16 Essential Terms for Talking LPR (and Sounding Cool Doing It)
Dive into the PlateSmart guide to understanding LPR. Learn key industry terms, become a pro at talking LPR and impress at any tech gathering.
If you’ve ever found yourself pretending to know what OCR and RTSP mean, or trying to hide your confusion as someone explains infrared tech, this guide is your key to cracking the code of License Plate Recognition (LPR) jargon.
We’d like to take a quick trip through LPR terminology with a few familiar faces. Whether you’re a seasoned pro like Larry, a curious newbie like Paul, or motivated to learn like Rachel, we’ll help you refresh, brush up, or start from scratch.
Let’s take a joyride through the land of LPR slang with Larry, Paul, and Rachel as your friendly guides who will help you in understanding LPR.
Common LPR Industry Terms and Abbreviations
Here are some of the most commonly used LPR industry terms and abbreviations you’re likely to face, explained so well that even Paul will be up to speed.
1. LPR (License Plate Recognition)
The paparazzi of the vehicle world is always ready to snap a crystal-clear shot. Instead of celebrities, LPR catches those license plates in action and analyzes their appearance.
2. ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition)
ANPR is the British cousin of LPR. Same concept, same tech, just with more tea and scones.
3. OCR (Optical Character Recognition)
OCR is the family brainiac. It looks at an image, reads the text, and makes it editable. Imagine if Larry could read War and Peace in a few seconds, only he would never get bored. That’s OCR in action.
4. IR (Infrared)
This tech can see in the dark. It uses a wavelength of light that humans can’t see on the lower end of the electromagnetic spectrum. When infrared is in a camera (IR Camera), it lights up license plates like the 4th of July.
Did you know that mosquitoes can see infrared light? Yep, they’re not just annoying, but can also see license plates in the dark, just like LPR.
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5. FPS (Frames per Second)
Not to be confused with First Person Shooters like the latest Call of Duty, FPS in LPR tech tells us how many still pictures your camera can snap in a second. More images equals more detail and more chances to catch a license plate.
6. VMS (Video Management System)
If your cameras are your staff, then VMS is the boss. It oversees everything to make sure that no sneaky license plate slips by unnoticed by managing all streams fed to it.
7. API (Application Programming Interface)
Just like Paul who can’t resist connecting people, APIs are extroverts that help different software systems talk together, share, and play nicely. This is important in LPR systems as many different camera models and software vendors all need to communicate in the same way to get the job done.
8. RTSP (Real-Time Streaming Protocol)
RTSP is the protocol that standardizes the structure and transmission of real-time video streams. In the LPR world, this means that all the parking lot drama is sent from the cameras to monitoring stations in the same language.
9. Allow-list and Deny-list
Imagine Larry and Rachel try to get into a nightclub, but the bouncer has a list of who can get in (the allow-list). Rachel was smart and booked a reservation, so her name is on the list, but Larry caused a scene in the nightclub a week ago and is now banned (deny-list).
Rachel gets to party all night long. Larry has to wait outside.
LPR allow and deny lists work the same way, except guests are license plates, and the club is your property.
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10. Hotlist
This is essentially the ‘America’s Most Wanted’ list for cars. If a vehicle on the radar of law enforcement dares to grace your premises, an LPR system detects the plate number and sounds the alarm.
11. Camera Resolution
A camera’s resolution is how sharp its eyesight is and is measured in ‘megapixels,’ or one million pixels (1,048,576 to be exact). High resolution means your LPR camera can spot the difference between an ‘8’ and a ‘B’ from a distance.
12. GigE (Gigabit Ethernet)
GigE is the Usain Bolt of network standards. It can transmit and receive data at blistering speeds, essential for catching a license plate on the fly. In the world of high-stakes and high-speed LPR, it’s either GigE or go home.
13. NVR (Network Video Recorder)
Like most humans, Rachel can’t remember every single thing she sees on a daily basis. Wouldn’t it be handy if she had a device that records her day-to-day life so she can relive those memories? (Black Mirror, anyone?)
That’s exactly what the NVR does. It records every single stream of every camera for later access.
14. Edge Processing
The decisions on what the camera has seen happen right at the camera (at the edge) and not some far-off cloud server in Delaware. It’s significantly faster and results in actions that are immediate.
15. PoE (Power over Ethernet)
Rachel likes her desk tidy and doesn’t want it cluttered by network and power cables. She likes her LPR system the same way. PoE injects the DC (Direct Current) power cameras need straight down the network cable. Less cabling means the server room is much tidier, which makes Rachel happy.
16. ITS (Intelligent Transport System)
The traffic cop inside of LPR systems to keep everything moving smoothly. With real-time LPR systems, ITS can provide analysis of traffic flow to make Paul’s lunchtime commute to his favorite burger shop much less congested.
Wrap Up
With Larry’s expertise, Paul’s curiosity, and Rachel’s smarts, we hope you’ve gained some interesting insight into the LPR world and taken an important step towards understanding LPR.
Understanding these terms doesn’t just make you a hit at industry events, but actually helps expand your knowledge of a rapidly growing industry.
Technology like License Plate Recognition is here to make our lives easier and offer more efficient security solutions. With a bit of knowledge, they become way easier to understand, administer, and implement.