Added: May 6, 2024 Clarification

Code-Off

Code-offs are error codes given to an image that cannot be read. This approach helps us avoid mistakenly issuing a violation invoice to the wrong customer. We currently have 11 code-off reasons, which are the following:

1.Blurred/Distorted Image 7.No Plate in picture

2.Damaged Plate 8.Other reason

3.Image Too Dark 9.Plate cut off

4.Image Too Light 10.Plate Obstructed

5.Missing Images 11.Trailer Plate

6.No Images

Blurred/Distorted Image

•As the name states, it would be used whenever an image has such quality in which we are unable to distinguish the license plate characters, therefore, it would be more than reasonable to discard the transaction rather than guessing the characters, in order to avoid issuing a violation invoice to the wrong customer.

The background design cause thay why the plate is unreadable

•In this scenario, since we can see a license plate in the image, but due to the factor that’s placed somewhere else (inside the car) and/or the quality of the picture doesn’t allow us to understand it at 100%.

•Whenever we have images from a colored camera, this type of quality would be considered “Blurred/Distorted”. If this type of image was shown with a black and white camera, and adding the time of the transaction (night-time), then those would be considered Image Too Dark (in a black and white picture scenario).

From dark images, if you enhance using the brightness, and if there is a visible character, reject as Blurred/Distorted.

Damaged Plate

An image in which the license plate is blemished to a point in which we cannot clearly define the license plate characters, neither in the current transaction images nor in any future transaction

Image Too Dark

•As the name states, this will be the option whether the darkness occurs either by the time in which the transaction took place or due to the quality of the pictures that we’re obtaining from the lane cameras.

•The same code-off reason would apply when we see a pitch-black picture in what should be the BACK image in which the car is supposed to appear, even though we can see that there was a present vehicle in the panoramic FRONT image that triggered the lane to snap the pictures.

If the transaction is dark, try to enhance it using brightness, and still there is no visible plate character, reject it as the Image is Too Dark. Additionally, If the mounting is not visible we can't tell or be sure if there is a plate, and last if the image is dark and tail light is visible only.

In this particular case, since it’s a regular vehicle (and not a truck), basically the front plate/front picture would be ignored for our purposes and we would be focusing on the back/rear picture, which in this case should be handled as an “Image Too Dark” picture, according to the example provided, since we can barely see the car lights, but everything else is dark.

Image Too Light

•A transaction in which the best image in which we can see that the license plate has such a brightness, whether it is within the license plate area or in the image as a whole ,that would not allow us to see the license plate characters (even if they appear in the zoomed image reference within the photo gallery of the transaction).

•The difference, in regards of rays of light, to determine the difference between using the PLATE OBSTRUCTED disposition or IMAGE TOO LIGHT would be if it’s a narrow ray of light (in which we would choose PLATE OBSTRUCTED as the disposition) or if it’s a wider ray of light, as in the following example in the colored picture, it WOULD BE voided as IMAGE TOO LIGHT.

If the license plate is covered by the light, reject as Image Too Light.

•even though the license plate is readable at the zoom picture, since the picture that needs to be selected would be the one where the vehicle is shown along with a picture, that image is indeed a “Too Light” code-off.

Missing Images

•. The gallery is only showing FRONT pictures in transactions where small vehicles (sedans, SUVs, minivans, etc) are being driven in the toll lane since those types of vehicles in Puerto Rico do not have a license plate at the front bumper, therefore, we are MISSING the BACK images in which the license plate that we need to process the violation.

•This is applicable only for small vehicles, truck/trailers is not included.

Additional Sample:

Front Image

Rear Image

Front Image

Rear Image

•The gallery is only showing us the zoom picture (ROI) of the license plate, and not showing us the BACK picture in which the vehicle appears in full.

•The gallery has both the FRONT and BACK images, but when we see the actual BACK images, we see an empty lane, even though there was an actual vehicle that was driven, we do not have an available license plate to pursue the processing of the violation.

• As long as it’s not a truck, if we only get to see the front part of the car and an empty lane in the rear camera, it’s a “Missing images” code off.

Front Image

Rear Image

No Images - Instead of receiving an actual shot from the surroundings of the toll plaza, we may get a generic picture stating either a “Photo Not Available” message (from toll plazas in which we receive black and white images) or a “Video Out” message (from toll plazas in which we receive colored pictures)

No Plate in picture - The only additional rule in regards to the “No plate in picture” code-off would be in regards of trucks, since they are required by law to have a BACK and a FRONT plate, and we should check up the FRONT picture in the set to see if the same rule applies.

Sample images:

Front Image

Rear Image

Front Image

Rear Image

Front Image

Rear Image

Other reason - A disposition to be used in specific scenarios in which none of the available dispositions in the menu would suit to void the transaction, therefore, a comment MUST be left to justify the reason behind the use of this disposition.

A. Two vehicles that are simultaneously being driven at the lane, in which we cannot determine which one of the two would the violation belong to, a comment stating such circumstance should be left at the comment box, stating the following: “Void – Other: Two vehicles in the same violation”.

•B. Employees providing lane maintenance, the following comment should be left when using the disposition: “Void – Other: Employees working on lane”.

•C. Pedestrians walking across the lane, triggering the camera mechanism, the following comment should be added: “Void – Other: Pedestrian on lane”.

•D. Machinery (usually to provide maintenance, such as tractors, diggers, etc) that would not have an actual license plate, the following comment should be added: “Void – Other: Unauthorized vehicle on lane”.

•E. Cyclist riding within the premises of the toll plaza, the following comment should be added: “Void – Other: Cyclist on lane”.

•F. For the vehicle towing vehicle, the following comment should be added: “Void – Other: Vehicle being towed”.

•So, as you may have seen, the “Other reasons” code-off would be exceptional situations that are occurring at to, and it would probably be the least used of the code-off dropdown, to use it, we would need a situation that is not covered by any of the other 10 available options in the menu.

Plate cut off - •When the best available image in the photo gallery shows us an image in which we can partially see the license plate of the vehicle in the transaction (due to the angle in which the picture was taken), and we have no better images in which the license plate appears, this should be the disposition to use since we have no options in order to pursue the violation.

Plate Obstructed - When a visual barrier is not allowing us to fully distinguish a license plate in order to identify its characters. This may occur due to:

•A. Ray of light that blocks a letter or a number of the license plate.

•B. Fixed elements of the vehicle that do not allow us to see the characters of the license plate due to the angle in which the picture was taken.

•. License plates that have been blocked on purpose.

•In which we are able to see a bit of the license plate

Even though this is actually a trailer plate, because we are not able to see it in full, it would be voided as “Plate Obstructed”.

Trailer Plate

•For the use of this disposition, initially, we should only have the license plate of a trailer in the photo gallery. This would happen, most of time when a main vehicle (sedan, SUV, pick- up, etc) has an attached element to the main unit which would be blocking the main vehicle’s license plate (which would be the license plate of the vehicle that carries the toll tag, whether the account has been registered or not) and that attached element has its own trailer plate (different from the main vehicle), whether it belongs to Puerto Rico or any other jurisdiction, which makes it an authorized unit to be publicly used, but it would not be registered under an AutoExpreso account for billing purposes.

•Such attached elements would be considered a trailer, and would usually carry its own plate:

For all of those elements attached to a main vehicle, regarding Puerto Rican license plates, those will usually begin with numbers and end with the letter A of Arrastre (Spanish for Trailer), and there might be cases in which we see older trailer plates in which the “A” will be shown at the beginning of the license plate, instead of the end. Most of the Puerto Rican trailer plates would look like this one:

•For example, if the plate is obstructed or cut but you can still distinguish the TA or A on the plate, do we need to code it as Trailer Plate or use Plate Obstruction/Plate Cut Off.

•Code off as Trailer Plate since the plate ends with “A” and we clearly see it as a Trailer Plate

NOTE:
Even if the regular license plate is attached to a trailer consider that this is rejected as a Trailer Plate,

For the PE plate, this means it is a temporary trailer license plate.

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