Method and system for vehicle classification

1. A method for classification of vehicles comprising:

(a) calibrating a transformation angle between a camera image and a road surface;

(b) detecting moving objects on the road surface in the camera image;

(c) establishing a vertical axis of symmetry for each of the moving objects;

(d) detecting dominant horizontal edges intersecting with the vertical axis of symmetry for each of the moving objects;

(e) tracking the dominant horizontal edges for a plurality of consecutive video frames;

(f) projecting each of the dominant horizontal edges onto a ground plane;

(g) treating each pair of adjacent projected edges as a projected surface;

(h) calculating changes in the projected surface; and

(i) calculating distinct structural signatures from the changes in the projected surfaces.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

classifying the distinct structural signatures in a class based on the distinct structural signatures and wherein the moving object is a motor vehicle and the class includes one of the following: sedan, pickup, minivan and sport utility vehicle (SUV).

3. The method of claim 2 , comprising:

separating asymmetric parts of the moving objects and classifying them as non-vehicles, and after separating asymmetric parts of the moving objects and classifying them as non-vehicles, projecting a lower edge of the blob onto the road surface using the transformation in classification step (a), and wherein the projected size is a width of the vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising after treating each pair of adjacent projected edges as a projected surface, calculating a speed of a vehicle using a location of a lowest projected surface at at least two different times.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising classifying passenger vehicles on a road surface.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising allocating parking garage and/or parking lot spaces based on a vehicle classification.

7. The method of claim 2 , further comprising calculating vehicle speed for law enforcement.

8. The method of claim 2 , further comprising ensuring limited and/or controlled access to vehicles for security related applications.

9. A system for classification of vehicles comprising:

a camera for capturing images of at least one moving object; and

a computer processing unit, which performs the following steps:

(a) calibrating a transformation angle between a camera image and a road surface;

(b) detecting moving objects on the road surface in the camera image;

(c) establishing a vertical axis of symmetry for each of the moving objects;

(d) detecting dominant horizontal edges intersecting with the vertical axis of symmetry for each of the moving objects;

(e) tracking the dominant horizontal edges for a plurality of consecutive video frames;

(f) projecting each of the dominant horizontal edges onto a ground plane;

(g) treating each pair of adjacent projected edges as a projected surface;

(h) calculating changes in the projected surface; and

(i) calculating distinct structural signatures from the changes in the projected surfaces.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the computer processing unit further comprises a memory arrangement, a processing unit and an optional display unit for displaying data and/or classification of the distinct structures in the class.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the camera captures video images.

12. The system of claim 9 , further comprising classifying the distinct structural signatures in a class based on the distinct structural signatures.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising separating asymmetric parts of the moving objects and classifying them as non-vehicles.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising after separating asymmetric parts of the moving objects and classifying them as non-vehicles, projecting a lower edge of the blob onto the road surface using the transformation in classification step (a).

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable code embodied therein for classification of passenger vehicles and measuring their properties from a rear view video frame, the computer readable program code is configured to execute a process, which includes the steps of:

(a) calibrating a transformation angle between a camera image and a road surface;

(b) detecting moving objects on the road surface in the camera image;

(c) establishing a vertical axis of symmetry for each of the moving objects;

(d) detecting dominant horizontal edges intersecting with the vertical axis of symmetry for each of the moving objects;

(e) tracking the dominant horizontal edges for a plurality of consecutive video frames;

(f) projecting each of the dominant horizontal edges onto a ground plane;

(g) treating each pair of adjacent projected edges as a projected surface;

(h) calculating changes in the projected surface; and

(i) calculating distinct structural signatures from the changes in the projected surfaces.

16. The product of claim 15 , further comprising classifying the distinct structural signatures in a class based on the distinct structural signatures.

17. The product of claim 16 , wherein the moving object is a motor vehicle and the class includes one of the following sedan, pickup, minivan and sport utility vehicle (SUV).

18. The product of claim 17 , further comprising separating asymmetric parts of the moving objects and classifying them as non-vehicles.

19. The product of claim 18 , further comprising after separating asymmetric parts of the moving objects and classifying them as non-vehicles, projecting a lower edge of the blob onto the road surface using the transformation in classification step (a).