding the walking time/distance from the parking lot to the facility. The control unit 20 determines a parking lot that meets the contents of the request information 30b. In the following description, in this embodiment, the "request regarding the walking time/distance from the parking lot to the facility" is described as a request regarding the walking time from the parking lot to the facility, and the request regarding the walking distance from the parking lot to the facility will be described in other embodiments.

Specifically, for the monetary request, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a and the map information 30c, identifies nearby parking lots and general parking lots that are the target of the facility used by the user, and identifies the parking fee per unit time at each parking lot. The information on the facility used by the user is transmitted from the user terminal 100 to the parking lot information system 10 at the same time as the request information 30b. The control unit 20 also refers to the request information 30b to identify the user's planned time of staying at the facility and the maximum parking fee. The control unit 20 then calculates the user's estimated payment amount for each nearby parking lot and general parking lot from the product of the parking fee per unit time and the planned time of staying at the facility, and determines the parking lot where the estimated payment amount is equal to or less than the maximum parking fee, which is the upper limit. Parking lots that satisfy this condition are the parking lots that satisfy the monetary request.

In addition, the control unit 20, in response to a request regarding time, regarding whether to guide the user to a nearby parking lot that can be reached on foot within the waiting time at the nearby parking lot, refers to the parking lot information 30a and identifies the current congestion level of the nearby parking lot (i.e., information on whether it is empty or full). If the current congestion level is full, the control unit 20 further identifies the waiting time at the nearby parking lot that is expected based on the congestion level obtained from past congestion records. As described above, this waiting time at the nearby parking lot corresponds to the congestion level in the parking lot information 30a and is a time according to past records. Then, if the current congestion level of the identified nearby parking lot is full, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a and identifies the location of the general parking lot and the walking time, which is the time it takes to walk from the general parking lot to the facility, for each of the general parking lots. The control unit 20 identifies a walking time that is shorter than the expected waiting time at the nearby parking lot, and identifies a general parking lot that has a walking time shorter than the waiting time. That is, the control unit 20 determines a public parking lot where the user can walk to the facility within the waiting time at the nearby parking lot. If the current congestion level of the nearby parking lot is empty, the nearby parking lot will be identified in addition to the public parking lot. A parking lot that meets the above conditions will be the parking lot that satisfies the time request, when there is a public parking lot where the user can walk to the facility within the waiting time at the nearby parking lot.

In addition, the control unit 20 regards the walking time from the parking lot to the facility as a parking lot that satisfies the request information, if the parking lot can be reached by walking within the upper limit of the time required to walk from the parking lot to the facility. Specifically, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a to identify the location of each parking lot and the walking time required to walk from each parking lot to the facility. The control unit 20 also refers to the request information 30b to identify the request for the walking time from the parking lot to the facility (i.e., the upper limit of the time required to walk). The control unit 20 then identifies parking lots that can be reached within the walking time. The identified parking lots may include nearby parking lots and general parking lots.

Then, the control unit 20 determines that a parking lot that satisfies all of the three requests included in the request information 30b, namely, the request regarding the money, the request regarding whether to guide the user to a public parking lot that allows the user to walk to the facility within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot, and the request regarding the walking time from the parking lot to the facility, is a parking lot that satisfies the user's request information. In other words, a parking lot that does not satisfy at least one of the requests in the request information 30b is not determined to be a parking lot that satisfies the user's request information. For example, if all three of the above requests are included in the request information 30b, the parking lot that satisfies all three requests is determined to be a parking lot that satisfies the user's request information, and if two (or one) of the above requests are included, the parking lot that satisfies the two (or one) requests is determined to be a parking lot that satisfies the user's request information. Note that a more specific aspect of the processing by the function of this determination unit 21c will be described later in the flowchart of FIG. 4.

The display control unit 21d is a function that displays the parking lot determined by the function of the determination unit 21c on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150. That is, the control unit 20 transmits information on parking lots that can be candidates for guidance determined by the determination unit 21c to the user terminal 100 by the function of the display control unit 21d, and displays the determined parking lot on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150 of the user terminal 100. If there are multiple parking lots, the control unit 20 displays information on the multiple parking lots on the display unit and accepts the selection of the parking lot to be guided to from the multiple parking lots. In addition, the control unit 20, by the function of the display control unit 21d, refers to the map information 30c, superimposes the position of the parking lot to be guided to the user on the map, and transmits information that draws the visiting route to the parking lot to the user terminal 100, and displays the map including the visiting route on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150 of the user terminal 100. A specific embodiment will be described later in the flowchart of FIG. 4.

According to this configuration, a parking lot that meets the user's financial and time needs is determined based on the parking lot information 30a and the user's request information 30b, and the determined parking lot is displayed on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150. This makes it possible to guide the user to a parking lot that meets their needs.

(2) Parking lot information processing:
Next, the parking lot guidance process executed by the control unit 20 will be described. The control unit 20 executes this parking lot guidance process when the user operates the user I/F unit 150 in the user terminal 100 to input a destination. The parking lot guidance process is started in response to a default trigger. The default trigger is, for example, when the user operates the user I/F unit 150 to input a destination and inputs request information, which is a request for a parking lot, in conjunction with the input of the destination, and the information is transmitted from the user terminal 100 to the parking lot guidance system 10, and the information is received by the parking lot guidance system 10. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the facility set as the destination by the user's input is described as a department store. That is, the parking lot guidance system 10 guides the user to a parking lot when using the department store. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the user's request information 30b for the parking lot is described as including all requests (i.e., three requests) of the request for money and the request for time, as described in FIG. 3. An example in which the request information 30b includes one or two requests will be described later in other embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the parking guidance process is started, the control unit 20 first acquires parking information for the facility (department store) that is the destination entered by the user, by referring to the parking information 30a and map information 30c, using the function of the parking information acquisition unit 21a (step S1). That is, the control unit 20 identifies a parking lot for the destination department store by referring to the map information 30c, and acquires parking information corresponding to the identified parking lot based on the parking information 30a. Here, the identified parking lots include nearby parking lots and general parking lots, and the number of identified parking lots is at least one or more. In this embodiment, as an example, the control unit 20 identifies at least one nearby parking lot and one general parking lot, and acquires information on these parking lots. After acquiring the parking information 30a in step S1, the control unit 20 proceeds to step S2.

In step S2, the control unit 20 acquires the request information 30b by using the function of the request information acquisition unit 21b. That is, the control unit 20 refers to the request information 30b to acquire the user's request for the parking lot when using the facility. The control unit 20 then acquires the request content from the request information 30b in the processing from step S3 onwards. As described above, the request information 30b is transmitted from the user terminal 100 to the parking lot guidance system 10 each time the user operates the user I/F unit 150 to input a destination, and the transmitted request information is recorded as the request information 30b in the recording medium 30. After acquiring the request information 30b, the control unit 20 proceeds to step S3 and identifies the content of the request information 30b.

In step S3, the control unit 20, using the function of the determination unit 21c, refers to the request information 30b and determines whether the request information 30b includes a financial request. In this embodiment, as described in FIG. 3, for example, a parking maximum amount is set as a financial request in the request information 30b. Therefore, in step S3, the control unit 20 determines that the request information 30b includes a financial request, and proceeds to step S4. If the request information 30b does not include a financial request, the control unit 20 proceeds to step S5.

In step S4, the control unit 20 uses the function of the determination unit 21c to determine whether there is a parking lot that satisfies the financial needs. Specifically, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a to identify the nearby parking lot and the general parking lot that are the target parking lots of the department store identified in step S1, and identifies the parking fee per unit time at each parking lot. The control unit 20 also refers to the request information 30b to identify the user's planned stay time at the facility and the parking upper limit amount. Then, the control unit 20 calculates the user's estimated payment amount from the product of the parking fee per unit time and the planned stay time at the facility for each of the nearby parking lot and the general parking lot, and determines whether there is a parking lot where the estimated payment amount is equal to or less than the parking upper limit amount, which is the upper limit. In other words, the control unit 20 determines whether there is a parking lot that satisfies the user's financial needs. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the user's parking upper limit amount is "3,000 yen" and the planned stay time at the facility is "2 hours". Also, the target nearby parking lots of the department store used by the user are parking lot P1 in FIG. 2, and the general parking lots are parking lot P2 and parking lot P3 in FIG. 2. In this case, the estimated payment amount of the user at the nearby parking lots is the product of the user's planned stay time at the facility (2 hours) and the parking fee per unit time of the nearby parking lots (2,000 yen), which is "4,000 yen", and exceeds the user's parking upper limit (3,000 yen). Therefore, the user's financial request is not satisfied, and the control unit 20 excludes the nearby parking lot P1 from the target parking lots to be guided to the user. On the other hand, the estimated payment amount at the general parking lot P2 is the product of the user's planned stay time at the facility (2 hours) and the parking fee per unit time of the general parking lot (500 yen), which is "1,000 yen", and does not exceed the user's parking upper limit (3,000 yen). Therefore, the user's financial request is satisfied, and the control unit 20 selects the general parking lot P2 as the target parking lot to be guided to the user. In addition, when the estimated payment amount for the user in the general parking lot P3 is calculated in the same manner, it is 2,000 yen, which does not exceed the parking upper limit of the user. Therefore, the user's financial needs are met, and the control unit 20 selects the general parking lot P3 as the parking lot to be guided to the user. That is, in this step S4, the two general parking lots (parking lots P2 and P3) are the parking lots to be guided to. If the control unit 20 determines in step S4 that a parking lot that satisfies the financial needs of the user is not found among the identified parking lots, the control unit 20 proceeds to step S5. If it is determined in step S4 that there is no parking lot that satisfies the financial needs of the user, the control unit 20 ends the processing of the flowchart in FIG. 4, displays on the display unit of the user terminal 100 that a parking lot that satisfies the user's needs cannot be found, and prompts the user to reset the request information.

In step S5, the control unit 20, using the function of the determination unit 21c, refers to the request information 30b and determines whether the request information 30b includes a request regarding time. In this embodiment, as described in FIG. 3, the user's request information 30b includes, as requests regarding time, a request to be guided to a public parking lot that the user can walk to the facility in less than the waiting time at a nearby parking lot, and a request regarding the walking time from the parking lot to the facility. Therefore, in this step S5, the control unit 20 determines that the request information 30b includes a request regarding time, and proceeds to step S6. If the request information 30b does not include a request regarding time, the control unit 20 proceeds to step S7.

In step S6, the control unit 20 uses the function of the determination unit 21c to determine whether there is a parking lot that satisfies the time request. Specifically, the control unit 20 determines whether there is a parking lot that satisfies the time request among the parking lots (general parking lots P2 and P3) determined in step S4. In step S6, it is possible to assume that there is a monetary request in step S3 (and there is a parking lot that satisfies the monetary request in step S4) and there is a time request in step S5, or that there is no monetary request in step S3 and there is a time request in step S5. However, as described above, in the example shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that the user's request information 30b includes a monetary request and a time request, so here, a case in which it is determined that there is a monetary request in step S3 and that there is a time request in step S5 is described as an example.

In this embodiment, the request for time includes, as described above, a request to guide the user to a general parking lot that allows the user to walk to the facility within the waiting time at the nearby parking lot, and a request for the walking time from the parking lot to the facility. First, the control unit 20 uses the function of the determination unit 21c to determine whether there is a parking lot that is a target for the request to guide the user to a general parking lot that allows the user to walk to the facility within the waiting time at the nearby parking lot. Specifically, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a to identify the current congestion level (i.e., information on whether the parking lot is empty or full) of the nearby parking lot P1, and further identifies the waiting time at the nearby parking lot P1 that is expected from the congestion level, which is an index indicating the degree of congestion obtained from past congestion records. As described above, this waiting time at the nearby parking lot corresponds to the congestion level in the parking lot information 30a, and is a time according to the past records. For example, assume that the current congestion level of the nearby parking lot P1 is "full" and the waiting time at the nearby parking lot obtained from past congestion records is "20 minutes". Then, the control unit 20 refers to the parking information 30a for each of the public parking lots P2 and P3 to identify the location of the public parking lot and identify the walking time, which is the time it takes to walk from the public parking lot to the facility. Then, the control unit 20 extracts public parking lots that have a walking time shorter than the expected waiting time (i.e., 20 minutes) at nearby parking lots from the identified walking time. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the walking time from the facility of the public parking lot P2 is "13 minutes," and the walking time from the facility of the public parking lot P3 is "5 minutes," and both public parking lots are within the waiting time at the nearby parking lots and the user can reach the facility on foot. Therefore, the control unit 20 determines that the public parking lot P2 and the public parking lot P3 are parking lots that satisfy the request for guidance when there is a public parking lot that allows the user to reach the facility on foot within the waiting time at the nearby parking lots.

Next, the control unit 20 judges the request for the walking time from the parking lot to the facility among the requests for time. Specifically, the control unit 20, by using the function of the judgment unit 21c, refers to the parking lot information 30a to identify the locations of the general parking lot P2 and the general parking lot P3, and determines the walking time, which is the time required to walk from each of the general parking lots to the facility. In this embodiment, the walking time from the general parking lot P2 to the facility is "13 minutes", and the walking time from the general parking lot P2 to the facility is "5 minutes". In addition, the control unit 20 refers to the request information 30b to determine the request for the walking time from the parking lot to the facility (i.e., the upper limit of the time required to walk). Then, the control unit 20 identifies a parking lot that can be reached within the walking time. In this embodiment, the user's request information 30b shown in FIG. 3 indicates that the walking time is 10 minutes. Therefore, the control unit 20 judges that the general parking lot P3 is a parking lot that satisfies the request for the walking time from the parking lot to the facility among the requests for time. In this way, the control unit 20 determines in step S6 whether the time request is satisfied. If it is determined in step S6 that there is no parking lot that satisfies the user's time request, the control unit 20 ends the processing of the flowchart in FIG. 4, displays on the display unit of the user terminal 100 a message that no parking lot that satisfies the user's request has been found, and prompts the user to reset the request information.

Then, the control unit 20 uses the function of the determination unit 21c to determine a parking lot that satisfies all of the user's needs (step S7). That is, it determines a parking lot that satisfies all of the user's needs, including financial and time needs. As described above, in this embodiment, in step S4, general parking lot P2 and general parking lot P3 are determined to be parking lots that satisfy the financial needs. Then, in step S6, it is general parking lot P3 that satisfies both of the two time needs. Therefore, the control unit 20 determines that the parking lot that satisfies all of the user's needs is general parking lot P3. Once the control unit 20 has determined a parking lot that satisfies all of the needs, it proceeds to step S8.

In step S8, the control unit 20 uses the function of the display control unit 21d to display the parking lots that are determined to satisfy all of the above-mentioned requirements on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150. That is, the control unit 20 transmits information about the parking lot (general parking lot P3) that satisfies all of the user's requirements, as determined in step S7, to the user terminal 100 via the communication unit 40. The transmitted information about the parking lot is displayed on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150. As a result, the user can recognize the parking lots that satisfy his or her requirements.

In addition, the display of parking lots that satisfy all the user's needs on the user terminal 100 may simply display information about parking lots that satisfy the user's needs, but since the user will use the parking lot to go to the department store, it is preferable to display the planned driving route to the parking lot on the display unit. Specifically, the control unit 20 periodically obtains the user's current location from the user terminal 100. In addition, the control unit 20 draws a map including the user's current location based on the map information 30c, and displays the map on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150. Furthermore, the control unit 20 identifies the user's current location, the location of the general parking lot P3 that is a parking lot that satisfies all of the user's needs, and the planned driving route from the current location to the general parking lot P3 based on the map information 30c, and displays them superimposed on the map displayed on the display unit. FIG. 5A shows an example in which the planned driving route from the current location of the vehicle to the general parking lot P3 is displayed on the map on the display unit. G in FIG. 5A indicates the general parking lot P3, which is the destination point, and the symbol C indicates the current location of the user's vehicle. Roads are shown as thin straight lines, and the thick straight lines superimposed on the roads are the planned driving route. The planned driving route is determined, for example, by an external route search server (not shown) and transmitted to the parking lot guidance system 10.

When the user's vehicle approaches the vicinity of the general parking lot P3, the control unit 20 switches the display on the display unit to the display shown in FIG. 5B, and guides the user to the general parking lot P3. In FIG. 5B, the polygons of the facilities including the department store used by the user are shown as gray rectangles. In FIG. 5B, the symbol C indicates the current position of the user's vehicle, and the bold arrow indicates the route to the general parking lot P3.

As described above, in this embodiment, a parking lot that meets the user's needs is determined based on the parking lot information 30a and the user's request information 30b. That is, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a to determine a parking lot that meets the user's financial needs when using the parking lot and the time needs when using the parking lot. Since the parking lot determined in this way is a parking lot that meets all of the user's needs, the user's needs are reflected to a higher degree than when a parking lot based on the result of a comprehensive judgment of several parameters is introduced. That is, in the conventional system, it is possible to comprehensively judge multiple parameters and introduce a parking lot that is close to the user's needs, but it does not necessarily satisfy the user's needs. In contrast, in this embodiment, only parking lots that meet all of the user's needs are introduced (in other words, if even one of the needs is not met, it is determined that there is no parking lot that meets the needs), so only parking lots that meet the user's needs are introduced. As a result, in this embodiment, the user is not introduced to a parking lot that he or she does not want, that is, a parking lot that meets the user's needs can be introduced.

In addition, in this embodiment, when determining a parking lot according to the user's request information 30b, the parking lot information 30a including the congestion degree of the parking lot based on the past congestion record and the current mixture degree is referenced. Conventionally, when a user operates the user I/F unit 150 to input a destination, the destination is set to a parking lot of the facility (for example, a parking lot within the facility), and it is assumed that users will concentrate in the parking lot of the facility. In such a case, congestion is likely to occur in the parking lot of the facility. On the other hand, since users have various requests (requests regarding money, requests regarding time) as included in the above-mentioned request information 30b, in order to meet such requests, the parking lot to be guided is determined by referring to the parking lot information 30a, so that the parking lot to be guided is not necessarily guided to the parking lot of the facility. In other words, as in the above-mentioned embodiment, the parking lot may be guided to a general parking lot. In that case, it is possible to avoid concentrating guidance on the parking lot of the facility, so that the parking lots used by the user are distributed between nearby parking lots and general parking lots. As a result, the congestion degree and congestion degree in nearby parking lots including the parking lot of the facility can be reduced.

In addition, in this embodiment, the control unit 20 causes the determined parking lot to be displayed on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150. This allows the user to recognize a parking lot that meets his or her needs. Furthermore, as described above in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, the control unit 20 displays the route to the determined parking lot by superimposing it on the map. This allows the user to recognize the route to the parking lot.

In addition, in this embodiment, when a monetary request includes an upper limit, the control unit 20 calculates an estimated payment amount for the user from the planned time the user will stay at the facility, the parking lot, and the parking fee per unit time, and determines that a parking lot for which the estimated payment amount is equal to or less than the upper limit is a parking lot that satisfies the user's request. This allows the user to be guided to parking lots for which the payment amount is equal to or less than the upper limit, and prevents the user from being guided to parking lots for which the payment amount exceeds the upper limit.

In addition, in this embodiment, if the time request includes a request to be guided to a public parking lot that allows the user to reach the facility on foot within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot, the control unit 20 determines that the public parking lot is a parking lot that satisfies the user's request. In other words, if it is possible to park in the public parking lot and reach the facility on foot while waiting in a nearby parking lot, the control unit 20 guides the user to the public parking lot. This makes it possible to meet the request of a user who, for example, wants to park in another parking lot and move to the facility while waiting in a nearby parking lot.

In addition, in this embodiment, if the request for time includes a request for the walking time from the parking lot to the facility, i.e., if an upper limit is set for the walking time, the control unit 20 determines that a parking lot that can be reached by walking within the upper limit is a parking lot that satisfies the user's request information. In this case, parking lots that can be guided to include general parking lots and nearby parking lots. This makes it possible to meet the requests of users who do not want to walk for longer than the upper limit or who have an upper limit on the amount of time they can walk (for example, people with children or people who are injured).

In addition, in this embodiment, as described in the flowchart of FIG. 4 above, when the request information 30b includes both financial and time requests, the control unit 20 guides the user to a parking lot that meets all of the requests. In other words, such a user may be, for example, someone who has an upper limit on the amount they are willing to pay at a parking lot, and is okay with being guided to a general parking lot, but has an upper limit on the distance they can travel on foot. In this embodiment, even for a user with multiple requests, it is possible to determine and guide the user to a parking lot that meets the user's requests.

(3) Other embodiments:
The above embodiment is an example for implementing the present invention, and various other embodiments can be adopted. For example, in the above embodiment, an example was described in which an upper limit was set for the walking time from the parking lot to the facility in the request for time. However, if this upper limit is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (for example, a short time of about 0 to 3 minutes), the control unit 20 may determine that a nearby parking lot that has a walking time to the facility equal to or less than the threshold is a parking lot that satisfies the request information. For example, a user who requests to park in a nearby parking lot even if there is a waiting time is assumed (in other words, a person who wants to avoid walking to the facility is assumed). If such a request is included in the request information 30b, the control unit 20 excludes general parking lots from the parking lots to which the information is directed and limits them to nearby parking lots. This makes it possible to meet the request of a user who does not want to walk.

In addition, while "walking time from a parking lot to a facility" has been described as an example of a time request in the above embodiment, the request may be "walking distance from a parking lot to a facility." As described above, the parking lot information 30a in FIG. 2 records the distance from each parking lot to the facility, and the request information 30b in FIG. 3 records the walkable distance. Therefore, the control unit 20 may refer to the parking lot information 30a and the request information 30b, determine a parking lot within walking distance from the parking lot to the facility, and guide the user to the determined parking lot. This makes it possible to avoid guiding the user to a parking lot that is longer than the desired distance when traveling from the parking lot to the facility, and as a result, it becomes possible to guide the user to a parking lot that meets the user's request.

In the example described in the flowchart of FIG. 4 above, one parking lot (general parking lot P3) is determined as the parking lot to guide the user to, and the determined parking lot is displayed on the display unit, but the display unit may display multiple parking lots. That is, if there are multiple parking lots that meet the user's needs, the control unit 20 may determine the multiple parking lots as available parking lots and display them on the display unit. In that case, the user operates the user I/F unit 150 to select one parking lot from the multiple displayed parking lots. Information about the selected parking lot is transmitted to the parking lot guidance system 10, and information such as the route to the selected parking lot is displayed on the display unit of the user I/F unit 150.

In the example described in the flowchart of FIG. 4 above, an example of a parking lot to which the user is guided when there is a financial request in step S3 and a time request in step S5 is described. However, in this process, there may be several other patterns of parking lots to which the user is guided. Specifically, as described above, the request information 30b includes two types of requests, a financial request and a time request, for a total of three requests. In the above embodiment, an example in which there are all three requests was described, but there may also be cases in which there is only one or two requests. Below, examples in which there is one request and two requests are described. Note that the specific details of identifying the parking lot to which the user is guided are mostly the same as in the above embodiment, so the specific details of the process are omitted.

First, we will explain the case where there is only one request, and the request is regarding money. In such a case, the control unit 20 refers to the request information 30b to identify the planned time spent at the facility and the maximum parking fee for the user. The control unit 20 also refers to the parking lot information 30a to identify the parking fee per unit time for each parking lot. The control unit 20 determines a parking lot where the product of the planned time spent at the facility and the parking fee per unit time is equal to or less than the maximum parking fee for the user. The control unit 20 then introduces the determined parking lot as a parking lot that meets the user's request. In this way, the user is introduced to a parking lot that meets at least the financial request.

Next, we will explain the case where there is only one request, and that request is for time, and is a request to guide the user to a public parking lot that allows the user to reach the facility on foot within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot. In such a case, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a and identifies a public parking lot that allows the user to walk to the facility within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot that corresponds to the congestion level of the parking lot. The control unit 20 then determines that the identified parking lot is one that satisfies the user's request, and provides guidance to the user. This makes it possible to meet the request of a user who does not mind paying a parking fee, but does not want to wait in a parking lot, for example.

Next, we will explain the case where there is one request, and that request is regarding the walking time from a parking lot to the facility among the time requests. In such a case, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a and the request information 30b, and identifies a parking lot that can reach the facility within the user's walking time (i.e., the upper limit of the walking time). The control unit 20 then determines that the identified parking lot is one that satisfies the user's request, and provides guidance to the user. This makes it possible to guide the user to a parking lot that satisfies the walking time request.

Next, a case where there are two requests, one regarding money and the other regarding time, is to guide the user to a public parking lot that allows the user to walk to the facility within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot. In such a case, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a and the request information 30b, and identifies a parking lot where the product of the planned stay time at the facility and the number of parking lots per unit time is equal to or less than the user's upper limit. Then, from among the identified parking lots, it identifies a public parking lot that allows the user to walk to the facility within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot that corresponds to the congestion level of the parking lot. In addition, the control unit 20 determines that the identified parking lot is a parking lot that satisfies the user's request and guides the user to the parking lot. This makes it possible to meet the request of a user who is not concerned about walking rather than waiting at a nearby parking lot, even if there is a limit to the parking fee to be paid (in other words, a user who wants a low parking fee even if it is far from the facility).

Next, a case where there are two requests, one regarding money and the other regarding time, regarding the walking time from the parking lot to the facility, will be described. In such a case, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a and the request information 30b, and identifies a parking lot where the product of the planned stay time at the facility and the parking lot per unit time is equal to or less than the upper limit of the user's fee. Then, from among the identified parking lots, it identifies a parking lot that allows the user to reach the facility within the walking time. The control unit 20 then determines the identified parking lot as one that satisfies the user's request and provides guidance to the user. This makes it possible to meet the request of a user who is concerned about setting a limit on the parking fee to be paid, but also wants to avoid being too far from the facility (in other words, a user who wants to avoid both high parking fees and being far from the parking lot).

Next, a case where there are two requests, one for guidance to a public parking lot that the user can walk to the facility within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot, and the other for the walking time from the parking lot to the facility, will be described. In such a case, the control unit 20 refers to the parking lot information 30a and the request information 30b, identifies a public parking lot that the user can walk to the facility within the waiting time at a nearby parking lot that corresponds to the congestion level of the parking lot, and further identifies a parking lot that the user can walk to the facility within the walking time. The control unit 20 then determines the identified parking lot as one that satisfies the user's request and provides guidance to the user. This makes it possible to meet the request of a user who wants to avoid waiting at a nearby parking lot while also avoiding being too far from the facility (in other words, a user who does not care about parking fees but wants a parking lot that is not too far away and does not have to wait).

In this way, this embodiment can provide parking information that meets the needs of a wide variety of users.

In the above-mentioned flowchart of FIG. 4, there may be cases where the determinations at steps S3 and S5 are negative, in which case the user has no financial or time requirements. In such a case, the user's requirements will be met no matter which parking lot the user is shown to, so the control unit 20 sorts the parking lots according to predetermined conditions, such as showing the user the currently available parking lots, and shows the user the parking lots.

In addition, in the above embodiment, the congestion level is defined based on past congestion records, but this congestion level may be based on the current congestion level, for example, by constantly detecting the congestion level using a sensor such as a camera. In that case, the congestion level will be more accurate than the congestion level based on past congestion records, so waiting times at nearby parking lots will also be more accurate, and as a result, it will be possible to guide users to parking lots based on more accurate information.

In addition, each system constituting the above-mentioned embodiment may be composed of fewer devices that share functions. An example of such an example is one in which at least one system shown in FIG. 1 is composed of the same device as one or more other systems. For example, the parking lot information system 10 and the user terminal 100 may be composed of an integrated device, the parking lot information system 10 and the administrator terminal 200 may be composed of an integrated device, or the user terminal 100 and the administrator terminal 200 may be composed of an integrated device. In addition, some of the functions of the parking lot information system 10 (at least some of the parking lot information acquisition unit 21a, the request information acquisition unit 21b, the determination unit 21c, and the display control unit 21d) may be realized by the parking lot information system 10. Furthermore, the system shown in FIG. 1 may be composed of more systems. For example, at least some of the parking lot information system 10, the user terminal 100, and the administrator terminal 200 may be composed of a cloud server.

In addition, at least some of the components constituting the parking lot guidance system 10 (parking lot information acquisition unit 21a, request information acquisition unit 21b, judgment unit 21c, display control unit 21d) may be separated into multiple devices. Furthermore, configurations in which some of the components of the above-mentioned embodiments are omitted, or in which processing is changed or omitted, are also conceivable.

Furthermore, the techniques of the present invention can also be applied as programs or methods. The above-mentioned systems, programs, and methods may be realized as standalone devices or may be realized by using parts shared with the various parts of the vehicle, and include various aspects. They can also be modified as appropriate, such as being partly software and partly hardware. Furthermore, the invention can also be realized as a recording medium for a program that controls the system. Of course, the recording medium for the program may be a magnetic recording medium or a semiconductor memory, and any recording medium developed in the future can be considered in exactly the same way.

10...Parking lot information system, 20...Control unit, 21...Parking lot information program, 21a...Parking lot information acquisition unit, 21b...Request information acquisition unit, 21c...Determination unit, 21d...Display control unit, 30...Recording medium, 30a...Parking lot information, 30b...Request information, 30c...Map information, 40...Communication unit, 100...User terminal, 110...Control unit, 120...Recording medium, 120a...Request information, 120b...Map information, 130...Communication unit, 140...GNSS receiving unit, 150...User I/F unit, 200...Administrator terminal, 210...Control unit, 220...Communication unit, 230...User I/F unit, 240...Recording medium, 240a...Parking lot information.

Claims (5)

a parking lot information acquisition unit that acquires parking lot information including the location of a parking lot at the facility and a parking fee at the parking lot;
a request information acquisition unit that acquires request information including at least one of a request regarding the time required for a user to park a vehicle in the parking lot and use the facility, and a request regarding the money required for the user to use the parking lot;
A determination unit that determines the parking lot that satisfies the request information based on the parking lot information and the request information;
A display control unit that displays the determined parking lot on a display unit,
The determination unit determines that the parking lot that satisfies all of the requirements in the requirement information is the parking lot that satisfies the requirement information,
The parking lot that does not satisfy at least one of the requirements in the requirement information is not determined to be the parking lot that satisfies the requirement information.
Parking lot guidance system. The request for money includes an upper limit of the amount of money required to use the parking lot,
The determination unit is
The parking lot whose estimated payment amount is equal to or less than the upper limit is determined to be the parking lot that satisfies the request information.
2. The parking lot guidance system according to claim 1. The parking lot includes a nearby parking lot that is located within a predetermined range including the facility among parking lots around the facility, and a location of a general parking lot that is located outside the predetermined range,
The time request includes a waiting time for parking in the nearby parking lot,
The determination unit is
If there is a general parking lot where the user can walk to the facility within the waiting time, the parking lot is determined to be the parking lot that satisfies the request information.
2. The parking lot guidance system according to claim 1. The request regarding time includes an upper limit of the time required to walk from the parking lot to the facility,
The determination unit is
The parking lot that can be reached by walking within the upper limit of the required time is determined to be the parking lot that satisfies the request information.
2. The parking lot guidance system according to claim 1. The parking lot includes a nearby parking lot that is located within a predetermined range including the facility among parking lots around the facility, and a location of a general parking lot that is located outside the predetermined range,
The determination unit is
When the upper limit value of the required time is equal to or less than a threshold value, the nearby parking lot whose required time is equal to or less than the threshold value is determined to be the parking lot that satisfies the request information.
5. The parking lot guidance system according to claim 4.

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