Airborne Image Capture and Recognition System
First Claim
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1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method comprising:
- a. maintaining a database of predetermined identification values;
b. capturing an image from an imaging device on an airborne vehicle;
c. projecting a plurality of polygons onto the captured image;
d. 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;
e. establishing a recognition value derived from the alpha-numeric characters within the at least one detected polygon;
f. storing the recognition value;
comparing the recognition value to the predetermined identification values;
g. creating an alert responsive to a match between the recognition value and a value in the database of predetermined identification values; and
h. communicating the alert to at least one of the airborne vehicle and a land based vehicle.
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Abstract
Provided is a system and method of electronically 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.
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Citations
15 Claims
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1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method comprising:
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a. maintaining a database of predetermined identification values; b. capturing an image from an imaging device on an airborne vehicle; c. projecting a plurality of polygons onto the captured image; d. 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; e. establishing a recognition value derived from the alpha-numeric characters within the at least one detected polygon; f. storing the recognition value;
comparing the recognition value to the predetermined identification values;g. creating an alert responsive to a match between the recognition value and a value in the database of predetermined identification values; and h. communicating the alert to at least one of the airborne vehicle and a land based vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of electronically identifying a license plate, comprising:
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a. capturing an image containing the license plate using an image capture device on an airborne vehicle; 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. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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Specification