Claims:1. A method for monitoring parking availability, reserving and releasing parking slots comprises the steps of:
- Vehicle owner registering with VEICULU app (1);
- Logging into the app (1);
- If PIN is lost by the owner, sending ‘forgot PIN’ request and logging in through OTP generated by the app;
- Seeking at least seven vehicle-related services which are fuel station location, vehicle accessory store location, vehicle insurance provider, parking slots availability details, new vehicles dealer location, new vehicle services and driver on demand service;
- Receiving location details for car wash, repair services, door step service and emergency service against new vehicle services query; and
- Receiving availability details of parking slots from VEICULU-Admin app (2) via the backend server.

2. A method of registration for business with the VEICULU-Admin app (2) comprises the steps of:
- Registering by the administrator/owner/agency with VEICULU-Admin app (2);
- Logging into the app;
- If PIN lost by the agency, sending ‘forgot PIN’ request and logging in through OTP generated by the app;
- Creating parking zone, assigning parking lot operators; and
- Logging in by the parking lot operator to manage the parking lots in real-time.

3. A method of detecting corrupt practices in parking lots comprises of the steps of:
- determining the location of a vehicle in a parking lot by Veiculu app (1) based on the latitude and longitude of the Veiculu app running on the mobile of the vehicle owner;
- incrementing a first counter provided within the Veiculu app (1) when a vehicle user enters a particular parking slot;

- if the app's latitude and longitude is same as, or matches those of any of the manually pre-recorded parking slots' latitude and longitude during a pre-set period of
at least 10 seconds based on a timer value of Veiculu app (1), assuming that the user has parked his car in that particular parking slot;
- decrementing said counter if Veiculu app (1) detects the changes in latitude and longitude of the vehicle owner when he departs;
- recording all readings of the first counter in a backend server;
- incrementing a second counter provided in the Veiculu-Admin app (2), whenever the parking lot operator books a parking slot;
- decrementing the second counter whenever the parking lot operator releases a parking slot;
- recording all readings of the second counter provided in the Veiculu-Admin app (2) in said server;
- comparing the readings of the first counter with those of the second counter;
- in the event that they do not match or there is a large difference between them, detecting that there is corruption present in that parking lot; and
- generating and sending an alert on a daily basis to the City Municipal Corporations and/or owners of the parking zones supported by all necessary details for appropriate action.
, Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates in general to methods and systems for management of vehicular population and in particular to a method for monitoring parking availability, reserving and releasing parking slots in each parking zone of a city on real time basis through mobile technology. The invention also detects a very common corruption which takes place in the parking lots of any city. The present invention achieves its goals through mobile application, real time information and communication systems.

BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART

In today's digital age it is common for mobile devices to assimilate information quickly and accurately over a communications network. In the fast changing digital era of the present times, mobile services offer essential lifestyle options for all and sundry. Mobile applications or apps offer many types of special activities for the users of smartphones and similar handheld devices. Managing parking activity of a parking lot and also detecting prevalent corrupt practices there is one of them.
There are countless mobile apps today available to holders of smartphones which facilitate many actions with great ease. With the help of these, one can procure groceries, call and pay for a cab, book bus, rail or air tickets, get details of medicines in stock of a particular dealer and perform many such actions. The list is endless. But there is need in the field for mobile apps which aid in managing vehicular movements efficiently, thereby reducing vehicular congestion and the resulting environmental pollution. The present invention seeks to fulfill this need and overcome the drawbacks of the prior art.
For implementing the methods according to the present invention, a dedicated mobile app has been designed. It is called VEICULU for the purpose of this description and for brevity.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the invention is to provide a method which books and releases parking lots in real-time, whereby parking lots are dynamically allocated and de-allocated in real-time.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method which gives parking space management without any hardware infrastructure like sensors etc.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method which helps in smooth vehicular movement in big cities.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a method which reduces avoidable vehicle movement for searching parking lot and the environmental pollution caused by it.
How the foregoing objects are achieved will be clear from the following description. In this context it is clarified that the description provided is non-limiting and is only by way of explanation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for monitoring parking availability, reserving and releasing parking slots comprises of the steps of:
- Vehicle owner registering with VEICULU app ;
- Logging into the app;
- If PIN is lost by the owner, sending ‘forgot PIN’ request and logging in through OTP generated by the app;
- Seeking at least seven vehicle-related services which are parking slots availability details, fuel station location, vehicle accessory store location, vehicle insurance provider, new vehicles dealer location, receiving location details for other vehicular services like car wash, car repair (including doorstep & emergency services) and driver on demand service; and
- Receiving real-time availability details of parking slots from VEICULU-Admin app (which is used by parking lot operators to manage (book & release) their parking lots).

A method of registration for business with the VEICULU-Admin app comprises of the steps of:
- Registering by the administrator/owner/agency with VEICULU-Admin app;
- Logging into the app;

- If PIN lost by the agency, sending ‘forgot PIN’ request and logging in through OTP generated by the app;
- Creating parking zone, assigning parking lot operators; and
- Logging in by the parking lot operator to manage the parking lots assigned to them.

A method of detecting corrupt practices in parking lots comprises the steps of:
- determining the location of a vehicle in a parking lot by Veiculu app based on the latitude and longitude of the vehicle owner while parking his vehicle;
- incrementing a first counter provided within the Veiculu app when a vehicle user enters a particular parking slot;
- if the app's (vehicle owner’s mobile’s) latitude and longitude is same as, or matches those of the parking slots' latitude and longitude during a pre-set period of at least 10 seconds based on a timer value of Veiculu app, assuming that the user has parked his car in that particular parking slot;
- decrementing said counter if Veiculu app detects the changes in latitude and longitude of the vehicle owner when he departs;
- recording all readings of the first counter in a server;
- incrementing a second counter provided in the Veiculu-Admin app, whenever the parking lot operator books a parking slot;
- decrementing the second counter whenever the parking lot operator releases a parking slot;
- recording all readings of the second counter provided in the Veiculu-Admin app in said server;
- comparing the readings of the first counter with those of the second counter;
- in the event that they do not match or differ by a large margin, detecting that there is corruption present in that parking lot; and
- generating and sending an alert on a daily basis to the City Municipal Corporation and owners of the parking areas supported by all necessary details for appropriate action.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The nature and scope of the present invention will be better understood from the accompanying drawings, which are by way of illustration of a preferred embodiment and not by way of any sort of limitation. In the accompanying drawings:-
Figure 1 is a block diagram giving the overview of the VEICULU app dedicated to the present invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram giving the overview of the VEICULU-ADMIN app dedicated to the present invention.
Figure 3 is a sample screenshot showing the areas within a city zone where parking of vehicles are allowed.
Figure 4 is a sample screenshot showing the seven value-added features of the VEICULU app
Figure 5 is a sample screenshot showing categories of different car servicing features; clicking on each will show locations of facilities providing such services near a chosen car parking lot.
Figure 6 is a sample screenshot of the procedure of adding a particular parking zone owned by a parking agency.
Figure 7 is a sample screenshot of all details of a particular car parking lot as displayed to the parking zone owner (parking agency) and their employees (parking lot operators).
Figure 8 is a sample screenshot of availability information when a user clicks on a parking zone nearest to him as shown on the map.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Having described the main features of the invention above, a more detailed and non-limiting description of a preferred embodiment will be given in the following paragraphs with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In all the figures, like reference numerals represent like features. Further, the shape, size and number of the devices shown are by way of example only and it is within the scope of

the present invention to change their shape, size and number without departing from the basic principle of the invention.
Further, when in the following it is referred to “top”, “bottom”, “upward”, “downward”, “above” or “below” , “right hand side”, “left hand side” and similar terms , this is strictly referring to an orientation with reference to the apparatus , where the base of the apparatus is horizontal and is at the bottom portion of the figures. The number of components shown is exemplary and not restrictive and it is within the scope of the invention to vary the shape and size of the apparatus as well as the number of its components, without departing from the principle of the present invention.
All through the specification including the claims, the technical terms and abbreviations are to be interpreted in the broadest sense of the respective terms, and include all similar items in the field known by other terms, as may be clear to persons skilled in art. Restriction or limitation if any referred to in the specification, is solely by way of example and understanding the present invention.
In the context of today’s fast paced life where time is money and with the rising population having a direct impact on vehicular traffic, people world over find difficulty in maintaining their schedule because of traffic snarls. More specifically, even if they are close to their destination, they are unable to be in time due to non-availability of parking spaces. This is where VEICULU solution comes to the rescue by giving the drivers real time information on availability of parking slots.
The method of this invention is applicable to owners of all vehicles, be it a 2/4 wheeled vehicle.
The VEICULU solution, which is a dedicated mobile application, fundamentally comprises of two interlinked mobile apps, namely VEICULU App and VEICULU-Admin, the first being dependent upon the second for complete solution.
The VEICULU-Admin app is used by the parking zone owners and their employees (parking lot operators) to manage (book and release) parking lots in real-time which means parking lots are dynamically allocated and de-allocated in real-time and this information is reflected in the VEICULU App which is used by vehicle owners or drivers.
A connection, related to updating of information data, is established between user and parking lot operator/employee regarding availability of parking, thus enabling exchange of information through the backend server.
Additionally VEICULU, the app dedicated to the present invention, is a one stop provider of all the vehicular needs of the owner, such as driver on demand (DOD), car insurance purchase, car wash and car repair services including doorstep and emergency services, new car purchase and a dedicated e-commerce platform for car accessories. It also notifies vehicle insurance policy renewal date and emission test date.
The technical details of the vital hardware involved in performing the methods according to the present invention are as under.

Server Side Technology:

Java 7, Spring 4, Spring MVC, Hibernate 4, Node.js, Lua Script, JSON, XML
All the external services are exposed using Spring REST API which are well secured by OAuth 2.0.
Security: Spring Security, OAuth 2.0
Cache Management: RedisCahe
Database Management: MySQL 5.6
Mysql and Redis (Distributed Structure) with NodeJS and Lua Scripting that makes server in Distributed Mode. The advantage of using the distributed structure is to make the solution robust and fault-tolerent with high availability.

Android Client Side Development

Tool – Android Studio 2.2.2 / Android SDK 24.01
In addition to basic XML Code mainly used for design process, Android SDK (Java language) along with Java code are extensively put to use for client development work and backend connection. Since Veiculu application depends on Google Map API development, most of the development part depends on Google API. This makes the back end connection completely dependent on customized Async task class and Retrofit API.
VEICULU Mobile App has been developed for checking availability of parking spaces across the city on real time basis. This app acts as an interface between vehicle owners and parking lot operators to facilitate efficient parking slot management.
Referring to figure 1 & 2, the VEICULU Mobile App comprises of the VEICULU app (1) and the VEICULU-Admin app (2). When a commuter parks his/her vehicle, the parking lot operator books a particular slot assigned to the commuter using VEICULU-Admin app (2).
When the commuter leaves, the parking lot operator releases that particular slot using VEICULU-Admin app (2) again. Thereby, each parking slot gets dynamically allocated/de-allocated in real-time and those looking for parking find this updated information (total parking slots and available parking slots per parking location) in real-time using the VEICULU app (1).
The information on the vacant parking slots is made available to the owner of the vehicle in real-time just by using the two mobile apps without the need for any large-scale investment on any hardware infrastructure (e.g. sensors etc.).

The same model can be replicated for each metro and smart city in developing and underdeveloped countries where parking lots are still managed manually.
Referring to figure 3, VEICULU app (1) provides a display (3) of the location of all the parking areas located within a particular zone of a city on the mobile phone of any vehicle owner who is registered. It also indicates the distances of the parking areas, so that the user may decide using the parking area most suitably located for him.
Figure 4 shows a screen shot of a display (4) which shows the seven features of the VEICULU app (clicking on which will show locations of different vehicle-related facilities like fuel station, shop for car accessories, driver on demand, vehicle servicing, car insurance cover provider etc. with relation to a particular parking area selected by the owner).
Figure 5 is another screenshot of a display (5) which shows the various vehicular service features (clicking on which will display locations of some other facilities like car wash, car repair services, emergency services and doorstep service with reference to the chosen parking area).
Figure 6 is a sample screenshot of the procedure of adding a particular parking zone owned by a parking agency. It shows the name of the business owner, his registration number, address, whether it is a fee parking area or free, the opening and closing times of the parking area and whether it is a covered parking area or open, all of which need to be added while creating the parking zone.
Figure 7 is a sample screenshot of all details of a particular car parking lot as displayed to the parking zone owner (parking agency) and their employees (parking lot operators).
The information provided by VEICULU app (Figure 8) to a user of the method according to the present invention helps him/her avoid unnecessary vehicle movement in search of a parking place in a congested city. This results in reducing waste of time, cost, vehicular pollution and congestion on the roads.
Such a parking system is known as smart parking, which is being foreseen as a pre-requisite of the smart cities which are being planned by the Indian government at the moment.
Referring to figure 1 again, the method for monitoring parking availability, reserving and releasing parking slots comprises the following steps:
- The vehicle owner must register with VEICULU app (1) to start with.
- Next, he must Log-in into the app (1);
- If PIN is lost by the owner, a ‘forgot PIN’ request is sent and logging in done through OTP generated by the app.
- The user can then seek at least seven vehicle-related services which are fuel station location, vehicle accessory store location, vehicle insurance provider, parking slots

availability details, new vehicles dealer location, new vehicle services and driver on demand service.
- The user then receives location details for car wash, repair services, door step service and emergency service against the new vehicle services query; and
- receives availability details of parking slots from VEICULU-Admin app (2).

The method of registration for business with the VEICULU-Admin app (2) comprises of the following steps:
- The administrator/owner/agency, hereinafter called agency, must first register with VEICULU-Admin app (2).
- Next, the agency must log-in into the app;
- If PIN lost by the agency, a ‘forgot PIN’ request is sent and logging in done through OTP generated by the app;
- Creation of parking zones owned by the agency, assigning parking lot operators; and
- Logging in by the parking lot operator to manage (book and release) the parking lots assigned to him in that zone on a real-time basis.

Method of detecting corrupt practices in parking lots:

The invention incorporates an additional feature to detect whether a parking zone/lot is accommodating more cars than its actual total capacity, which it should not do. Such practices are very often resorted to by the attendants manning the parking zones for their own benefit. Understandably, the additional revenue is not passed on to the owner of the parking zone (and the city Municipal Corporation). The method of detection is described below.
The Veiculu app (1) is provided with a first counter. The location of a vehicle in a parking lot is determined based on the latitude and longitude of the Veiculu app used by the vehicle owner. When a vehicle user enters a particular parking lot, the first counter gets incremented in the Veiculu app (1). When he departs, the app detects his latitude and longitude changes and the first counter in Veiculu app. (1) is decremented, recording all readings of the first counter in a server.
When the user is in the process of entering a parking slot, he and his mobile phone are inside the car until he stops the engine, steps out and locks the car. It is estimated that this activity will take at least 10 seconds. So, if the app's latitude and longitude is same as, or matches those of any of the manually pre-recorded parking lots' latitude and longitude during this period and if that remains the same for at least 10 seconds, based on a timer value of Veiculu app (1), it can be safely assumed that the user has parked his car in that particular parking slot.

Additionally, a second counter is provided in the Veiculu-Admin app (2), which is incremented and decremented whenever the parking lot operator books or releases a parking slot respectively, recording all readings of the second counter in the server. These readings are compared with those of the first counter in Veiculu App (1). If they do not match or if there is a large difference between them, detection takes place that there is corruption present in that parking lot. In such an event, an alert may be generated and sent to the city Municipal Corporation, and/or the actual owners of the parking areas. Such an alert is supported by all necessary details for the parking lots with red-flag on a daily basis, so that they can take appropriate action. Please note that this mechanism will evolve in future as we implement this and generate & analyze the results.

Subsequently, electronic payment of the parking fee via payment gateway is to be integrated so that money goes directly to the Municipal Corporation (owners of private parking lots) instead of via the parking agencies & their operators.

Advantages:
Some of the non-limiting advantages of the present invention are mentioned in the list below. Other advantages will be clear to a person skilled in the art from the description provided above.
• Reduces traffic congestion, emission of CO2 and other pollutants from circling vehicles in urban centres, thereby improving quality of city life.
• Does not need any hardware infrastructure (e.g. sensors etc.).
• Consumer friendly while adding ease and value to people’s lives.
• Stimulates local economy and improves quality of life.
• Facilitates urban mobility.
• Effectively organizes parking.
• Saves time and money (fuel wastage).
• Controls pollution.
• Provides secured parking for all kinds of vehicles e.g., 2/4 wheelers.
• Provide smarter parking in smart cities.
• Controls congestion by eliminating redundant traffic.
• Stimulates local economy and improves quality of life.
• Increases revenue of parking lot agencies.
• Increases transparency and minimizes corruption, thus keeping the government body's good reputation intact.
• simple, easy to use, replicable and scalable.

The present invention has been described with reference to some drawings and a preferred embodiment purely for the sake of understanding and not by way of any limitation and the present invention includes all legitimate developments within the scope of what has been described herein before and claimed in the appended claims.