Method and system for detecting and tracking a vehicle of interest utilizing a network of traffic image-capturing units

• US 9,530,310 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2013
• Issued: 12/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Evanitsky, Eugene, St. Germaine, Joseph Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Atala, Jamie
• Assistant Examiner(s): Billah, Masum
• Application Number:
  US14/069,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20150124099A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• Field of Search: 348/149
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/54 of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0175 by photographing vehicles, e.g. when violating traffic rules
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

Methods and systems for detecting a vehicle of interest utilizing one or more traffic image-capturing units and a centralized server. A request from an authority to detect a vehicle of interest with respect to an incident can be verified based on particular criteria. One or more of the image-capturing units can be selected along with location information stored in a database in order to enable a search. A notification can be sent to the authority upon identification of the vehicle of interest by the image-capturing unit(s). An area or radius of search can be calculated to alert one or more other image-capturing units for use in tracking the vehicle of interest. Data regarding the vehicle of interest can then be transmitted to an incident management module to dynamically update details regarding detection of the vehicle of interest.

Claims

1. A method for detecting and tracking a vehicle of interest, said method comprising:

verifying a request from an authority for detection of a vehicle of interest with respect to an incident based on particular criteria;

selecting an image-capturing unit that captures an image within an effective field of view from among a plurality of image-capturing units in association with location information stored in a database, wherein said image-capturing unit is associated with a centralized server in order to enable a search with a dynamic search area algorithm and thereafter send a notification to said authority upon identifying said vehicle of interest via said image-capturing unit, said database comprising an image-capturing unit clearing house;

calculating an area of search based on an initial location comprising a location of said incident, an elapsed time, a probable vehicle speed of said vehicle of interest, and a trajectory of said vehicle of interest utilizing said dynamic search area algorithm and data generated by a trajectory processor to alert another image-capturing unit among said plurality of image-capturing units for tracking of said vehicle of interest; and

dynamically updating data with respect to said incident via an incident management module to increase a detection result including a speed of detection and alerting with respect to said vehicle of interest after said calculating said area of search.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

downloading data from said centralized server with respect to said vehicle of interest; and

associating said image-capturing unit clearing house with a certification module that implements a certification for qualifying said image-capturing unit as a certified unit for having minimum capabilities that an image-capturing unit should possess in order to be utilized, said certification module further including instructions that define a minimum amount of commands that said certified unit can interpret and operate with.

3. The method of claim 2 the following types of data:

a fixed position with respect to a networked image-capturing unit;

a fixed position with respect to an out of network image-capturing unit comprising a privately owned image-capturing unit; and

information regarding an in and out of networked mobile image-capturing unit.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

performing a real time lookup as a number of vehicles for said image-capturing unit at any time is relatively small; and

post processing a captured image to search an image file with respect to said vehicle of interest.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

anticipating said trajectory of said vehicle of interest; and

thereafter automatically erasing said trajectory of said vehicle of interest upon notifying said authority.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

determining said area of search comprising a radius defining an area based upon a sighting and a probable path of said vehicle of interest;

performing image processing via said image-capturing unit to generate image data indicative of said vehicle of interest; and

transmitting said data to a controller associated with said image-capturing unit.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising constantly monitoring said detection result to improve a resolution and processing speed with respect to said image-capturing unit;

and

tracking at least one passenger in said vehicle of interest with a facial and/or body detection module.

8. A system for detecting and tracking a vehicle of interest, said system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, said computer-usable medium capable of communicating with the processor, said computer program code comprising instructions executable by said processor and configured for;

verifying a request from an authority for detection of a vehicle of interest with respect to an incident based on particular criteria;

selecting an image-capturing unit that captures an image within an effective field of view from among a plurality of image-capturing units in association with location information stored in a database, wherein said image-capturing unit is associated with a centralized server in order to enable a search with a dynamic search area algorithm and thereafter send a notification to said authority upon identifying said vehicle of interest via said image-capturing unit, said database comprising an image-capturing unit clearing house;

calculating an area of search based on an initial location comprising a location of said incident, an elapsed time, a probable vehicle speed of said vehicle of interest, and a trajectory of said vehicle of interest utilizing said dynamic search area algorithm and data generated by a trajectory processor to alert another image-capturing unit among said plurality of image-capturing units for tracking of said vehicle of interest; and

dynamically updating data with respect to said incident via an incident management module to increase a detection result including a speed of detection and alerting with respect to said vehicle of interest after calculating said area of search.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

downloading data from said centralized server with respect to said vehicle of interest; and

associating said image-capturing unit clearing house with certification module that implements a certification for qualifying said image-capturing unit as a certified unit for having minimum capabilities that an image-capturing unit should possess in order to be utilized, said certification module further including instructions that define a minimum amount of commands that said certified unit can interpret and operate with.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said database includes data indicative of the following types of data:

a fixed position with respect to a networked image-capturing unit;

a fixed position with respect to an out of network image-capturing unit comprising a privately owned image-capturing unit; and

information regarding an in and out of networked mobile image-capturing unit.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

performing a real time lookup as a number of vehicles or said image-capturing unit at any time is relatively small; and

post processing a captured image to search an image file with respect to said vehicle of interest.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

anticipating said trajectory of said vehicle of interest; and

thereafter automatically erasing said trajectory of said vehicle of interest upon notifying said authority.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein said instructions are further configured for:

determining said area of search comprising a radius defining an area based upon a sighting and a probable path of said vehicle of interest;

performing image processing via said image-capturing unit to generate image data indicative of said vehicle of interest; and

transmitting said data to a controller associated with said image-capturing unit.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein said instructions are further configured for constantly monitoring said detection result to improve a resolution and processing speed with respect to said image-capturing unit;

and

tracking at least one passenger in said vehicle of interest with a facial and/or body detection module.

15. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing code representing instructions to cause a process for detecting and tracking a vehicle of interest, said code comprising code to:

verify a request from an authority for detection of a vehicle of interest with respect to an incident based on particular criteria;

select an image-capturing unit that captures an image within an effective field of view from among a plurality of image-capturing units in association with location information stored in a database, wherein said image-capturing unit is associated with a centralized server in order to enable a search with a dynamic search area algorithm and thereafter send a notification to said authority upon identifying said vehicle of interest via said image-capturing unit, said database comprising an image-capturing unit clearing house;

calculate an area of search based on an initial location comprising a location of said incident, an elapsed time, a probable vehicle speed of said vehicle of interest, and a trajectory of said vehicle of interest utilizing said dynamic search area algorithm and data generated by a trajectory processor to alert another image-capturing unit among said plurality of image-capturing units for tracking of said vehicle of interest to alert another image-capturing unit for tracking of said vehicle of interest; and

dynamically update data with respect to said incident vial an incident management module to increase a detection result including a speed of detection and alerting with respect to said vehicle of interest after said calculating said area of search.

16. The processor-readable medium of claim 15 wherein said code further comprises code to:

download data from said centralized server with respect to said vehicle of interest; and

associate said image-capturing unit clearing house with a certification module that implements a certification for qualifying said image-capturing unit as a certified unit for having minimum capabilities that an image-capturing unit should possess in order to be utilized, said certification module further including instructions that define a minimum amount of commands that said certified unit can interpret and operate with.

17. The processor-readable medium of claim 16 wherein said database includes data indicative of the following types of data:

a fixed position with respect to a networked image-capturing unit;

a fixed position with respect to an out of network image-capturing unit comprising a privately owned image-capturing unit; and

information regarding an in and out of networked mobile image-capturing unit.

18. The processor-readable medium of claim 15 wherein said code further comprises code to:

perform a real time lookup as a number of vehicles for said image-capturing unit at any time is relatively small; and

post process a captured image to search an image file with respect to said vehicle of interest.

19. The processor-readable medium of claim 16 wherein said code further comprises code to:

anticipate said trajectory of said vehicle of interest; and

thereafter automatically erase said trajectory of said vehicle of interest upon notifying said authority.

20. The processor-readable medium of claim 17 wherein said code further comprises code to:

determine said area of search comprising a radius defining an area based upon a sighting and a probable path of said vehicle of interest;

perform image processing via said image-capturing unit to generate image data indicative of said vehicle of interest; and

transmit said data to a controller associated with said image-capturing unit.