Cellular Video Phone Tells Real Time Status of Parking Spaces

Park 24 Co. Ltd. of Japan, which runs a chain of parking lots “Times”, opens “Times DoCoMo Tower Side” adjacent to DoCoMo Tower in Yoyogi (Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo) Japan. Users can take advantage of FOMA (NTT DoCoMo 3G phone) video conference feature to view this parking lot remotely on a real-time basis. Park 24 also has a plan to connect all its parking lots, over the network using the information infrastructure named “TONIC” (Times Online Network & Information Center) by October 2005. Once the parking lots are connected over the DoPa network of NTT DoCoMo, it will be possible to make cashless payment using credit cards, to run a remote maintenance operations from a remote site, or to manage business information centrally just like the POS system in the retail industry.

“Times DoCoMo Tower Side” is further advancement of the TONIC. Park 24 will offer trial services for general users to see their car in the parking lot as well as the availability of the parking spaces using FOMA. In concrete, a secondary code is printed on the parking ticket, which can be ready by a mobile phone to connect to the site of “Times DoCoMo Tower Side”. Users can see views from 4 cameras installed in the parking lot or check the availability. In addition, users can make a payment for the parking with the e-cash “Edy”, or a FeliCa (IC chip) -mounted cellular phone to enable so-called “cellular wallet”.

The deployment of SONIC will bring such benefits as secure cashless payment that can reduce human resources on the fee collection, Mr. Kenichi Sasaki, Director of Corporate Planning Dept, Park 24, explains. He adds that flexible pricing for the parking will be possible because the operation status of each parking lot will be managed on a more granular level.