Object information derived from object images
Search terms are derived automatically from images captured by a camera equipped cell phone, PDA, or other image capturing device, submitted to a search engine to obtain information of interest, and at least a portion of the resulting information is transmitted back locally to, or nearby, the device that captured the image.
1. An image processing and information retrieval system comprising:
a mobile device having a camera, the mobile device configured to capture an image, and configured to transmit data relating to the image to an image processing platform;
the image processing platform configured to receive the data relating to the image and to conduct image processing including:
operating on the data relating to the image to determine if the image contains one or more recognizable symbols; and
decoding the recognizable symbols to extract symbol information by analyzing the recognizable symbols according to type;
a distal server configured to access a database to identify pertinent information associated with the recognizable symbols based on the symbol information; and
the mobile device further configured to receive the pertinent information over a network.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pertinent information comprises data that can be utilized to conduct a commercial transaction.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the mobile device is further programmed to allow a user to automatically make a purchase relating to an object in the image.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pertinent information comprises contact information relating to an object in the image.
5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the contact information comprises a phone number.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the recognizable symbols include a bar code.
7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the bar code comprises a 2D bar code.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pertinent information comprises one of the following types of data: audio, image, video, and text.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pertinent information comprises a network address.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the data relating to the image comprises the image.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the data relating to the image includes a compressed version of the image.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the compressed version of the image comprises compression artifacts.
13. The system of claim 1 , wherein image processing further includes converting at least a portion of the data relating to the image into grayscale.
14. The system of claim 1 , wherein image processing further includes discriminating between the recognizable symbols and other types of objects in the image.
15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distal server is further configured to use the database to identify the pertinent information based on image characteristics derived by the image processing platform based on the data relating to the image.
16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device comprises at least part of the image processing platform.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the image processing platform is distributed between the mobile device and the distal server.
18. A method for retrieving information from image processing, the method comprising:
providing a mobile device having a camera the mobile device configured to capture an image and configured to transmit data relating to the image an image processing platform;
configuring the image processing platform to receive the data relating to the image and to conduct image processing, including:
operating on the data relating to the image to determine if the image contains one or more recognizable symbols; and
decoding the recognizable symbols to extract symbol information by analyzing the recognizable symbols according to type;
providing access to a distal server configured to use a database to identify pertinent information associated with the recognizable symbols based on the symbol information; and
allowing the mobile device to receive the pertinent information over a network.
19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising using the pertinent information to conduct a commercial transaction.
20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising allowing the mobile device to automatically make a purchase relating to an object in the image.
21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the pertinent information comprises contact information relating to an object in the image.
22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the contact information comprises a phone number.
23. The method of claim 18 , wherein image processing further includes identifying the recognizable symbols as comprising a bar code.
24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the bar code comprises a 2D bar code.
25. The method of claim 18 , wherein the pertinent information comprises a network address.
26. The method of claim 18 , wherein the data relating to the image comprises the image.
27. The method of claim 26 , wherein image processing further comprises compressing the image to form the data relating to the image.
28. The method of claim 27 , wherein a compressed version of the image comprises compression artifacts.
29. The method of claim 18 , wherein image processing further includes converting at least a portion of the data relating to the image into a grayscale image.
30. The method of claim 18 , wherein the image processing further includes discriminating between the recognizable symbols and other types of objects in the image.
31. The method of claim 18 , further comprising the distal server using database to identify the pertinent information based on image characteristics of the image derived by the image processing platform based on the data relating to the image.
32. The method of claim 18 , further comprising providing the image processing platform by distributing image processing of the image between the mobile device and distal server.
33. The method of claim 18 , wherein the distal service comprises the image processing platform.
34. The method of claim 18 , further comprising returning to the pertinent information to the mobile device as of the following types of data: audio, image, video, and text.