This invention relates to the fields of information coding & image processing.
There is a growing demand for interactive video services. Mobile digital camera phones and other mobile communications devices are ubiquitous and have the capability to provide an interactive television experience. Until now, this experience has been, at best, slow, clumsy, and not very interactive. For example, “instant voting” implementations simply encourage viewers to send text messages to numbers in order to vote for their favorite television personalities.
Unless they require specialized hardware, existing systems are neither instant nor truly interactive. The basic problem with existing systems is that the mobile device does not have any method discovering the context in which it is operating, for example, which program the viewer is watching. Instead, the viewer/mobile device user must supply this intelligence, greatly reducing the convenience and usability.
There is a clear need for a system that can work with existing video delivery systems and mobile devices. If we can provide an easy way for the mobile device to identify what the viewer/user is watching, we can dramatically improve the user experience. By providing mechanisms for encoding information into an image and extracting and decoding that information from a captured image, this invention provides a practical means of identifying video images.
This invention consists of an encoding system for embedding information (such as the identity of the image, contact information, etc.) into an image (or stream of images) and a simple decoding system for extracting the information from the image or images.
By allowing the viewer's mobile device to extract specific information from the image, this invention greatly simplifies the interactive experience. With this invention, the viewer simply aims the mobile device in the direction of the external display that is showing the images that contain encoded information. Software in the mobile device uses the device's camera to capture the image from an external display. The mobile device software then quickly extracts and decodes the encoded information. The decoded information may, for example, include the identity of the image or video program being viewed or phone numbers to call or text message.
Knowing the identity of the display makes it possible for software in the mobile device to display information unique to the program being viewed. For example, the mobile device could provide additional information about the program, allow the viewer to vote by selecting and clicking a box, or even allow the user to quickly change their device settings.
This invention's utility is not limited to broadcast media. It could also be useful for recorded video and even static images.
The nature, objects, and advantages of the invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art after considering the following detailed description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate like parts throughout, and wherein:
(1)
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This section provides detailed descriptions of selected embodiments.
The image processing system encodes information (102) supplied by an operator or external system into the image or images. The output of the image processing system is an image (or images) containing the encoded information (103).
These images may be transmitted immediately or recorded for future playback on a television or other display system (104). The viewer's information extraction and decoding system, for example, a mobile device with camera (105) and information extraction and decoding software (106) captures the image or images from the display system. The software extracts and decodes the encoded information from the captured image, producing decoded information (107) that can be made available to the user or to other mobile device software.
This section describes the operation of the selected embodiments.
The system may be implemented as shown in
As a further example, information extraction and decoding system (105) may be implemented in a mobile communication device with a digital camera configured with specialized software to capture images, detect, extract, and decode the information encoded in the captured images.
Despite the specific foregoing descriptions, ordinarily skilled artisans having the benefit of this disclosure will recognize that the apparatus, method, and article of manufacture discussed above may be implemented in an apparatus, system, method, or article of manufacture of different construction without departing from the scope of the invention. Similarly, parallel methods may be developed. As a specific method example, in order to minimize the impact on image quality, more advanced future systems may encode the information units into different locations in the image. In this advanced method, the coding process adds sequence numbers to the information units and places the coded information unit into sections of the image which already resemble the coded information unit. This method adds significant additional processing requirements to both the encoding and decoding systems, but may be worth adding to the system when more powerful components become available.
As a specific apparatus example, the information extraction and decoding software (106) is a key component of this invention. Although embodiments described in this patent assume that this software will run on a mobile device, the software can run on any platform.
As a specific article of manufacture example, the information extraction and decoding software (106) may be modified to become more efficient or accurate, or it may be expanded to include additional functions.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20080025553 A1 | Jan 2008 | US |