Vehicle Tracking

• US 20170103273A1
• Filed: 10/08/2015
• Published: 04/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cunico, Hernan A, Silva, Asima
• Granted Patent: US 9,773,178 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/584 of vehicle lights or traffic lights
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof

Abstract

Techniques are described for vehicle or entity tracking. In one example, techniques include receiving a first set of data, said data comprising video or images from a first mobile data source, determining that said first set of data matches a second set of data in a first data source, the second set of data corresponding to a vehicle or entity being tracked; requesting a third set of data, said data comprising video or images from a second mobile data source, and determining a confidence level based on how well said first and third data sets match said second data set.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for vehicle or entity tracking, the method comprising:

receiving a first set of data, said data comprising video or images from a first mobile data source,

determining that said first set of data matches a second set of data in a first data source, the second set of data corresponding to a vehicle or entity being tracked;

requesting a third set of data, said data comprising video or images from a second mobile data source, and

determining a confidence level based on how well said first and third data sets match said second data set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first or second mobile data source is a camera phone or a car-mounted camera.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said first set of data and said third set of data is obtained anonymously.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that said first set of data matches a second set of data in a first data source comprises performing the determination without user intervention.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data source is a registry of vehicles or entities to be tracked.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if there is a match, sending location information for the match to a central processing system.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

actively scanning in a geographic area without waiting for a broadcast or alert to be issued.

8. A computer system comprising:

one or more processors, one or more computer-readable memories, and one or more computer-readable, tangible storage devices;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories to receive a first set of data, said data comprising video or images from a first mobile data source,

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories to determine that said first set of data matches a second set of data in a first data source, the second set of data corresponding to a vehicle or entity being tracked;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories to request a third set of data, said data comprising video or images from a second mobile data source, and

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories to determine a confidence level based on how well said first and third data sets match said second data set.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first or second mobile data source is a camera phone or a car-mounted camera.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein said first set of data and said third set of data is obtained anonymously.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein determining that said first set of data matches a second set of data in a first data source comprises performing the determination without user intervention.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the first data source is a registry of vehicles or entities to be tracked.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices for execution by at least one of the one or more processors via at least one of the one or more memories to if there is a match, send location information for the match to a central processing system.

14. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a computing device to:

receive a first set of data, said data comprising video or images from a first mobile data source,

determine that said first set of data matches a second set of data in a first data source, the second set of data corresponding to a vehicle or entity being tracked;

request a third set of data, said data comprising video or images from a second mobile data source, and

determine a confidence level based on how well said first and third data sets match said second data set.

15. The program product of claim 14, wherein the first or second mobile data source is a camera phone or a car-mounted camera.

16. The program product of claim 14, wherein said first set of data and said third set of data is obtained anonymously.

17. The program product of claim 14, wherein determining that said first set of data matches a second set of data in a first data source comprises performing the determination without user intervention.

18. The program product of claim 14, wherein the first data source is a registry of vehicles or entities to be tracked.

19. The program product of claim 14, further comprising:

code executable to, if there is a match, send location information for the match to a central processing system.

20. The program product of claim 14, further comprising:

code executable to actively scan in a geographic area without waiting for a broadcast or alert to be issued.