Method and apparatus for receiving vehicle information from an image and posting the vehicle information to a website
First Claim
1. A mobile apparatus, comprising:
- an image sensor configured to capture an optical image of a vehicle license plate;
a license plate detector configured to;
identify and crop, by a processor, one or more object images from the optical image, each of said one or more object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image,score, by the processor, each of the cropped one or more object images by;
detecting a plurality of alphanumeric characters in the respective cropped object image,providing a rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of alphanumeric characters,computing a score based on the rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of characters and a position of at least one of the plurality of characters relative to a position of another one of the plurality of characters, andbased on the computed score, recover information from the candidate vehicle license plate image; and
an interface configured to transmit the recovered information to a remote computing apparatus;
that is configured to receive vehicle configuration information for a vehicle corresponding to the vehicle license plate in response to the transmission of the recovered information, and receive user input to post the vehicle configuration information to an external website.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Some aspects of the invention relate to a mobile apparatus including an image sensor configured to convert an optical image into an electrical signal. The optical image includes an image of a vehicle license plate. The mobile apparatus includes a license plate detector configured to process the electrical signal to recover information from the vehicle license plate image. The mobile apparatus includes an interface configured to transmit the vehicle license plate information to a remote apparatus, receive vehicle configuration information for a vehicle corresponding to the vehicle license plate in response to the transmission, and receive user input to post the vehicle configuration information to an external website.
639 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A mobile apparatus, comprising:
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an image sensor configured to capture an optical image of a vehicle license plate; a license plate detector configured to; identify and crop, by a processor, one or more object images from the optical image, each of said one or more object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image, score, by the processor, each of the cropped one or more object images by; detecting a plurality of alphanumeric characters in the respective cropped object image, providing a rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of alphanumeric characters, computing a score based on the rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of characters and a position of at least one of the plurality of characters relative to a position of another one of the plurality of characters, and based on the computed score, recover information from the candidate vehicle license plate image; and an interface configured to transmit the recovered information to a remote computing apparatus;
that is configured to receive vehicle configuration information for a vehicle corresponding to the vehicle license plate in response to the transmission of the recovered information, and receive user input to post the vehicle configuration information to an external website. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A mobile apparatus, comprising:
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an image sensor configured to capture an optical image comprising a plurality of object images, wherein one of the plurality of object images comprises an image of a vehicle license plate; a license plate detector configured to; identify and crop, by a processor, at least one of the object images from the captured optical image, with the at least one cropped object image comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image, score, by the processor, the at least one cropped object image by; detecting a plurality of alphanumeric characters in the object image, providing a rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of alphanumeric characters, computing a score based on the rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of characters and a position of at least one of the plurality of characters relative to a position of another one of the plurality of characters, and based on the scored one or more object images, recover information from the candidate vehicle license plate image; and an interface configured to transmit the recovered information to a remote computing apparatus that is configured to receive vehicle configuration information for a vehicle corresponding to the vehicle license plate in response to the transmission of the recovered information, and receive user input to post the vehicle configuration information to an external website. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A mobile apparatus, comprising:
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an image sensor configured to capture an optical image of a vehicle license plate; a display; a rendering module configured to render the optical image to the display; a license plate detector configured to; identify and crop, by a processor, one or more object images from the optical image, each of said one or more object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image, score, by the processor, each of the cropped one or more object images by; detecting a plurality of alphanumeric characters in the respective cropped object image, providing a rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of alphanumeric characters, computing a score based on the rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of characters and a position of at least one of the plurality of characters relative to a position of another, one of the plurality of characters, based on the computed score, recover, information from the candidate vehicle license plate image; wherein the rendering module is further configured to overlay a detection indicator on the displayed optical image to assist the user position of the apparatus; and wherein the rendering module is further configured to provide an alert to the display when the license plate detector fails to recover the vehicle license plate information; and an interface configured to transmit the recovered information to a remote computing apparatus that is configured to receive vehicle configuration information for a corresponding to the vehicle license plate in response to the transmission of the recovered information, and receive user input to post the vehicle configuration information to an external website. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A computer program product for a mobile apparatus having an image sensor configured to capture an optical image including a plurality of object images, wherein one of the object images comprises an image of a vehicle license plate, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory machine readable medium comprising code to; select, by a processor, said one of the object images; identify and crop, by the processor, one or more object images from the optical, image, each of said one or more object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image, score, by the processor, each of the cropped one or more object images by; detecting a plurality of alphanumeric characters in the respective cropped object image, providing a rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of alphanumeric characters, computing a score based on the rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of characters and a position of at least one of the plurality of characters relative to a position of another one of the plurality of characters, and based on the computed score, recover information from the candidate vehicle license plate image; transmit the recovered information to a remote computing apparatus; receive vehicle, configuration information for a vehicle corresponding to the vehicle license plate in response to the transmission of the recovered information; and receive user input to post the vehicle configuration information to an external website. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A mobile apparatus, comprising:
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an image sensor configured to capture an optical image of a vehicle license plate; a timing circuit configured to sample an electrical signal corresponding to the optical image at a frame rate; a license plate detector configured to; identify and crop, by a processor, one or more object images from the optical image, each of said one or more object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image, score, by the processor, each of the cropped one or more object images by; detecting a plurality of alphanumeric characters in the respective cropped object image, providing a rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of alphanumeric characters, computing a score based on the rectangular fitting around the detected plurality of characters and a position of at least one of the plurality of characters relative to a position of another one of the plurality of characters, and based on the computed score, recover information from the candidate vehicle license plate image; and an interface configured to transmit the recovered information to a remote computing apparatus that is configured to receive vehicle configuration information for a vehicle corresponding to the vehicle license plate in response to the transmission of the recovered information, and receive user input to post the vehicle configuration information to an external website. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification