Abstract: A system for measuring the speed of a vehicle includes: one or more cameras (200) for capturing images of vehicles (100) on a road (50); timing means for timing the capture of the images; a processor arranged to: identify in the captured images a feature (150) of the vehicle; calculate the size in pixels of the feature (150) of the vehicle in two or more of the captured images; and determine the speed of the vehicle (100) based at least in part on the calculated sizes and the times at which each image was captured.

Abstract: A video camera system includes: a video sensor providing image data; a low power imminent event detector coupled to the sensor which receives the image data from the video sensor and processes the received image data to detect changes in the image data and thereby detect an imminent event and produces an event signal on detection of an imminent event; and a main event processor also coupled to the video sensor to receive the image data, the main event processor being a higher power device than the imminent event detector, the main event detector having a dormant mode in which the main event detector consumes little or no power and a fully active powered up mode, wherein: the main event processor switches from the dormant mode to the fully active mode in response to the event signal.

Abstract: A system for measuring the speed of a vehicle includes: one or more cameras (200) for capturing images of vehicles (100) on a road (50); timing means for timing the capture of the images; a processor arranged to: identify in the captured images a feature (150) of the vehicle; calculate the size in pixels of the feature (150) of the vehicle in two or more of the captured images; and determine the speed of the vehicle (100) based at least in part on the calculated sizes and the times at which each image was captured.

Abstract: A vehicle speed monitoring system comprises a plurality of cameras (10, 40) for capturing images of vehicle registration marks of passing vehicles. An electronic processing means produces electronic records for each vehicle recognition mark with an associated time of image capture. When a match is found between a vehicle registration mark stemming from a first camera (10) and from a second camera (40) then a central electronic processing means (20) uses the image capture times to calculate a travel time of the vehicle. This time is compared with a minimum travel time for a journey between the first and second cameras. Each camera (10, 40) is provided with clock means individual thereto which produces the times of image capture and each camera is also provided with timing verification means which accesses a plurality of independent time sources.

Abstract: A video camera system includes: a video sensor providing image data; a low power imminent event detector coupled to the sensor which receives the image data from the video sensor and processes the received image data to detect changes in the image data and thereby detect an imminent event and produces an event signal on detection of an imminent event; and a main event processor also coupled to the video sensor to receive the image data, the main event processor being a higher power device than the imminent event detector, the main event detector having a dormant mode in which the main event detector consumes little or no power and a fully active powered up mode, wherein: the main event processor switches from the dormant mode to the fully active mode in response to the event signal.

Abstract: A vehicle identification system identifies vehicles by reading a registration plate and a barcode on the vehicle. The system can include: a registration plate mountable on a vehicle and having alphanumeric characters indicating a vehicle registration number; a barcode mountable on a vehicle, the barcode encoding the vehicle registration number of the registration plate, at least one camera arranged to record in one or more image(s) the registration plate and the barcode; and an analyser arranged to receive the image(s) and automatically extract the vehicle registration number from the registration plate shown in the image(s), and automatically extract the vehicle registration number from the barcode shown in the image(s), the analyser comparing the vehicle registration number extracted from the registration plate with the vehicle registration number extracted from the barcode.

Abstract: A vehicle speed monitoring system comprises a plurality of cameras (10, 40) for capturing images of vehicle registration marks of passing vehicles. An electronic processing means produces electronic records for each vehicle recognition mark with an associated time of image capture. When a match is found between a vehicle registration mark stemming from a first camera (10) and from a second camera (40) then a central electronic processing means (20) uses the image capture times to calculate a travel time of the vehicle. This time is compared with a minimum travel time for a journey between the first and second cameras. Each camera (10, 40) is provided with clock means individual thereto which produces the times of image capture and each camera is also provided with timing verification means which accesses a plurality of independent time sources.