Emergency rescue vehicle video based violation enforcement method and system

• US 9,104,939 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2012
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Seyfried, Richard W., Burry, Aaron Michael, Kozitsky, Vladimir
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Chan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Summers, Geoffrey E
• Application Number:
  US13/715,041
• Publication Number:
  US 20140169633A1
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/56 exterior to a vehicle by using sensors mounted on the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/63 Scene text, e.g. street names

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and systems for monitoring and reporting road violations of vehicles sharing roads with responding emergency vehicles. According to an exemplary method video is captured from a forward and/or rear facing camera mounted to an emergency vehicle, and the video is processed to identify any vehicles in violation within a prescribed distance from the emergency vehicle. A license plate id of a vehicle determined to be in violation is identified and communicated to the appropriate authorities.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of detecting a vehicle that fails to yield to an emergency vehicle traveling on a section of road and detecting a vehicle that follows an emergency vehicle too close on the section of road, the method comprising:

A) receiving a first video stream from a forward facing image capturing device mounted to an emergency vehicle, the first video stream including a first plurality of temporally spaced video frames;

B) processing the first video stream to identify a first set of two or more video frames including a first detected vehicle within a first prescribed distance in a front of the emergency vehicle;

C) processing the identified first set of two or more video frames to determine if the first detected vehicle is yielding to the emergency vehicle according to a first prescribed law, the first prescribed law requiring the first detected vehicle to yield a right of way to the emergency vehicle within the first prescribed distance by moving the first detected vehicle to a prescribed side of a section of road and stopping on the prescribed side of the section of road;

D) receiving a second video stream from a rear facing image capturing device mounted to an emergency vehicle, the second video stream including a second plurality of temporally spaced video frames;

E) processing the second video stream to identify a second set of two or more video frames including a second detected vehicle within a second prescribed distance in a rear of the emergency vehicle; and

F) processing the identified second set of two or more video frames to determine if the second detected vehicle is following the emergency vehicle in violation of a second prescribed law, the second prescribed law requiring the second detected vehicle to not follow the emergency vehicle at a distance closer than the second prescribed distance in the rear of the emergency vehicle,

wherein the first set of two or more video frames includes a license plate associated with the first detected vehicle, the license plate including a height and width, and step B) comprises;

determining if the first detected vehicle is within the first prescribed distance by determining one or both of a pixel height and a pixel width associated with the license plate.

2. The computer-implemented method of detecting a vehicle according to claim 1, further comprising:

if the first detected vehicle is in violation of the first prescribed law, identifying a license plate mounted to the detected vehicle.

3. The computer-implemented method of detecting a vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the emergency vehicle includes one or both of an operator actuated siren and operator actuated emergency light, and the method further comprises:

initiating the computer-implemented method by one or both of the operator actuated siren and emergency light.

4. The computer-implemented method of detecting a vehicle according to claim 1, step B) comprising:

comparing the determined one or both of the pixel height and the pixel width associated with the license plate to a mapping of a plurality of license plate pixel heights and/or widths with a plurality of respective distances to determine a distance of the detected vehicle in front of the emergency vehicle.

5. The computer-implemented method of detecting a vehicle according to claim 1, step C) comprising:

determining if the first detected vehicle is one of decreasing in speed and maintaining a substantially constant speed.

6. The computer-implemented method of detecting a vehicle according to claim 1, the first set of two or more video frames including a license plate associated with the first detected vehicle, the license plate including a sequence of characters and a state name and step B) comprising:

determining if the detected vehicle is within the first prescribed distance by determining a pixel height associated with one of the license plate sequence of characters and state name.

7. The computer-implemented method of detecting a vehicle according to claim 6, step B) comprising:

comparing the determined pixel height to a mapping of a plurality of license plate character pixel heights associated with a plurality of respective distances to determine a distance of the first detected vehicle in front of the emergency vehicle.

8. The computer-implemented method of detecting a vehicle according to claim 1, step C) comprising:

determining if the first detected vehicle is one of decreasing in speed, and maintaining a substantially consistent speed.

9. A system that facilitates detecting a vehicle that fails to yield to an emergency vehicle, the system comprising:

a forward facing image capturing device mounted to an emergency vehicle, the forward facing image capturing device configured to provide a first video stream of an area in a front of the emergency vehicle, the first video stream including a first plurality of temporally spaced video frames;

a rear facing image capturing device mounted to the emergency vehicle, the rear facing image capturing device configured to provide a second video stream of an area in a rear of the emergency vehicle, the second video stream including a second plurality of temporally spaced video frames;

one or more processors operatively connected to the forward facing image capturing device and the rear facing image capturing device, the one or more processors configured to execute stored computer-executable instructions for;

A) receiving a first video stream from the forward facing image capturing device, the first video stream including the first plurality of temporally spaced video frames;

B) processing the first video stream to identify a first set of two or more video frames including a first detected vehicle within a prescribed distance of road in a front of the emergency vehicle;

C) processing the identified first set of two or more video frames to determine if the first detected vehicle is yielding to the emergency vehicle compliance according to a first prescribed law, the first prescribed law requiring the first detected vehicle to yield a right of way to the emergency vehicle within the predetermined distance by moving the first detected vehicle to a prescribed side of a section of road and stopping on the prescribed side of the section of road;

D) receiving a second video stream from a rear facing image capturing device mounted to an emergency vehicle, the second video stream including a second plurality of temporally spaced video frames;

E) processing the video stream to identify a second set of two or more video frames including a second detected vehicle within a second prescribed distance in a rear of the emergency vehicle; and

F) processing the identified second set of two or more video frames to determine if the second detected vehicle is following the emergency vehicle in violation of a second prescribed law, the second prescribed law requiring the second detected vehicle to not follow the emergency vehicle at a distance closer than the second prescribed distance in the rear of the emergency vehicle.

10. The system that facilitates detecting a vehicle according to claim 9, the first set of two or more video frames including a license plate associated with the first detected vehicle, the license plate including a height and width, step B) comprising:

determining if the detected vehicle is within the prescribed distance by determining one or both of a pixel height and a pixel width associated with the license plate.

11. The system that facilitates detecting a vehicle according to claim 10, step B) comprising:

comparing the determined one or both of the pixel height and the pixel width associated with the license plate to a mapping of a plurality of license plate pixel heights and/or widths with a plurality of respective distances to determine a distance of the first detected vehicle in front of the emergency vehicle.

12. The system that facilitates detecting a vehicle according to claim 10, step C) comprising:

determining if the first detected vehicle is one of decreasing in speed and maintaining a substantially constant speed.