Method and System for Recording and Transferring Motor Vehicle Information

• US 20120250938A1
• Filed: 03/05/2012
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital Recognition Network Incorporated (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Digital Recognition Network Incorporated (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: DeHart, Cort
• Granted Patent: US 8,971,582 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/103
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/08 Feature extraction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/12 Classification; Matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/62 Text, e.g. of license plates, overlay texts or captions on TV images
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station

Abstract

An improved system and method for capturing and uploading pertinent information related to a motor vehicle that is accurate, simple to use, and may be implemented on a wide-array of mobile devices in a cost-effective manner. Methods are also disclosed for users of the mobile devices to send identifying information to a database, where the identifying information is compared to other motor vehicle identifying information located the database.

Claims

1. A method of tracking a motor vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

using a mobile device, capturing image data of at least a portion of a motor vehicle and GPS coordinates of the mobile device at the time the image data was taken;

inputting a first set of identifying information, wherein the first set of identifying information relates to attributes of the motor vehicle;

saving the image data together with the first set of identifying information concerning the vehicle on the mobile device to form a first set of identifying information;

establishing a communication between the mobile device and a database, the database containing a second set of identifying information for a plurality of motor vehicles; and

uploading the first set of identifying information from the mobile device to the database.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second sets of identifying information are compared to determine whether there is a correlation between the first and second sets of identifying information.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the image data of a motor vehicle comprises a photograph of a license plate attached to the motor vehicle with the license plate number extracted from the photograph.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first set of identifying information comprises license plate information input by a user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first set of identifying information comprises motor vehicle make and model information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile device receives a notification from the database.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the user inputs identifying information without capturing a photograph of a motor vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying information is automatically input from an analysis of the photograph.

9. A system for tracking a motor vehicle, the system comprising:

a mobile device including;

a camera for capturing an image data of the motor vehicle;

a GPS transceiver;

a processor for processing the image of the motor vehicle to extract identifying information about the motor vehicle;

an input device configured for user input of further identifying information about the motor vehicle;

a communication link for establishing communication between the mobile device and a database;

the database of identifying information concerning a plurality of motor vehicles; and

a calculation engine for comparing image data and identifying information from the mobile device with information from the database and indicating correlation between the identifying information from the mobile device and the identifying information on the database.

10. The system of claim 9 further comprising a software program on the mobile device for capturing a photograph, inputting identifying information and transferring information to a database.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the identifying information from the mobile device comprises license plate information.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the identifying information from the mobile device comprises motor vehicle make and model information input by the user.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the mobile device receives a notification from the database.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein a user inputs a vehicle identification number without capturing a photograph of a motor vehicle.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein the identifying information is automatically input from an analysis of the photograph.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein the communications link is a wireless communications link.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the wireless communications link transfers information over the internet.