# US 10,872,260 B2 · Collation device, collation method, and recording medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,872,260 B2 - Document ID: US10872260B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/181,384 - Filed: 2018-11-06 - Published: 2019-05-23 - Granted: 2020-12-22 - Earliest claimed: 2017-11-17 - Assignees: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Khang Nguyen; Jubin Johnson; Sugiri Pranata Lim; Sheng Mei Shen; Shunsuke Yasugi - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10872260B2 ## CPC - G06F 16/583: using metadata automatically derived from the content - G06F 16/00: Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor - G06F 18/22: Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures - G06V 10/25: Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI] - G06V 10/7515: {Shifting the patterns to accommodate for positional errors} - G06V 20/52: Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects (recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69) - G06V 20/63: {Scene text, e.g. street names} - G06V 20/625: {License plates} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING ## Abstract A collation device includes: a storage that stores a search target image showing a search target; an acquisition unit that acquires a captured image generated by an imaging device; and a controller that determines whether the search target is included in the captured image. The controller searches out a collation area in the captured image, the collation area including a subject similar to at least a part of the search target, and selects, depending on the collation area, at least one of a whole of the search target image and a part of the search target image, and collates the selected at least one with the captured image so as to determine whether the search target is included in the captured image. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A collation device comprising: a storage that stores a search target image showing a search target; an acquisition unit that acquires a captured image generated by an imaging device; and a controller that determines whether the search target is included in the captured image, wherein the controller: searches out a collation area in the captured image, the collation area including a subject similar to at least a part of the search target; and selects, depending on the collation area, at least one of a whole of the search target image and a part of the search target image, and collates the selected at least one with the captured image so as to determine whether the search target is included in the captured image, wherein the part of the search target image includes a feature portion specific to the search target, and the collation area includes a first collation area including a first subject similar to the whole of the search target, and a second collation area including a second subject similar to the feature portion of the search target, and wherein the controller: collates the part of the search target image with the second collation area when the second collation area is searched out by the search; and collates the whole of the search target image with the first collation area when the second collation area is not searched out by the search but the first collation area is searched out by the search. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The collation device according to claim 1, wherein, in the determination as to whether the search target is included in the captured image, the controller calculates at least one of a similarity between the whole of the search target and the first subject and a similarity between the feature portion of the search target and the second subject by the collation. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The collation device according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires a plurality of captured images from one or more imaging devices including the imaging device, and the controller: based on at least one of the plurality of captured images, generates the search target image and stores the search target image in the storage; and determines the captured image including the search target from among captured images that are not used for generating the search target image among the plurality of captured images. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The collation device according to claim 1, wherein the search target is a vehicle. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The collation device according to claim 4, wherein the feature portion of the search target includes at least one of a number plate, a logotype, and an advertisement. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The collation device according to claim 5, wherein the controller searches an area of the number plate in the captured image, and searches an area of a whole of the vehicle or a feature portion other than the number plate when the area of the number plate is not searched out by the search. ### Claim 7 A collation device comprising: a storage that stores a search target image showing a search target; an acquisition unit that acquires a captured image generated by an imaging device; and a controller that determines whether the search target is included in the captured image, wherein the controller: searches out a collation area in the captured image, the collation area including a subject similar to at least a part of the search target; and selects, depending on the collation area, at least one of a whole of the search target image and a part of the search target image, and collates the selected at least one with the captured image so as to determine whether the search target is included in the captured image, and wherein the part of the search target image includes a feature portion specific to the search target, and the collation area includes a first collation area including a first subject similar to the whole of the search target, and a second collation area including a second subject similar to the feature portion of the search target, and wherein the controller: collates the whole of the search target image and the part of the search target image with the first collation area and the second collation area when both of the first collation area and the second collation area are searched out by the search; collates the part of the search target image with the second collation area when the first collation area is not specified but the second collation area is searched out by the search; and collates the whole of the search target image with the first collation area when the first collation area is searched out but the second collation area is not searched out by the search. ### Claim 8 A collation device comprising: a storage that stores a search target image showing a search target; an acquisition unit that acquires a captured image generated by an imaging device; and a controller that determines whether the search target is included in the captured image, wherein the controller: searches out a collation area in the captured image, the collation area including a subject similar to at least a part of the search target; and selects, depending on the collation area, at least one of a whole of the search target image and a part of the search target image, and collates the selected at least one with the captured image so as to determine whether the search target is included in the captured image, and wherein the part of the search target image includes a feature portion specific to the search target, and the collation area includes a first collation area including a first subject similar to the whole of the search target, and a second collation area including a second subject similar to the feature portion of the search target, and wherein the controller performs the collation based on a feature quantity of the whole of the search target image and a feature quantity of the part of the search target image, and a feature quantity in the first collation area and a feature quantity in the second collation area. ### Claim 9 A collation method comprising: acquiring a search target image from a storage, the search target image showing a search target; acquiring a captured image from an imaging device, the captured image being generated by the imaging device; searching out a collation area in the captured image, the collation area including a subject similar to at least a part of the search target; and selecting, depending on the collation area, at least one of a whole of the search target image and a part of the search target image, collating the selected at least one with the captured image, and determining whether the search target is included in the captured image, wherein the part of the search target image includes a feature portion specific to the search target, and the collation area includes a first collation area including a first subject similar to the whole of the search target, and a second collation area including a second subject similar to the feature portion of the search target, collating the part of the search target image with the second collation area when the second collation area is searched out by the search; and collating the whole of the search target image with the first collation area when the second collation area is not searched out by the search but the first collation area is searched out by the search. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium containing program instructions for causing a computer to execute the collation method according to claim 9.