Abstract: An apparatus for the automatic inspection of a motor vehicle has an identification and psychological profiling zone, an automatic inspection zone and a manual inspection zone. A biometric and heart rate detection station and an attached console are located in zone one. Undercarriage scanning equipment and an explosives detection portal are located in zone two. The apparatus also has one or more fixed cameras, an alarm or other alerting mechanisms and a physical barrier. A vehicle detection mechanism detects the entry of a vehicle into zone two and captures an image of the vehicle number plate. When the captured biometric data and number plate data indicate that the driver is authorized to drive the particular vehicle into the secured zone, and if no abnormalities or foreign objects in the undercarriage image are detected, the driver is allowed to proceed.

Abstract: An automated system and method are disclosed for reading license plate characters and associating the image with a vehicle by comparing to existing images and supplementing the automated system with manual review, comprising: capturing a first license plate image; processing the first image with optical character recognition equipment to produce an OCR result; associating the OCR result with a confidence level. If the confidence level is above a predetermined threshold, determining whether the OCR result matches a previously-obtained OCR result and if the confidence level is not above the predetermined threshold, presenting the first image for a manual review to produce a manual result.

Abstract: A system to detect the transit of vehicles having license plates includes at least one video camera to detect license plates capable of framing the plates of said vehicles and, preferably, at least one video camera to detect vehicles capable of framing a zone of transit of said vehicles having license plates. A series of processing operations is capable, starting from the video signals generated by the video camera to detect license plates, of detecting the presence of a vehicle in transit and, starting from the video signals generated by the video camera to detect vehicles, of detecting the position and three-dimensional shape of vehicles in transit in said zone. A supervisor module aggregates the results of these processing operations to generate records of information each identifying the modality of transit in said zone of a vehicle identified by a given license plate that has been recognized.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods and systems for estimating a visibility range in a visibility-degraded environment, e.g., fog. The methods and systems involve digital image processing.

Abstract: A method is provided for printing and regenerating mailpiece content material in a mailpiece creation system having a controller for modulating the flow of data a printing device. The method comprising the steps of producing an electronic version of the mailpiece content material and generating print stream data indicative of the mailpiece content material. The print stream is then segmented into data sets/packets indicative of a self-contained pages of mailpiece content material. The data packets each include page-based data and an object-data dictionary associated with the page-based data. The data packets are then stored as electronic files in an electronic buffer and, from the electronic buffer, transmitted during a first data transmission to the integrated printer. After the pages are printed, the electronic files of self-contained pages are moved from the electronic buffer to a storage device.

Abstract: While locating a license plate of a moving vehicle on consecutive images, motion detection is first performed on the consecutive images to detect a moving vehicle image, which is segmented using edge detection, and the segmented moving vehicle image is analyzed to retrieve characteristics for locating a license plate image and determining characters on the located license plate image. As a result, a precise location of the license plate is thus precisely located for further recognition no matter what weathers in which the consecutive images are recorded. The above-mentioned technique requires merely few calculations, is easily implemented, and may be applied on an intelligent digital video recording (DVR) system including many computer-vision functions.

Abstract: A method of reducing the spatial resolution of images is disclosed. At least one embodiment of the method includes: —acquiring an input image including image parts having a spatial resolution larger than SR pixels/meter; —acquiring a depth map associated with the input image; —determining for each pixel p(x,y) a spatial resolution value by means of the depth map; —processing a region of pixels of the input image for which holds that the spatial resolution value is larger than a predefined threshold corresponding to SR pixels/meter to obtain a corresponding region of pixels having a spatial resolution smaller then or equal to SR pixels/meter in an output image. The method enables to removes privacy information from images by reducing the spatial resolution to a level that the privacy information cannot be recognized in the image anymore.

Abstract: An automated toll collection system based on visual recognition of a license plate with a supplemental enhancement to confirm the character recognition of the license plate is disclosed. In an embodiment, a supplemental graphic insignia encodes a check-sum for the license plate characters. The insignia is recorded at the same time as the license plate and the check sum is decoded to confirm the interpretation of the characters on the license plate. Other forms of confirmation devices are also disclosed, including RFID devices.

Abstract: A method of classifying an object, in particular of classifying a vehicle by evaluating the degree of correlation between an image data set corresponding to an image of at least part of the vehicle and each of a plurality of reference data sets each of which corresponds to a reference image of a vehicle comprises the steps of establishing the vehicle's aspect and selecting the plurality of reference data sets from a larger group of such data sets on the basis of the vehicle's aspect. By selecting from the larger group only those reference data sets which correspond to the vehicle's aspect, faster classification is achieved for a given level of processing resources. Alternatively, for a given processing or classification rate, the level of processing resources may be reduced compared to the prior art.

Abstract: A vehicle capable of preventing detection of stud-type lane marks from being impossible and a vehicle having a lane mark recognizer are provided. The vehicle includes installation interval recognizing means (21) which recognizes an interval (L) between Botts Dots, vehicle speed recognizing means (22) which recognizes a traveling speed (v) of the vehicle, image synthesizing means (13) which generates synthesized image data (M3) by combining image data (M1) stored in an image memory (11) through an image input circuit (10) and image data (M2) stored in an image memory (12) through the same, imaging timing determining means (20) which determines the timing of imaging by a camera (2) on the basis of the interval (L) and the traveling speed (v) when acquiring the image data (M1, M2) in such a way that the positions of the Botts Dots in the image data (M1, M2) are different therebetween, and Botts Dots detecting means (14) which detects the Botts Dots from the synthesized image data (M3).

Abstract: The invention relates to methods and apparatus for displaying toll charging parameters of vehicles by means of a roadside display. In one embodiment, parameters are sent from an onboard-unit of the vehicle to the roadside display. In an alternative embodiment, parameters are registered under a vehicle identification in a database and retrieved therefrom for displaying on the roadside display by a detection of the identification of the vehicle.

Abstract: A system in a moving surveillance vehicle operates in background mode to capture images of license plates of neighboring moving vehicles, which may occupy lanes other than the lane in which the surveillance vehicle is moving. The images are used to determine the license plate numbers of the moving vehicles, which are then checked against a database to determine whether there are any potential law enforcement-related problems that require the attention of the operator. If so, the system alerts the operator using an audible tone, visual prompt, vibration, or in some other suitable manner. The entire process, including generation of the alert can occur autonomously of the operator.

Abstract: A vehicle detection system for detecting the presence of at least part of a vehicle in image data, the system comprising: an interface configured to receive image data; an identifier module configured to identify a plurality of linear regions in an image represented by the image data; a comparator configured to compare at least one of the number, cumulative size, and density of the linear regions with a respective threshold value; and an output configured to issue a signal indicating the detection of a vehicle based on the results of the comparison.

Abstract: A system in a moving surveillance vehicle operates in background mode to capture images of license plates of neighboring moving vehicles, which may occupy lanes other than the lane in which the surveillance vehicle is moving. The images are used to determine the license plate numbers of the moving vehicles, which are then checked against a database to determine whether there are any potential law enforcement-related problems that require the attention of the operator. If so, the system alerts the operator using an audible tone, visual prompt, vibration, or in some other suitable manner. The entire process, including generation of the alert can occur autonomously of the operator.

Abstract: An apparatus for detecting an object is provided which detects the pitching of a vehicle, and detects the presence of an object the front of the vehicle itself with the pitching being taken into consideration. The apparatus includes a microcomputer that performs image processing for the image of the object to compute the velocity and acceleration of the object present in the picked-up image, and based on the computed acceleration of the object, to determine whether the image was captured when the vehicle itself was balanced. If the image is judged to be an image captured when the vehicle itself was not balanced, then the position of the object present in the picked-up image is computed based on another picked-up image that was captured when the vehicle itself was balanced.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method for image recombination of a plurality of images and image identification and a system for image acquiring and identification. Features with respect to the plurality of images are recombined and enhanced so as to form a recombined image. After that, the recombined image is processed to emphasize the features of the recombined image so that the recombined image is capable of being identified easily. Furthermore, the present provides a system to perform the foregoing method, whereby reducing unidentified problems caused due to low quality image of the monitoring system.

Abstract: A camera system comprises a CCD imaging device, an infrared illumination source, and a power modulator for amplitude modulating the infrared illumination, e.g., with a 7-kHz tone. A beam splitter is set in front of the CCD imaging device, and a photo-diode array is attached to the beam splitter to detect modulated infrared light returning from the same field of vision as the CCD imaging device Various tone filters, and triggers connected to the tone filters, will cause the CCD imaging device to take a digital picture when the returning modulated infrared light exceeds some threshold and comes from right areas of a picture frame. Such digital pictures will most probably include an image of a vehicle license plate that can be processed, and the results used to extract the registration data from a database.

Abstract: The parked vehicle location system, comprising guiding means (2) distributed in the parking lot; positioning means (4) distributed along the guiding means (2); at least one license plate capturing device (3), comprising traction means for travelling along at least one section (2?,2?) of the guiding means (2); image capturing means (40) for obtaining the license plate of vehicles parked in the parking lot; means for reading (37) the positioning means (4), to determine its position; data transmission means (38) for sending information related to the license plates captured and the position where each license plate was captured to a control unit (5); the control unit (5) with data processing means (52) for obtaining from the information received the license plates of the vehicles parked in the parking lot and the parking space associated with each license plate.

Abstract: A multizone RF read/write system for conducting transactions with vehicles traveling at high speeds. A first RF read zone is created, preferably by use of a first gantry that extends over at least one lane and contains at least one RF source that creates a large powerful RF read zone for reading or reading and writing to a transponder on a passing vehicle. Additional RF read zones arranged in tandem with the first RF read zone are created by at least one additional RF source that is located on an additional gantry extending over at least one lane, or located on the first gantry. Accordingly, multiple RF read zones are created to conduct transactions with passing vehicles. In one aspect, the multiple RF read zones can be used to ensure that tolling transactions with a single vehicle are more likely to be completed and have a higher degree of accuracy. In another aspect, the multiple RF read zones each employ a different RF technology so that multiple types of RF toll tags can be read and written.

Abstract: A parking control system and method provides a total parking control system and method which are capable of automatically managing and controlling a whole process from a time when a vehicle enters a parking lot to a time when it goes out of there by using a server incorporating therein a program for a very high speed image recognition technique and parking management. The apparatus provides a parking location search unit which manages a parking location of an individual vehicle by recognizing vehicle numbers by photographing vehicles entering a parking space and going out of there as well as parked vehicles, and provides related information upon search. The apparatus further provides a parking guiding unit guiding a driver of a vehicle entering the parking lot to an empty place for parking.

Abstract: A portable service escrowed event reporting system that may be sold through mass-market sales channels. Communications between a consumer and the provider of the event reporting system are not required in advance of the system being purchased by the consumer. After purchase of the system by the consumer, the system may be initialized. The service may have a finite amount of service associated with it when it is purchased. The consumer may choose to have the system report the occurrence of reportable events directly to them over a wireless network.

Abstract: An image capture device determines whether a subject with an image captured by the image capture device is a target subject. The image capture device captures a primary image of the target subject and an image of the subject, senses tilt angles relative to the horizon of capturing the primary image and the image to be tested, and transmits an image process command to rotate the primary image to generate a plurality of sample images with different tilt angles. The image capture device further transmits a selection command to select a sample image with a tilt angle approximately equal to the second tilt angle, and compares the image of the subject and the selected sample image to determine whether the subject is the target subject.

Abstract: A system described herein includes a detector component that automatically determines location of a license plate in a digital image. The system further includes a blurrer component that automatically blurs the digital image at the determined location of the license plate, wherein blurring undertaken by the blurrer component is based at least in part upon confidence scores assigned to pixels in the digital image that correspond to the determined location of the license plate.

Abstract: A system for monitoring and tracking vehicles in parking locations, public roadways and highway entrances and exits and other public vehicle access areas is provided, such as to monitor and track vehicles in parking spaces, public roadways and highways without the need for parking or traffic personnel. The system includes a meter system that generates image data of a vehicle in a parking space, public roadway and highway entrances and exits such as by creating an array of pixel data in a predetermined field of view that includes a vehicle identification tag and facial imaging.

Abstract: An HOV enforcement system comprises roadside imaging units connected over a network to a central processing center. The roadside imaging units include Ethernet cameras with integrated vehicle detectors, night-time lighting, and image servers. The central processing center includes a central server with license plate reading and vehicle matching software, storage and databases, and review staff to issue bills and citations.

Abstract: A method, device and computer program for mobile object information management program includes obtaining a first image by photographing identification information of a mobile object, executing character recognition process on the first image to obtain a first character recognition result, determining accuracy of the first character recognition result, registering, as the identification information corresponding to the mobile object, a plurality of first character recognition results, for each of which the accuracy is determined as low, and outputting the first character recognition results registered.

Abstract: A system in a moving surveillance vehicle operates in background mode to capture images of license plates of neighboring moving vehicles, which may occupy lanes other than the lane in which the surveillance vehicle is moving. The images are used to determine the license plate numbers of the moving vehicles, which are then checked against a database to determine whether there are any potential law enforcement-related problems that require the attention of the operator. If so, the system alerts the operator using an audible tone, visual prompt, vibration, or in some other suitable manner. The entire process, including generation of the alert can occur autonomously of the operator.

Abstract: An apparatus and a concomitant method for rectification and recognition of symbols (e.g., to correct for the effects of perspective distortion, rotation and/or scale) in images of three-dimensional scenes is provided. The present method locates a reference region lying in a common plane with a symbol to be recognized, where the reference region represents an image of a planar object having assumed (e.g., known or standard) geometry and dimensions, along with at least four easily detectable correspondence points within that geometry. An image of the common plane is then rectified in three dimensions in accordance with the assumed dimensions of the reference region in order to produce a transformed (e.g., rectified) image of the symbol, which is significantly easier to recognize than the original imaged appearance of the symbol using existing recognition methods.

Abstract: An automated security attendant for a mechanical gate includes an interface that queries a visitor as to the name and destination of the visitor, and then automatically proceeds with authentication of the visitor. The system includes cameras and recording equipment for capturing the visitor's face and license plates, and records this information along with a time and date stamp of the event. The visitor can be authenticated in accordance with a pre-stored list of names or license plates, or can be authenticated in real time through contact with authorized personnel. The system can further initiate two way conversation with between the visitor and the authorized personnel, and provide the authorized personnel with the image of the visitor's face and/or license plate. The system can also monitor the gate for damage and alert authorities where the security of the gate has been compromised.

Abstract: A system for passively determining a speed of moving vehicles includes a single imaging device (103) for acquiring a plurality of images at a first time and at least at one second later time, wherein each image includes a moving vehicle (406) on a vehicle pathway (402) and at least one fixed object (404) proximate to the vehicle, defining a first plane (?1) intersecting an adjacent portion of the vehicle pathway (402), wherein no geometric lengths of the vehicle (406) are known a priori. The system can also include a processor (121) operable to receive data associated with the images and determine a speed of the vehicle (406) in the images, wherein the processor (121) estimates at least one geometric length of the vehicle (406) by applying homography using the plurality of images, and where the processor (121) determines a speed of the vehicle (406) from the plurality of images and the estimated geometric length using a velocity estimation method.

Abstract: A system in a moving surveillance vehicle operates in background mode to capture images of license plates of neighboring moving vehicles, which may occupy lanes other than the lane in which the surveillance vehicle is moving. The images are used to determine the license plate numbers of the moving vehicles, which are then checked against a database to determine whether there are any potential law enforcement-related problems that require the attention of the operator. If so, the system alerts the operator using an audible tone, visual prompt, vibration, or in some other suitable manner. The entire process, including generation of the alert can occur autonomously of the operator.

Abstract: A parameter selection section selects one from a plurality of image synthesis parameters stored in a parameter storage section according to an output of a vehicle state detection section. An image synthesis section reads out camera images from frame memories according to the selected image synthesis parameter and generates a synthesized image showing a state of vehicle surroundings. A moving object detection section detects, in the thus generated synthetic image, a moving object region estimated as a region where a moving object is present.

Abstract: A method and system for identifying one or more features represented in a plurality of sensor acquired data sets is described. The method and apparatus is particularly useful in automatic license plate recognition applications, where the sensor acquired data sets are data obtained from one or more digital cameras. This is achieved by determining a first probability of the identity of the one or more features (eg alphanumeric characters) from a first one of the data sets; determining a second probability of the identity of the one or more features from a second one of the data sets; and, using data fusion techniques, fusing the determined first and second probabilities to provide a fused probability. This fused probability is used to identify the one or more features from data sets.

Abstract: An image containing text (e.g., a surveillance camera photo that includes a vehicle license plate) is analyzed to determine the text (e.g., by an OCR technique). The recognized text is then stored in a database. The image is digitally watermarked with an identifier that associates the image with the database location where the text is stored. In addition to surveillance contexts, this technology can be employed in indexing the World Wide Web. Images used in web pages can be watermarked to link to associated text or other data. When the web page is crawled by an indexer, the watermark can be decoded and the associated data repository accessed to obtain information that can augment the web index for that page.

Abstract: A system, method and computer readable medium are disclosed for tracking motion of an object image, by receiving an input image and correlating the input image with a reference image by computing differences between the input image and the reference image. A motion vector is generated for a subimage of the input image using a subimage metric surface, and a tracking assessment of object image motion is output based on the motion vector.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatuses relation to traffic control systems. In one embodiment, a traffic condition is identified by capturing a traffic image, masking the traffic image to obtain an image portion including a traffic image object, and generating the traffic condition based on the traffic image object and the traffic image portion.

Abstract: An apparatus for setting an image-capturing condition includes a travel direction storing unit that receives information on a travel direction of a moving object, and stores the information received, and an image-capturing condition setting unit that sets, based on the information stored, a condition for capturing an image that includes identification data for identifying the moving object.

Abstract: A system and a method to detect a label are described herein. The system and method are to extract a horizontal region of interest based on the image; to extract a vertical region of interest based on the image; and to identify presence of the primary label in the image from the horizontal region of interest and from the vertical region of interest.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for identifying content within a scanned document. The apparatus includes a modification module, an identification module, and a segmentation module. The modification module creates a modified content data set through application of a sigmoid function to a scanned content data set. The identification module identifies a content segment within the modified content data set. The segmentation module identifies a content segment type of the content segment. Exemplary content segment types include text, line art, and images.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a license plate recognition system by utilizing spatial-temporal search-space reduction and method thereof. The license plate recognition system can selects a pixel with character edge feature from the inputted image and a plurality of candidate regions from the image; and detect if the candidate region of the inputted image has been appeared in a preceding image. Then the recognition system in the present invention separates the candidate region into a plurality of blocks, calculates the repeated block based on a current image and a preceding image, and determines whether the candidate region is repeated according to the repeated block. Thus, by discarding the repeated regions, the license plate recognition system in the present invention can avoid redundant calculation and improve the efficiency and performance for recognition of real plate character in the image.

Abstract: A method for identifying vehicles, including capturing a first image of a first vehicle using a first camera at a first position and a second image of the first vehicle using a second camera at a second position different from the first position. The method further includes determining a transformation between the first image and the second image. A third image of a second vehicle using the first camera is captured, and the transformation is applied to the third image to generate a fourth image of the second vehicle. The fourth image is analyzed, using a database of identified vehicles, to determine an identity of the second vehicle.

Abstract: This invention relates to an automatic license plate recognition system referred to as ALPR—Advanced License Plate Recognition—which is integrated in an electronic toll collection system such as “Via Verde”—single-lane freeflow—, multi-lane (Open Road Tolling), manual lane, semi-automatic lane, or any other solution involving the automatic license plate recognition.

Abstract: A method is described for segmenting an image of pixels into a number of fields. A graph is constructed for representing the image. First, separating elements are constructed that are oblong areas of adjacent pixels having a background property indicative of a background of the image. Then vertices of the graph are defined based on intersections of separating elements that are substantially oriented in different separation directions, in particular horizontal and vertical direction, and edges of the graph are defined between the vertices corresponding to the separating elements. Finally, the edges of the graph are interpreted as lines that separate the fields.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a method of volume-panorama imaging processing, which generates a volume-panorama image by subsequently splicing respective image frames from an image sequence obtained in a real-time way or stored in a medium based upon the fact that the immediately adjacent image frames have the largest correlation. The method comprises the steps of: reading the image sequence, and firstly initializing an aligned image and a spliced image; dividing the i-th image frame Fi into a plurality of sub-regions; calculating a motion vector of the i-t image frame with respect to the aligned image; fitting the motion vector to calculate a transform coefficient; splicing the Fi to the current spliced image based upon the transform coefficient, and updating the aligned image; entering into a self-adaptive selection of a next image frame until the end of the splicing; and outputting the current spliced image as a resultant image.

Abstract: This invention describes a set of simple yet novel methods for capturing photographs of moving objects that are constrained to lie within a relatively flat object region that is not necessarily perpendicular to the axis of the camera lens. Using these methods, one can select a focal plane and an object region that is not that of a normal camera, and, when objects are constrained to move within that object region, one can successfully photograph them no matter where they appear within the field without losing focus.

Abstract: This development is about the camera control method for a vehicle license plate recognition system. In detail, it is about the applying variable shutter speed and gain level per image frames that are captured through a CCTV camera of vehicle license plate recognition system. The entire control is done through 3 steps. The first step is to build up a lookup table of electronic shutter speed and gain level to generate images of various brightness levels and archive the created lookup table on to a memory of a camera. The second step is to calculate the average value of image brightness and write the multiple parameters of electronic shutter speed and gain level that match with the calculated average brightness value in the lookup table to a camera control register. The third step is to output series of images of various brightness that are captured under various shutter speeds and gain levels by the control from the camera register.

Abstract: A surveillance system for covertly monitoring vehicle license plates. A portable covert license plate reader is provided for automatically reading license plate images for each of a plurality of moving vehicles that pass through a field of view of a camera in the reader without detection by the moving vehicles. A mobile surveillance unit is located in proximity to the license plate reader for receiving license plate character strings extracted by the reader, comparing each received image with a list of target plates of interest to law enforcement, and generating an audible alarm and a visual display when a match is found. An operations center is also provided for communicating with the mobile surveillance unit to receive license plate data from the mobile surveillance unit and to provide updates to the list of target plates stored at the mobile surveillance unit.

Abstract: A system analyzes various design characteristics of a vehicle license plate, including character size, placement and color, to identify the state of issuance of the plate. In some embodiments, the system uses spectral properties of light reflected from a vehicle license plate to determine spectral frequency bands having the best contrast between characters on the plate and the background of the plate. For example, red characters against a white background exhibit high contrast levels at wavelengths of about 420 nm to about 595 nm. Green characters against a white background exhibit high contrast levels at wavelengths of about 600 nm to about 750 nm. Blue characters against a white background exhibit high contrast levels at wavelengths of about 550 nm to about 750 nm. Thus, spectral characteristics in combination with other design-related characteristics of a license plate may be used to identify the state of origin of the plate.

Abstract: A camera system comprises a CCD imaging device, an infrared illumination source, and a power modulator for amplitude modulating the infrared illumination, e.g., with a 7-kHz tone. A beam splitter is set in front of the CCD imaging device, and a photo-diode array is attached to the beam splitter to detect modulated infrared light returning from the same field of vision as the CCD imaging device Various tone filters, and triggers connected to the tone filters, will cause the CCD imaging device to take a digital picture when the returning modulated infrared light exceeds some threshold and comes from right areas of a picture frame. Such digital pictures will most probably include an image of a vehicle license plate that can be processed, and the results used to extract the registration data from a database.

Abstract: The present invention relates to, for example, an image pickup system having a structure capable of imaging a subject at a low power consumption and a low cost even when the subject may be dark. The image pickup system comprises an image pickup device, a peak position detecting section, a partial image acquiring section, and a partial image operating section. The image pickup device outputs image data that represents the two-dimensional intensity distribution of light incident on a photodetecting section, and outputs light intensity profile data that represents the one-dimensional intensity distribution of the incident light in each of first and second directions in the photodetecting section. The peak position detecting section detects a light intensity peak position in the two-dimensional intensity distribution of the light incident on the photodetecting section in the image pickup device, based on the light intensity profile data outputted from the image pickup device.