LPR
123 – 64 camera Licence Plate Recognition
The LPR 123 system works in conjunction with the GeoVision Digital Surveillance System and allows up to 64 cameras to be connected from 4 or more GeoVision systems. The major facilities of the system include:
Ø Up to 64 cameras can be connected to the LPR 123 system
Ø 16 cameras can be used to recognize the front number plate
Ø 16 can be used for rear plate recognition
Ø 16 can be used to capture an image of the driver’s face
Ø A further 16 cameras could give a general view of the vehicle.
Ø Front and rear plates can be compared with one another
Ø A ticket number can be passed to LPR 123 from another program
Ø The plate number can be sent to other programs
Ø Overlay LPR check results to GeoVision video files
Ø On exit, a check ensures that the vehicle entered with the same ticket
Ø Access pictures and live video with a click of the mouse
Ø Automatic deletion of old data
Ø Full set of reporting programs
Ø
Produce your own customized reports if required
The following information is
shown above each picture:
Ø
Licence plate number
Ø
Lane on which the event occurred
Ø
The time at which the picture was
taken, and
Ø
The resulting status
o
Green means the licence is valid
and the boom will be opened
o
o
Red means that the plate is on the
hot list and an alarm is raised
The grid at the left of the
screen shows the events which have occurred for that day. More events may be
shown if the system has not been restarted for some days. Double-clicking any
entry (except a delete or open entry) shows the pictures associated with the
entry.
The “Camera Errors” grid
at the bottom left shows any cameras which were detected as not working when a
picture was last requested from them. An error will remain until the next time
data is requested and successfully obtained.
The “Alarm Queue” is a
list of vehicles which have specifically been barred from entering. These may or
may not still be the subject of one of the four event pictures. Manual
intervention is required to remove these from the list, either by deleting an
entry when the vehicle has turned back or by opening the barrier, as required,
Clicking on an event in the
queue and then on the “Live” or “Picture” button will show the 1, 2, 3
or 4 live views or pictures from the cameras associated with the lane.
The “Unknown Queue”
operates the same as the “Alarm Queue” except that it’s entries are the
result of being neither on the Valid list nor on the Hot List.
The “Valid” button
displays the list of valid plate number and owner names and allows the user to
add, modify or delete these entries, While the “Hotlist” button allows the
same operations to be performed for entries which are barred from the facility.
The “Log” button displays the normal event log.
The “Setup” button
displays the LPR 123 setup screen, while “Search” displays the search and
report screen (See below).
The screen above is the setup screen for the LPR 123 system. The fields shown are as follows:
Primary
Camera:
This is always the camera
which is positioned to read the number plate, generally the front number plate.
The IP address of the GeoVision DVR should be entered as well as the camera
number on the DVR. The cameras do not have to be on the same DVR.
If the installation requires
that front and rear number plates be compared with each other, then the In/Out
fields must reflect the actual in and out lanes. Lane 1 is the first entry, lane
2 the second, with a maximum of 16 primary cameras.
Input
Trigger:
This can either be the input
pin number of the GeoVision Input/Output module or a Windows socket on which the
LPR program will listen for notification of events. Both methods can be used at
the same time. If a ticket number is supplied, it will come via the Windows
Socket.
Output
Trigger:
Similar to the input
trigger, you can specify either an output pin on a GeoVision Output Relay module
or a Windows Socket, or both. In the case of a Windows Socket, the registration
number, level of confidence and the result (Valid, Hot List or Unknown) will be
returned. If pin output is selected and the plate is recognized as a valid
entry, then the gate or boom would automatically be raised via the pin output.
Rear
Plate Camera:
This would normally be the
IP Address and camera number of the camera which is used to capture the rear
plate of the vehicle. When the option to compare the front and the rear plate is
selected, the higher confidence result from the recognition engine will be used
to determine if the vehicle is authorized or not. If there is a mismatch, then
an error message with the two views will be displayed. This will also prevent
tailgating because the following vehicle will tend to obscure the rear plate
number.
If the option to compare
primary to rear camera is not selected, then the camera can simply be used as
another view if required.
Facial
Camera:
This camera would normally
be the camera which gives a view of the driver’s face from the side. It can
however be used for any related view.
Other
Camera:
Usually this would be the
camera which provides an overall view of the scene.
As for the Primary cameras,
a maximum of 16 Rear, Facial, and Other (Overall) camera views may be specified,
making a total of 64 cameras in all. Unless the IP Address of the lane is
specified, all other fields for that lane will be ignored.
Compare
Primary to Rear Camera:
If this option is selected,
the result of the Primary and the Rear plate recognitions will be compared. If
they are not the same then an error screen will be shown with the picture of
each of the views.
Compare
ticket on entry and exit:
If the LPR 123 application
is being sent ticket numbers via the Windows Socket input, then this option can
be selected to ensure that the vehicle exits with the same ticket and that the
ticket which is being presented at the exit, is the same vehicle captured on
entry. If either of these two tests fails, then an error screen is displayed
with all the relevant details.
Always
show entry/exit pictures:
Selecting this option will
cause LPR 123 to show the entry and exit pictures and information for every
exit. Use of this option means that every exit will have to be manually
authorized by the security officer.
GeoVision
User Id and GeoVision Password:
This is the GeoVision user
and password which allows remote access to the GeoVision DVRs. If there are
multiple DVRs, then the user and password must be the same for each one.
Remote
Host:
If the Windows Socket output
option is enabled, the LPR 123 will need to know the common name or IP address
of the remote PC to which the result of the recognition is to be sent. If
Windows Sockets are not employed, then this field is not used.
Number
of images:
This is the number of
pictures and comparisons that LPR 123 will use in making a single recognition
for a camera. If the conditions and camera positioning are such that confidence
levels will generally be high, then the number of images should be low (1 in
ideal conditions). Use of higher numbers can result in slow response times as
multiple images must be fetched and compared.
Confidence
level:
This is the confidence level
which should be returned by the LPR engine in order for the installing location
to feel confident about allowing the vehicle to enter. Too high a value could
cause lots of manual intervention, while too low a level would allow errors to
occur. The installing location should experiment with the value. With good
conditions, a value of 85 would be optimum.
Days
to keep data:
Every time an event occurs,
a picture from each camera is saved to disk and an entry is made in a database
table. The disk therefore needs to be cleaned periodically. When the cleanup is
run, all pictures and database entries which are older than the specified number
of days are deleted.
Run
cleanup at:
This is the time at which
the cleanup job will be automatically run to delete any data which is older than
the specified number of days.
Save
button:
Clicking the Save button
will save any setup changes which have been made.
Exit
button:
Clicking the Exit button
will exit setup without saving any changes made since the Save button was last
clicked.
You can access the Valid Plate List by clicking on the Valid Button on the LPR 123 main screen.
In all cases, you must save the new or changed entry by
clicking on another line.
You can access the Valid Plate List by clicking on the
Valid Button on the LPR 123 main screen.
Enter new numbers and names on the line with an asterisk
(*). Modify existing numbers and names by clicking on the field you want to
change and overtyping the entry.
Double-clicking on an event
in the main log or selecting an event in the alarm or unknown queue and then on
the “Live” or “Picture” button will show the 1, 2, 3 or 4 live views or
pictures from the cameras associated with the lane.
If front and rear plate
comparison is activated, then an error screen is shown when the two number
plates do not match.
When ticket checking is in effect, if a ticket number is
different on exit, then an error screen similar to that below would be
displayed. This would also occur where a different ticket to which was issued on
entry was being used.
When a vehicle is exiting with ticket checking active and
no record of that ticket exists, the following screen will be displayed.
Clicking
on the “Search” button on the LPR 123 main screen displays the following:
You can select a plate number and/or a ticket number for
which to search.
In addition, you can also select a date range within which
to search. Once one or more of these four parameters have been selected, click
the “Run” button.
The “Valid list” button produces a list of the authorized plates which have been entered into the system, while the “Hot list” button produces a report of the vehicle plates which have been specifically disbarred from entering the facility.