| CPC G06Q 10/02 (2013.01) [E04H 6/426 (2013.01); G06Q 50/30 (2013.01); G07B 15/02 (2013.01); G08G 1/123 (2013.01)] | 12 Claims |
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1. A vehicle rental system in which a number of vehicles is provided to a defined user group for a temporary use period, the defined user group being residents and/or renters of one or more locations at which the vehicles are made available exclusively to the defined user group, said one or more locations having one or more parking spaces reserved for the provided vehicles, wherein the vehicle rental system comprises:
a parking space sensor operatively configured to monitor the one or more parking spaces reserved for the provided vehicles in order to detect a presence or absence of a vehicle;
an access control sensor operatively configured to detect vehicles at an access control to each of the respective one or more locations and to verify user IDs corresponding to detected vehicles for access to the one or more parking spaces of the respective one or more locations;
a computer-implemented reservation system coupled with the parking space sensor and the access control sensor, the computer-implemented reservation system comprising a processor and memory for storing executable program code segments that:
create rental reservations for available vehicles based on user input, the user input for each respective rental reservation comprising at least one of: a rental start period and a rental end period of the vehicle, along with a user ID, wherein the rental reservations include:
a first rental reservation created for a first user, wherein the first rental reservation includes a first rental start period and a first rental end period for the vehicle, and
a second rental reservation created for a second user, wherein the second rental reservation includes a second rental start period and a second rental end period for the vehicle, wherein the second rental start period is subsequent to an expiration of the first rental end period, and wherein the second rental reservation is created prior to an early return of the vehicle;
determine, based on the detection of the vehicle by the parking space sensor, the early return of the vehicle by the first user, in which the vehicle is present in the one or more parking spaces prior to the expiration of the rental end period of a first rental reservation;
inform the second user, via a user interface and based on the determined early return and the second reservation, that the vehicle is available for an early use pursuant to the second rental reservation, wherein the early use starts earlier than the second rental start period and prior to the expiration of the first rental end period; and
open the access control to a respective one of the one or more locations in response to detecting, by the access control sensor, a vehicle at the access control to the respective one of the one or more locations and verifying access rights assigned to a user ID that corresponds to the detected vehicle; and
a user interface device by which the user provides the user input, wherein a display of the user interface device displays the identified vehicle as being available for the second rental reservation prior the expiration of the first rental end period,
wherein personal settings concerning the vehicle based on a user input or chosen by a user in one of the vehicles of the vehicle rental system are saved in a data storage device of the reservation system together with the user ID, and are loaded into the vehicle and activated, when the user uses the vehicle or another vehicle of the vehicle rental system.
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