Method and apparatus for maintaining a customer database using license plate scanning
View Patent ↗An apparatus is provided for generating an image of a license plate and determining license plate characters from the image. Then, a database is searched to determine if there is a customer record that corresponds to the license plate characters. If so, the customer record is retrieved and information about the customer is available. Otherwise, a customer record is created. The created customer record corresponds to the license plate characters and stores transaction data that represents a transaction.
1. A method for maintaining a database using license plate scanning, comprising:
generating an image of a license plate of a customer in a drive through;
determining a set of license plate characters from the image, the set of license plate characters identifying the customer; and
providing customized service to the customer.
2. An apparatus for maintaining a database using license plate scanning, comprising:
means for generating an image of a license plate of a customer in a drive through;
means for determining a set of license plate characters from the image, the set of license plate characters identifying the customer; and
means for providing customized service to the customer.
3. An apparatus for maintaining a database using license plate scanning, comprising:
a storage device; and
a processor connected to the storage device,
the storage device storing a program for controlling the processor; and
the processor operative with the program to:
generate an image of a license plate of a customer in a drive through;
determine a set of license plate characters from the image, the set of license plate characters identifying a customer; and
provide customized service to the customer.