IMAGE CLASSIFICATION DEVICE, NUMBER PLATE READING DEVICE, NUMBER PLATE READING SYSTEM, AND IMAGE CLASSIFICATION METHOD

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image classification device that can quickly and accurately classify a target image into classes.SOLUTION: An image classification device includes: a cut-out part 22 that cuts an image of a character out of an image obtained by photographing a number plate as a target image; a division part 24 that divides the target image into a plurality of partial images according to a predetermined division method; a similarity calculation part 25 that calculates the similarity between the partial images and a plurality of partial model images each associated with at least one class of character and indicating a feature as an image of the associated at least one class of character; a voting part 26 that votes, for each of the partial images, a point to each of the at least one class of character associated with a partial model image similar to each of the partial images; and a classification part 27 that classifies the target image into a class of character gaining the most voting points on the basis of a result of the voting to recognize the character.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3