JP2001325696A - Vehicle number plate reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle number plate reader that cannot be recognized by the vehicle driver and his/her fellow passengers. SOLUTION: An illumination means 9 which illuminates the number plate of a vehicle 8 and an image pickup means 10 which photographs the number plate are built into a casing 12 that contains an electric information display means 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a license plate reader installed along a road or the like, and provides a camera for imaging and illumination for illuminating the license plate with a road for providing information to a driver and his / her passenger. The present invention relates to a camouflage vehicle number reading device by being incorporated in the same housing as a nearby lightning information display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional vehicle license plate reading apparatus is schematically constructed as shown in FIG.
That is, for example, an image pickup means such as a charge-coupled device camera 10 (hereinafter abbreviated as a CCD camera) for picking up an image of a license plate, an illuminating device 3 turned on when the illuminance is insufficient, a recognition device 2 for recognizing license plate information, and a license plate It comprises a computer 4 for performing various processes based on the information. The CCD camera 10 and the lighting device 3
Is installed on a mounting base 6 provided on a column 5 on the side of the road 7 near the road, as shown in FIG.
The license plate attached to the front of the vehicle 8 traveling on the road 7 is illuminated and photographed.

The illuminating device 3 includes a light emitting diode (L) that emits infrared light so as not to distract the driver of the vehicle.
It is realized by ED) or laser diode, etc., and is turned on when the illuminance is insufficient such as at night, rainy weather, or cloudy weather.

[0004] The CCD camera 10 always takes pictures at time intervals corresponding to the video rate (30 times per second), and sends the image data to the recognition device 2. The recognition device 2 binarizes the image data to determine whether a license plate is present in the image data. If the image data includes a license plate, the recognition device 2 converts the image of the license plate portion of the vehicle into an image. Cut out and recognize license plate information.

[0005] The recognized license plate information is sent to the computer 4 and accumulated, and is used for finding a stolen vehicle or a criminal vehicle by comparing it with, for example, license plate information of a stolen vehicle registered in advance. In this case, when the computer 4 detects a stolen vehicle or a criminal vehicle arranged, a system may be configured to automatically notify a patrol car or a portable terminal of a police officer (neither is shown). By comparing with license plate information obtained by a license plate reader installed at another place, it is used for predicting the arrival time between two points or detecting traffic congestion.

[0006]

In many cases, a vehicle license plate reader has a CCD camera 10 and an illuminating device 3 mounted on a mount 6 protruding on a road as shown in FIG. Alternatively, it may be installed on a pedestal provided on a pedestrian bridge without using the pillars 5. On road 7,
Nothing blocks the CCD camera 10 and the illuminating device 3 from the field of view of the driver of the vehicle or his / her passenger. In addition, the CCD camera 10 and the lighting device 3 have shapes that can be immediately recognized.

Accordingly, in the daytime, the driver and his / her passenger can easily know the installation location and the existence of the CCD camera 10 and the lighting device 3 even from a distance, and thereby the vehicle The presence of a license plate reader is clearly recognized by those people.

Even in the nighttime, the road and its vicinity are often bright due to the headlights of vehicles, street lights on the side of the road, or the lighting of surrounding buildings. The presence of the lighting device 3 can be known. On the other hand, a driver or a passenger of such a stolen vehicle or a criminal vehicle always keeps its behavior and existence unknown to others. Because those drivers try to act as secretly as possible, CCD camera 1
When the passenger and the passenger recognize the presence of the lighting device 3 and 0, the driver attempts to avoid the place and pass. Accordingly, it becomes difficult to detect the offender's vehicle by the vehicle license plate reader, and the offender may be missed. That would inevitably increase the time and expense of criminal offenses. In recent years, there has been an increase in theft of vehicles and widespread use of crimes by arresting criminals using vehicles to escape, and it is increasingly important to increase the rate of criminal arrest and detection by such systems. Is growing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle license plate reading device which is hardly recognized by a driver or his / her passenger. Is to do.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a license plate reader according to the present invention is provided with an illuminating means for illuminating a vehicle license plate, an imaging means for imaging the license plate, and an imaging means. In the license plate reading device provided with image recognition means for recognizing license plate information from an image captured by the user, the illumination means and the imaging means are incorporated in the same housing as the lightning information display means installed near the road. It is characterized by having been done.

According to this structure, the driver of the vehicle running on the road or his / her passenger is less likely to recognize the illuminating means and the image pickup means of the license plate reader, and accordingly the license plate is read. Less is known about the presence of the reader.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a traffic monitoring system to which a license plate reader according to the present invention is applied.

In the license plate reader of this traffic monitoring system, for example, an LED 9 as illumination means for illuminating a license plate of a vehicle, and a CCD camera 10 as imaging means for imaging the license plate, for example.
It is incorporated in the same housing 12 as the lightning information display means 1.

More specifically, a housing 12 is installed on a mounting base 6 provided on a post 5 on the side of the road 7 on which the main body of the electronic information display means 1 and a CCD camera are mounted. 10 and a main body portion of the LED 9 are housed therein, and a lens portion of the CCD camera 10 and a light emitting portion of the LED 9 are arranged so as to be located together with a display portion of the electric light information display means 1 on a front side facing the traveling vehicle. .

The LED 9 in the housing 12 is lit at night, when the illuminance is insufficient such as rainy or cloudy, and the electric light information display means 1 displays information to be transmitted to the driver of the vehicle 8 running on the road. The CCD camera 10 has a constant video rate (3 per second).
0), and the image data is sent to a recognition device (not shown). Recognition device (not shown) By binarizing image data,
It is determined whether or not there is a license plate in the image data. If there is a license plate in the image data, an image of the license plate portion of the vehicle is cut out, and license plate information is recognized. The recognized license plate information is sent to a computer (not shown) and stored, or compared with the license plate information of the criminal vehicle registered in advance, as in the related art.

The image pickup means 10 does not need to be a CCD camera, but may be of any other type. The information displayed on the electric light information display means 1 is "freezing" in this embodiment. However, information on the speed limit may be displayed as shown in FIG. 2, or information desired to be transmitted to the driver other than road traffic information may be displayed. The displayed characters may move to the left or right or up and down, and the content of the displayed information may be changed as needed by controlling from a distant place.
Also, in FIGS. 1 and 2, the electric light information display means 1 and the LED 9 as the lighting means are separated and separate, but they can be integrated to satisfy both functions at the same time. That is, although not specifically shown, for example, an LED
The information such as characters may be expressed by utilizing the presence or absence of the color 9 or the difference in the color, so that the electric light information display means 1 and the illumination means 9 may be combined.

In the above-described embodiment, the housing housing the three members of the electric light information display means, the image pickup means, and the illumination means is installed on the mount 6 provided on the column 5 near the road. The embodiment of the invention is not necessarily limited to the one fixed to the column as described above, and may be installed directly on the side of a road. Further, it may be mounted on a movable vehicle. In this case, a recognition device for recognizing license plate information from image data from the imaging means and a computer for processing the license plate information may be mounted on the same vehicle.

In order to recognize the approach of the vehicle, a loop coil (not shown) may be buried in the road, and the imaging means and the illuminating means may be operated by the output. In this case, the imaging unit and the illumination unit may be operated only when the approach of the vehicle 8 is detected by the loop coil.

The following are examples of applications of the present license plate reader. 1. A crime vehicle detection system for detecting a stolen vehicle or a criminal vehicle by sending license plate information obtained by the license plate reader of the present invention to a computer and comparing the license plate information with a previously registered license plate information of a stolen vehicle.

2. A vehicle entry / exit management system that includes the license plate reader of the present invention in a hotel or a department store parking lot, and collects and manages license plate information of vehicles entering and leaving.

3. The license plate reader of the present invention is installed in an industrial waste disposal site, reads the license plate information of vehicles entering the disposal site, and compares it with the license plate information of a registered vehicle having a pre-created entrance permission. An industrial waste disposal site management system that detects illegally dumped vehicles.

[0022]

As described above, the license plate reading apparatus according to the present invention has the lighting means and the image pickup means incorporated in the same housing as the light information display means near the road, thereby providing the light information display means. It is characterized by being integrated.

According to this structure, the driver of the vehicle and its passengers are less likely to recognize the image pickup means and the illuminating means of the license plate reader, and the license plate reader can recognize the license plate information of those vehicles. Is less likely to be known to be trying to read.

Therefore, the use of the criminal vehicle detection system using the present invention makes it difficult for criminal vehicles or stolen vehicles to pass by avoiding the road on which the license plate reader is installed. This has the effect of increasing the rate of criminal arrests and detections, and further reduces crime.

If a vehicle entrance / exit management system using the present invention is installed in a hotel or a parking lot of a department store, the existence of a vehicle license plate reader is rarely known, so that a criminal using a vehicle can be used. This has the effect of reducing the number of attempts to avoid the hotel or department store and making it easier to find criminals.

Further, if the license plate reader of the present invention is installed at an industrial waste disposal site, it is less likely that a driver who intends to perform illegal dumping will try to enter the disposal site avoiding the license plate reader. Therefore, there is an effect that it becomes easier to find illegally dumped vehicles.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an overview of a traffic monitoring system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating a license plate reading device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a conventional license plate reader.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the installation state of a conventional license plate reading device on a road.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. 1. Lightning information display means Recognition device 3. Lighting device 4. Computer 5. Prop 6. Mounting base 7. Road 8. Vehicle 9. 9. Lighting means (LED, light emitting diode) Imaging means (CCD camera) 12. Housing

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A license plate reading apparatus comprising: illuminating means for illuminating a license plate of a vehicle; imaging means for imaging the license plate; and image recognition means for reading an image taken by the imaging means. A license plate reader, wherein the imaging means is incorporated in the same housing as the electric light information display means installed near the road.