Parking regulation enforcement system
First Claim
1. A parking regulation enforcement system for monitoring a parked vehicle, the system comprising:
- a camera capturing a first image of the parked vehicle at a first observation time and a second image of the vehicle at a second observation time;
a data processing sub-system coupled to the camera, the data processing sub-system extracting an identifier of the parked vehicle from the first image and the second image;
means, within the data processing sub-system, for determining a first position of a predetermined measurement point at the first observation time and a second position of the measurement point at the second observation time, the means comprising a global positioning system;
a memory within the data processing sub-system, the memory storing a first data record, the first data record comprising the identifier, the first observation time, and the first position of the measurement point; and
means, within the data processing sub-system, for comparing the first data record to a second data record, the second data record including the identifier, the second observation time, and the second position of the measurement point, and for generating an output.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A video camera mounted on a parking enforcement patrol vehicle and connected to a computer near the operator. The system is driven along a patrol route where parked vehicles are governed by a posted time limit. The system enforces the local parking regulation by automatically determining whether or not each parked car has been parked longer than the posted time limit. Violations are detected by applying a License Plate Recognition algorithm to the images. Each license plate number is time-tagged, geo-referenced and entered into a local database. When the patrol vehicle re-traces the patrol route after the posted parking time limit has expired, the database is searched to flag vehicles that were observed at the same location during the previous circuit and therefore in violation of the parking regulations. When the system detects a parking violation, it prints a parking citation that the operator affixes to the offending parked vehicle.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1. A parking regulation enforcement system for monitoring a parked vehicle, the system comprising:
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a camera capturing a first image of the parked vehicle at a first observation time and a second image of the vehicle at a second observation time; a data processing sub-system coupled to the camera, the data processing sub-system extracting an identifier of the parked vehicle from the first image and the second image; means, within the data processing sub-system, for determining a first position of a predetermined measurement point at the first observation time and a second position of the measurement point at the second observation time, the means comprising a global positioning system; a memory within the data processing sub-system, the memory storing a first data record, the first data record comprising the identifier, the first observation time, and the first position of the measurement point; and means, within the data processing sub-system, for comparing the first data record to a second data record, the second data record including the identifier, the second observation time, and the second position of the measurement point, and for generating an output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for locating a lost vehicle comprising;
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a sensor capturing an image of the lost vehicle at an observation time; a sub-system, within a data processing system coupled to the sensor, the sub-system extracting an identifier of the lost vehicle from the image; a positioning system, coupled to the data processing system, for determining a position of a predetermined measurement point at the observation time; a concatenation system for concatenating the identifier, the observation time, and the position of the measurement point into a vehicle data record; a display device coupled to the data processing system for displaying a location of the lost vehicle on the display device; a database coupled to the data processing system, the database storing a plurality of data records, each data record including a vehicle identifier, the observation time, and a vehicle position; and a search engine coupled to the database for enabling a user to traverse the database to locate a second data record having the identifier of the lost vehicle, to assist in identifying the lost vehicle.
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13. A parking regulation enforcement system for monitoring a parked vehicle, the system comprising:
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a camera capturing an image of a vehicle at a first observation time; a data processing sub-system coupled to the camera, the data processing sub-system extracting an identifier of the vehicle from the image; means, within the data processing sub-system, for determining a position of a predetermined measurement point at the first observation time; means for concatenating the identifier, the first observation time, and the position of the measurement point into a vehicle data record; a database coupled to the data processing sub-system, the database storing a plurality of data records, each data record including a vehicle identifier, an observation time and a vehicle position; means for traversing the database to locate a second data record having the identifier of the vehicle; and a computerized billing system for receiving data, and for creating an output. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A system for locating a lost vehicle comprising;
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a camera capturing an image of the lost vehicle at an observation time; a sub-system, within a data processing system coupled to the camera, the sub-system extracting an identifier of the lost vehicle from the image; means, coupled to the data processing system, for determining a position of a predetermined measurement point at the observation time; means for concatenating the identifier, the observation time, and the position of the measurement point into a vehicle data record; a database coupled to the data processing system, the database storing a plurality of data records, each data record including a vehicle identifier, the observation time, and a vehicle position; and means for enabling a user to traverse the database to locate a second data record having the identifier of the lost vehicle, to assist in identifying the lost vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
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39. A method for enforcing parking regulations comprising:
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capturing an image of a parked vehicle at a first observation time; extracting an identifier of the parked vehicle from the image; determining a position of a predetermined measurement point at the first observation time; concatenating the identifier, the first observation time, and the position of the measurement point into a vehicle data record; storing a plurality of data records, each data record including a vehicle identifier, an observation time, and a vehicle position; traversing the database to locate a second data record having the identifier of the parked vehicle; and billing a customer based upon a billing criteria and the stored data records. - View Dependent Claims (40)
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41. A parking regulation enforcement system for monitoring a parked vehicle, the system comprising:
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a sensor for capturing a first image of the parked vehicle at a first observation time and a second image of the vehicle at a second observation time; a data processing sub-system coupled to the sensor, the data processing sub-system extracting an identifier of the parked vehicle from the first image and the second image; a global positioning system within the data processing sub-system, for determining a first position of a predetermined measurement point at the first observation time and a second position of the measurement point at the second observation time; a memory within the data processing sub-system, the memory storing a first data record, the first data record comprising the identifier, the first observation time, and the first position of the measurement point; and a comparator within the data processing sub-system, for comparing the first data record to a second data record, the second data record including the identifier, the second observation time, and the second position of the measurement point, and for generating an output.
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42. A parking regulation enforcement system for monitoring a parked vehicle, the system comprising:
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a sensor for capturing an image of a vehicle at a first observation time; a data processing sub-system coupled to the sensor, the data processing sub-system extracting an identifier of the vehicle from the image; a positioning sub-system, within the data processing sub-system, for determining a position of a predetermined measurement point at the first observation time; a concatenation system for concatenating the identifier, the first observation time, and the position of the measurement point into a vehicle data record; a database coupled to the data processing sub-system, the database storing a plurality of data records, each data record including a vehicle identifier, an observation time and a vehicle position; a search engine coupled to the database for traversing the database to locate a second data record having the identifier of the vehicle; and a computerized billing system for receiving data, and for creating an output.
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Specification