Method and apparatus for blocking information from an image
First Claim
Patent Images
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 captured optical image, each of said one or more cropped object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image having a plurality of alphanumeric characters,score, by the processor, each of said cropped one or more object images based on a probability that the respective cropped object image comprises the vehicle license plate image, wherein each of the cropped one or more object images is scored by;
providing a rectangular fitting around each character of the plurality of alphanumeric characters in the one or more object images,fitting a line to a center of the respective rectangular fittings of each pair of alphanumeric characters,for each fitted line, summing a distance of all other respective rectangular fittings to the respective fitted line,selecting the respective pair of alphanumeric characters corresponding to the respective fitted line with a smallest summed distance of all of the fitted lines as a text baseline for the candidate vehicle license plate,computing a score for the candidate vehicle license plate having the selected text baseline based at least on the rectangular fitting around each of the alphanumeric characters, relative positions of each of the alphanumeric characters relative to each other within the respective cropped object image and a calculated slope of the fitted line for the selected pair of alphanumeric characters, andbased on the computed score, block or replace information from the candidate vehicle license plate image when the optical image including the candidate vehicle license plate is displayed on a display.
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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.
650 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 captured optical image, each of said one or more cropped object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image having a plurality of alphanumeric characters, score, by the processor, each of said cropped one or more object images based on a probability that the respective cropped object image comprises the vehicle license plate image, wherein each of the cropped one or more object images is scored by; providing a rectangular fitting around each character of the plurality of alphanumeric characters in the one or more object images, fitting a line to a center of the respective rectangular fittings of each pair of alphanumeric characters, for each fitted line, summing a distance of all other respective rectangular fittings to the respective fitted line, selecting the respective pair of alphanumeric characters corresponding to the respective fitted line with a smallest summed distance of all of the fitted lines as a text baseline for the candidate vehicle license plate, computing a score for the candidate vehicle license plate having the selected text baseline based at least on the rectangular fitting around each of the alphanumeric characters, relative positions of each of the alphanumeric characters relative to each other within the respective cropped object image and a calculated slope of the fitted line for the selected pair of alphanumeric characters, and based on the computed score, block or replace information from the candidate vehicle license plate image when the optical image including the candidate vehicle license plate is displayed on a display. - 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 having a plurality of alphanumeric characters, score, by the processor, each of said cropped one or more object images based on a probability that the respective cropped object image comprises the vehicle license plate image, wherein each of the cropped one or more object images is scored by; providing a rectangular fitting around each character of the plurality of alphanumeric characters in the one or more object images, fitting a line to a center of the respective rectangular fittings of each pair of alphanumeric characters, for each fitted line, summing a distance of all other respective rectangular fittings to the respective fitted line, selecting the respective pair of alphanumeric characters corresponding to the respective fitted line with a smallest summed distance of all of the fitted lines as a text baseline for the candidate vehicle license plate, computing a score for the candidate vehicle license plate having the selected text baseline based at least on the rectangular fitting around each of the alphanumeric characters, relative positions of each of the alphanumeric characters relative to each other within the respective cropped object image and a calculated slope of the fitted line for the selected pair of alphanumeric characters, and based on the computed score, block or replace information from the candidate vehicle license plate image when the image including the candidate vehicle license plate is displayed on a display. - 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; and a license plate detector configured to; identify and crop, by a processor, one or more object images from the captured optical image, each of said one or more cropped object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image having a plurality of alphanumeric characters, score, by the processor, each of said cropped one or more object images based on a probability that the respective cropped object image comprises the vehicle license plate image, wherein each of the cropped one or more object images is scored by; providing a rectangular fitting around each character of the plurality of alphanumeric characters in the one or more object images, fitting a line to a center of the respective rectangular fittings of each pair of alphanumeric characters, for each fitted line, summing a distance of all other respective rectangular fittings to the respective fitted line, selecting the respective pair of alphanumeric characters corresponding to the respective fitted line with a smallest summed distance of all of the fitted lines as a text baseline for the candidate vehicle license plate, computing a score for the candidate vehicle license plate having the selected text baseline based at least on the rectangular fitting around each of the alphanumeric characters, relative positions of each of the alphanumeric characters relative to each other within the respective cropped object image and a calculated slope of the fitted line for the selected pair of alphanumeric characters, and based on the computed score, block or replace information from the candidate vehicle license plate image when the optical image including the candidate vehicle license plate is displayed on the display, wherein the rendering module is further configured to overlay a detection indicator on the displayed optical image for positioning 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. - 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:
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a non-transitory machine readable medium comprising code to; select, by a processor, said one of the object images; and identify and crop, by the processor, one or more object images from the captured optical image, each of said one or more cropped images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image having a plurality of alphanumeric characters, score, by the processor, each of said cropped one or more object images based on a probability that the respective cropped object image comprises the vehicle license plate image, wherein each of the cropped one or more object images is scored by; providing a rectangular fitting around each character of the plurality of alphanumeric characters in the one or more object images, fitting a line to a center of the respective rectangular fittings of each pair of alphanumeric characters, for each fitted line, summing a distance of all other respective rectangular fittings to the respective fitted line, selecting the respective pair of alphanumeric characters corresponding to the respective fitted line with a smallest summed distance of all of the fitted lines as a text baseline for the candidate vehicle license plate, computing a score for the candidate vehicle license plate having the selected text baseline based at least on the rectangular fitting around each of the alphanumeric characters, relative positions of each of the alphanumeric characters relative to each other within the respective cropped object image and a calculated slope of the fitted line for the selected pair of alphanumeric characters, and based on the computed score, block or replace information from the candidate vehicle license plate image when the image including the candidate vehicle license plate is displayed on a display. - 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 captured 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 captured optical image, each of said one or more cropped object images comprising a candidate vehicle license plate image having a plurality of alphanumeric characters, score, by the processor, each of said cropped one or more object images based on a probability that the respective cropped object image comprises the vehicle license plate image, wherein each of the cropped one or more object images is scored by; providing a rectangular fitting around each character of the plurality of alphanumeric characters in the one or more object images, fitting a line to a center of the respective rectangular fittings of each pair of alphanumeric characters, for each fitted line, summing a distance of all other respective rectangular fittings to the respective fitted line, selecting the respective pair of alphanumeric characters corresponding to the respective fitted line with a smallest summed distance of all of the fitted lines as a text baseline for the candidate vehicle license plate, computing a score for the candidate vehicle license plate having the selected text baseline based at least on the rectangular fitting around each of the alphanumeric characters, relative positions of each of the alphanumeric characters relative to each other within the respective cropped object image and a calculated slope of the fitted line for the selected pair of alphanumeric characters, and based on the computed score, block or replace information from the candidate vehicle license plate image when the optical image including the candidate vehicle license plate is displayed on a display. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification