🚗 Smart-Plate: AI-Powered License Plate Recognition

Smart-Plate is an AI-powered, real-time license plate recognition system with a fully featured web dashboard.
It captures vehicle entry/exit, allows fines and deletions, generates PDF reports with unique filenames, and includes user account management.

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🧠 Key Features

• Real-Time Plate OCR
  Uses OpenAI Vision to extract plate numbers & state from uploaded images.
• Interactive Dashboard
  • Vehicle entry/exit logs
  • “Fine” column & add-fine modal
  • Delete (🗑️) entries on the spot
  • Analytics charts (parked vs exited)
• PDF Reporting
  Download a SmartPlateReportXXX.pdf (random 3-digit suffix) with full activity.
• User Accounts
  Login/signup flow, profile edit, change password & Sign Out button in the sidebar.
• Secure Data Storage
  MongoDB for entries & user profiles.
• Scalable Flask API
  REST endpoints for all operations.

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📊 Applications

1. Parking Management: Automate entry/exit & fines.
2. Security: Audit vehicle movements, flag unpaid or fined vehicles.
3. Traffic Analytics: Dashboard charts for usage patterns.

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🔗 API Endpoints

Route	Method	Description
/dashboard-api/data	GET	Fetch stats & recent activity.
/dashboard-api/new-entry	POST	Upload image → OCR → create entry.
/dashboard-api/exit-entry/<id>	POST	Mark an entry as exited (sets exit_time).
/dashboard-api/add-fine/<id>	POST	Add a fine amount to an entry.
/dashboard-api/delete-entry/<id>	DELETE	Permanently remove an entry.
/dashboard-api/report	GET	Download PDF report (randomized name).
/account-api/user-profile	GET	Get current user’s profile.
/account-api/update-profile	PUT	Update name/email/phone/address.
/account-api/change-password	PUT	Change the logged-in user’s password.
/logout	GET	Sign out and clear session.

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Layer	Tech
Backend	Python, Flask
DB	MongoDB
Auth	Flask-Session (cookie based)
OCR	OpenAI Vision (gpt-4o)
Frontend	HTML, CSS, JS, Chart.js
Env	python-dotenv

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📐 System Architecture

1. Upload: User uploads plate photo.
2. OCR: Flask calls process_license_plate() → gpt-4o extracts plate & state.
3. Store: Entry inserted into Mongo with fines=0, status='entered'.
4. Dashboard:
   • Shows stats, logs, fines & delete buttons.
   • Charts auto-refresh via /dashboard-api/data.
5. Reporting:
   • /dashboard-api/report streams a PDF named SmartPlateReport###.pdf.

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🎯 How It Works

1. Data Capture:
   • Vehicles pass through the recognition system.
   • License plate data is captured in real-time.
2. Data Processing:
   • AI-powered algorithms analyze the license plates.
   • Data is stored in the MongoDB database.
3. Visualization:
   • A sleek dashboard displays insights such as:
     • Total vehicles.
     • Active and exited vehicles.
     • Recent activity logs.

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🔧 Setup Instructions

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-repo/Smart-Plate.git
   cd Smart-Plate

2. Install Dependencies:

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate
   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Set Up MongoDB:

   • Create a cluster in MongoDB.
   • Add a .env file with your MongoDB URI:

     MONGO_URI=mongodb+srv://<username>:<password>@cluster.mongodb.net/smartplate?retryWrites=true&w=majority

4. Run the Application:

   python app.py

   • Access the app at http://127.0.0.1:5000.

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✨ Preview

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🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community! To contribute:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a feature branch:

   git checkout -b feature/new-feature

3. Commit your changes and create a pull request.

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

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🚀 Future Plans

• Integration with cloud-based services for scalability.
• Advanced analytics powered by machine learning.
• Support for additional vehicle features such as make and model recognition.

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