US 2013/0272579 A1 · ROBUST CROPPING OF LICENSE PLATE IMAGES

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-usable tangible storage device for robustly cropping and accurately recognizing license plates to account for noise sources and interfering artifacts are disclosed. License plate images and sub-images can be tightly cropped utilizing an image-based classifier and gradient-based cropping. An image-based classifier can identify the location of valid characters within the image. Because of a number of noise sources, such as, for example, residual plate rotation and shear in the characters within the image, the image-based classifier performs a “rough” identification of the image boundaries. An additional processing step utilizing gradient-based cropping is performed to fine-tune the license plate image boundaries. Gradient-based cropping eliminates unwanted border artifacts that could substantially impact the segmentation and license plate character recognition results.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for robust cropping of a license plate image, said method comprising:

identifying a first detail of said license plate image utilizing an image-based classifier;
identifying a second detail of said license plate image utilizing a gradient-based classifier;
and
utilizing said identified first detail and said identified second detail to accurately recognize and identify a license plate in said license plate image.

1 more element

A system for robust cropping of a license plate image, comprising:

a processor;
a data bus coupled to said processor;
and
a computer-usable tangible storage device storing computer program code, said computer program code comprising program instructions executable by said processor for robust cropping of a license plate image, said program instructions comprising:
program instructions to identify a first detail of said license plate image utilizing an image-based classifier;
program instructions to identify a second detail of said license plate image utilizing a gradient-based classifier;
and
program instructions to utilize said identified first detail and said identified second detail to accurately recognize and identify a license plate in said license plate image.

5 more elements

A computer-usable tangible storage device storing computer program code, said computer program code comprising program instructions executable by a processor for robust cropping of a license plate image, said program instructions comprising:

program instructions to identify a first detail of said license plate image utilizing an image-based classifier;
program instructions to identify a second detail of said license plate image utilizing a gradient-based classifier;
and
program instructions to utilize said identified first detail and said identified second detail to accurately recognize and identify a license plate in said license plate image.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Robust cropping of license plate images

Life of this patent

Robust cropping of license plate images

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20