Electronic parking meter

Current systems of car-parking charges in public car parks either involve t he use uf coin-operated parking meters installed by the relevant authoritie s or the use of paper parking coupons. Enforcement officers are employed to manually check the meters and pal-king coupons for parking violations. Thi s paper describes the design of an in-vehicle electronic parking meter (EPM ) with an associated infra-red electronic enforcement gun (EEG). A pre-paid cash card is inserted into the EPM to activate the parking meter and the c orresponding amount of parking charges are deducted when the vehicle owner next inserts the cash card to terminate the parking. Parking charges are le vied based on the prevailing rates which are selectable by the car owner. T he EEG is used by enforcement officials to verify that the vehicle owner ha s activated his EPM correctly. Communication between the EPM and the EEG is based on infra-red transmission.