Abstract: Methods and systems for automatically managing parking payment and enforcement. In general, real-time data regarding vehicles located in a parking zone can be acquired. The number of vehicles in the parking zone can be determined from the acquired real-time data. From such data, the number of vehicles in the parking zone that are paid can be calculated. Then, an operation can be implemented to compare the number of the vehicles in the parking zone with the number of vehicles in the parking zone that are paid with respect to the current time to determine unpaid violations if the number of vehicles in the parking zone exceeds the number of vehicles that are paid.

Abstract: A method of, and system for, selective video frame compression and decompression is presented. The disclosed technique is particularly suited for efficient event-driven searching in large databases. The technique involves designating certain frames in a video sequence as reference frames, to be compressed using a first compression technique, where the remaining frames are compressed using a second compression technique. The first compression technique may be implemented without requiring data from any neighboring frames.

Abstract: Disclosed are methods and systems for detecting one or more vehicles in video captured from a deployed video camera directed at a parking region. According to one exemplary embodiment, disclosed is a method of training a deployed classifier associated with the video camera, where a generic classifier is initially used to obtain high confidence training samples from the video camera, the high confidence training samples subsequently used to train the deployed classifier.

Abstract: Provided is a method and system for efficient localization in still images. According to one exemplary method, a sliding window-based 2-D (Dimensional) space search is performed to detect a parked vehicle in a video frame acquired from a fixed parking occupancy video camera including a field of view associated with a parking region.

Abstract: The method facilitates efficient motion estimation for video sequences captured with a stationary camera with respect to an object. For video captured with this type of camera, a main cause of changes between adjacent frames corresponds to object motion. In this setting the output from the motion compensation stage is the block matching algorithm describing the way pixel blocks move between adjacent frames. For video captured with cameras mounted on moving vehicles (e.g. school buses, public transportation vehicles and police cars), the motion of the vehicle itself is the largest source of apparent motion in the captured video. In both cases, the encoded set of motion vectors is a good descriptor of apparent motion of objects within the field of view of the camera.

Abstract: A method and a system for determining a parking boundary violation includes receiving video data from a sequence of frames taken from an image capture device monitoring a parking area including at least a single parking space. A boundary is determined for defining at least one parking space in the parking area. A vehicle is detected in the parking area. A determination is made whether the detected vehicle is violating a parking regulation based on a position and size of the vehicle within the boundary.

Abstract: A method and structure for estimating parking occupancy within an area of interest can include the use of at least two image capture devices and a processor (e.g., a computer) which form at least part of a network. A method for estimating the parking occupancy within the area of interest can include the use of vehicle entry and exit data from the area of interest, as well as an estimated transit time for vehicles transiting through the area of interest without parking.

Abstract: Methods and systems for discriminating between tires. One or more images of an unknown tire are received. One or more tread features are extracted from the images. The class of the unknown tire is determined using a classifier that matches the tread features to known tread features.

Abstract: A method and a system for determining a parking angle violation includes receiving video data from a sequence of frames taken from an image capture device monitoring a parking area. The method further includes determining a first line in a current frame where the line represents a nominal orientation of the parking area. The method includes detecting a presence of a vehicle in the parking area. The method includes determining a second line in the frame where the line represents the orientation of the detected vehicle. The method further includes computing an angle between the first and second lines. The method includes determining whether the detected vehicle is violating a parking regulation based on the computed angle.

Abstract: A method for enforcing traffic signal compliance includes acquiring a series of temporal related image frames including a target area. Each image frame includes pixel data representative of the target area. The method includes generating one or more motion vectors between two or more of the image frames. The motion vectors are the type produced by compressing the pixel data associated with the two or more image frames. The method includes associating a cluster of motion vectors with a vehicle. The method further includes tracking a position of the vehicle across the two or more image frames. Using the tracking results, the method includes determining whether the vehicle stops in the target area. For the vehicle being determined as not stopping, the method includes signaling an occurrence of noncompliance.

Abstract: Automated low-complexity video-based vehicle speed estimation is described, that operates within the video stream to screen video sequences to identify and eliminate clear non-violators and/or identify and select potential violators within a multi-layer speed enforcement system, in which deeper layers provide enhanced accuracy on selected candidate (speeding) vehicles. Video motion vector clusters corresponding to a vehicle are identified and tracked across multiple frames of captured video. Movement of the motion vector clusters translated from pixels per second to real speed (e.g. miles per hour) to determine whether the vehicle was speeding. Estimated speed data is added to the video stream data is metadata, and video segments of candidate speeding vehicles are stored and/or transmitted for subsequent review (e.g. automated or manual).

Abstract: A method for determining a parking violation includes receiving video data as a sequence of frames provided by a camera. The method includes defining a location of an exclusion zone in the video data. The method includes detecting a vehicle located in the defined exclusion zone. The detecting includes determining a background in an initial frame of the video data and determining a background in a select frame by applying a predetermined updating process. The detecting includes subtracting the background of the select frame from the initial frame to obtain an image difference. The detecting includes classifying the pixels in the image difference as foreground or background pixels and classifying the pixels in the foreground image as vehicle or non-vehicle pixels. The method includes determining a duration that the detected vehicle is in the exclusion zone based on a number of the sequence of frames including the detected vehicle.

Abstract: This disclosure provides method and systems of recording a predetermined event associated with a moving object, the predetermined event captured with an image capturing unit and one or more of the associated frames compressed, producing one or more motion vectors. According to one exemplary embodiment, vehicle counting is performed based on motion vectors produced during the data compression process, either inline or offline.

Abstract: A method for determining parking availability includes receiving video data from a sequence of frames taken from an image capture device that is monitoring a parking area. The method includes determining background and foreground images in an initial frame of the sequence of frames. The method further includes updating the background and foreground images in each of the sequence of frames following the initial frame. The method also includes determining a length of a parking space using the determined background and foreground images. The determining includes computing a pixel distance between a foreground image and one of an adjacent foreground image and an end of the parking area. The determining further includes mapping the pixel distance to an actual distance for estimating the length of the parking space.

Abstract: A method for determining a parking violation includes receiving video data as a sequence of frames provided by a camera. The method includes defining a location of an exclusion zone in the video data. The method includes detecting a vehicle located in the defined exclusion zone. The detecting includes determining a background in an initial frame of the video data and determining a background in a select frame by applying a predetermined updating process. The detecting includes subtracting the background of the select frame from the initial frame to obtain an image difference. The detecting includes classifying the pixels in the image difference as foreground or background pixels and classifying the pixels in the foreground image as vehicle or non-vehicle pixels. The method includes determining a duration that the detected vehicle is in the exclusion zone based on a number of the sequence of frames including the detected vehicle.

Abstract: A method and a system for determining a parking angle violation includes receiving video data from a sequence of frames taken from an image capture device monitoring a parking area. The method further includes determining a first line in a current frame where the line represents a nominal orientation of the parking area. The method includes detecting a presence of a vehicle in the parking area. The method includes determining a second line in the frame where the line represents the orientation of the detected vehicle. The method further includes computing an angle between the first and second lines. The method includes determining whether the detected vehicle is violating a parking regulation based on the computed angle.

Abstract: A method and a system for determining a parking boundary violation includes receiving video data from a sequence of frames taken from an image capture device monitoring a parking area including at least a single parking space. A boundary is determined for defining at least one parking space in the parking area. A vehicle is detected in the parking area. A determination is made whether the detected vehicle is violating a parking regulation based on a position and size of the vehicle within the boundary.

Abstract: A method of, and system for, selective video frame compression and decompression is presented. The disclosed technique is particularly suited for efficient event-driven searching in large databases. The technique involves designating certain frames in a video sequence as reference frames, to be compressed using a first compression technique, where the remaining frames are compressed using a second compression technique. The first compression technique may be implemented without requiring data from any neighboring frames.

Abstract: Methods and systems for discriminating between tires. One or more images of an unknown tire are received. One or more tread features are extracted from the images. The class of the unknown tire is determined using a classifier that matches the tread features to known tread features.

Abstract: What is disclosed is a system and method for encoding and decoding data in a color barcode pattern using dot orientation and color separability. The spectral (wavelength) characteristics of the CMY colorants, commonly used in digital printing, and those of RGB sensors are exploited to achieve high capacity data embedding rates in color barcodes. The present method embeds independent data in two different printer colorant channels using dot orientation modulation. In the print end, dots of two colorants occupy the same spatial region. At the detector end, by using the complementary sensor channels to estimate the colorant channels, data is recovered in each colorant channel. The method approximately doubles the capacity of encoding methods based upon a single colorant channel and enables embedding rates which match or exceed that of other hardcopy barcodes known in the arts. The method is robust against inter-separation misregistration with a small symbol error rate.