METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR USING A VEHICLE-BASED DIGITAL IMAGERY SYSTEM TO IDENTIFY ANOTHER VEHICLE

• US 20130093886A1
• Filed: 10/18/2011
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ariel Inventions, LLC
• Original Assignee: Ariel Inventions, LLC
• Inventors: ROTHSCHILD, Leigh M.
• Application Number:
  US13/275,654
• Publication Number:
  US 20130093886A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3226 of identification information or the like, e.g. ID code, index, title, part of an image, reduced-size image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3269 of machine readable codes or marks, e.g. bar codes or glyphs

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and a vehicle identification computer for identifying a vehicle are disclosed. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, camera(s), mountable to a first vehicle, capture an image of at least a part of a second vehicle. The captured image includes vehicle identification indicia. An image file comprising the image and a tag are generated and transmitted to a vehicle identification computer. The vehicle identification computer identifies the second vehicle based on the vehicle identification indicia.

Claims

1. A vehicle identification system, comprising:

a camera, the camera being mountable to a first vehicle, the camera capturing an image of at least a part of a second vehicle, the image including vehicle identification indicia;

a processor in communication with the camera, the processor generating an image file comprising the image and a tag; and

a transmitter in communication with the processor, the transmitter sending the image file to a vehicle identification computer.

2. The vehicle identification system of claim 1, wherein:

the tag includes at least one of a voice description of the captured image, a geographic location, a date stamp, a velocity and a time stamp;

the geographic location includes at least one of a first vehicle geographic location and a second vehicle geographic location; and

the velocity includes at least one of a first vehicle velocity and a second vehicle velocity.

3. The vehicle identification system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle identification indicia is at least one of a license plate number, a make, a model, a color and a year of second vehicle.

4. The vehicle identification system of claim 3, wherein the processor further processes the vehicle identification indicia to identify the license plate number of the second vehicle.

5. The vehicle identification system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile wireless communication device, wherein the transmitter is part of the mobile wireless communication device.

6. The vehicle identification system of claim 1, further comprising a receiver, wherein the receiver receives a message in response to transmitting the image file, the message including at least one of a warning message and an instruction message.

7. The vehicle identification system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle identification computer is associated with one of a law enforcement agency, an insurance company, a security company and an owner of the first vehicle.

8. The vehicle identification system of claim 1, further comprising a velocity sensor, the velocity sensor capturing the velocity of the second vehicle.

9. The vehicle identification system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of cameras being mountable to the first vehicle, at least one of the plurality of cameras capturing data associated with the second vehicle.

10. The vehicle identification system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the plurality of cameras is controlled using a user interface that responds to at least one of physical user input and voice commands.

11. A method of identifying a first vehicle, the method comprising:

using a camera mountable to a second vehicle to capture an image of at least part of the first vehicle, the image including vehicle identification indicia;

generating an image file comprising the image and a tag; and

transmitting the image file to a vehicle identification computer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the tag includes at least one of a voice description of the captured image, a geographic location, a date stamp, a velocity and a time stamp;

the geographic location includes at least one of a first vehicle geographic location and a second vehicle geographic location; and

the velocity includes at least one of a first vehicle velocity and a second vehicle velocity.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the vehicle identification indicia is at least one of a license plate number, a make, a model, a color and a year of first vehicle.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising controlling the camera with a user interface that responds to at least one of physical user input and voice commands.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein a mobile wireless communication device transmits the image file to the vehicle identification computer.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving a message in response to transmitting the image file, the message including at least one of a warning message and an instruction message.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the vehicle identification computer is associated with one of a law enforcement agency, an insurance company, a security company and an owner of the second vehicle.

18. A vehicle identification computer, comprising:

a receiver, the receiver receiving an image file from a vehicle identification system, the image file comprising an image of at least a part of a vehicle and a tag, the image including vehicle identification indicia; and

a processor in communication with the receiver, the processor configured to identify the vehicle based on the vehicle identification indicia.

19. The vehicle identification computer of claim 18, wherein:

the tag includes at least one of a voice description of the captured image, a geographic location, a date stamp, a velocity, and a time stamp;

the geographic location includes at least one of a first vehicle geographic location and a second vehicle geographic location; and

the velocity includes at least one of a first vehicle velocity and a second vehicle velocity.

20. The vehicle identification computer of claim 18, wherein the vehicle identification indicia is at least one of a license plate number, a make, a model, a color and a year of second vehicle.

21. The vehicle identification computer of claim 18, wherein the vehicle identification indicia is an image of at least one of a driver and a passenger in the vehicle

22. The vehicle identification computer of claim 18, further comprising a transmitter in communication with the processor, wherein the transmitter sends a message in response to receiving the image file, the message including at least one of a warning message and an instruction message.

23. The vehicle identification computer of claim 22, wherein at least one of the warning message and the instruction message are sent to the vehicle identification system.