Vehicle parking barrier access control system
A vehicle parking barrier access control system ( 10, 40 ) uses a mobile smart device ( 46 ) (e.g., mobile phone) to instantly open any mechanical barrier ( 12 ) such as a gate or door to enter and exit a parking area with restricted access without preregistration and prepayment activity and without one or both of interaction with parking attendants and payment system equipment. The vehicle parking barrier access control system is equipment manufacturer agnostic and eliminates a direct need to integrate with gate or door barrier software and hardware.
1 . A vehicle parking barrier access control system, comprising:
a barrier to passage of a vehicle traveling for ingress to or egress from a restricted vehicle parking area;
a smart switch operatively associated with the barrier, the smart switch configured for operation with a wireless connection protocol device to communicate over a short-range wireless communication link;
an access code source-providing medium making available to a vehicle parker a set of one or more sources of access code information to enable opening of the barrier, the access code information being made available to the vehicle parker as the vehicle approaches or is present at the barrier to commence creation of a parking session with no need for parking session preregistration, each source in the set making available an access code adapted for interaction with a gate App operating on a wireless-connection enabled mobile smart device associated with the vehicle parker seeking to open the barrier, the mobile smart device configured for communication over the short-range wireless communication link with the smart switch and over a long-range wireless communication link with a server to which a wireless connection protocol device is operatively connected and on which the system stores vehicle parking transaction information, and, in response to communication from the vehicle parker of access code information available from the set of one or more sources, the gate App cooperating with the server to create the parking session while the vehicle is present at the barrier; and
a time-based, one-time password (TOTP) of time-limited validity generated by the server upon the creation of the parking session to verify that a barrier opening transaction is authorized by the server, the server configured to transmit, during initiation of the barrier opening transaction, the TOTP to the gate App for verification by the smart switch, the TOTP transmitted to the gate App being valid for a short amount of time that is limited to cause the gate App to develop for response by the smart switch an authorization signal in accordance with the access code, allow the gate App to forward to the smart switch the TOTP to verify its authenticity and thereby allow response by the smart switch to the authorization signal to enable opening of the barrier to passage by the vehicle, and thereafter conclude the barrier opening transaction to prevent sharing of the TOTP with another vehicle parker aiming to open the barrier.
2 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , in which the barrier includes barrier activation circuitry of which the smart switch is an operational part and thereby makes unnecessary integration with barrier operational software and hardware.
3 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , further comprising a manual barrier activation control device operatively connected to the smart switch to enable, in response to the authorization signal, human actuation of the manual barrier activation control device to open the barrier.
4 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 3 , further comprising a computer that is operatively connected to barrier activation circuitry associated with the manual barrier activation control device and is configured to enable parking service operator remote control of the manual barrier activation control device.
5 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , further comprising an activation sensor operatively connected to the smart switch to enable, in response to the authorization signal, automated actuation to open the barrier.
6 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 5 , further comprising a computer that is operatively connected to barrier activation circuitry associated with the activation sensor and is configured to enable parking service operator remote control of the activation sensor.
7 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , in which the access code is a machine-readable code.
8 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 7 , in which the set of one or more sources of access code information includes an optical label and the machine-readable code is provided on the optical label.
9 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 8 , in which the optical label contains a QR code.
10 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , in which the access code is a radio signal code.
11 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 10 , in which the set of one or more sources of access code information includes a near field communication (NFC) tag and the radio signal code is provided by the NFC tag.
12 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , in which the set of one or more sources of access code information includes a sign and the access code appears on the sign as printed information for use by the vehicle parker to send a text message.
13 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , in which, in interacting with the access code, the gate App captures for transmission to the server a parking session entrance time of the vehicle traveling for ingress to the vehicle parking area and develops for response by the smart switch the authorization signal to open the barrier.
14 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , in which, in interacting with the access code, the gate App captures for transmission to the server a parking session exit time of the vehicle traveling for egress from the vehicle parking area and develops for response by the smart switch the authorization signal to open the barrier.
15 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 1 , in which:
in interacting with the access code associated with the barrier at an entrance to the vehicle parking area, the gate App captures for transmission to the server a parking session entrance time of the vehicle traveling for ingress to the vehicle parking area;
in interacting with vehicle parker's payment selection information acquired by the server in cooperation with the gate App after creation of the parking session and associated with the barrier at an exit from the vehicle parking area, the gate App captures for transmission to the server a parking session exit time of the vehicle traveling for egress from the vehicle parking area, the parking session entrance time and the parking session exit time providing transaction information for determination, by the server, of a duration of and a corresponding fee for the parking session; and
the gate App transmits from the mobile smart device to the server payment information relating to the vehicle parker for application of the parking session fee to debit the vehicle parker for the fee amount due.
16 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 15 , further comprising a barrier activation control device in operative connection to the smart switch and a smart device associated with a parking service operator, and in which:
the vehicle parker's payment selection information includes selection of a cash payment option;
in response to the selection of the cash payment option, the mobile communication device presents to the communication device associated with the parking service operator for transmission to the server the access code information including the parking session entrance time and the cash payment selection information; and
upon receipt of the parking session entrance time and the cash payment selection information, the server transmits the parking session fee to the smart device associated with the parking service operator for collection and actuation of the barrier activation control device by the parking service operator to open the barrier at the exit from the vehicle parking area.
17 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 15 , in which:
the vehicle parker's payment selection information includes selection of a non-cash payment option;
in response to the selection of the non-cash payment option, the mobile communication device captures the parking session exit time and transmits to the server session calculation information including the parking session entrance and exit times and the non-cash payment selection information; and
upon receipt of the session calculation information, the server generates and transmits to the gate App an exit TOTP of time-limited validity, the gate App sending to the smart switch the exit TOTP for verification of its validity to open the barrier at the exit from the vehicle parking area.
18 . The vehicle parking barrier access control system of claim 17 , in which the vehicle parker's non-cash payment option includes credit, debit, or mobile payment service.