License Plate Data Collection System for Stolen Vehicle Identification

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing vehicle surveillance systems lack comprehensive data storage over extended periods and effective analysis of collected license plate data for various applications, such as identifying stolen vehicles, determining residency, and enforcing regulations.

Innovation Solution

A system for collecting, storing, and processing license plate data, including time and location information, which allows for correlation and comparison with databases to identify patterns and anomalies, such as repeated appearances of a vehicle in the same location, enabling the identification of abandoned stolen vehicles and determining residency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If license plate data is collected and stored over extended periods for comprehensive analysis, then the ability to identify patterns such as abandoned stolen vehicles and determine residency improves, but the system complexity and data storage requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccuracy of vehicle identification and residency determinationVSAvoiddata storage and processing system complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the data storage system into multiple databases organized by geographic region, time period, and vehicle type. This segmentation allows the system to manage extended period data more efficiently by dividing it into manageable sections that can be accessed and analyzed independently, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining comprehensive coverage.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces multiple dimensions for data organization including geographic location, time intervals, vehicle characteristics, and ownership information. By adding these dimensional layers to the data storage structure, the system can efficiently query and analyze specific aspects of the collected data without requiring complete processing of all stored information, thereby managing complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

2Loss of information

If comprehensive vehicle data including images and multiple data fields is collected, then the information available for analysis and law enforcement applications increases, but the data processing time and computational resources required increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecompleteness of vehicle informationVSAvoiddata processing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements preliminary processing of collected vehicle data by automatically extracting key information fields from images and raw data during the collection phase. Data is pre-organized into standardized formats and indexed by relevant characteristics before being stored in databases, which significantly reduces the time required for subsequent analysis and querying operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent creates multiple copies of vehicle data stored in different formats and organizational structures within the database system. This allows the same underlying information to be accessed efficiently for different types of queries without requiring repeated processing of the original raw data, thereby reducing processing time while maintaining complete information availability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

3Measurement precision

If data is collected from multiple locations and time periods to improve analysis accuracy, then the ability to identify stolen vehicles and enforce regulations improves, but the quantity of data to be managed and processed increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaccuracy of vehicle identificationVSAvoidvolume of collected data
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent designs a universal database structure and processing framework that can handle multiple types of vehicle data from various sources, locations, and time periods using the same organizational schema and query mechanisms. This multi-functional approach allows the system to efficiently manage diverse data volumes without requiring separate processing systems for each data source, thereby controlling management complexity despite increased data quantity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentUS7579965B2Vehicle data collection and processing system
Publication Date: 2009.08.25 VIGILANT SOLUTIONS LLC
  • US7579965B2 patent drawing
  • US7579965B2 patent drawing
  • US7579965B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A system for collecting, storing, linking and processing license plate data to provide compilations of information and displays of such compiled information. The system has a license plate reading system that may record time and location data in addition to license plate data, license plate image data, and image data of a vehicle. The data is collected over an extended period of time and stored for later searching. The data may be correlated, indexed and/or categorized in storage. The collected data may be compared to various existing or other databases and correlated and/or indexed to such databases. That collected data may be processed, searched, and/or analyzed for a variety of purposes.