SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING TEXT IN AUGMENTED REALITY

• US 20120088543A1
• Filed: 10/08/2010
• Published: 04/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Lindner, Jeffery, Hymel, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,626,236 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/556.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/00 Speech synthesis; Text to speech systems

Abstract

A system and a method are provided for displaying text in low-light environments. An original image of text is captured in a low-light environment using a camera on a mobile device, whereby the imaged text comprising images of characters. A brightness setting and a contrast setting of the original image are adjusted to increase the contrast of the imaged text relative to a background of the original image. Optical character recognition is applied to the adjusted image to generate computer readable text or characters corresponding to each of the imaged text. The original image of text is displayed on the mobile device. The computer readable text is also displayed, overlaid the original image, wherein the computer readable text is aligned with the corresponding imaged text.

Claims

1. A method of displaying text in low-light environments, the method comprising:

capturing an original image of text in a low-light environment using a camera on a mobile device;

adjusting a brightness setting and a contrast setting of the original image to increase the contrast of the imaged text relative to a background of the original image;

applying optical character recognition to the adjusted image to generate text corresponding to the imaged text;

displaying the original image of text on the mobile device; and

,

displaying, overlaid the original image, the text.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the text is aligned with the corresponding imaged text.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising, upon capturing the original image of text, detecting the low-light environment from the original image.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the text is displayed in at least one of:

a larger font than the imaged text;

a different font than the imaged text;

a different color than the imaged text;

a bold font;

an underlined font; and

a highlighted font.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising applying text recognition to the text to extract at least words from the text.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising associating at least one function with at least one of the words.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one function is initiated by receiving a user input in association with the at least one word.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the at least one function associated with a given word comprises at least one of:

retrieving a definition of the given word;

retrieving a synonym or an antonym of the given word;

searching for documents in a documents database using the given word as a search parameter;

using the given word as a keyword parameter in a world wide web search engine; and

providing an audio output pronouncing the given word.

9. The method of claim 5 further comprising applying a language translator to the extracted words to generate translated words.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising displaying, overlaid the original image, the translated words corresponding to the imaged text.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the text is computer readable text.

11. A mobile device, comprising:

a display;

a camera configured to capture an original image of text in a low-light environment; and

a processor connected to the display and the camera, and configured to adjust a brightness setting and a contrast setting of the original image to increase the contrast of the imaged text relative to a background of the original image, apply optical character recognition to the adjusted image to generate text corresponding to the imaged text, and display on the display the original image of text with the text overlaid the original image.

12. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein the text is aligned with the corresponding imaged text.

13. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein upon capturing the original image of text, the processor is further configured to detect the low-light environment from the original image.

14. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein the text is displayed in at least one of:

a larger font than the imaged text;

a different font than the imaged text;

a different color than the imaged text;

a bold font;

an underlined font; and

a highlighted font.

15. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein the processor is further configured to apply text recognition to the text to extract at least words from the text.

16. The mobile device of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to associate at least one function with at least one of the words.

17. The mobile device of claim 16 wherein the at least one function is initiated by receiving a user input in association with the at least one word.

18. The mobile device of claim 17 wherein the at least one function associated with a given word comprises at least one of:

retrieving a definition of the given word;

retrieving a synonym or an antonym of the given word;

searching for documents in a documents database using the given word as a search parameter;

using the given word as a keyword parameter in a world wide web search engine; and

providing an audio output pronouncing the given word.

19. The mobile device of claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to apply a language translator to the extracted words to generate translated words.

20. The mobile device of claim 19 wherein the processor is further configured to display, overlaid the original image, the translated words corresponding to the imaged text.

22. The mobile device of claim 11 wherein the text is computer readable text.