Authorized Access Using Image Capture and Recognition System
AssigneeCyclops Technologies, Inc.
InventorsJohn D. Chigos, Wenbiao Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided is a system and method of electronically identifying a vehicle entering/leaving a predetermined geographical area by identifying a license plate and comparing the results to a predetermined database. The software aspect of the system runs on standard PC hardware and can be linked to other applications or databases. It first uses a series of image manipulation techniques to detect, normalize and enhance the image of the number plate. Optical character recognition (OCR) is used to extract the alpha-numeric characters of the license plate. The recognized characters are then compared to databases containing information about the vehicle and/or owner.
Claims20
A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method comprising:
- a. a computer for executing said instructions;
- b. maintaining a database of predetermined authorized vehicle identification values;
- c. capturing an image of a vehicle approaching a predetermined limited access area, having at least one electronically actuated obstacle barring entrance thereto, from at least one image capture device in communication the computer;
- d. projecting a plurality of polygons onto the captured image;
- e. capturing at least one polygon projected on the captured image responsive to the detection of the presence of alpha-numeric characters within the at least one of the plurality of polygons projected onto the captured image;
- f. establishing a recognition value derived from the alpha-numeric characters within the at least one detected polygon;
- g. storing the recognition value;
- comparing the recognition value to the predetermined identification values;
- h. transmitting a signal to the electronically actuated obstacle responsive to a match between the recognition value and a value in the database of predetermined authorization values.
A method of electronically identifying a license plate, comprising:
- a. capturing an image containing the license plate using a plurality of image capture devices positioned within a predetermined geographical area;
- b. localizing the license plate within the image by identifying at least one polygon within the image containing alpha-numeric characters;
- c. recognizing a plurality of characters in the license plate;
- and
- d. comparing the recognized plurality of characters to a predetermined database comprising vehicle identification values.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.