Authorized Access Using Image Capture and Recognition System
First Claim
1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions for performing a method comprising:
- a. a computer for executing said instructions;
b. maintaining a database of predetermined authorized vehicle identification values;
c. capturing an image of a vehicle approaching a predetermined limited access area, having at least one electronically actuated obstacle barring entrance thereto, from at least one image capture device in communication the computer;
d. projecting a plurality of polygons onto the captured image;
e. 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;
f. establishing a recognition value derived from the alpha-numeric characters within the at least one detected polygon;
g. storing the recognition value;
comparing the recognition value to the predetermined identification values;
h. transmitting a signal to the electronically actuated obstacle responsive to a match between the recognition value and a value in the database of predetermined authorization values.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Provided is a system and method of electronically identifying a vehicle entering/leaving a predetermined geographical area by 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
20 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. a computer for executing said instructions; b. maintaining a database of predetermined authorized vehicle identification values; c. capturing an image of a vehicle approaching a predetermined limited access area, having at least one electronically actuated obstacle barring entrance thereto, from at least one image capture device in communication the computer; d. projecting a plurality of polygons onto the captured image; e. 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; f. establishing a recognition value derived from the alpha-numeric characters within the at least one detected polygon; g. storing the recognition value;
comparing the recognition value to the predetermined identification values;h. transmitting a signal to the electronically actuated obstacle responsive to a match between the recognition value and a value in the database of predetermined authorization values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16)
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15. A method of electronically identifying a license plate, comprising:
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a. capturing an image containing the license plate using a plurality of image capture devices positioned within a predetermined geographical area; 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 comprising vehicle identification values. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification