Methods For Vehicle Identification And Specification Recall With Localization Optimization For License Plate Recognition
First Claim
1. A method for capturing and utilizing vehicle license plate data during a vehicle service or inspection process, comprising:
- acquiring at least one image of a vehicle upon entry of the vehicle into a detection region of at least one imaging sensor coupled to a license plate recognition system;
communicating said acquired at least one image from said at least one imaging sensor to said license plate recognition system;
evaluating said acquired at least one image to identify visible license plate features including at least one alpha-numeric character;
utilizing said identified license plate features to retrieve, from a data repository, vehicle identifying data associated with said identified license plate features; and
utilizing said vehicle identifying data to retrieve, from a record repository, at least one of a customer record, a vehicle record, or a vehicle specification.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A procedure for acquiring and utilizing vehicle license plate image data during a vehicle service or inspection process. Acquired license plate images are evaluated to identify visible license plate features including license plate characters and a license plate jurisdiction. The information is communicated to a data archive system which is configured to employ a set of jurisdiction localization rules to match a specific vehicle identification number to the license plate data. A compilation of the identified and matched data is communicated to a vehicle service system or inspection system, for utilization in a vehicle service procedure or inspection process.
12 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A method for capturing and utilizing vehicle license plate data during a vehicle service or inspection process, comprising:
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acquiring at least one image of a vehicle upon entry of the vehicle into a detection region of at least one imaging sensor coupled to a license plate recognition system; communicating said acquired at least one image from said at least one imaging sensor to said license plate recognition system; evaluating said acquired at least one image to identify visible license plate features including at least one alpha-numeric character; utilizing said identified license plate features to retrieve, from a data repository, vehicle identifying data associated with said identified license plate features; and utilizing said vehicle identifying data to retrieve, from a record repository, at least one of a customer record, a vehicle record, or a vehicle specification. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A vehicle service or inspection system configured to utilizing vehicle license plate data during a vehicle service or inspection process, comprising:
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at least one imaging sensor or camera configured to acquire at least one image of a vehicle upon entry of the vehicle into an associated detection region; a license plate recognition system operatively coupled to said at least one imaging sensor or camera to receive said acquired at least one image, said license plate recognition system configured to evaluate said acquired at least one image to identify visible license plate features including at least one alpha-numeric character; wherein said license plate recognition system is further configured to convey said identified license plate features to a vehicle service or inspection system; wherein said vehicle service or inspection system is configured to utilize said identified license plate features to retrieve, from a data repository, vehicle identifying data associated with said identified license plate features; and wherein said vehicle service or inspection system is further configured to utilize said vehicle identifying data to retrieve, from a record repository, at least one of a customer record, a vehicle record, or a vehicle specification. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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16. A method for selectively filtering vehicle identifying data stored in a database and which is cross-referenced to vehicle license plate data containing at least one alpha-numeric character, comprising:
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evaluating an image of a vehicle to identify a character set including each alpha-numeric character associated with a license plate on said vehicle; generating a query to said database to retrieve vehicle identifying data corresponding to said vehicle, said query including said character set, and an associated jurisdictional designation which was not obtained from said evaluation of said image; and receiving said vehicle identifying data in response to a match within said database of said character set in combination with said associated jurisdictional designation. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method for vehicle identification using vehicle license plate data, comprising:
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receiving, a set of license plate features associated with a vehicle, said set of license plate features including at least one alpha-numeric character; selecting, from a set of possible jurisdictions, a jurisdiction for association with said set of license plate features; utilizing said identified license plate features and said associated jurisdiction to locate within a data repository, vehicle identifying data associated with said identified license plate features; responsive to a failure to locate said vehicle identifying data within said data repository, repeating said steps of selecting and utilizing, by selecting a previously unselected jurisdiction from said set of possible jurisdictions; and providing an output, said output being either an indication of failure or an indication of said vehicle identifying data, wherein; i. said indication of failure is provided in response to selection of each jurisdiction within said set of possible jurisdictions, together with a failure to locate said vehicle identifying data within said data repository, and ii. said indication of said vehicle identifying data is provided in response to a successful location of said vehicle identifying data within said data repository. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A method for selectively filtering vehicle identifying data stored in a database and indexed by at least one alpha-numeric character and an associated jurisdiction, comprising:
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evaluating an image of a vehicle to identify at least one alpha-numeric character associated with a license plate on said vehicle; selecting a jurisdiction for association with said license plate; parsing said at least one alpha-numeric character to apply a set of jurisdiction-specific rules in order to generate an output string of alpha-numeric characters associated with said license plate; generating a query to said database to retrieve vehicle identifying data corresponding to said vehicle, said query including said output string and said selected jurisdiction; and receiving said vehicle identifying data in response to a match within said database of said string of alpha-numeric characters and said selected jurisdiction. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for selectively filtering vehicle identifying data stored in a database and which is cross-referenced to vehicle license plate data containing at least one alpha-numeric character, comprising:
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evaluating an image of a vehicle to establish a representation of alpha-numeric characters and symbols associated with a license plate on said vehicle; generating a query to said database to retrieve vehicle identifying data corresponding to said vehicle, said query including said representation, and at least one additional selection criteria; and receiving said vehicle identifying data in response to a match within said database of said representation in combination with each selection additional criteria. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33)
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Specification