Patent ID: 8320629

Claim:
A system for recognizing a cargo container identification characters, said system comprising: an image capture device configured to capture a digital image of the cargo container; and a computing device operatively connected to the image capture device and configured to execute an identification program that, upon execution, configures the computing device to: locate one or more candidate areas within a captured image based on (1) an identification of an angle of rotation and (2) an application of a compensating rotation to at least one of the one or more candidate areas, the compensating rotation corresponding to the angle of rotation, enhance the one or more candidate areas using a tilt compensation process which: (1) de-rotates an area of interest in the captured image based on substantially horizontal lines detected in the captured image, and (2) de-rotates one or more characters within the area of interest based on vertical lines determined to be passing through spaces between the one or more characters, separate each of the one or more candidate areas into one or more characters based on one or more average character parameters and a defined data format, enhance each of the one or more characters, and identify each of the one or more characters using one or more neural networks that determine a character group to which a particular character belongs based on a general form of the particular character.