System and method for capturing non-audible information for processing

• US 6,937,747 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2001
• Issued: 08/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Lehmeier, Michelle R., Culp, Jerlyn R.
• Primary Examiner(s): ABEBE, DANIEL DEMELASH
• Application Number:
  US09/962,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20030059088A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,436 Days
• Field of Search: 704/257, 704/260, 382/113, 382/181, 382/203
• US Class Current: 382/113
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/10 Character recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1444 Selective acquisition, locating or processing of specific regions, e.g. highlighted text, fiducial marks or predetermined fields

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system for capturing non-audible information for processing thereof is disclosed. The system comprises an optical capture device that is operable to optically scan an area. The optical capture device is also operable to recognize a triggering identifier associated with a visual object within the area, and the optical capture device is operable to process non-audible information captured thereby from the visual object in response to the optical capture device recognizing the triggering identifier associated with the visual object.

Claims

1. A system for capturing non-audible information for processing thereof, said system comprising:

optical capture device operable to optically scan an area;

said optical capture device operable to recognize a triggering identifier associated with a visual object within said area; and

said optical capture device operable to process non-audible information captured thereby from said visual object in response to said optical capture device recognizing said triggering identifier associated with said visual object;

wherein said optical capture device comprises a processing component operable, responsive to recognizing said triggering identifier, to perform optical character recognition to recognize at least a portion of said non-audible information as visual indicia and further operable to translate said visual indicia to a particular language.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

receiver operable to receive wireless communication.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said triggering identifier is included within wireless communication received by said receiver.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

transmitter associated with said visual object, said transmitter operable to transmit wireless communication.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said optical capture device comprises:

trigger identifying component operable to analyze information optically captured by said optical capture device and recognize said triggering identifier therefrom.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein said visual indicia includes indicia selected from the group consisting of:

text, symbol, and shape.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein said processing component is operable to translate said visual indicia to said particular language that is selected by a user.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said processing component is further operable to convert said visual indicia to speech and audibly output said speech.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein said visual object includes a road sign.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein said visual object includes a transmitter associated therewith operable to wirelessly transmit information relating to said visual object, and wherein said capture component includes a receiver operable to receive the wirelessly transmitted information.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said optical capture device further comprises:

processing component operable to receive an indication of at least one type of information in which a user is interested and determine whether said non-audible information captured by said optical capture device qualifies as said at least one type of information in which said user is interested.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said at least one type of information in which a user is interested includes a directional information relevant to a particular route being traveled.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein said optical capture device is operable to alert a user as to non-audible information captured thereby that is determined to be directional information determined relevant to said route, and said optical capture device is operable to forego alerting a user as to non-audible information captured thereby that is determined to be directional information that is not relevant to said route.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein said particular route is provided by a mapping application communicatively accessible by said optical capture device.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein said at least one type of information in which a user is interested includes information related to at least one point of interest along a route being traveled.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said at least one point of interest includes at least one type selected from the group consisting of:

gas station, hotel, restaurant, rest area, hospital, and park.

17. A system for capturing non-audible information for processing thereof, said system comprising:

optical capture device operable to perform a wide-area optical scan of said area;

said optical capture device operable to recognize from said wide-area optical scan a triggering identifier associated with a visual object within said area, wherein said optical capture device is further operable, responsive to recognizing said triggering identifier, to optically scan said visual object at a higher resolution than said wide-area optical scan; and

said optical capture device operable to process non-audible information captured from said visual object at said higher resolution.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said optical capture device is operable to account for distance traveled by a transport mechanism since performance of said wide-area optical scan in then performing said higher resolution optical scan.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said transport mechanism is selected from the group consisting of:

automobile, bicycle, scooter, and wheelchair.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein said wide-area is an area of at least size 10,000 cubic feet relative to said optical capture device.

21. A system for capturing non-audible information for processing thereof, said system comprising:

optical capture device that is implemented within a transport mechanism and is operable to periodically perform an optical scan of an area, wherein said optical capture device is operable to adjust the frequency of performing said optical scan based at least in part on at least one of (a) speed at which said transport mechanism is traveling, and (b) density of visual objects encountered having a triggering identifier associated therewith;

said optical capture device operable to recognize a triggering identifier associated with a visual object within said area; and

said optical capture device operable to process non-audible information captured thereby from said visual object in response to said optical capture device recognizing said triggering identifier associated with said visual object.

22. A method for capturing non-audible information for processing thereof, said method comprising:

performing a wide-area optical scan of an area utilizing an optical capture device;

said optical capture device recognizing, from said wide-area optical scan, a triggering identifier associated with a visual object within said area;

responsive to recognizing said triggering identifier, optically scanning said visual object at a higher resolution than said wide-area optical scan; and

said optical capture device processing non-audible information captured thereby at said higher resolution from said visual object.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein said optical capture device is implemented within a transport mechanism, further comprising:

said optical capture device accounting for distance traveled since performance of said wide-area optical scan in then performing a higher resolution optical scan.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising the steps of:

receiving an indication of at least one type of information in which a user is interested; and

determining whether said non-audible information captured by said optical capture device qualifies as said at least one type of information in which said user is interested.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein said at least one type of information in which a user is interested includes directional information relevant to a particular route being traveled.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein said particular route is provided by a mapping application.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein said at least one type of information in which a user is interested includes information related to at least one point of interest along a route being traveled.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said at least one point of interest includes at least one type selected from the group consisting of:

gas station, hotel, restaurant, rest area, hospital, and park.

29. A method for capturing non-audible information for processing thereof, said method comprising:

periodically optically scanning an area utilizing an optical capture device implemented within a transport mechanism;

said optical capture device recognizing a triggering identifier associated with a visual object within said area;

responsive to said triggering identifier, said optical capture device processing non-audible information captured thereby from said visual object; and

said optical capture device adjusting the frequency of said optically scanning based at least in part on at least one of (a) speed at which said transport mechanism is traveling and (b) density of visual objects encountered having a triggering identifier associated therewith.

30. A method for capturing non-audible information for processing thereof, said method comprising:

optically scanning an area utilizing an optical capture device;

said optical capture device recognizing a triggering identifier associated with a visual object within said area; and

responsive to said triggering identifier, said optical capture device processing non-audible information captured thereby from said visual object, wherein said processing includes (a) performing optical character recognition to recognize at least a portion of said visual object as a visual indicia, (b) translating said visual indicia to a particular language, (c) converting said translated visual indicia to speech, and (d) audibly outputting said speech.

31. An optical capture device for capturing non-audible information, said optical capture device comprising:

means for optically scanning an open-environment;

means for recognizing a triggering identifier associated with a visual object within said open-environment; and

means for processing non-audible information captured by said means for optically scanning from said visual object in response to the recognizing means recognizing said triggering identifier associated with said visual object, wherein the processing means translates said non-audible information from a first language to a second language and converts said translated non-audible information into audible form.

32. The optical capture device of claim 31 wherein said means for optically scanning is operable to perform a wide-area optical scan of said open-environment.

33. The optical capture device of claim 32 wherein said means for optically scanning is further operable to, responsive to recognition of said triggering identifier by said recognizing means, optically scan said visual object at a higher resolution than said wide-area optical scan.

34. The optical capture device of claim 31 implemented within a transport mechanism, wherein said means for optically scanning is operable to periodically perform an optical scan.

35. The optical capture device of claim 34 wherein said means for optically scanning is operable to adjust the frequency of performing said optical scan based at least in part on at least one of the following:

speed at which said transport mechanism is traveling and density of visual objects encountered having a triggering identifier associated therewith.

36. A system for capturing non-audible information, said system comprising:

capture component operable to capture non-audible information associated with a visual object;

trigger identifying component operable to recognize a triggering identifier associated with said non-audible information; and

processing component operable to process said non-audible information captured by said capture component in response to the trigger identifying component recognizing said triggering identifier associated with said non-audible information, wherein the processing component translates said non-audible information to a particular language and converts said translated non-audible information into audible form.

37. The system of claim 36 wherein said capture component comprises at least one wireless receiver operable to capture said non-audible information.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein the visual object has a transmitter associated therewith for transmitting wireless communication.

39. The system of claim 38 wherein said wireless communication comprises at least one type selected from the group consisting of:

light pulses, radio frequency (RF), and cellular.

40. The system of claim 36 implemented within a transport mechanism.

41. The system of claim 36 wherein the visual object comprises a traffic sign.

42. The system of claim 36 wherein said capture component comprises at least one optical capture component.

43. The system of claim 36 wherein said non-audible information associated with said visual object comprises information displayed by said visual object.