Automated traffic violation monitoring and reporting system

• US 6,546,119 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2000
• Issued: 04/08/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Redflex Traffic Systems Inc.
• Original Assignee: Redflex Traffic Systems Inc.
• Inventors: Mack, Andrew, Ercan, Gurchan, Whyte, Peter, Ciolli, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Au, Amelia M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): MILLER, MARTIN E
• Application Number:
  US09/578,815
• Publication Number:
  US 20020141618A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 382/104, 382/105, 340/937, 340/933, 401/117, 401/119
• US Class Current: 382/104
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A system for monitoring and reporting incidences of traffic violations at a traffic location is disclosed. The system comprises a digital camera system deployed at a traffic location. The camera system is remotely coupled to a data processing system. The data processing system comprises an image processor for compiling vehicle and scene images produced by the digital camera system, a verification process for verifying the validity of the vehicle images, an image processing system for identifying driver information from the vehicle images, and a notification process for transmitting potential violation information to one or more law enforcement agencies.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring and reporting instances of traffic violations, comprising:

an enforcement camera system mounted at a fixed traffic location, the enforcement camera system comprising circuitry to detect a potential traffic violation at the traffic location;

a data processing system remotely coupled to the enforcement camera system, the data processing system comprising an image processor for compiling vehicle and scene images produced by the enforcement camera system, a verification process for verifying the validity of the vehicle images, an image processing system for providing driver image information, and a notification process for transmitting the potential traffic violation information to one or more law enforcement agencies; and

a digital image processing system remotely coupled to the enforcement camera system, the digital image processing system including circuitry operable to;

identify an information image related to the vehicle from the vehicle images, the information image including pixel intensity information,

identify a region of the information image in which pixel intensities are similar to each other, but the median pixel intensity differs significantly from the median pixel intensity of other parts of the information image, wherein the pixel intensity corresponds to the brightness of a pixel; and

modify pixel intensities in the identified region so that the median for the region is closer to the median for the other parts of the image.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the enforcement camera system comprises a plurality of digital cameras providing selective image resolution of a common field of view.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the plurality of digital cameras are synchronized to a common clock signal to provide selective fields of view of the captured potential traffic violation.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the traffic location is a traffic intersection, and wherein the enforcement camera system comprises a plurality of Charge Coupled Device imaging elements.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising media for storing and transmitting digital evidence to the one or more law enforcement agencies, and means for securing the digital evidence for use in prosecution of the potential traffic violation that is independent of the media for storing and transmitting the evidence to the one or more law enforcement agencies.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising an adaptive system of image processing and analysis based upon inferred knowledge derived from the data processing system.

7. A method of producing primary evidence of a traffic violation, comprising the steps of:

generating a plurality of images of the traffic violation;

storing the images in a primary image database;

automatically obtaining vehicle and driver identification information from data contained in one or more of the plurality of images;

in an image processing system, providing driver image and identifying information related to the offending vehicle from one or more of the plurality of images, the information related to the offending vehicle comprising a digital identification image comprising pixel intensity information;

in a digital image processing system, identifying a region of the identification image in which pixel intensities are similar to each other, but the median pixel intensity differs significantly from the median pixel intensity of other parts of the identification image, wherein the pixel intensity corresponds to the brightness of a pixel, and modifying pixel intensities in the identified region so that the median for the region is closer to the median for the other parts of the image;

generating a violation notice for review by an appropriate law enforcement agency; and

transmitting a violation notice to the driver upon validation of the violation notice by the appropriate law enforcement agency.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of images comprise four images including a first scene image, a second scene image, a license plate image, and a driver face image, and wherein the identification image corresponds to the license plate image.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of performing optical character recognition techniques on the license plate image prior to the step of automatically obtaining vehicle and driver identification information.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the vehicle and driver identification information is obtained from a motor vehicle department database.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the four images are obtained by a digital camera system located at a fixed traffic location.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the digital camera system comprises a plurality of individual imaging elements within a Charge Coupled Device array, and wherein each image of the four images is produced by one of the individual imaging elements.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the individual imaging elements comprise Charge Couple Device Imaging elements.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of synchronizing each of the individual imaging elements to a common clock signal.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the four images are produced at substantially the same instant in time as defined by the common clock signal.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of:

encrypting the plurality of images within the digital camera system;

generating signed property information for image files corresponding to the plurality of images, the signed property information comprising data required decrypt the encrypted plurality of images; and

transmitting the image information and signed property information to a data processing system.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of reproducing the plurality of images captured by the digital camera system using the signed property information to decrypt the encrypted plurality of images.

18. A system for monitoring and reporting instances of traffic violations, comprising:

an enforcement camera system mounted at a fixed traffic location, the enforcement camera system comprising circuitry to detect a potential traffic violation at the traffic location;

a data processing system remotely coupled to the enforcement camera system, the data processing system comprising an image processor for compiling vehicle and scene images produced by the enforcement camera system, a verification process for verifying the validity of the vehicle images, an image processing system for providing driver image information from the vehicle images, and an image analysis expert system for recognizing patterns within the vehicle and scene images; and

a digital image processing system remotely coupled to the enforcement camera system, the digital image processing system including circuitry operable to;

identify an identification image related to the vehicle from the vehicle images, the identification image including pixel intensity information,

identify a region of the identification image in which pixel intensities are similar to each other, but the median pixel intensity differs significantly from the median pixel intensity of other parts of the identification image, wherein the pixel intensity corresponds to the brightness of a pixel; and

modify pixel intensities in the identified region so that the median for the region is closer to the median for the other parts of the image.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein further comprising an encryption process configured to encrypt the vehicle and scene images captured by the enforcement camera system for transmission to the data processing system.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the image analysis expert system comprises an optical character recognition module. for isolating and recognizing text characters within the vehicle and scene images.