Systems and methods of legibly capturing vehicle markings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10860866-B2
Application number	US-201916720272-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2019
Priority date	Sep 19, 2016
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

A system and method for legible capture of vehicle identification data includes video cameras and a computer. Recording attributes such as gain, gain shutter speed, and white balance are adjusted throughout ranges to maximize the likelihood of capturing at least one frame in which characters, such as those on the license plate, are legible. Successful capture of a legible frame may trigger storage of the data, while unsuccessful capture may trigger additional scans.

First claim

Having thus described various embodiments of the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includes the following:

1. A method of scanning for a legible marking on a vehicle, the method including the steps of:
scanning using a video camera,
wherein the video camera has at least one recording attribute;
sweeping the at least one recording attribute across a scan range by uniform increments,
wherein the scan range is defined by a lower limit and an upper limit,
determining a size of the uniform increments based on at least one of a time of day and a sensed ambient light level;
determining, after said sweeping of said at least one recording attribute, that the legible marking on the vehicle has been captured based at least in part on a user's response to a displayed image of at least a portion of the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one recording attribute is a first recording attribute and the scan range is a first scan range, and further comprising the step of:
sweeping a second recording attribute across a second scan range,
wherein the second scan range is defined by a second lower limit and a second upper limit.

3. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein said first recording attribute remains at a first static value within said first scan range while said second recording attribute is swept across said second scan range, and
wherein said second recording attribute remains at a second static value within said second scan range while said first recording attribute is swept across said first scan range.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of:
sweeping a third recording attribute across a third scan range,
wherein the third scan range is defined by a third lower limit and a third upper limit.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first recording attribute is gain, the second recording attribute is shutter speed, and the third recording attribute is aperture.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of selecting said upper limit and said lower limit based on at least one of the time of day and the sensed ambient light level.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the displayed image with a video recording.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the video recording is associated with metadata comprising at least one of location data, a time stamp, and a serial number.

9. An image capture system including:
a video camera with at least one recording attribute; and
a processor configured to perform the steps of:
scanning using the video camera;
selecting a lower limit and an upper limit based on at least one of a time of day and a sensed ambient light level;
sweeping the at least one recording attribute across a scan range,
wherein the scan range is defined by the lower limit and the upper limit;
determining, after said sweeping of said at least one recording attribute, that a legible marking on the vehicle has been captured based on a computer recognition of a valid marking.

10. The image capture system of claim 9 , further comprising a storage device for storing an image of the legible marking with metadata associated with the image.

11. The image capture system of claim 9 , wherein the video camera is a personal recording device worn by a law enforcement officer.

12. The image capture system of claim 9 , wherein the video camera is a vehicle recording device mounted in a law enforcement vehicle.

13. The image capture system of claim 9 , further comprising a display for displaying an image of the captured legible marking to a user.

14. A method of scanning for a legible marking on a vehicle, the method including the steps of:
scanning using a video camera,
wherein the video camera has at least one recording attribute;
selecting a lower limit and an upper limit based on at least one of a time of day and a sensed ambient light level;
sweeping the at least one recording attribute across a scan range,
wherein the scan range is defined by the lower limit and the upper limit;
determining, after said sweeping of said at least one recording attribute, that the legible marking on the vehicle has been captured based on a computer recognition of a valid marking format.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the recording attribute is swept across the scan range by uniform increments.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising the step of determining a size of the uniform increments based on at least one of the time of day and the sensed ambient light level.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising the step of initiating a second scan upon a determination that the marking on the vehicle has not been legibly captured.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the second scan sweeps the recording attribute across a modified scan range that is not identical to the scan range.

19. The method of claim 14 , further comprising the step of extracting and storing textual data from the legible marking.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the textual data from the legible marking is stored in metadata associated with a video recording.

Assignees

• Digital Ally Inc

Inventors

• Han Peng
• Dick Jeremy A

Classifications

• H04N23/60

  Control of cameras or camera modules · CPC title

• H04N5/77 Primary

  between a recording apparatus and a television camera · CPC title

• G06V20/54 Primary

  of traffic, e.g. cars on the road, trains or boats · CPC title

• G06V20/625

  License plates · CPC title

• G06V20/63

  Scene text, e.g. street names · CPC title