HANDHELD PHOTO ENFORCEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20180330460A1
• Filed: 05/10/2018
• Published: 11/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Traffic Solutions Incorporated (Verra Mobility Corp.)
• Original Assignee: American Traffic Solutions Incorporated (Verra Mobility Corp.)
• Inventors: Young, Kenneth M., Smith, Scott C.
• Granted Patent: US 10,275,844 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/62 Text, e.g. of license plates, overlay texts or captions on TV images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/142 using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/04 using optical or ultrasonic detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/054 photographing overspeeding vehicles

Abstract

A citation system may receive data, including an image, from a handheld photo enforcement unit and issue a citation based on the image with minimal officer input. The citation system manipulates photos to identify license plate numbers involved in an event. The citation system requests identification from a driver database, issues a citation, and forwards the citation according to information from the driver database.

Claims

1. A handheld photo enforcement unit, comprising:

a camera to capture image data from a traffic event;

a speed detection unit to determine a speed of a vehicle associated with the traffic event;

a communication interface configured to communicate with a department of motor vehicles database and a citation server; and

a processing unit to;

receive authorization from a user to process the image data;

identify a license plate in the image data;

determine a license plate number;

retrieve vehicle and owner information from a database based on the license plate number;

receive authorization from the user to issue a citation based on the retrieved vehicle and owner information; and

provide the citation server with the image data, the vehicle and owner information, the citation, and instructions to generate a citation document and an evidence package.

2. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 1, wherein to determine a license plate number, the processing unit uses automatic license plate recognition.

3. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 1, wherein to determine a license plate number, the processing unit uses optical character recognition.

4. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further to determine a distance between a first vehicle and a second vehicle in the image data.

5. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 1, further comprising a second communication interface between the camera, the speed detection unit and the processing unit.

6. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 5, wherein the processing unit is remote from the camera and the speed detection unit.

7. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 1, wherein the processing unit receives user authorizations from an auxiliary personal electronic device.

8. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 1, further comprising an input device to receive user authorizations.

9. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further to crop the image data around a region of interest including a license plate.

10. The handheld photo enforcement unit of claim 1, wherein the processing unit is further to present a request to the user to review the image data if the processing unit fails to determine a license plate number.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores machine-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a traffic enforcement system, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receive event data from a handheld photo enforcement unit, wherein the event data includes traffic violation data and an image of at least a portion of a vehicle;

determine a license plate number associated with the vehicle;

retrieve vehicle and owner information associated with the license plate number from a department of motor vehicles database;

present the event data, license plate number, and vehicle and owner information to an officer for citation approval; and

in response to receiving input representative of approval from the officer, provide a citation server with image data, the vehicle and owner information, and the traffic violation data and instructions to generate a citation and an evidence package.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the event data from the handheld photo enforcement unit is received from a wireless signal.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, the operations further comprise:

present the event data to the officer; and

receive authorization from the officer to process event data.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, the operations further comprise:

present the image to the officer if the license plate number cannot be determined; and

present a request that the officer enter the license plate number manually.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein in response to receiving input representative of disapproval from the officer, discard the event data, license plate number, and vehicle and owner information.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the event data further includes distance between vehicles, location, and direction of travel.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the event data is presented to the officer on a personal electronic device.

18. A traffic enforcement system, comprising:

a handheld photo enforcement unit comprising;

a camera to capture image data from a traffic event;

a light imaging detection and ranging sensor to measure the speed of a vehicle and the distance between vehicles;

a human machine interface to receive input from an officer indicating whether the captured image data should be processed for a citation; and

a transmitter to wirelessly transmit the captured image data and associated vehicle speed and distance between vehicles;

a citation server comprising;

a receiver to receive a wireless signal comprising the captured image data and associated vehicle speed and distance between vehicles from the handheld photo enforcement unit; and

a processing unit to;

extract the captured image data and associated vehicle speed and distance between vehicles;

determine a license plate number within the captured image data;

retrieve vehicle and owner information associated with the license plate number from a department of motor vehicles database;

transmit a review request to a personal electronic device to obtain approval to issue a citation for the traffic event; and

prepare a citation and an evidence package if an approval is obtained.

19. The traffic enforcement system of claim 18, where the processing unit of the citation server is further to forward the citation and the evidence package to a traffic violator based on the vehicle and owner information.

20. The traffic enforcement system of claim 18, further comprising a personal electronic device to display review requests and receive input from an officer.