Method and portable device for locating products of interest using imaging technology and product packaging

• US 8,620,772 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2012
• Issued: 12/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/04/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Owen, Jerrine K.
• Primary Examiner(s): ALLEN, WILLIAM J
• Application Number:
  US13/552,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20120282905A1
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272, 705/28
• US Class Current: 705/26.9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/21 Design or setup of recognition systems or techniques; Extraction of features in feature space; Blind source separation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1443 locating of the code in an image
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0064 Geometric transfor invariant watermarking, e.g. affine transform invariant
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2201/0052 Embedding of the watermark in the frequency domain
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0264 for a camera module assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/635 Region indicators; Field of view indicators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/70 Circuitry for compensating brightness variation in the scene
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/77 between a recording apparatus and a television camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/11 by determining the brightness or colour temperature of ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/12 by detecting audible sound
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/40 Control techniques providing energy savings, e.g. smart controller or presence detection

Abstract

Arrangements involving portable devices (e.g., smartphones and tablet computers) are disclosed. One arrangement enables a content creator to select software with which that creator'"'"'s content should be rendered—assuring continuity between artistic intention and delivery. Another utilizes a device camera to identify nearby subjects, and take actions based thereon. Others rely on near field chip (RFID) identification of objects, or on identification of audio streams (e.g., music, voice). Some technologies concern improvements to the user interfaces associated with such devices. Others involve use of these devices in connection with shopping, text entry, sign language interpretation, and vision-based discovery. Still other improvements are architectural in nature, e.g., relating to evidence-based state machines, and blackboard systems. Yet other technologies concern use of linked data in portable devices—some of which exploit GPU capabilities. Still other technologies concern computational photography. A great variety of other features and arrangements are also detailed.

Claims

1. A method for locating products of interest using a portable device of a shopper, the method comprising:

indicating, via a software user interface presented using the portable device of the shopper, a specific product and a type of related product desired by the shopper;

searching a database to identify at least one related product that satisfies the indicated type of related product and that is compatible with the specific product;

downloading reference data associated with product packaging of the at least one identified related product, the reference data comprising visual fingerprint data or digital watermark data, the reference data corresponding to artwork of the product packaging;

obtaining, from an image sensing device forming part of the portable device, streaming image data indicative of product packaging of a plurality of products;

analyzing the streaming image data with respect to the reference data and the at least one identified related product;

outputting, by the portable device, a signal responsive to the analysis of the streaming image data;

updating, by the image sensing device, the streaming image data as the shopper moves the portable device;

analyzing the updated streaming image data with respect to the reference data and the at least one identified related product;

outputting, by the portable device, an updated signal responsive to the analysis of the additional streaming image data;

wherein, the updated signal is output in a manner that increases its perceptibility by the shopper responsive to the shopper moving the portable device in closer proximity to the at least one identified related product and decreases its perceptibility by the shopper responsive to the shopper moving the portable device further from the at least one identified related product.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one identified related product comprises a charger for a particular electronic product.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one identified related product comprises a case for a particular electronic product.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one identified related product comprises a battery for a particular electronic product.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one identified related product comprises a memory card for a particular electronic product.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the reference data comprises visual fingerprint data.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the reference data comprises digital watermark data.

8. A portable user device including an image sensor, an output device, a processor and a memory, the memory containing instructions for programming the processor to enable the apparatus to perform the following acts:

indicating, via a software user interface, a specific product and a type of related product desired by a shopper;

initiating a database search to identify at least one related product that satisfies the indicated type of related product and that is compatible with the specific product;

downloading reference data associated with product packaging of the at least one identified related product, the reference data comprising visual fingerprint data or digital watermark data, the reference data corresponding to artwork of the product packaging;

obtaining, by the image sensor, streaming image data indicative of product packaging of a plurality of products;

analyzing the streaming image data with respect to the reference data and the at least one identified related product;

outputting, by the portable device, a signal responsive to the analysis of the streaming image data;

updating, by the image sensor, the streaming image data as the shopper moves the portable device;

analyzing the updated streaming data with respect to the reference data and the at least one identified related product;

outputting, by the portable device, an updated signal responsive to the analysis of the additional streaming image data;

wherein, the updated signal is output in a manner that increases its perceptibility by the shopper responsive to the shopper moving the portable device in closer proximity to the at least one identified related product and decreases its perceptibility by the shopper responsive to the shopper moving the portable device further from the at least one identified related product.