PURPOSE: To detect a vehicle from a wide range without arranging many high- resolution cameras to recognize its number.
CONSTITUTION: The vehicle position prediction processing (step 200), the active camera optical axis change processing (step 300), the number recognition processing (step 400), and the host computer transmission processing (step 500) are executed in order. In the step 200, the vehicle is detected from a wide range by a fixed camera, and the moving position after a prescribed time is predicted. In the step 300, the optical axis of an active camera is moved to this moving position to obtain a detailed picture before elapse of the prescribed time; and in the step 400, the number of the vehicle is recognized from the number plate. Consequently, only two cameras are used, and the number of the vehicle in the wide range is recognized by only one high-resolution or telephoto active camera, and the device has not a large scale and the cost is very low.
YANAGAWA HIROHIKO
ISHIKAWA TETSUTOSHI
