Mobile terminals, methods, and program products that generate communication information based on characters recognized in image data

• US 20050286493A1
• Filed: 06/25/2004
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Angelhag, Anders
• Granted Patent: US 7,558,595 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3602 Input other than that of destination using image analysis, e.g. detection of road signs, lanes, buildings, real preceding vehicles using a camera
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3623 using a camera or code reader, e.g. for optical or magnetic codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/142 using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1444 Selective acquisition, locating or processing of specific regions, e.g. highlighted text, fiducial marks or predetermined fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2755 by optical scanning
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera constructional features concerning the integration of cameras in portable phones H04M1/0264

Abstract

Mobile terminals, methods, and program products generate information for communication from a mobile terminal. The mobile terminal can include a camera device and a controller. The camera device is configured to capture image data based on incident light. The controller is configured to recognize characters in the image data, and to generate the information that is to be communicated from the mobile terminal based on the recognized characters. The controller may determine that the recognized characters are indicative of an Internet address, a message address, a telephone number, a street address, and/or contact information.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal comprising:

a camera device that is configured to capture image data based on incident light;

a controller that is configured to recognize characters in the image data, and configured to generate information that is to be communicated from the mobile terminal based on the recognized characters.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to recognize the characters by carrying out an optical character recognition process on the image data.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of an Internet address.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to generate an Internet address based on the recognized characters.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 4, further comprising a wireless transceiver that is configured to communicate over a wireless interface, wherein the controller is configured to initiate a connection with an Internet site through the wireless transceiver based on the generated Internet address.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 3, further comprising an Internet browser, and wherein the controller is configured to activate the Internet browser based on the determination that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of an Internet address.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of a message address.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to generate a message address based on the recognized characters.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein the controller is configured to generate a message that is to be communicated from the mobile terminal based on the generated message address.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein the generated message comprises at least one of an email message, a Short Message Service message, an Enhanced Message Service message, and/or a Multimedia Message Service message.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to determine that a plurality of the recognized characters are indicative of a telephone number in the image data, configured to generate a telephone number based on the recognized characters, and configured to generate a telephone call based on the generated telephone number.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising a contact information database, and wherein the controller is configured to determine that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of contact information in the image data, configured to generate contact information based on the recognized characters, and configured to add the generated contact information to the contact information database.

13. A method of generating information for communication from a mobile terminal, the method comprising:

recognizing characters in image data; and

generating information that is to be communicated from the mobile terminal based on the recognized characters.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein recognizing characters in the image data comprises carrying out an optical character recognition process on the image data.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein recognizing characters in the image data comprises determining that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of an Internet address.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein generating information comprises generating an Internet address based on the recognized characters.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising initiating a connection with an Internet site based on the generated Internet address.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising activating an Internet browser based on the determination that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of an Internet address.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein recognizing characters in the image data comprises determining that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of a message address.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein generating information comprises generating a message address based on the recognized characters.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising generating at least one of an email message, a Short Message Service message, an Enhanced Message Service message, and/or a Multimedia Message Service message that is to be communicated from the mobile terminal based on the generated message address.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein recognizing characters in the image data comprises:

determining that a plurality of the recognized characters are indicative of a telephone number in the image data;

generating a telephone number based on the recognized characters; and

generating a telephone call based on the generated telephone number.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein recognizing characters in the image data comprises:

determining that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of contact information in the image data;

generating contact information based on the recognized characters; and

adding the generated contact information to the contact information database.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein recognizing characters in the image data comprises determining that the recognized characters are indicative of a street address, and further comprising:

generating street address information based on the recognized character;

determining a location of the mobile terminal based on GPS signals; and

navigating based on the generated street address information and the determined location of the mobile terminal.

25. The method of claim 13, further comprising capturing the image data based on a user selection of at least one of a key associated with dialing a telephone number, a key associated with initiating an Internet browser, a key associated with initiating a navigation application, and a key associated with initiating messaging.

26. A program product for generating information for communication from a mobile terminal, the computer program product comprising program code embodied in a computer-readable storage medium, the computer program code comprising:

program code that is configured to recognize characters in image data; and

program code that is configured to generate information that is to be communicated from the mobile terminal based on the recognized characters.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising program code that is configured to determine that one or more of the recognized characters is indicative of at least one of an Internet address, a message address, a street address, and/or a telephone number.