Low power wireless parking meter and parking meter network

Abstract

A parking meter and parking meter network is described as well as a method of operating the parking meter and parking meter network. The parking meter network includes a gateway that transmits a first beacon message that is received at the parking meter. The parking meter synchronizes an internal timer based on the receiving of the first beacon message, and then goes to sleep for a period of time. The gateway transmits a second beacon message and the parking meter wakes up at the expiration of the sleep period using the synchronized internal time and receives the second beacon message.

1 . A method of operating a wireless parking meter network comprising:
 transmitting from a gateway a first beacon message;   receiving at a parking meter the first beacon message;   synchronizing an internal timer of the parking meter based on receiving the first beacon message;   placing the parking meter in a sleep mode for a period of time (sleep period);   transmitting from the gateway a second beacon message;   placing the parking meter in a wakeup mode at the expiration of the sleep period using the synchronized internal timer; and   receiving at the parking meter the second beacon message.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 re-synchronizing the internal timer of the parking meter based on receiving the second beacon message.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining the start of a transmission time slot of the parking meter for transmitting messages to the gateway, the start determined using the synchronized internal timer and occurring a length of time after the transmission of beacon messages including the first and second beacon messages; and   transmitting from the parking meter a message to the gateway in the transmission time slot.   
     
     
         4 . (canceled) 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein placing the parking meter in the sleep mode for the sleep period comprises:
 setting the length of time of the sleep period based on an expected length of time between the gateway transmitting the first and second beacon messages, the expected length of time is determined based on a known rate at which the gateway transmits beacon messages and the number of beacon messages that are to be transmitted by the gateway between the parking meter receiving the first and second beacon messages.   
     
     
         6 - 10 . (canceled) 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising attempting to register a repeater at the gateway comprising:
 receiving at the gateway the join request message from the repeater, the join request message including a repeater ID uniquely identifying the repeater;   determining using the repeater ID if the repeater is currently registered with the gateway;   determining if the maximum number of repeaters have already been registered with the gateway;   registering the repeater with the gateway by assigning a short system ID to the repeater when the maximum number of repeaters are not registered with the gateway and the repeater is not currently registered with the gateway;   determining the short system ID assigned to the repeater when the repeater is currently registered with the gateway;   sending from the gateway to the repeater the join acceptance message including the short system ID assigned to the repeater when the repeater is registered with the gateway; and   sending from the gateway to the repeater join denial message when the repeater is not registered with the gateway.   
     
     
         12 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein transmitting from the gateway the first beacon message comprises:
 selecting one of the short system IDs of repeaters registered with the gateway; and   transmitting the first beacon message including the selected short system ID; and   wherein the method further comprises:   determining at the repeater if the first beacon message includes the short system ID of the repeater; and   retransmitting the first beacon message when the first beacon message includes the short system ID of the repeater.   
     
     
         17 - 19 . (canceled) 
     
     
         20 . The method of claim  19 , wherein the spread spectrum technique for transmission of messages, including the first and second beacon messages, in the parking meter network, wherein the spread spectrum technique uses frequency hopping and comprises:
 transmitting from the gateway the first beacon message on a first communication frequency comprising:
 transmitting the first beacon message including a network initialization vector (NIV) specifying the frequencies used by the gateway for communications, the NIV indicating an order of the frequencies used by the gateway, the NIV including the first frequency and the second frequency; 
   transmitting from the gateway the second beacon message on a second communication frequency, wherein the gateway transmits beacon messages, including the first and second beacon messages, as the first message after hopping to another communication frequency; and   transmitting from a second gateway a beacon message including a second NIV specifying a second order of frequencies used by the second gateway for communications, the second order of frequencies orthogonal to the order of frequencies specified in the NIV.   
     
     
         21 - 24 . (canceled) 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 transmitting from the parking meter a message to the gateway;   receiving at the gateway a message from the parking meter;   sending the message to a backend server using a network connection;   maintaining the parking meter in the wakeup mode after transmitting the message to the gateway;   processing the message at the backend server;   sending a response message back to the gateway using the network connection, the response message based on the processing of the message;   transmitting the response message from the gateway to the parking meter;   receiving at the parking meter the response message from the gateway; and   placing the parking meter in the sleep mode.   
     
     
         26 - 28 . (canceled) 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the message is a credit card transaction message, and the response message is either a transaction approval message or a transaction declined message. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 initiating communication with an intended parking meter comprising:
 transmitting from the gateway a beacon message including:
 an indication that the beacon message is an asynchronous message alert (AMA) beacon message; and 
 a unique parking meter identification (ID) of the intended parking meter; and 
 
 receiving at the intended parking meter the AMA beacon message. 
   
     
     
         31 . (canceled) 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 30 , further comprising:
 sending to the gateway an AMA acknowledgement message acknowledging receiving the AMA beacon message at the intended parking meter;   maintaining the intended parking meter in the wakeup mode;   receiving at the gateway the AMA acknowledgement message;   transmitting from the gateway an AMA message to the intended parking meter;   receiving at the intended parking meter the AMA message; and   transmitting from the intended parking meter an AMA message acknowledgement message acknowledging receiving the AMA message;   receiving at the gateway the AMA message acknowledgement message.   
     
     
         33 . (canceled) 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising:
 receiving an event at a backend server;   processing the event at the backend server;   generating the AMA message based on the processing of the event; and   sending to the gateway the generated AMA message and a unique parking meter identification (ID) of the intended parking meter.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein:
 receiving at the backend server the event comprises receiving a transaction request for purchasing parking at the intended parking meter comprising one of:
 receiving the transaction request from a telephone; 
 receiving the transaction request from a mobile phone; 
 receiving the transaction request as a text message; 
 receiving the transaction request from an Internet enabled device; and 
 receiving the transaction request over a communication network; 
   processing the event comprises processing the transaction request; and   generating the AMA message comprises generating the AMA message including: the result of processing the transaction request.   
     
     
         36 . (canceled) 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising:
 placing the AMA message in an AMA message queue of pending AMA messages at the gateway;   processing the pending AMA messages in the queue; and   transmitting from the gateway an AMA message to the intended parking meter.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 30 , further comprising:
 controlling the parking rate of the intended parking meter using the AMA message comprising:
 transmitting to the intended parking meter in the AMA message either:
 a rate multiplier comprising a decimal number indicating a multiplication factor to be applied to a base parking rate of the intended parking meter; or 
 a rate index comprising an index indicating one of a plurality of pre-programmed parking rates to be applied as the parking rate of the intended parking meter; and 
 
 receiving the AMA message at the intended parking meter and applying either the rate multiplier or the rate index received in the AMA message to the parking rate of the intended parking meter. 
   
     
     
         39 . (canceled) 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 initiating communication with a plurality of intended parking meters comprising:
 transmitting from the gateway a beacon message including:
 an indication that the beacon message is a broadcast message alert (BMA) beacon message; and 
 BMA information for the intended parking meters; and 
 
 receiving at a subset of the plurality of intended parking meters the BMA beacon message. 
   
     
     
         41 - 44 . (canceled) 
     
     
         45 . A method of operating a wireless parking meter in a parking meter network, the method comprising:
 receiving at the parking meter first beacon message from the parking meter network;   synchronizing an internal timer of the parking meter based on receiving the first beacon message;   placing the parking meter in a sleep mode for a period of time (sleep period);   placing the parking meter in a wakeup mode at the expiration of the sleep period using the synchronized internal timer; and   receiving at the parking meter a second beacon message from the parking meter network.   
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 45 , further comprising:
 re-synchronizing the internal timer of the parking meter based on receiving the second beacon message.   
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 45 , further comprising:
 determining at the parking meter the start of a transmission time slot of the parking meter for transmitting messages to a gateway of the parking meter network, the start determined using the synchronized internal timer and occurring a length of time after the transmission of beacon messages including the first and second beacon messages comprising:
 determining a time slot from a plurality of time slots of the parking meter network to use as the transmission time slot of the parking meter; and 
 determining the time at which the transmission time slot will start based on the number of the time slot in the parking meter network, the length of the time slots and the length of the beacon messages; and 
   transmitting from the parking meter a message to the gateway in the transmission time slot.   
     
     
         48 . (canceled) 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein placing the parking meter in the sleep mode for the sleep period comprises:
 setting the length of time of the sleep period based on an expected length of time between receiving the first and second beacon messages, the expected length of time is determined based on a known rate at which the parking meter network transmits beacon messages and the number of beacon messages that are to be transmitted by the parking meter network between the parking meter receiving the first and second beacon messages.   
     
     
         50 - 56 . (canceled) 
     
     
         57 . The method of  claim 45 , further comprising:
 transmitting from the parking meter a message, including parking meter information, to the parking meter network;   maintaining the parking meter in the wakeup mode after transmitting the message to the parking meter network;   receiving at the parking meter a response message from the parking meter network; and   placing the parking meter in the sleep mode.   
     
     
         58 - 59 . (canceled) 
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 57 , wherein the message is a credit card transaction message, and the response message is either a transaction approval message or a transaction declined message. 
     
     
         61 . The method of  claim 45 , further comprising:
 receiving at the parking meter an asynchronous message alert (AMA) beacon message comprising:
 an indication that the beacon message is an AMA beacon message; 
 a unique parking meter identification (ID) of the parking meter; 
   sending to the parking meter network an AMA acknowledgement message acknowledging receiving the AMA beacon message at the parking meter;   maintaining the parking meter in the wakeup mode;   receiving at the parking meter an AMA message; and   transmitting from the parking meter an AMA message acknowledgement message acknowledging receiving the AMA message.   
     
     
         62 - 63 . (canceled) 
     
     
         64 . The method of  claim 61 , further comprising:
 controlling the parking rate of the parking meter using the AMA message comprising:
 receiving at the parking meter in the AMA message either:
 a rate multiplier comprising a decimal number indicating a multiplication factor to be applied to a base parking rate of the intended parking meter; or 
 a rate index comprising an index indicating one of a plurality of pre-programmed parking rates to be applied as the parking rate of the intended parking meter; and 
 
 applying either the rate multiplier or the rate index received in the AMA message to the parking rate of the parking meter. 
   
     
     
         65 . (canceled) 
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 45 , further comprising:
 receiving at the parking meter a broadcast message alert (BMA) beacon message from the parking meter networking including:
 an indication that the beacon message is a broadcast message alert (BMA) beacon message; and 
 BMA information for the parking meter; and 
   receiving at the parking meter the BMA beacon message.   
     
     
         67 - 68 . (canceled) 
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 45 , further comprising
 initializing the parking meter including:
 detecting a beacon message indicating a communication link; 
   assigning a link quality indicator (LQI) value to the communication link based on the detected beacon message;   detecting additional beacon messages, each beacon message indicating an additional communication link;   assigning an LQI value to each additional communication link;   ordering the communication links based on their LQI values; and   setting the communication link with the best LQI value as the link to use when sending messages from the parking meter.   
     
     
         70 . (canceled) 
     
     
         71 . A parking meter for use in a parking meter network comprising:
 a parking meter mechanism;   a radio board for receiving messages;   a processor executing instructions; and   a memory storing instructions executed by the processor; the executed instructions providing in the parking meter:
 a radio board module operable to receive a beacon message; 
 a device module operable to:
 synchronize an internal timer of the parking meter based on receiving the beacon message, 
 place the parking meter in a sleep mode for a period of time (sleep period); and 
 place the parking meter in a wakeup mode at the expiration of the sleep period using the synchronized internal timer. 
 
   
     
     
         72 - 94 . (canceled) 
     
     
         95 . A parking meter network comprising:
 a gateway for transmitting beacon messages; and   a parking meter comprising:
 a parking meter mechanism; 
 a radio board for receiving messages including the beacon messages and transmitting messages; 
 a processor executing instructions; and 
 a memory storing instructions executed by the processor; the executed instructions providing in the parking meter:
 a radio board module operable to receive a beacon message; 
 a device module operable to:
 synchronize an internal timer of the parking meter based on receiving the beacon message, 
 place the parking meter in a sleep mode for a period of time (sleep period); and 
 place the parking meter in a wakeup mode at the expiration of the sleep period using the synchronized internal timer. 
 
 
   
     
     
         96 - 102 . (canceled)