IP Library Granted Patent US 12670734
Granted Patent B2
US 12670734 · App. 18/221,712 · Granted Jun 30, 2026

Real-time license plate detection and recognition method and device based on color augmentation

Inventors: Fen Xu (Hangzhou, CN); Jun Wang (Hangzhou, CN); Weiqiang Cao (Hangzhou, CN); Xiaogang Xu (Hangzhou, CN)
Assignee: ZHEJIANG LAB
G06V20/625G06T5/50G06T7/90G06V10/247G06V10/26G06V10/774G06V10/82G06T2207/10024G06T2207/20081G06T2207/20084
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12670734
App. No.
18/221,712
Granted
Jun 30, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present invention discloses a real-time license plate detection and recognition method and device based on color augmentation, the method comprises: step 1 : obtaining car images containing license plates as a license plate detection training set, inferring license plate detection results through the trained license plate detection model; step 2 : performing view correction transformation on the detected license plates to obtain frontal view images of the license plates; step 3 , using the obtained frontal view images of the license plates as a training set for license plate recognition, using a license plate recognition model based on deep neural network for license plate recognition to obtain license plate recognition results; step 4 : displaying the license plate detection results and the license plate recognition results on the original test images or outputting them as needed, completing the detection and recognition of the license plates in the images.

Claims (32)

1 . A real-time license plate detection and recognition method based on color augmentation, comprising the following steps:

obtaining car images containing license plates as a license plate detection training set, transforming images containing blue license plates in the detection training set into images containing yellow license plates and green license plates through color augmentation, and then using a license plate detection model based on deep convolutional neural network for training to obtain a trained license plate detection model, inferring license plate detection results through the trained license plate detection model;

performing view correction transformation on the detected license plates to obtain frontal view images of the license plates;

using the obtained frontal view images of the license plates as a training set for license plate recognition, using a license plate recognition model based on a deep neural network for license plate recognition to obtain license plate recognition results by the following sub steps:

collecting license plate recognition samples and creating the recognition training dataset;

processing color augmentation on the recognition training dataset;

training the license plate recognition model by using the color augmented dataset;

testing the license plate recognition model and obtaining the license plate recognition results;

displaying the license plate detection results and the license plate recognition results on the original test images or outputting the license plate detection results and the license plate recognition results, completing the detection and recognition of the license plates in the images;

wherein, the color augmentation comprises the following process:

reading the RGB color space of frontal view images M2 of the blue license plates in the recognition training dataset;

subtracting each value in the RGB color space of images M2 from 255 to obtain images M3; at this time, the frontal view images M2 of the blue license plates is converted into the frontal view images M3 of the yellow license plates;

converting the RGB color space of images M3 to the HSV color space;

randomly generating a number n1 within a range of [9,51];

adding n1 to each number in Hue (H) space and then modulo 180 to obtain H2;

replacing H in the images M3 with H2 to obtain converted images M4; at this time, the frontal view images M2 of the blue license plates is converted into the frontal view images M4 of the green license plates.

2 . The real-time license plate detection and recognition method based on color augmentation according to claim 1 , wherein, the first step comprises the following sub steps:

collecting license plate detection samples and creating the detection training dataset;

processing color augmentation on the detection training dataset;

training the license plate detection model by using the color augmented dataset;

testing the license plate detection model and obtaining the license plate detection results.

3 . The real-time license plate detection and recognition method based on color augmentation according to claim 2 , wherein, the color augmentation in step comprises the following process:

reading the RGB color space of images M of the blue license plates in the detection training dataset;

converting RGB color space to HSV color space;

randomly generating a number n within the range of [74, 98] or [23, 89];

subtracting n from each number in Hue (H) space and then modulo 180 to obtain H1;

replacing H in images M with H1 to obtain converted images M1;

when the random number n is within the range of [74, 98], the images M of the blue license plates are converted into images of the yellow license plates; when the random number n is within the range of [23, 89], the images M of the blue license plates are converted to images of the green license plates.

4 . The real-time license plate detection and recognition method based on color augmentation according to claim 1 , wherein, the step 2 is specifically as follows: obtaining a position of the horizontal frame and four corner points of the license plate through the license plate detection model, cutting the license plate from the original image according to the position of the horizontal frame, and then using Affine Transformation to transform the view according to the position of the four corner points of the license plate, and outputting the frontal view images of the license plates; the license plate detection model adopts a deep convolutional neural network YOLOv5s architecture.

5 . The real-time license plate detection and recognition method based on color augmentation according to claim 4 , wherein, the Affine Transformation refers to a process of performing a linear transformation in vector space, which is, multiplying a matrix, and a translation, which is adding a vector, and then transforming to another vector space.

6 . A real-time license plate detection and recognition device based on color augmentation, comprising one or more processors, for implementing the real-time license plate detection and recognition method based on color augmentation of claim 1 .

7 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium on which a program is stored, the program is executed by a processor for implementing the real-time license plate detection and recognition based on color augmentation of claim 6 .