CAMERA WITH BUILT-IN LICENSE PLATE RECOGNITION FUNCTION

• US 20100052947A1
• Filed: 09/02/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Farsight Investment Co., Ltd., I-Shou University
• Original Assignee: Farsight Investment Co., Ltd., I-Shou University
• Inventors: CHEN, Ju-lung, LIN, Tsung-Ching
• Application Number:
  US12/202,715
• Publication Number:
  US 20100052947A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/932.200
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00174 Electronically operated locks; Circuits therefor; Nonmechanical keys therefor, e.g. passive or active electrical keys or other data carriers without mechanical keys mechanical locks with electric permutation E05B49/00; arrangements for sensing or reading record carriers G06K7/00; electronic switching H03K17/00

Abstract

A camera with a built-in license plate recognition function includes a license plate information base, a general purpose input/output (GPIO) port, an image-capturing module, a license plate image processor, a communication module, an audio-capturing module, and a processor. In the camera, the image-capturing module captures a license plate image when determining a vehicle enters/exits from a vehicle access control site; next, the license plate image processor segments and recognizes the image with a conventional image processing technique and compares the image with that in the license plate information base; and then the GPIO port controls the entrance/exit of the vehicle through a collapsible door, a sensor, and an alarm. Furthermore, remote control software may be installed on an external equipment, and the external equipment is connected to the communication module in a wired/wireless manner for achieving remote monitoring.

Claims

1. A camera with a built-in license plate recognition function, suitable for controlling a vehicle to enter/exit from a parking garage, the camera comprising:

a license plate information base;

a general purpose input/output (GPIO) port;

an image-capturing module, for automatically detecting a vehicle through image-based motion detection software, so as to capture a license plate image; and

a license plate image processor, for positioning the license plate image, identifying a number on the license plate, and opening a collapsible door through the GPIO port after the number on the license plate is determined to match at least one pre-stored reference number in the license plate information base.

2. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 1, wherein the image-capturing module further snap-shoots the license plate image, when the license plate image processor determines that the number on the license plate matches the pre-stored reference number in the license plate information base.

3. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 1, wherein the GPIO port further actuates a security protection device, when the license plate image processor determines that the number on the license plate does not match the pre-stored reference number in the license plate information base.

4. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 1, further comprising:

a communication module, connected to an external equipment in a wired/wireless manner;

an audio-capturing module; and

a processor, for parsing a monitoring message received by the communication module from the external equipment, then controlling the image-capturing module and the audio-capturing module to obtain an image and sounds of a site where the camera with a built-in license plate recognition function is mounted, and then encoding/decoding and feeding back the image and sounds to the external equipment through the communication module.

5. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 4, wherein the communication device is connected to the external equipment in a wired manner through transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP).

6. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 4, wherein the communication device is connected to the external equipment in a wireless manner through a wireless local area network (WLAN).

7. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 4, wherein the external equipment is a computer.

8. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 4, wherein the external equipment is a mobile communication device.

9. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 4, wherein the external equipment is a personal digital assistant (PDA).

10. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 4, wherein the image-capturing module further snap-shoots the license plate image when the communication module receives the monitoring message issued by the external equipment.

11. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 4, wherein the external equipment is connected to the communication module in a wired/wireless manner, so as to transmit the monitoring message to the GPIO port for opening/closing the collapsible door.

12. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 1, wherein the image-capturing module is formed by charge-coupled device (CCD) sensing elements.

13. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 1, wherein the image-capturing module is formed by complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensing elements.

14. The camera with a built-in license plate recognition function according to claim 1, wherein the license plate image comprises at least one letter from A to Z and a plurality of numerals from 0 to 9.