| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20100065627 | Recharge electrical apparatus and method for electric vehicles - An apparatus and method for providing a public or private electric charging station or device. In the case of a public station, a user can approach an outlet station in an electric car, plug the car into the station similar to using a gasoline pump, present a credit card to the system, and be provided with either standard line voltage of sufficient wattage to charge the battery of an electric or hybrid vehicle. After the vehicle is charged, the credit card debited for the correct amount for the power dispensed, or other arrangements to pay can be accommodated such as debiting a prepaid account. Optionally, the user can also inject reverse-flow power back into the grid for credit and receive credit for the power injected. The present invention can take advantage of dynamic power rates and cause an optional delay in charging until a favorable power rate. Several users can share the same private or semi-private station, and can identify themselves to the station by key access, card swipe, biometrically, or by a card containing an RFID chip that contains their identity. Service provided could then be billed to a prepaid or subscriber account. A central computer can manage several remote power dispensing stations over a network. | 03-18-2010 |
| 20110093314 | Method and apparatus for parking lot metering - A method and apparatus for parking lot metering. The present invention allows multi-space meters to separately manage and control premium parking spaces, such as those for charging electric vehicles or those which supply electric power for engine block heaters in both pay-by-space and pay-an-display systems. Such premium spaces can be managed together over large areas (e.g., a city or region), or may be managed over smaller areas (e.g., the domain of an individual kiosk), or individually per parking space. Management includes pricing, time limits, hours, seasons of operation, and restrictions by vehicle type, and alternative pricing and restrictions for non-premium hours. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110131083 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PARKING LOT MANAGEMENT - Systems and methods for associating a parking lot parking entry event and a parking lot electric vehicle charging event allow a single payment to be calculated for parking and electric vehicle charging. An admittance identification associated with a parking lot entry event is read using an electric vehicle charging control device of a parking lot. A parking lot charging event is stored with the admittance identification on a storage device of the parking lot using the electric vehicle charging control device. The parking lot entry event and the parking lot charging event associated with the admittance identification are read from the storage device using a payment device of the parking lot. A single payment for parking and electric vehicle charging for the admittance identification is then calculated from the parking lot entry event and the parking lot charging event using the payment device. | 06-02-2011 |
| 20110140658 | Automated Parking Garage with Electric Vehicle Charging - Systems and methods provide electric vehicle charging in a high-density parking system. A carriage receptacle is physically attached to a carriage of a high-density parking system. The carriage receptacle electrically connects to an electric vehicle supported by the carriage. A bay receptacle is physically attached to a bay of the high-density parking system. The bay receptacle electrically connects the carriage receptacle to a power source to provide electrical charging to the electric vehicle when the carriage is moved into the bay. An electrical vehicle charging request is received from a user at a controller of the high-density parking system. In response to the electrical vehicle charging request, the controller selects the carriage and the bay to provide electrical charging to the electric vehicle when the carriage is moved into the bay. | 06-16-2011 |
| 20110213672 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING A PARKING LOT - A system and method for managing a parking lot where different parking spaces have associated logical attributes that determine pricing for using that space. Typical attributes are “Last Space”, “One of Last Spaces” or “Safe Space”. Other non-premium spaces can simply have an attribute of “Ordinary” or the like. As ordinary spaces are used up, motorists may become motivated to pay higher fees to park in the last remaining spaces or premium spaces. Also, safe spaces that provide additional protection for a vehicle may go at a premium price. The present invention works at both gated and ungated lots. With an ungated lot, a ticket can be printed displaying the fact that the vehicle has paid a premium (or ordinary) rate. With a gated lot, some of the spaces can be further gated as premium or discount spaces that go at a corresponding higher or lower price. | 09-01-2011 |
| 20110226848 | Method and apparatus for parking lot metering - Pay-by-Space and Pay-and-Display are two well-known systems for metered parking for multiple spaces. The present invention allows multi-space meters to separately manage and control electric vehicle charging located in conjunction with parking spaces. Control is implemented by the meters printing indicia on a parking pass or receipt for the parking patron to present to an electric vehicle charging system able to read the indicia. Each such ticket may initiate a predetermined interval of charging, or an interval of charging selected by the patron during a transaction with the meter. The indicia may be either human-readable (e.g., text) or machine-readable (e.g., a barcode), or both, and may be encrypted to resist fraud. Data representative of the indicia may also be made available from an online server and delivered to a parking patron's smartphone or other portable device, whereby the display of the smartphone may present the indicia for reading by the electric vehicle charging system. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20120221473 | Method and System for Using a Mobile Device for Secure Access to Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment - A systems and method are to allow a wireless telephone or any terminal to reserve and activate an electric vehicle charger using a web site or server computer system. An access control system is provided that includes a server and an access device. The access device includes an electrical vehicle charger. A reservation request is accepted from a first terminal using the server. A reservation certificate is provided to a mobile second terminal in response to the request using the server. The reservation certificate is accepted from the mobile second terminal using the access device and a communications technique like Bluetooth. The reservation certificate is determined to be authentic using the access device. The electric vehicle charger is activated in response to accepting an authentic reservation certificate using the access device. | 08-30-2012 |
| 20120318862 | Method and Apparatus for Credit Card Tracking at Pay Stations - An enhancement to a pay station where subscribers can track usage of credit cards or groups of credit cards at parking and other facilities. The subscriber provides a key that can be used with a predetermined hash or encryption algorithm to hash or encrypt every credit card number that enters the system. A database of the coded results for a set of pre-registered credit cards belonging to that subscriber is maintained in the pay station database. Whenever an incoming credit card's coded output matches one of the coded results on the pre-registered list, a log entry can be made in a usage log. The subscriber generally has a list of the coded outputs for each of their pre-registered cards. The subscriber can thus track usage of any of these cards. | 12-20-2012 |
| 20120319651 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PARKING LOT METERING USING ACTIVATION CODES - Embodiments of the present invention allow multi-space meters and gated parking systems to separately manage and control electric vehicle charging stations located in conjunction with parking spaces. Control is implemented by the meters or other management systems providing codes, for example by printing them on a parking pass or receipt. When entered into the electric vehicle charging station, the code initiates a predetermined interval of charging, or an interval of charging selected by the patron during a transaction with the meter. The code is typically a multi-digit number, and may be encrypted to resist fraud. Data representative of the receipt, including the code, may be made available from an online server and delivered to a parking patron's smartphone or other portable device, whereby parking and vehicle charging may be obtained without first visiting a parking management kiosk and then returning to the vehicle to initiate charging. | 12-20-2012 |
