Technique for recognizing personal objects and accessing associated information

• US 8,774,471 B1
• Filed: 12/16/2010
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intuit, Inc.
• Inventors: Laaser, William T., Huff, Gerald B., Graves, Michael J., Ferrell, Arien C. T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Koziol, Stephen R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Azima, Shaghayegh
• Application Number:
  US12/969,885
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 382/190, 382/192, 382/138, 382/139, 382/137, 705/30, 705/27.2, 705/26.64, 705/1.1, 705/4
• US Class Current: 382/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/13 Sensors therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/67 by interactive indications to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/70 Multimodal biometrics, e.g. combining information from different biometric modalities

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that recognizes a personal object in an image and facilitates providing a related financial service. During operation, the system receives an image of an object associated with a user, where the image includes environmental features associated with the user. Next, the system extracts content from the image by processing the image (and the included environmental features) using an image-processing technique. The system then associates the extracted content with information in a pre-existing data structure, where the pre-existing data structure includes financial information associated with the object. Next, the system facilitates a financial service associated with the object based on the information. For example, the system may generate an insurance appraisal for the object based on the information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for recognizing a personal object in an image and facilitating providing a related financial service, comprising:

receiving a pre-existing data structure that comprises information for a set of objects, wherein the information comprises, for each object in the set, object information describing the object and financial information for the object that comprises information from a database used by accounting or income-tax software;

after receiving the data structure, receiving an image of an object associated with a user, wherein the image includes environmental features that comprise aspects of a surrounding environment where the image was captured;

extracting content from the image by processing the image and the environmental features using an image-processing technique;

determining whether or not the extracted content indicates that the surrounding environment is associated with the user;

in response to determining that the surrounding environment is associated with the user, associating, using a computer, the extracted content with the information in the data structure, wherein associating the extracted content with the information in the data structure comprises using the object information to match the object with an object in the set of objects; and

facilitating the financial service based on the information, wherein the financial service is associated with the object, and wherein facilitating the financial service comprises using at least some of the information from the database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises receiving location information associated with the object;

and

wherein the information is associated with the extracted content based on the received location information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information includes at least one of:

a purchase price of the object, a current valuation of the object, and a merchant that provided the object.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving another image of the object; and

processing the other image using the image-processing technique to extract additional content from the other image.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises associating the additional extracted content with additional information in the pre-existing data structure.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises providing the financial service based on the information and the additional information.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the additional content includes at least one of:

a color histogram, detected feature edges in the other image and features in the other image.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving another image of the object;

processing the other image using the image-processing technique to extract additional content from the other image; and

associating the other image and the image based on the extracted content and the additional extracted content.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content includes at least one of:

a color histogram, detected feature edges in the image and features in the image.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial service includes an insurance appraisal for the object that is generated based on the information.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial service comprises an insurance appraisal for the object in the image, and wherein facilitating the insurance appraisal comprises determining a value for the object by using the financial information in the data structure for the object in the set of objects that matches the object in the image.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the database used by the accounting or income-tax software comprises a database for a business establishment where the user is shopping, wherein receiving the image of the object comprising receiving the image from the user at a computer for the business establishment, and wherein facilitating the financial service comprises providing information from the database to the user.

11. A computer-program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer-program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for recognizing a personal object in an image and for facilitating providing a related financial service, the method comprising:

receiving a pre-existing data structure that comprises information for a set of objects, wherein the information comprises, for each object in the set, object information describing the object and financial information for the object that comprises information from a database used by accounting or income-tax software;

after receiving the data structure, receiving an image of an object associated with a user, wherein the image includes environmental features that comprise aspects of a surrounding environment where the image was captured;

extracting content from the image by processing the image and the environmental features using an image-processing technique;

determining whether or not the extracted content indicates that the surrounding environment is associated with the user;

in response to determining that the surrounding environment is associated with the user, associating the extracted content with and the information in the data structure, wherein associating the extracted content with the information in the data structure comprises using the object information to match the object with an object in the set of objects; and

facilitating the financial service based on the information, wherein the financial service is associated with the object, and wherein facilitating the financial service comprises using at least some of the information from the database.

12. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the computer-program mechanism further includes instructions for receiving location information associated with the object;

and

wherein the information is associated with the extracted content based on the received location information.

13. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the information includes at least one of:

a purchase price of the object, a current valuation of the object, and a merchant that provided the object.

14. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the computer-program mechanism further includes:

instructions for receiving another image of the object; and

instructions for processing the other image using the image-processing technique to extract additional content from the other image.

15. The computer-program product of claim 14, wherein the computer-program mechanism further includes instructions for associating the additional extracted content with additional information in the pre-existing data structure.

16. The computer-program product of claim 15, wherein the computer-program mechanism further includes instructions for providing the financial service based on the information and the additional information.

17. The computer-program product of claim 14, wherein the additional content includes at least one of:

a color histogram, detected feature edges in the other image and features in the other image.

18. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the computer-program mechanism further includes:

instructions for receiving another image of the object;

instructions for processing the other image using the image-processing technique to extract additional content from the other image; and

instructions for associating the other image and the image based on the extracted content and the additional extracted content.

19. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the content includes at least one of:

a color histogram, detected feature edges in the image and features in the image.

20. A computer system, comprising:

a processor;

memory; and

a program module, wherein the program module is stored in the memory and configurable to be executed by the processor to recognize a personal object in an image and facilitate providing a related financial service, the program module including;

instructions for receiving a pre-existing data structure that comprises information for a set of objects, wherein the information comprises, for each object in the set, object information describing the object and financial information for the object that comprises information from a database used by accounting or income-tax software;

instructions for, after receiving the data structure, receiving an image of an object associated with a user, wherein the image includes environmental features that comprise aspects of a surrounding environment where the image was captured;

instructions for extracting content from the image by processing the image and the environmental features using an image-processing technique;

instructions for determining whether or not the extracted content indicates that the surrounding environment is associated with the user;

instructions for associating the extracted content with and the information in the data structure in response to determining that the surrounding environment is associated with the user, wherein associating the extracted content with the information in the data structure comprises using the object information to match the object with an object in the set of objects; and

instructions for facilitating the financial service based on the information, wherein the financial service is associated with the object, and wherein facilitating the financial service comprises using at least some of the information from the database.