SYSTEM AND METHOD OF DETERMINING BUILDING NUMBERS

• US 20140286573A1
• Filed: 06/05/2014
• Published: 09/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wu, Bo, Bissacco, Alessandro, Smith, Raymond W., Urbach, Shlomo, Cheung, Kong Man, Frome, Andrea
• Granted Patent: US 9,020,265 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/182
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/00 Pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/63 Scene text, e.g. street names
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/224 of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/424 Postal images, e.g. labels or addresses on parcels or postal envelopes

Abstract

A system and method is provided for automatically recognizing building numbers in street level images. In one aspect, a processor selects a street level image that is likely to be near an address of interest. The processor identifies those portions of the image that are visually similar to street numbers, and then extracts the numeric values of the characters displayed in such portions. If an extracted value corresponds with the building number of the address of interest such as being substantially equal to the address of interest, the extracted value and the image portion are displayed to a human operator. The human operator confirms, by looking at the image portion, whether the image portion appears to be a building number that matches the extracted value. If so, the processor stores a value that associates that building number with the street level image.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

selecting, by one or more computing devices, an image associated with a street address that includes a building number;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a portion of the image containing characters associated with building numbers;

extracting, by the one or more computing devices, an alphanumeric value from the characters within the portion of the image;

comparing, by the one or more computing devices, the alphanumeric value to the building number of the street address;

displaying, by the one or more computing devices, to a human operator and dependent upon the result of such comparison, the alphanumeric value and the portion of the image containing characters;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, from a human operator, an indication of whether the alphanumeric value is a building number; and

storing, by the one or more computing devices, an association between the alphanumeric value and the image dependent upon the indication.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the image is a street level image.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying a portion of the image containing characters comprises comparing a plurality of portions of the image to image patterns of building numbers.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein extracting alphanumeric values comprises applying optical character recognition to the portion of the image containing characters.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing the alphanumeric value to the building number comprises comparing the alphanumeric value to a set of values that includes the building number of the street address.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein comparing the alphanumeric value to the building number comprises determining whether the alphanumeric value comprises a numeric value that is equivalent to the building number of the street address.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein displaying the alphanumeric value and the portion of the image to a human operator comprises transmitting, over a network, a proposed building number based on the alphanumeric value and the image portion to a computer operated by a human.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein:

the indication comprises a confirmation value that was transmitted from a network by a computer operated by the human operator; and

the confirmation value is determined based on whether the human operator confirmed that the alphanumeric value is a building number.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein storing an association between the alphanumeric value and the image dependent upon the indication comprises storing a value linking at least the portion of the street level image to the building number.

10. A system comprising:

a memory operative to store a street level image; and

one or more computing devices in communication with the memory, the one or more computing devices being configured to;

identify a portion of the street level image such that the portion contains characters associated with building numbers;

extract an alphanumeric value representing the characters within the portion;

compare the alphanumeric value to a range of building numbers that are expected to be near the geographical location at which the street level image was captured;

transmit the street level image and the alphanumeric value to a client computer when the alphanumeric value corresponds with such range; and

receive a confirmation whether the street level image corresponds to a street address, such street address including the alphanumeric value.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to identify the portion of the image containing characters by comparing a plurality of portions of the image to image patterns of building numbers.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to extract the alphanumeric value by applying optical character recognition to the portion of the image containing characters.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to compare the alphanumeric value to the range of building numbers by comparing the alphanumeric value to a set of values that includes the building numbers of the street address.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more computing devices are configured to compare the alphanumeric value to a building number of the street address by determining whether the alphanumeric value comprises a numeric value that is equivalent to the building number of the street address.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to transmit a proposed building number based on the alphanumeric value and the image portion in confirming whether the street level image corresponds to the street address.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more computing devices are further configured to store an association linking at least the portion of the street level image to one or more of the building numbers associated with the portion.

17. A method comprising:

selecting, by one or more computing devices, an image associated with a street address that includes a building number;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a portion of the image containing characters associated with building numbers;

extracting, by the one or more computing devices, an alphanumeric value from the characters within the portion;

comparing, by the one or more computing devices, the alphanumeric value to the building number of the street address;

storing, by the one or more computing devices, an association between the alphanumeric value and the image dependent upon the comparison.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the portion of the image containing characters associated with building numbers is identified by comparing a plurality of portions of the image to image patterns of building numbers.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising sending a proposed building number based on the alphanumeric value and the image portion in order to confirm the one or more computing devices whether the street level image corresponds to the street address.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing an association linking at least the portion of the street level image to the building number associated with the portion.