LPR-based access control

By installing Sharp cameras at a facility’s entry points (for example, parking lots, university campuses, and so on), AutoVu™ License Plate Recognition technology can be used for access control by matching license plates to one or more hotlists, and then granting or denying access to vehicles at the entry point.

How LPR-based access control works

In an LPR-based access control scenario, you use Sharp cameras, hotlists, and Security Center event-to-actions to automate access to a parking lot or similar facility.

You begin by installing your Sharp cameras at a facility’s entry points to capture the plates of vehicles attempting to enter. You then create the hotlists that contain the license plates of the vehicles which are allowed to enter, and assign them to the LPR Manager or to individual Sharp cameras in Config Tool.

After creating and assigning your hotlists, you then create Security Center event-to-actions for the License plate hit and No match events generated by the Sharps and hotlists to grant or deny access to the vehicles.

For example, if a plate matches one or more hotlists assigned to a Sharp, Security Center triggers an action that lifts a gate or opens a garage door, while a No match event (plate does not match any assigned hotlist) triggers an action that sounds an alert, or sends a message to security personnel so they can question the vehicle’s driver.

You can also trigger event-to-actions on hotlists of stolen vehicles, scofflaws, or other vehicles of interest. These hotlists are typically assigned to the LPR Manager so that the event-to-action can be triggered by any of the Sharps capturing the plate.

About assigning hotlists

Hotlists are lists of vehicle license plates that can be assigned either to an LPR Manager role, or to individual Sharp cameras.

Assigning a hotlist to an LPR Manager: When you assign a hotlist to an LPR Manager, all Sharp cameras controlled by the LPR Manager can match against the hotlist and trigger the event-to-action.
Assigning a hotlist to a Sharp camera: When you assign a hotlist to an individual Sharp camera, only that specific Sharp camera can trigger the event-to-action. This is useful for parking facilities that have specific entry points for different groups of vehicles. For example, this allows you to assign a VIP hotlist to a Sharp camera that is installed at the entrance to the VIP parking garage.

Events used in LPR-based access control

There are two main types of Security Center events used in an LPR-based access control system, License plate hit and No match.

NOTE: You can also use License Plate Read events to trigger actions such as starting video recording for the Sharp’s context camera. However, only the License plate hit and No match events are described here.

License plate hit events:
When you turn on Matching for an LPR Manager in Config Tool, Security Center tries to match the plates captured by Sharp cameras to plates on loaded hotlists.

If a plate is matched to a hotlist, Security Center generates a License plate hit event. By creating an event-to-action that triggers on this event, Security Center can grant access to a facility by opening a gate, a garage door, and so on.
No match events:
You can also turn on No match events for an LPR Manager in Config Tool. A No match event is generated when a plate is not matched to a hotlist. For example, you can use a No match event to account for guests, delivery vehicles, or other vehicles not typically registered ahead of time on a hotlist.

Event-to-actions for No match events can either have a hotlist or a Sharp camera as the source of the event. If the hotlist is the source, it means the plate is not found on that particular hotlist. However, if the Sharp is the source, it means that the plate is not found on any of the hotlists assigned to the Sharp. This is a subtle but important difference you should keep in mind when configuring your system because you can have more than one hotlist assigned to a single Sharp.
No match events are not generated against hotlists assigned to the LPR Manager because they would apply to all the Sharps controlled by the role. For example, if you have a hotlist of stolen vehicles assigned to the LPR Manager, any plate read not on that list would generate a No match event. Since the majority of the plates read by the Sharp will not be stolen vehicles, No match events would be generated for nearly every plate read.

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