Asymmetrical license plate reading (alpr) camera system
AssigneeAxon Enterprise, Inc.
InventorJuha Alakarhu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method is disclosed for capturing images of one or more moving vehicles (i.e., a target vehicle) from another moving vehicle (i.e., subject vehicle). The disclosed system dynamically adjusts illumination power, exposure times, and/or other settings to optimize image capture that takes into account distance and speed. By optimizing for distances and moving vehicles, the disclosed system improves the probability of capturing a legible, usable photographic image. In one example, the disclosed system may be incorporated into an asymmetric license plate reading (ALPR) system.
Claims20
A light emitting apparatus mountable to a transportation vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
- a body;
- a light source comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes configured to emit light;
- and
- a micro-controller communicatively coupled to the light source and configured to send an activation command to a subgroup of the plurality of light emitting diodes, wherein the light emitted by the subgroup of the plurality of light emitting diodes creates an asymmetrical illumination cone pattern towards a lane near to one on which the transportation vehicle is traveling.
A method for generating an asymmetrical illumination pattern from a light emitting apparatus mounted to a subject vehicle while it is traveling, the method comprising:
- measuring an approximate distance to a target vehicle in a lane near one on which the subject vehicle is traveling;
- and
- calculating a relative speed of the target vehicle in the lane relative to a speed of the subject vehicle in its own lane;
- inputting the approximate distance to and the relative speed of the target vehicle into a micro-controller in the light emitting apparatus;
- generating by the micro-controller a tilt command and an illumination command based on the received inputs;
- sending, by the micro-controller, the tilt command to a mounting apparatus in the light emitting apparatus;
- sending, by the micro-controller, the illumination command to a light source in the light emitting apparatus;
- in response to the tilt command, at least one of rolling, pitching, or yawing an orientation of the light source through its coupling to the mounting apparatus;
- and
- in response to the illumination command, emitting light by the light source at one of a low, medium, or high illumination based on the illumination command.
A light emitting apparatus mountable to a vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
- a body;
- a light source comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED) oriented in a grid pattern inside the body and configured to emit light in an infrared frequency range;
- a mounting apparatus coupled to each of the plurality of LEDs, wherein the mounting apparatus causes the LED to at least one of roll, pitch, and yaw in response to a tilt command;
- and
- a micro-controller communicatively coupled to each of the mounting apparatus and configured to separately send the tilt command to each mounting apparatus,
- wherein the light emitted by the plurality of LEDs creates an asymmetrical illumination cone pattern towards a lane near to the one on which the vehicle travels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.