Image capture and identification system and process

• US 9,330,328 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2014
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nant Holdings IP, LLC (NantWorks, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nant Holdings IP, LLC (NantWorks, LLC)
• Inventors: Boncyk, Wayne C., Cohen, Ronald H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sherali, Ishrat I
• Application Number:
  US14/574,391
• Publication Number:
  US 20150302266A1
• Time in Patent Office: 502 Days
• Field of Search: 382/100, 382/181, 382/224, 382/305, 705 261- 262, 707758-759, 707769-770
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 9/08 Devices or methods enabling eye-patients to replace direct visual perception by another kind of perception
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/00 Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions gaming systems which provide a financial reward G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/20 Input arrangements for video game devices
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/213 comprising photodetecting means, e.g. cameras, photodiodes or infrared cells A63F13/219, A63F13/655 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/65 automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/70 Game security or game management aspects
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/792 for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/92 Video game devices specially adapted to be hand-held while playing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/50 of still image data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/51 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/583 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5838 using colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5846 using extracted text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5854 using shape and object relationship
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/94 : Hypermedia Hyperlinking G06F40/134
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 : by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9558 : Details of hyperlinks; Management of linked annotations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/217 : Validation; Performance evaluation; Active pattern learning techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/22 : Matching criteria, e.g. proximity measures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 18/23 : Clustering techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2218/12 : Classification; Matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 : Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/134 : Hyperlinking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 : Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 : Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 : specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/202 : Interconnection or interaction of plural electronic cash registers [ECR] or to host computer, e.g. network details, transfer of information from host to ECR or from ECR to ECR
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 : Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 : Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 : Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3567 : Software being in the reader
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40145 : Biometric identity checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0217 : involving input on products or services in exchange for incentives or rewards
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 : Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 : During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 : User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 : Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 : at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 : based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 : Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 : Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 : Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 : Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 : Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 : Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 : Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 90/00 : Systems or methods specially adapted for administrative, commercial, financial, managerial or supervisory purposes, not involving significant data processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/10 : Segmentation; Edge detection motion-based segmentation G06T7/215
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 : Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/13 : Edge detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/136 : involving thresholding
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/194 : involving foreground-background segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/246 : using feature-based methods, e.g. the tracking of corners or segments
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/33 : using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/337 : involving reference images or patches
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/73 : using feature-based methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/462 : Salient features, e.g. scale invariant feature transforms [SIFT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/56 : relating to colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/7515 : Shifting the patterns to accommodate for positional errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 : Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 : in augmented reality scenes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/142 : using hand-held instruments; Constructional details of the instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/224 : of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3206 : Player sensing means, e.g. presence detection, biometrics
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3241 : Security aspects of a gaming system, e.g. detecting cheating, device integrity, surveillance computer security G06F21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/3244 : Payment aspects of a gaming system, e.g. payment schemes, setting payout ratio, bonus or consolation prizes
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 21/006 : using audible presentation of the information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 : in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 : with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 : by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 : involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/254 : Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 : embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 : Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 : for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4781 : Games
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 : Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 : Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 : Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 : involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8126 : involving additional data, e.g. news, sports, stocks, weather forecasts
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8173 : End-user applications, e.g. Web browser, game
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 : Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3254 : Orientation, e.g. landscape or portrait; Location or order of the image data, e.g. in memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 : Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/00 : Cameras or camera modules comprising electronic image sensors; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/60 : Control of cameras or camera modules
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/64 : Computer-aided capture of images, e.g. transfer from script file into camera, check of taken image quality, advice or proposal for image composition or decision on when to take image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/661 : Transmitting camera control signals through networks, e.g. control via the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 : Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/91 : Television signal processing therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 : for receiving images from a single remote source
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/185 : from a mobile camera, e.g. for remote control

Abstract

A digital image of the object is captured and the object is recognized from plurality of objects in a database. An information address corresponding to the object is then used to access information and initiate communication pertinent to the object.

Claims

1. A system for providing on-screen content identification, comprising:

a portable hand-held device comprising a sensor configured to acquire a digital representation of on-screen advertisement content; and

a recognition platform coupled with the sensor and configured to;

obtain, via the sensor, the digital representation of the on-screen advertisement content;

derive at least one characteristic of the digital representation of the on-screen advertisement content;

recognize the on-screen advertisement content as being associated with a first known target based at least in part on comparing the at least one characteristic to indexed characteristics of a plurality of known targets; and

obtain, via an address, target content information associated with the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on recognizing the on-screen advertisement content as being associated with the first known target.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the target content information comprises an identity of the on-screen advertisement.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital representation comprises a series of images including first and second images, wherein the at least one characteristic comprises a plurality of characteristics including first and second characteristics, wherein the first characteristic is derived from the first image, and wherein the second characteristic is derived from the second image.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the target content information represents at least one of an advertisement and a purchasable product.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the on-screen advertisement content comprises a representation of symbolic content, and wherein the recognition platform is configured to recognize the on-screen advertisement content as being associated with the first known target based at least in part on the symbolic content.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the indexed characteristics of the plurality of known targets comprise symbol information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to determine at least one of a position and an orientation of the on-screen advertisement content based on the digital representation.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to provide content associated with the target content information, via a screen of a second device, based at least in part on the address.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable hand-held device comprises the recognition platform.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to enable, via a second device, an interaction with the on-screen content based at least in part on at least one of the target content information and the address.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises submitting a vote related to the on-screen advertisement content.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises providing an indication of an action.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises a real-time interaction.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises providing information pertinent to the first known target.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises a streaming of at least one of a video and an audio stream.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises a purchase associated with the first known target.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first known target comprises an event.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the first known target comprises an advertisement.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the target content information is associated with a game, and wherein the interaction comprises an interaction with a player of the game.

20. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises an interaction with another viewer of the on-screen advertisement content.

21. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises a telephone call.

22. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises displaying at least one of a text, a graphic, an animation and a video associated with the on-screen content.

23. The system of claim 10, wherein the interaction comprises accessing a web site.

24. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to convert the digital representation into a grayscale representation, and recognize the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on the grayscale representation.

25. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to analyze the digital representation for segments based on similarities, and recognize the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on the analyzing the digital representation for segments.

26. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to evaluate the digital representation to extract shape data of the on-screen advertisement content, and recognize the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on the extracted shape data.

27. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to detect an identifying mark represented on the on-screen advertisement content, and recognize the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on the detection of the identifying mark.

28. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to obtain location information and recognize the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on the location information.

29. The system of claim 1, wherein the on-screen advertisement content includes a representation of a tag.

30. The system of claim 1, wherein the on-screen advertisement content lacks a representation of a tag.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to locate at least one of a position and an orientation of the tag.

32. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to determine a boundary of a desired area of interest of the digital representation.

33. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one characteristic comprises data identifying an organization associated with the on-screen advertisement content, and wherein the recognition platform is further configured to recognize the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on the data identifying the organization.

34. The system of claim 1, wherein the target content information is customized based on a type of user.

35. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to obtain ancillary data, and recognize the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on the ancillary data.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the ancillary data comprises at least one of data identifying a user and data identifying an organization that is associated with the digital representation.

37. The system of claim 1, wherein the on-screen advertisement content comprises a promotion and the target content information relates to the promotion.

38. The system of claim 10, wherein the portable hand-held device comprises the second device.

39. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable hand-held device comprises at least one of a robot and a cell phone.

40. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to obtain time information related to a time the digital representation was captured and recognize the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on the time information.

41. The system of claim 1, wherein the target content information is associated with a best match candidate of the plurality of known targets.

42. The system of claim 1, wherein the recognition platform is further configured to enable a second device to initiate a transaction associated with the target content information.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the transaction comprises a financial transaction associated with an account.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the account comprises at least one of the following:

an account link to a user, an account linked to a credit card, a bank account, and an account linked to a terminal.

45. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital representation comprises image data.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the image data comprise at least one of the following:

video data, still image data, and a series of images.

47. A portable hand-held device, comprising:

a sensor configured to acquire a digital representation of on-screen advertisement content; and

a computing platform coupled with the sensor and including an identification server configured to;

obtain, via the sensor, the digital representation of the on-screen advertisement content;

derive at least one characteristic of the digital representation of the on-screen advertisement content;

recognize the on-screen advertisement content as being associated with a first known target based at least in part on comparing the at least one characteristic to indexed characteristics of a plurality of known targets; and

obtain, via an address, target content information associated with the on-screen advertisement content based at least in part on recognizing the on-screen advertisement content as being associated with the first known target.

48. The device of claim 47, wherein the target content information comprises an identity of the on-screen advertisement content.

49. The device of claim 47, wherein the indexed characteristics of the plurality of known targets comprise symbol information.

50. The device of claim 47, wherein the portable hand-held device comprises the identification server.

51. The device of claim 47, wherein the identification server is further configured to enable, via a second device, an interaction with the on-screen advertisement content based on at least one of the address and the target content information.

52. The device of claim 51, wherein the interaction comprises submitting a vote related to the on-screen advertisement content.

53. The device of claim 51, wherein the interaction comprises providing an indication of an action.

54. The device of claim 51, wherein the interaction comprises a real-time interaction.

55. The device of claim 51, wherein the interaction comprises providing information pertinent to the first known target.

56. The device of claim 51, wherein the interaction comprises a purchase associated with the first known target.

57. The device of claim 47, wherein the identification server is configured to derive the at least one characteristic based on a discrimination of an object represented in the on-screen advertisement content from a background of the on-screen advertisement content.