License plate recognition technology embedded in

Transcripción

VaxALPR On Camera
User Manual 1.0
License plate recognition technology
embedded in AXIS camera
User Manual
Version 1.0
VaxALPR On Camera User Manual
Version 1.0 – May 2016
VAXTOR SYSTEMS. Ronda de Poniente 15, 1º. Tres Cantos – SPAIN
Phone number: +34 91 757 22 11 -- e-mail: [email protected] – web: http://www.vaxtor.com
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VaxALPR On Camera
User Manual 1.0
Table of Contents
1.
About VaxALPR On Camera................................................................................................... 3
2.
Product installation ............................................................................................................... 3
3.
License ................................................................................................................................... 5
4.
Setup quick guide .................................................................................................................. 8
5.
Settings .................................................................................................................................. 9
5.1
Main Page .................................................................................................................... 10
5.1.1
Country Options .................................................................................................. 11
5.1.2
Environment Options .......................................................................................... 12
5.1.3
OCR Options ........................................................................................................ 13
5.1.4
Triggered Options ................................................................................................ 13
5.1.5
Reporting Options ............................................................................................... 13
5.2
Region of interest configuration (ROI) ........................................................................ 15
6.
VaxALPR On Camera events definition ............................................................................... 16
7.
VaxALPR On Camera Viewer ............................................................................................... 18
8.
Tips and basic troubleshooting guide ................................................................................. 18
ANNEX I ....................................................................................................................................... 20
ANNEX II ...................................................................................................................................... 21
ANNEX III ..................................................................................................................................... 22
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1. About VaxALPR On Camera
VaxALPR On Camera is a real-time solution for automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) with
multi-country support.
The product can be installed in all the AXIS cameras with ARTPEC-4 or ARTPEC-5 chips. The
analytics run entirely within the camera, thus no PC is required even for the setup.
VaxALPR On Camera is available for parking, low speed free-flow or high speed triggered
environments. Results are published through the network under VAPIX/ONVIF protocols, HTTP
POST or open proprietary format described in the annex I.
2. Product installation
1. Connect with the camera and select “Applications” at the menu on the left.
Axis Main Configuration page
Important: VaxALPR On Camera requires a license file. Trial licenses are available, please
contact with Vaxtor Systems to request one or check section 3.
Web: http://www.vaxtor.com
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2. Deploy VaxALPR On Camera application.
Deploy menu


Press the button “Select file” and select the package file provided by Vaxtor Systems
(VaxALPR_On_Camera_1_0.eap)
Press “Upload package” to deploy the application.
The next image shows the application correctly deployed.
VaxALPR On Camera deployed
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3. License
VaxALPR On Camera requires a license file to run correctly. To acquire a valid license you can
contact Vaxtor Systems or download a trial license valid for 30 days from Axis website (a valid
Axis account will be needed). To download a valid license:
1. Select “Application->VaxALPR On Camera->License” on the left menu. Take note of the
device serial number that appear on the “Manual Installation” bullet and click on the
www.axis.com link.
2. A new browser window will open with the axis website. Login with your axis account or
create a new account. Once logged you will be redirected to the “License key registration”
webpage.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Insert your camera serial number.
Select “I do not have a license code”.
Select the application VaxALPR On Camera.
Press “Generate”. A valid license file will be downloaded.
Once you have a valid license file:
1. Select “Application->VaxALPR On Camera->License” on the left menu. Press the button
“Select file” and select the license file provided by Vaxtor Systems.
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2. Press the button “Install”.
License options
The next image shows the license installed.
License installed
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To ensure that the installation has been done correctly, select the option “Applications ->
Overview” on the left menu. The license column will have the value “Valid”.
Press “Start” button to run the application. The Status column will have the value “Running”.
License validation view
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4. Setup quick guide
By default, VaxALPR On Camera default parameters are set to recognize license plates in most
scenarios. To start the application follow the next steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Install the application.
Upload a correct license file.
Ensure that the application is running.
Select the main country (check section 5.1.1).
Optional: Create a Region of Interest delimiting the detection area (check section 5.2).
Configure the reporting options and the camera ID (check section 5.1.4).
Important: The “Reset” button at the Main Page will reset to default all the parameters.
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5. Settings
Please, read carefully this section to setup correctly VaxALPR On Camera application to your
environment conditions.
VaxALPR On Camera settings are located at the Applications->VaxALPR On Camera->Settings area
on the left menu.
VaxALPR On camera
Main page: Will open a new window with the available settings.
Region of Interest configuration: Will open a new tab with the Region of Interest creation
interface.
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5.1
Main Page
Main Page
Note: The “helps” button at the Main Page will show the parameters information.
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5.1.1
Country Options
Countries
Including at least 1 reference country is mandatory. The OCR is country independent, however
setting at least one reference increases performance which is a key factor to consider inside
the camera environment.
The country reference does not necessarily means that plates from other countries are not read
(see grammar strict parameter)

Countries (1-5): In order to add a new country to the list, click and select from the menu
and press the “+” button. The country will be added to the list below. It is possible to add
up to 5 countries.
To remove a country from the list, press the “x” button.
Important: Sort the countries list appearance from more to less probability of occurrence.
For instance, if the ANPR is set in UK, set UK as first reference country. To switch the order,
drag and drop the selected country to right position.
Background mode
Establish a difference between plate font and background color

“Dark foreground, light background”: Select this option when the plate background color
is lighter than the characters (for instance, black fonts on white background)

“Light foreground, dark background”: Select this option when the plate background color
is darker than the characters (for instance, white fonts on black background)

“Both”: Select this option when both types of plates may appear.
Important: Be accurate with this option. Do not select “both” unless it really make sense in
your scenario since the OCR performance is strongly affect by this setting
Grammar strict
Enable this option to bound results to the list of selected countries according to its plate
grammar. Only the plates matching the countries grammar will be considered as a valid result.
Disable this option to consider valid any read regardless there was a match or not among the
countries list.
Important: False positives may arise when this option is unchecked. The recommendation is to
leave this ON in free-flow mode and OFF in triggered mode
Minimum number of characters
Adjust plate number of potential characters
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
Minimum Number of Plate Characters: Minimum number of characters needed to be
considered a valid plate.

Maximum Number of Plate Characters: Maximum number of characters to be considered
a valid plate.
Read double line plates
Check this option to read plates with 2 lines.
Important: Uncheck this option if you do not consider reading squared plates
5.1.2
Environment Options
Resolution
Display the list of available resolutions suitable for VaxALPR On Camera.
Important: This resolution does not necessarily has to match the resolution set in the camera
main stream. To have an idea of what the scenario looks like it is recommended to set the
camera main stream to the same as you’re setting for the OCR. This way you can check the real
video “as is” from Axis Live Video View
Minimum number of characters and slope angle
Adjust the range of characters height in pixels

Minimum and Maximum Character Height (12-70 pixels): Minimum and maximum height
in pixels of the plate characters. To obtain a better performance of the application, it is
recommended a distance between 8 and 10 pixels from the minimum to the maximum
values set. Check Annex III.
Important: The more you narrow this range the faster and accurate the OCR will run. Skip
setting ranges such as min 14 and max 70 or similar unless it is necessary. If plate characters
fluctuate between 22 and 28 for instance, set 20 and 30 rather than 14 and 70

Maximum Slope Angle (0-40 degrees): Maximum slope allowed for the application. A
slope over 30 degrees is not recommended
Repeated plates
Minimum elapsed time to output the same plate (again)

Same Plate Delay (seconds): Time elapsed before the same plate is re-sent as a valid
results. It is recommended to set this option to 0 seconds in triggered mode.
For example, if the plate appears in the screen 10 second and the same plate delay is set in 2
seconds, the same plate will be throw up 5 times.
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5.1.3
OCR Options

Minimum Global Confidence (0-100): Minimum confidence needed in a plate recognition
to be a valid result. The global confidence is the average of the characters confidence.

Minimum Character confidence (0-100): Minimum confidence needed in a character to
be set as valid.

Mode:
o
Free-Flow: The ANPR works in continuous mode and does not require any trigger to
operate. All plates read are reported in real time.
o
Triggered: The application work in triggered mode using physical IO ports or Axis
virtual ports (see section 5.1.4). When the trigger event is set, the application will
perform a recognition and return the captured plate. If the system doesn’t
recognize a plate an event with “NONE” plate number is launched.
o
Axis Motion Detection: The motion detection activate the free-flow reading. The
application will recognize plates only when “Axis Motion Detector” event is active.
5.1.4 Triggered Options

Port number: Camera port number.

Is a virtual Port: When checked, the port number is set as virtual port.
5.1.5
Reporting Options

Write results to SD: When checked, the camera will save a JPEG image on each
recognition to the SD card in the camera. The images are stored in the folder
“/areas/Vaxreader/<date>/” inside the SD, and the image file name is set to HHMMSSPLATE.jpg in UTC time.

Send VAPIX / ONVIF events: When checked, the camera will send VAPIX / ONVIF event on
each recognition. The message format is detailed in the section 6.
o

ID: Numeric ID. Each report will use this ID as source.
Send Milestone or POST events: When checked, the camera will send a HTTP POST
notification to the Host, Port and Route specified bellow. The message posted is a wellformed XML following the format specified in the Annex II.
o
HOST: IP or hostname of the destination.
o
Port: Destination port.
o
Camera IP or ID: Public IP of the AXIS camera. Milestone will use this field to
identify the source of the event.
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o

Route: The URL where the notification will be sent. Set this field to “/” in case that
the HOST is a Milestone server.
Send proprietary events: When checked, the camera will send a notification to the Host
and Port specified bellow. The format of this notification is specified in the annex I.
o
HOST: IP or hostname of the destination.
o
Port: Destination port.
o
ID: Numeric ID. Each report will use this ID as source.
For .NET developers you can download VaxAlprRemotePlateParser.dll class library from
our web site to parse incoming raw data messages from VaxALPR On Camera and get an
easy to manage object with all results accessible to class members. The process is as
follows:
-
Get proprietary notification from VaxALPR On Camera in raw format (Annex I)
-
Send the full message data to the DLL parser and get a plate result instance. Class
members are “GetPlateNumber()”, “GetOCRImage()”, “GetCountry()” and so on…
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5.2
Region of interest configuration (ROI)
To define a new region of interest follow the next steps:
1. Click on the video image to draw the polygon. Each click will add a new node to the
polygon. The polygon will be draw in red color.
2. To restart the polygon press “Clear current ROI” button.
3. To finish the definition of the ROI press the “Save ROI” button. The ROI polygon will turn
green if set correctly.
To delete an existing ROI:
1. Press the “Delete ROI” button. The defined ROI will be erased from the video image.
Region of Interest Configuration
Important: A well-defined region of interest may shoot up the OCR performance. Use this tool
anytime you can, but beware with small regions. Try to maximize the potential recognition
area within the polygon while excluding zones where the plate won’t ever appear.
The view in the ROI matches the camera main stream resolution, not the one set from the OCR
menu. However, the selected region will be valid under the OCR’s. If you would like to visualize
exactly the same OCR view, please set both camera main stream and OCR to the same
resolution.
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6. VaxALPR On Camera events definition
VaxALPR can communicate with third party applications using a VAPIX notification. The
definition of the event is:
<!—VaxALPR On Camera Event -->
<Declaration>
<Item>
<Key NameSpace="tnsaxis">topic0</Key>
<String>CameraApplicationPlatform</String>
</Item>
<Item>
<String>Analysis</String>
</Item>
<Item>
<String>ALPR</String>
</Item>
<Item>
<Key>id</Key>
<Integer/>
<Tag>onvif-source</Tag>
</Item>
<Item>

<Key>plate</Key>
<String/>
<Tag>onvif-data</Tag>
</Item>
<Item>

<Key>timestamp</Key>
<Double/>
</Item>
<Item>

<Key>country</Key>
<String/>
</Item>
<Item>

<Key>confidence</Key>
<Double/>
</Item>
<Item>

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<Key>charconfidence</Key>
<String/>
</Item>
<Item>

<Key>charheight</Key>
<Double/>
</Item>
<Item>

<Key>processtime</Key>
<Double/>
</Item>
<Item>

<Key>left</Key>
<Integer/>
</Item>
<Item>
<Key>top</Key>
<Integer/>
</Item>
<Item>
<Key>right</Key>
<Integer/>
</Item>
<Item>
<Key>bottom</Key>
<Integer/>
</Item>
<Item>

<Key>roi</Key>
<Integer/>
</Item>
</Declaration>
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7. VaxALPR On Camera Viewer
You can download this free application from our website to monitor plates read by VaxALPR
On Camera. You shall activate proprietary notifications from the OCR configuration menu.
1. Go to VaxALPR On Camera configuration menu.
2. Go Notifications and select Send Proprietary Notifications
a. HOST: The computer IP where you’re running VaxALPR On Camera Viewer
b. PORT: Selected port number
c. ID: Number such as 1,2,3…
3. Run VaxALPR On Camera Viewer in your PC
4. Set the port number the same number you put in the camera PORT notification
5. Press the button “Start Listening” to capture the plates read from the camera
8. Tips and basic troubleshooting guide
You can use this guide to help you identify and resolve basic problems you may be
experiencing with the VaxALPR On Camera application.
I launch VaxALPR and stops suddenly
Make sure the license installed is valid
The software is running OK but it’s reading nothing
Can you see the plate with your eyes in the image? If the answer is NO, adjust the zoom and
focus to visualize the plate… if it’s YES, continue reading…
Assuming the countries list is correct… we’re going to set the parameters as much global as
possible and we’ll refine later…
1. Decrease confidence levels: 25 per character and 50 global
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2. Increase characters height range to something between 14 and 60 pixels
3. Disable grammar strict
4. Remove any existent ROI
Now it’s working OK…
Then we can refine the parameters
- Check the “log” to visualize the characters plate height to narrow the min/max range.
[INFO] Vaxreader: Plate 0 (<pixel height> - <milliseconds>): <plate>
- Do not make the ROI very strict
- Increase confidence level: 40 per character and 70 global
- Enable grammar strict
Now it’s working OK… but missing many plates
Assuming the OCR configuration is OK, check the log to display OCR recognition time and make
sure the ROI is correctly set. Please make sure vehicles are not moving at medium-high speed
or the cameras has a very large resolution that slows down the OCR processing.
Still not working fine…
Some tips about the camera settings
- The camera resolution impacts dramatically in OCR performance. If you have set 1.2 Mpix
and get plates 40 pixels height, it’s recommended to set 0.6 Mpix and get 20 pixels height
plates.
- The maximum gain recommended (Video&Audio->Camera Settings->Exposure Settings)
should be around 9 dB
- Shutter recommendation: fixed within this range:
a. 1/250: When the vehicle will stop in front of the camera.
b. 1/500: When the vehicle speed is lower than 40 km/h.
c. 1/1000: When the vehicle speed is higher than 40 km/h.
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ANNEX I
Each time VaxALPR On Camera recognizes a new plate, the application will open a TCP/IP
communication, send the following message and close the connection.
Message format:
- 4 bytes, int32 => 0xCAFEBABE is the start message header identifier (fixed)
- 4 bytes, int32 => 0xBABE10 result message (fixed)
- 4 bytes, int32 => VaxALPR instance ID, matches the tag Instance-ID from VaxALPR configuration file
- 8 bytes, int64 => Time Stamp, current date in milliseconds
- 4 bytes, int32 => NC1: number of ASCII characters of the plate number
- NC1 bytes, byte => ASCII bytes array
- 4 bytes, int32 => NC2: number of ASCII characters of the plate origin
- NC2 bytes, byte => ASCII bytes array
- 4 bytes, int32 => ROI ID containing the license plate (1…n). 0 value means plate out of any ROI (Unused)
- 8 bytes, double => Global confidence of plate recognition: [0...100]
- 8 bytes, double => Characters height, in pixels
- NC1 bytes, float => per character recognition confidence [0…100]
- 8 bytes, double => OCR processing time, in milliseconds
- 4 bytes, int32 => 'x0' coordinate of the plate left-top corner, in pixels
- 4 bytes, int32 => 'y0' coordinate of the plate left-top corner, in pixels
- 4 bytes, int32 => 'x1' coordinate of the plate right-bottom corner, in pixels
- 4 bytes, int32 => 'y1' coordinate of the plate right-bottom corner, in pixels
- 8 bytes, int64 => OCR image timestamp, in milliseconds
- 4 bytes, int32 => SF: size of the OCR image, in bytes
- SF bytes, byte => OCR image data in JPEG format
- 4 bytes, int32 => R1: size of image reserved data, in bytes
- R1 bytes, byte => reserved data, R1 bytes
- 8 bytes, int64 => Environment image timestamp, in milliseconds (Unused)
- 4 bytes, int32 => SF: size of the environment image, in bytes (Unused)
- SF bytes, byte => Environment image data in JPEG format (Unused)
- 4 bytes, int32 => R2: size of image reserved data, in bytes (Unused)
- R1 bytes, byte => reserved data, R2 bytes (Unused)
- 4 bytes, int32 => vehicle direction, if available: 0=>unknown, 1=>closer, 2=>farther (Unused)
- 4 bytes, int32 => ALPR multi-plate rate (Unused)
- 4 bytes, int32 => 1: plate reported under SYNCHRO_SIGNALED mode, 0: SYNCHRO_FREE_FLOW mode
- 4 bytes, int32 => N: Size of reserved space
- N bytes, byte => reserved space, user information. Put here custom information
- 4 bytes, int32 => 0x42F87D89 is the end message header identifier (fixed)
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ANNEX II
Each time VaxALPR On Camera recognizes a new plate, the application will send a POST
notification with a well-formed XML. The XML follow the schema defined in the
AnalyticsEvent.xsd available at www.vaxtor.com website.
The following XML is an example of a response for plate number M8016LS. The bounding box
is referred to the snapshot in the message.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<AnalyticsEvent xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="urn:milestone-systems">
<EventHeader>
<ID>00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000</ID>
<Timestamp>2016-05-23T08:39:36.135998Z</Timestamp>
<Type>License Plate Recognition</Type>
<Message>VaxALPR On Camera Event</Message>
<CustomTag>M8016LS</CustomTag>
<Source>
<Name>192.168.0.100</Name>
</Source>
</EventHeader>
<Description>M8016LS</Description>
<ObjectList>
<Object>
<Name>Plate</Name>
<Confidence>0.972857</Confidence>
<Value>M8016LS</Value>
<AlarmTrigger>true</AlarmTrigger>
<Size>46</Size>
<BoundingBox>
<Top>0.42</Top>
<Left>0.23</Left>
<Bottom>0.54</Bottom>
<Right>0.55</Right>
</BoundingBox>
</Object>
</ObjectList>
<SnapshotList>
<Snapshot>
<TimeOffset>0</TimeOffset>
<Width>1280</Width>
<Height>960</Height>
<SizeInBytes>193656</SizeInBytes>
<Image>BASE64ENCODEDJPEG</Image>
</Snapshot>
</SnapshotList>
<Vendor>
<Name>Vaxtor Systems</Name>
</Vendor>
</AnalyticsEvent>
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ANNEX III
To check the height in pixels of the plate characters it is recommended to capture a frame of
the video feed and measure the height with an external program like Microsoft Paint.
It is also possible to set the maximum and minimum height to 70 and 12 pixels respectively
and check in the log file the recognized values. This option will not work if the plate is bigger
than 70 pixels or lower than 12.
Log button
Log file
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License plate recognition technology embedded in

Transcripción

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