To ensure the highest license plate read accuracy, you must let the SharpZ3 system know what type of license plates to expect in the image. If required, you can also configure the system to extract additional information from the image, such as the license plate origin and the vehicle type.
What you should know
Procedure
- Log on to the Sharp Portal.
- From the Configuration menu, click Analytics > ALPR settings.
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From the Context menu, select which license plates will be
most commonly read by the SharpZ3.
NOTE: For more information on the available regional contexts, see Supported ALPR contexts.Tip: To help us improve the performance of regional contexts, click Configuration > Connectivity > Product improvement and register this camera to participate in the Product improvement program .
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From the Reading mode menu, select one of the following
reading modes:
- Continuous
- Select this to capture plate reads continuously. This is the default setting.
- Conditional
- Select this to capture plate reads continuously as long as the selected input signal meets the defined high or low condition.
- Multiconditional
- Using this option, you can configure the system to generate reads from a specific camera only while an input's status meets the defined high or low condition. This option is required if using the AutoVu™ car camera switch.
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From the Read strategy list, select a read strategy:
- Slow moving vehicle
- Applicable for use in typical city, law enforcement, or mobile parking enforcement.
- Fast-moving vehicle
- Applicable for installations where vehicles travel at moderate to high speeds. For example, use this read strategy for law enforcement installations where vehicles might be traveling at high speeds in opposite directions.
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Under Analytics, select the contents of the plate you would
like the SharpZ3 to attempt to read. You can select the
following:
NOTE:
- For a full list of analytics and recommendations, see Supported ALPR analytics.
- You can add the state, vehicle make, and confidence score as annotation fields in Security Center to query for this information in Security Desk reports.
- State
- Select this option if you want the SharpZ3 unit to attempt read the license plate origin. Depending on the region, this can refer to the issuing state, province, or country.
NOTE: For more information, see Supported plate origin recognition.- Vehicle make and model
- Select this option if you want the SharpZ3 unit to attempt to read the vehicle’s make and model, for example, Honda Civic.
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NOTE: This setting is not recommended for MLPI installations.
- Confidence score
- The SharpZ3 assigns a confidence score percentage to each
license plate read. This value indicates how confident the SharpZ3 is in the accuracy of the read. NOTE: License plates that contain similar characters such as 8 and B are more difficult to read and generally produce reads with a lower confidence score.
- Vehicle type, color, and orientation
- Select this option if you want to include the vehicle type, color, and orientation with plate reads. Based on the context image, Sharp analytics can detect if the vehicle is, for example, a light yellow bus, or a dark green passenger vehicle. In addition, Sharp analytics can detect the vehicle orientation, for example, back, or front side.
- Vehicle accessories
- Select this option if you want license plate reads to indicate the presence of items
such as hitches, spare tires, and other vehicle accessories.NOTE:
- To enable this feature, contact your AutoVu representative.
- Hitches must be at least 20 px high in the image for detection. Note that hitch detection can be affected by environmental factors such as snow and ambient lighting.
- Using the vehicle accessories feature increases CPU usage and can affect the frame rate.
- Click Save.