GB2196768A - Time indication system for indicating a time of access to facility or service - Google Patents

Abstract

Time indicating devices, for example viewable signs, VDU information apparatus and/or radio information apparatus, are operated by signal generated in a system for the provision of forecast access, waiting, queueing, supply or delivery times for facilities or services. Access etc. times may be indicated before potential users, customers or patrons have committed their patronage, as exemplified by access time to photographic prints at a film processors' premises. They may be indicated in circumstances wherein the durations over which capacity is taken up by previous users etc. are not known until their use has ended, as exemplified by vehicle access times to parking facilities and by access time to eating places. In-vehicle indication of access time to parking facilities is an alternative to the roadsign. Access time may also be indicated indirectly, as clock time of access. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Time indication system for indicating a time of access to facility or service It is common for facilities, or services including goods or information, not to be available at the instant a desire or need for them is recognised. They become available after a period of access time, waiting time, queueing time, delivery time or similar time. The term access time' is used herein to denote any or all such periods.

Decisions on whether and how to meet or attempt to meet desires or needs often are conditional on the length of the access time.

There are difficulties in making these decisions when access time is not known until the instant that access is available or gained. These inventions relate especially to apparatus for the provision of access time in such circumstances and to devices for its display or communication. Examples are car parking and access to eating places. There are difficulties when access time is not known until the potential customers or patrons have committed themselves in taking their decisions. These inventions relate also to such circumstances, of which examples are photographic print processing and dry cleaning businesses.

Systems for indicating access time may also be used as a means of providing information and/or for the purpose of attracting custom or patronage in other circumstances. For example, access time to entry points of turnstiles at a football ground may be displayed to aid the decision-making of spectators who may wish to take into account together price, location within the ground, queueing time, and whether they will be in their place for the commencement of the match.

These inventions relate to a time indication system for use in indicating to potential users and/or users of a service or facility a time of access to or supply of the service or facility, the system comprising: checkpoint means adapted to generate a signal indicating at any instant in time the current state of usage of the facility or service; an historical data base means adapted to generate a signal forecasting likely changes in the state of usage of the facility or service within a predetermined period of time; historical database and/or checkpoint means adapted to generate a signal indicating at any instant in time the current state of queueing for use of the facility or service; means for collating these three signals to generate a fourth signal; and a viewable or audible indicator presenting current information concerning the status of the facility or service including at least a time of access indication which is adjustable in accordance with the said fourth signal.

An example of the inventions in the case of access to a facility is the access of a car or other vehicle to a parking space. The locations of parking places and the numbers of vehicles which they can accommodate are displayed on advisory roadsigns and elsewhere and are publicised in a variety of ways. Some roadsigns and some other signs provide information on current occupancy, for instance through displays showing or meaning variously "full", "nearly full", "less than nearly full", or "closed", as a guide to the availability of vacancies at one or more parking places. Fixed image signs do not tell vehicle users anything about current availability of parking space.

Variable image signs of the character described do not tell car users what their parking access time will be, other than in the instance of its entry being at hand and unobstructed by a queue or otherwise and the parking place being open for use and not full.

Variable image signs of the character described and which display current or. most recent information on availabilities of parking space at more than one parking place are unhelpful to car users who read that their preferred parking place is full, for they convey nothing about the time cost incurred by the car users on choosing to queue there rather than to go to another parking place which is not yet full. Such variable image signs are least helpful to car users when the display for every parking place included in the sign is "full". On these occasions almost everyone loses, from some or all of sub-optimal access times and loss of time available to be spent on the things being accessed, and increased traffic movement and its effects on other vehicle users and on non-users.These inventions reduce or overcome such losses and provide benefits not available heretofore from use of previously known apparatus and displays or communications.

A specific embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example. The embodiment relates to access to parking spaces and will be illustrated in the accompanying figures which relate to the parking of a single vehicle. The example comprises the set of such illustrations covering the vehicles and parking places selected for inclusion in any practical application within the example.

In -the example the access time is called vehicle access time and is the interval between a vehicle passing a roadsign on which one or more access times are displayed and passing the entry point of a parking place, the location of one or more parking spaces. Fig. 1 is a summary diagram iilustrating the functioning of the system. Data received from checkpoints and databases is input, collated and processed to generate an output signal which is transmitted for display at the roadsign. Fig.

2 relates to a single display, on a particular approach route, of vehicle access time to a particular parking place as calculated for the then current time. Inputs may be known, mea sured, or approximated by a variety of means.

The set of inputs and the means of their quantification are chosen as appropriate to circumstances.

Calculation of vehicle access time in Fig. 2 is based on 19, which predicts the occurrence of vacancies at the parking place, and on 21, which gives the rank for admission to the parking place of the vehicle under consideration. Vehicle departure time projections 19 use survey and record data from database appropriate to the day and current circumstances together with current departure data for the parking place under consideration and for other parking places as appropriate. Rank for admission 21 uses current queue length 16 together with number of vehicles on one or more routes 20, 22 which will arrive at the parking place or join the entry queue earlier than the vehicle under consideration.

Capacity 14 may mean the number of vehicle spaces at the parking place or some other number which might be called the practical capacity in the prevailing circumstances.

Occupancy 13 may be expressed either in terms of capacity occupied or of capacity not occupied.

Queue length at the parking place may be one vehicle or more. The queue may exist intermittently or continuously. Sometimes queueing time is determined by the dynamic capacity of the entry to a parking place rather than by occupancy. Either circumstance or both may prevail during the period whilst a vehicle is in transit between the display and the parking place entry point. Such circumstances are to be taken into account in the practical application of the method which is shown in diagrammatic and simplified form as Fig. 2.

A display of a type appropriate for a roadsign on a route to a town centre is illustrated by Fig. 3.

Another example of the inventions relates to access to a service. A restaurant or other eating place, perhaps for the purpose of attracting custom, may wish to tell people or to display outside its premises or elsewhere the time at which they could be admitted or served were they to queue or book. Where there are two or more eating places, and especially at times when all the eating places are full, variable image signs may be used to display access times to the set of eating places. Such places include exhibition centres, workplaces, and large shopping centres.

Many alternatives are available within the concept of the inventions. These alternatives are illustrated below in relation to vehicle access time to parking space.

At parking places where there is more than one space a vehicle will not park until some time after it gains access to the parking place entry point. In some places, such as a drive-in cinema, the parking space is the car users destination. Here the access time to the parking space may be produced and displayed in preference to access time to the parking place entry point. At other places the access time to a pedestrian exit point from the parking place may be produced and displayed. Or the access time to the facility or service, for access to which the parking place is an intermediate destination, may be produced and displayed. Or the access time to a specific or to a generalised location, such as 'Saxon Cross', 'High Street', 'Shops' or 'Town Centre' may be produced and displayed.

Access time may be indicated using variable image roadsigns, VDUs, radios, telephone or other devices for the purpose, and these devices may be located beside approach routes or elsewhere and may be carried by or be part of a vehicle. For example, parking place entry point access time may be provided and indicated as part of an in-vehicle information or guidance system.

The system described by Fig. 2 does not make use of communication from users or the vehicle under consideration. As alternatives within the inventions communications from users, or data transmitted automatically by apparatus on the vehicle or from apparatus alongside the route or in the roadway, may be used in the production of access time. Such communications from users may include identification of the parking place selected by the users from the set of parking places for which access times are provided. Whilst users queue the system may indicate, perhaps on request, current access time for their then rank for admission to their chosen parking place.

From apparatus working automatically they may include identification of the vehicle and/or of its location and/or of the previously selected parking place and/or of the ultimate destination of its users. Systems which use the ultimate destination of vehicle users may provide access times to one or to more than one selected parking place. These may be selected from a set of parking places on consideration of benefit to the vehicle users.

Access times may be produced and communicated or displayed by a system under these inventions which is used as part of some larger system. For example, such larger system may relate to control of entry queues at parking places and/or to control of road traffic congestion and/or to 'Park and Ride' facilities.

A second embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example. This embodiment relates to photographic print processing. Processors may provide access time information, perhaps as a means of advertising for custom when they are in competition with other processors, or as a means of improving the quality of service to their customers. Customers deposit their film and wait or return some time later to collect their prints.

Access time in this example is the interval between the customer deciding, with the aid of access time information displayed, to deposit the film(s) for processing and receiving the prints at the collection point. It may be made up from some or all of the following: time to travel to deposit point or deposit point queue; waiting and queueing time at deposit point; processors' handling and transport time; film queueing time for processing; processors' handling and transport time; that part of waiting or queueing time at print collection point after the time at which the prints are available for collection.

When the film(s) under consideration is part of a set to be processed sequentially then film queueing time for processing may be made up of the processing times of films deposited prior to the decision time and of those deposited after the decision time, and before the film under consideration, and of those deposited at other deposit points and having higher rank for processing than the film under consideration.

The elements of access time may be forecast from previous experience and current data, following the approach illustrated in its application to vehicle access time to parking space.

In this example access time may be indicated by variable image signs, VDUs or other means, directly, similarly to parking access time, or indirectly, as the interval from current time to time of collection of prints for instance. Fig. 4 illustrates the indirect indication of access time for photographic prints. This variable image sign might be placed in a busy shopping mall at some distance from this imagined processors' premises.

Claims (22)

1. A time indication system for use in indicating to potential users and/or users of a service or facility a time of access to or supply of the service or facility, the system comprising: checkpoint means adapted to generate a signal indicating at any instant in time the current state of usage of the facility or service; an historical database means adapted to generate a signal forecasting likely changes in the state of usage of the facility or service within a predetermined period of time; historical database and/or checkpoint means adapted to generate a signal indicating at any instant in time the current state of queueing for use of the facility or service; means for collating these three signals to generate a fourth signal; and a viewable or audible indicator presenting current information concerning the status of the facility or service including at least a time of access indication which is adjustable in accordance with the said fourth signal.

2. Information presenting devices operated by the signal generated by the system as claimed in Claim 1, the devices being, for example, viewable signs, VDU information apparatus and/or radio information apparatus.

3. System for indicating a time of access or supply for a service or facility, as claimed in Claim 1, in circumstances wherein access or supply time is presented to potential users before they have committed their custom or patronage.

4. System for indicating a time of access or supply for a service or facility, as claimed in Claim 1, in circumstances wherein the durations over which capacity is taken up by previous users are not known until their use has ended.

5. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 2, operated by the signal generated by the system as claimed in Claim 3.

6. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 2, operated by the signal generated by the system as claimed in Claim 4.

7. System, as claimed in Claim 4, for indicating vehicle access time(s) to the entry point(s) of one or more parking places.

8. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 6, for indicating vehicle access time(s) to the entry point(s) of one or more parking place(s).

9. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 8, used as roadsigns or as signs serving parking places.

10. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 9, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

11. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 8, and used within vehicles.

12. System, as claimed in Claim 7, which provides vehicle access time in the manner shown in Fig. 2.

13. System, as claimed in Claim 7, which uses information from users of vehicles identifying the parking places at which they intend to park.

14. System, as claimed in Claim 7, for indicating to poential users or users awaiting access their current access time at any instant in time.

15. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 2, operated by the signal generated by the system as claimed in Claim 14.

16. System, as claimed in Claim 4, for indicating vehicle user access time(s) to the user's ultimate destination or to any location intermediate between the parking place entry point and the ultimate destination.

17. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 2, operated by the signal generated by the system as claimed in Claim 16.

18. System, as claimed in Claim 4, for indicating access times to eating places.

19. Information presenting devices, as claimed in Claim 6, for indicating access times to one or more eating places.

20. System, as claimed in Claim 3, for indicating access times to photographic prints at processors' premises.

21. Information presenting devices as claimed in Claim 5 for indicating at the processors' premises or elsewhere access times to photographic prints.

22. Information presenting devices as claimed in Claim 21 and illustrated in Fig. 4.