IP Library Granted Patent US 9,361,546
Granted Patent B1
US 9,361,546 · App. 14/957,272 · Granted Jun 7, 2016

Locating persons of interest based on license plate recognition information

Inventor: Shawn B. Smith (Portola Valley, CA)
Assignee: VaaS, Inc.
G06K9/72G06K9/6218G06T7/004G06K2209/01G06T2207/30232G06T2207/30252
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,361,546
App. No.
14/957,272
Granted
Jun 7, 2016
Kind
B1
Abstract

Possible locations of a person of interest are ranked based on LPR instances captured around physical locations and license plate numbers associated with the person of interest. An LPR instance includes an indication of a vehicle license plate number, a physical location, and a time when the LPR instance was captured by a LPR system. A possible location of the person of interest may be a location of an LPR instance that matches the license plate number or an address location associated with the person of interest. The ranking may be based on the number of LPR visits to each location, the number of license plate number matches at each location, or an attribute of a cluster of LPR instances. In some examples, an electronic message is rapidly communicated to an entity if a target license plate number is found at a highly ranked location.

Claims (48)

1. A method comprising:

receiving an indication of a license plate number of a vehicle associated with a person of interest onto a computing system including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing an amount of program code that when executed by the processor is for:

determining a plurality of License Plate Recognition (LPR) instances recognized within a search zone around any of a plurality of possible locations of the person of interest, wherein a possible location of the person of interest includes any of a location of an LPR instance that matches the license plate number and an address location associated with the person of interest;

determining a number of LPR visits associated with each possible location of the person of interest;

determining a time of day associated with each of the number of LPR visits associated with a possible location of the person of interest;

identifying a property type of the possible location based at least in part on the time of day associated with each of the number of LPR visits associated with the possible location and the number of LPR instances scanned in each of the number of LPR visits; and

ranking the plurality of possible locations of the person of interest based at least in part on a plurality of LPR instances that match the license plate number and the number of LPR visits to each location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein an LPR instance of the plurality of LPR instances includes an indication of a vehicle license plate number, an indication of a physical location, and an indication of a time when the LPR instance was captured by a LPR system.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein an LPR visit is a period of time when an LPR unit approached a particular location, collected LPR information, and subsequently left the particular location.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a number of LPR instances that match the license plate number associated with a person of interest that are recognized within a first search zone around each of the possible locations of the person of interest, wherein the ranking of the plurality of possible locations is based at least in part on the determined number of LPR instances that match the license plate number associated with the person of interest within the first search zone.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

determining a number of LPR instances that match a license plate number associated with a person of interest that are recognized within a second search zone around each of the possible locations of the person of interest, wherein the ranking of the plurality of possible locations is based at least in part on a difference between the determined number of LPR instances that match the license plate number associated with the person of interest in the first search zone and the second search zone.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a distance between a location of each of a plurality of LPR instances matching a license plate number associated with a person of interest and each address associated with the person of interest; and

determining an average distance to the plurality of LPR instances for each address location, wherein the ranking of the plurality of possible locations of the person of interest is based at least in part on the determined average distances for each address location.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a plurality of clusters of recognized LPR instances based on a visiting time period that an LPR unit collected LPR instances within the search zone.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining at least one attribute of each of the clusters, wherein the ranking of the plurality of possible locations of the person of interest is based at least in part on the at least one attribute of each of the clusters of LPR instances.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining of the at least one attribute involves determining a number of the LPR instances recognized in each of a plurality of time periods of a day based on whether each LPR instance was scanned during each of the time periods, and wherein the ranking of the possible locations is based at least in part on the number of LPR instances scanned in each of the time periods.

10. A method comprising:

receiving a plurality of LPR instances that include a plurality of license plate numbers within a search zone around a location onto a computing system including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing an amount of program code that when executed by the processor is for:

determining a time of day associated with each of a number of LPR visits associated with a possible location of the person of interest;

identifying a property type of the possible location based at least in part on the time of day associated with each of the number of LPR visits associated with the possible location and the number of LPR instances scanned in each of the number of LPR visits; and

ranking the possible location of the person of interest based at least in part on a plurality of LPR instances that match a license plate number associated with the person of interest and the number of LPR visits to the location.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium storing an amount of program code that, when executed, causes the apparatus to:

receive an indication of a license plate number of a vehicle associated with a person of interest;

determine a plurality of License Plate Recognition (LPR) instances recognized within a search zone around any of the plurality of possible locations of the person of interest, wherein a possible location of the person of interest includes any of a location of an LPR instance that matches the license plate number and an address location associated with the person of interest;

determine a number of LPR visits associated with each possible location of the person of interest;

determine a time of day associated with each of the number of LPR visits associated with a possible location of the person of interest;

identify a property type of the possible location based at least in part on the time of day associated with each of the number of LPR visits associated with the possible location and the number of LPR instances scanned in each of the number of LPR visits; and

rank the plurality of possible locations of the person of interest based at least in part on a plurality of LPR instances that match the license plate number and the number of LPR visits to each location.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein an LPR visit is a period of time when an LPR unit approached a particular location, collected LPR information, and subsequently left the particular location.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , the non-transitory computer readable medium also storing an amount of program code that, when executed, causes the apparatus to

determine a number of LPR instances that match the license plate number associated with a person of interest that are recognized within a first search zone around each of the possible locations of the person of interest, wherein the ranking of the plurality of possible locations is based at least in part on the determined number of LPR instances that match the license plate number associated with the person of interest within the first search zone.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , the non-transitory computer readable medium also storing an amount of program code that, when executed, causes the apparatus to

determine a number of LPR instances that match a license plate number associated with a person of interest that are recognized within a second search zone around each of the possible locations of the person of interest, wherein the ranking of the plurality of possible locations is based at least in part on a difference between the determined number of LPR instances that match the license plate number associated with the person of interest in the first search zone and the second search zone.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , the non-transitory computer readable medium also storing an amount of program code that, when executed, causes the apparatus to

determine a distance between a location of each of a plurality of LPR instances matching a license plate number associated with a person of interest and each address associated with the person of interest; and

determine an average distance to the plurality of LPR instances for each address location, wherein the ranking of the plurality of possible locations of the person of interest is based at least in part on the determined average distances for each address location.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , the non-transitory computer readable medium also storing an amount of program code that, when executed, causes the apparatus to

determine a plurality of clusters of recognized LPR instances based on a visiting time period that an LPR unit collected LPR instances within the search zone.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , the non-transitory computer readable medium also storing an amount of program code that, when executed, causes the apparatus to

determine at least one attribute of each of the clusters, wherein the ranking of the plurality of possible locations of the person of interest is based at least in part on the at least one attribute of each of the clusters of License Plate Recognition (LPR) instances.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the attribute includes a number of the LPR instances recognized in each of a plurality of time periods of a day based on whether each LPR instance was scanned during each of the time periods, and wherein the ranking of the possible locations is based at least in part on the number of LPR instances scanned in each of the time periods.

Assignments (8)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 5, 2019
From: VAAS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.
To: MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS SHELF CORP VI, INC.
Reel/Frame 048235/0464 →
MERGER Recorded Feb 5, 2019
From: MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS SHELF CORP. VI, INC.
To: VAAS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.
Reel/Frame 048235/0592 →
TERMINATION AND RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS Recorded Dec 12, 2018
From: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.
To: VAAS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.
Reel/Frame 049126/0791 →
NOTICE OF GRANT OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS Recorded May 8, 2018
From: VAAS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.
To: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A.
Reel/Frame 046102/0795 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 3, 2018
From: MUFG UNION BANK, N.A.
To: VAAS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.
Reel/Frame 045704/0181 →
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded May 11, 2017
From: VAAS, INC.
To: VAAS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.
Reel/Frame 042447/0385 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded May 5, 2017
From: VAAS INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, INC.
To: MUFG UNION BANK, N.A.
Reel/Frame 042260/0388 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 25, 2016
From: SMITH, SHAWN B.
To: VAAS, INC.
Reel/Frame 037575/0927 →
Continuity (3)
Continuation 14287138 · May 26, 2014
Continuation 13559469 · Jul 26, 2012
Provisional Application 61511557 · Jul 26, 2011