Determining images having unidentifiable license plates

• US 9,122,928 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2013
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Johansson, Per Olof
• Primary Examiner(s): Lu, Tom Y
• Application Number:
  US13/860,820
• Publication Number:
  US 20140307923A1
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/987 with the intervention of an operator
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/62 Text, e.g. of license plates, overlay texts or captions on TV images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/625 License plates

Abstract

An approach for processing an image is presented. A category specifying characteristics of a shape of a license plate of a vehicle is determined. Based on the category, characteristics of objects in the image are determined to not match the characteristics of the shape of the license plate. Based on the characteristics of the objects in the image not matching the characteristics of the shape of the license plate, the image is determined to not include an identifiable license plate. In response to determining the image does not include the identifiable license plate, the image is determined to be invalid and a manual character recognition process for determining identifiers in license plates is bypassed.

Claims

1. A method of processing an image, the method comprising:

a computer determining a category specifying characteristics of a shape of a license plate of a vehicle;

based on the category, the computer determining characteristics of objects in the image do not match the characteristics of the shape of the license plate;

based on the characteristics of the objects in the image not matching the characteristics of the shape of the license plate, the computer determining the image does not include an identifiable license plate;

in response to the step of determining the image does not include the identifiable license plate, the computer determining the image is invalid and bypassing a manual character recognition process for determining identifiers in license plates;

the computer determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a second license plate;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the second license plate, the computer determining first characteristics of objects in a second image match the characteristics of the shape of the second license plate;

the computer determining a second category specifying characteristics of a background color of the second license plate, the background color being a predominant color within the shape of the second license plate, and the background color specifying a country, state, province, or other governmental jurisdiction required to be associated with any identifiable license plate;

based on the second category, the computer determining second characteristics of the objects in the second image do not match the characteristics of the background color of the second license plate,

based on the second characteristics of the objects in the second image not matching the characteristics of the background color of the second license plate, the computer determining the second image does not include a second identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the second image does not include the second identifiable license plate, the computer determining the second image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a third license plate;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer determining first characteristics of objects in a third image match the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate;

the computer determining a third category specifying characteristics of an alphanumeric character required to be included in any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the alphanumeric character;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the alphanumeric character, the computer determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer determining a third image includes a license plate and an identifier included in the license plate;

the computer determining a third category specifying characteristics of a font of alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the font required to be a characteristic of any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the font;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the font, the computer determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer determining a third image includes a license plate and an identifier included in the license plate;

the computer determining a third category specifying characteristics of an order of alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the order required to be a characteristic of any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the order of the alphanumeric characters in the identifier;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the order of the alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the computer determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the computer determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a third license plate of a second vehicle;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer determining third characteristics of objects in a third image match the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image matching the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer determining the third image includes a third identifiable license plate;

in response to the step of determining the third image includes the third identifiable license plate, the computer determining the shape of the third license plate includes a plurality of alphanumeric characters;

the computer determining one or more alphanumeric characters of the plurality of alphanumeric characters are not identifiable; and

in response to the step of determining the one or more alphanumeric characters are not identifiable, the computer sending the third image to a manual character recognition process for identifying the one or more alphanumeric characters.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

subsequent to the step of sending the third image to the manual character recognition process, the computer receiving an indication that the third image is valid, receiving an identifier included in the third license plate, and receiving a first confidence value of the identifier resulting from the manual character recognition process receiving the third image;

the computer receiving metadata specifying a characteristic of the third image, the characteristic of the third image selected from the group consisting of a charging point at which a camera captured the third image, a traffic lane in which the second vehicle was traveling as the camera captured the third image, an identification of the camera that captured the third image, a time at which the camera captured the third image, a date on which the camera captured the third image, and the received first confidence value;

the computer updating another category with the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata;

the computer receiving a fourth image including the third license plate;

the computer determining the fourth image has a characteristic that matches the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata; and

based on the fourth image having the characteristic that matches the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata, the computer determining the identifier of the third license plate in the fourth image and determining the identifier of the third license plate in the fourth image has a second confidence value greater than the first confidence value.

7. A computer system comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU);

a memory coupled to the CPU;

a computer-readable, tangible storage device coupled to the CPU, the storage device containing instructions that are executed by the CPU via the memory to implement a method of processing an image, the method comprising;

the computer system determining a category specifying characteristics of a shape of a license plate of a vehicle;

based on the category, the computer system determining characteristics of objects in the image do not match the characteristics of the shape of the license plate;

based on the characteristics of the objects in the image not matching the characteristics of the shape of the license plate, the computer system determining the image does not include an identifiable license plate;

in response to the step of determining the image does not include the identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the image is invalid and bypassing a manual character recognition process for determining identifiers in license plates;

the computer system determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a second license plate;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the second license plate, the computer system determining first characteristics of objects in a second image match the characteristics of the shape of the second license plate;

the computer system determining a second category specifying characteristics of a background color of the second license plate, the background color being a predominant color within the shape of the second license plate, and the background color specifying a country, state, province, or other governmental jurisdiction required to be associated with any identifiable license plate;

based on the second category, the computer system determining second characteristics of the objects in the second image do not match the characteristics of the background color of the second license plate,

based on the second characteristics of the objects in the second image not matching the characteristics of the background color of the second license plate, the computer system determining the second image does not include a second identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the second image does not include the second identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the second image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

the computer system determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a third license plate;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer system determining first characteristics of objects in a third image match the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate;

the computer system determining a third category specifying characteristics of an alphanumeric character required to be included in any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer system determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the alphanumeric character;

based on the second characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the alphanumeric character, the computer system determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

9. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

the computer system determining a third image includes a license plate and an identifier included in the license plate;

the computer system determining a third category specifying characteristics of a font of alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the font required to be a characteristic of any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer system determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the font;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the font, the computer system determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

10. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

the computer system determining a third image includes a license plate and an identifier included in the license plate;

the computer system determining a third category specifying characteristics of an order of alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the order required to be a characteristic of any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer system determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the order of the alphanumeric characters in the identifier;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the order of the alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the computer system determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

11. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

the computer system determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a third license plate of a second vehicle;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer system determining third characteristics of objects in a third image match the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image matching the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer system determining the third image includes a third identifiable license plate;

in response to the step of determining the third image includes the third identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the shape of the third license plate includes a plurality of alphanumeric characters;

the computer system determining one or more alphanumeric characters of the plurality of alphanumeric characters are not identifiable; and

in response to the step of determining the one or more alphanumeric characters are not identifiable, the computer system sending the third image to a manual character recognition process for identifying the one or more alphanumeric characters.

12. The computer system of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

subsequent to the step of sending the third image to the manual character recognition process, the computer system receiving an indication that the third image is valid, receiving an identifier included in the third license plate, and receiving a first confidence value of the identifier resulting from the manual character recognition process receiving the third image;

the computer system receiving metadata specifying a characteristic of the third image, the characteristic of the third image selected from the group consisting of a charging point at which a camera captured the third image, a traffic lane in which the second vehicle was traveling as the camera captured the third image, an identification of the camera that captured the third image, a time at which the camera captured the third image, a date on which the camera captured the third image, and the received first confidence value;

the computer system updating another category with the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata;

the computer system receiving a fourth image including the third license plate;

the computer system determining the fourth image has a characteristic that matches the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata; and

based on the fourth image having the characteristic that matches the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata, the computer system determining the identifier of the third license plate in the fourth image and determining the identifier of the third license plate in the fourth image has a second confidence value greater than the first confidence value.

13. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable, tangible storage device; and

a computer-readable program code stored in the computer-readable, tangible storage device, the computer-readable program code containing instructions that are executed by a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system to implement a method of processing an image, the method comprising;

the computer system determining a category specifying characteristics of a shape of a license plate of a vehicle;

based on the category, the computer system determining characteristics of objects in the image do not match the characteristics of the shape of the license plate;

based on the characteristics of the objects in the image not matching the characteristics of the shape of the license plate, the computer system determining the image does not include an identifiable license plate;

in response to the step of determining the image does not include the identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the image is invalid and bypassing a manual character recognition process for determining identifiers in license plates;

the computer system determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a second license plate;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the second license plate, the computer system determining first characteristics of objects in a second image match the characteristics of the shape of the second license plate;

the computer system determining a second category specifying characteristics of a background color of the second license plate, the background color being a predominant color within the shape of the second license plate, and the background color specifying a country, state, province, or other governmental jurisdiction required to be associated with any identifiable license plate;

based on the second category, the computer system determining second characteristics of the objects in the second image do not match the characteristics of the background color of the second license plate,

based on the second characteristics of the objects in the second image not matching the characteristics of the background color of the second license plate, the computer system determining the second image does not include a second identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the second image does not include the second identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the second image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

14. The program product of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

the computer system determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a third license plate;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer system determining third characteristics of objects in a third image match the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate;

the computer system determining a third category specifying characteristics of an alphanumeric character required to be included in any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer system determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the alphanumeric character;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the alphanumeric character, the computer system determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

15. The program product of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

the computer system determining a third image includes a license plate and an identifier included in the license plate;

the computer system determining a third category specifying characteristics of a font of alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the font required to be a characteristic of any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer system determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the font;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the font, the computer system determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

16. The program product of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

the computer system determining a third image includes a license plate and an identifier included in the license plate;

the computer system determining a third category specifying characteristics of an order of alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the order required to be a characteristic of any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the computer system determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the order of the alphanumeric characters in the identifier;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the order of the alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the computer system determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

17. The program product of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

the computer system determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a third license plate of a second vehicle;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer system determining third characteristics of objects in a third image match the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image matching the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the computer system determining the third image includes a third identifiable license plate;

in response to the step of determining the third image includes the third identifiable license plate, the computer system determining the shape of the third license plate includes a plurality of alphanumeric characters;

the computer system determining one or more alphanumeric characters of the plurality of alphanumeric characters are not identifiable; and

in response to the step of determining the one or more alphanumeric characters are not identifiable, the computer system sending the third image to a manual character recognition process for identifying the one or more alphanumeric characters.

18. The program product of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

subsequent to the step of sending the third image to the manual character recognition process, the computer system receiving an indication that the third image is valid, receiving an identifier included in the third license plate, and receiving a first confidence value of the identifier resulting from the manual character recognition process receiving the third image;

the computer system receiving metadata specifying a characteristic of the third image, the characteristic of the third image selected from the group consisting of a charging point at which a camera captured the third image, a traffic lane in which the second vehicle was traveling as the camera captured the third image, an identification of the camera that captured the third image, a time at which the camera captured the third image, a date on which the camera captured the third image, and the received first confidence value;

the computer system updating another category with the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata;

the computer system receiving a fourth image including the third license plate;

the computer system determining the fourth image has a characteristic that matches the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata; and

based on the fourth image having the characteristic that matches the characteristic of the third image specified by the received metadata, the computer system determining the identifier of the third license plate in the fourth image and determining the identifier of the third license plate in the fourth image has a second confidence value greater than the first confidence value.

19. A process for supporting computing infrastructure, the process comprising the step of:

a first computer system providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable code in a second computer system, the computer-readable code containing instructions, wherein the instructions, when carried out by a processor of the second computer system, implement a method of processing an image, the method comprising;

the second computer system determining a category specifying characteristics of a shape of a license plate of a vehicle;

based on the category, the second computer system determining characteristics of objects in the image do not match the characteristics of the shape of the license plate;

based on the characteristics of the objects in the image not matching the characteristics of the shape of the license plate, the second computer system determining the image does not include an identifiable license plate;

in response to the step of determining the image does not include the identifiable license plate, the second computer system determining the image is invalid and bypassing a manual character recognition process for determining identifiers in license plates;

the second computer system determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a second license plate;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the second license plate, the second computer system determining first characteristics of objects in a second image match the characteristics of the shape of the second license plate;

the second computer system determining a second category specifying characteristics of a background color of the second license plate, the background color being the predominant color within the shape of the second license plate, and the background color specifying a country, state, province, or other governmental jurisdiction required to be associated with any identifiable license plate;

based on the second category, the second computer system determining second characteristics of the objects in the second image do not match the characteristics of the background color of the second license plate,

based on the second characteristics of the objects in the second image not matching the characteristics of the background color of the second license plate, the second computer system determining the second image does not include a second identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the second image does not include the second identifiable license plate, the second computer system determining the second image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

20. The process of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

the second computer system determining the category so that the category further specifies characteristics of a shape of a third license plate;

based on the category specifying the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate, the second computer system determining third characteristics of objects in a third image match the characteristics of the shape of the third license plate;

the second computer system determining a third category specifying characteristics of an alphanumeric character required to be included in any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the second computer system determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the alphanumeric character;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the alphanumeric character, the second computer system determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the second computer system determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.

21. The process of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

the second computer system determining a third image includes a license plate and an identifier included in the license plate;

the second computer system determining a third category specifying characteristics of a font of alphanumeric characters in the identifier, the font required to be a characteristic of any identifiable license plate;

based on the third category, the second computer system determining third characteristics of the objects in the third image do not match the characteristics of the font;

based on the third characteristics of the objects in the third image not matching the characteristics of the font, the second computer system determining the third image does not include a third identifiable license plate; and

in response to the step of determining the third image does not include the third identifiable license plate, the second computer system determining the third image is invalid and bypassing the manual character recognition process for determining identifiers on license plates.