  In this paper, we propose an automatic and mechanized license and number
plate recognition (LNPR) system which can extract the license plate number of
the vehicles passing through a given location using image processing
algorithms. No additional devices such as GPS or radio frequency identification
(RFID) need to be installed for implementing the proposed system. Using special
cameras, the system takes pictures from each passing vehicle and forwards the
image to the computer for being processed by the LPR software. Plate
recognition software uses different algorithms such as localization,
orientation, normalization, segmentation and finally optical character
recognition (OCR). The resulting data is applied to compare with the records on
a database. Experimental results reveal that the presented system successfully
detects and recognizes the vehicle number plate on real images. This system can
also be used for security and traffic control.
