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Digital Camera Patent Abstract
A wireless telecommunications terminal is provided comprising a
digital camera and a processor. The digital camera is configured
to take a digital photograph of an item showing a character string.
The processor is configured to receive data of or relating to the
character string read by an optical character recognition (OCR)
reader in the digital photograph information, and to process said
data.
Digital Camera Patent Claims
1. A wireless telecommunications terminal comprising a digital camera
and a processor, the digital camera being configured to take a digital
photograph of an item, the item showing a character string, and
the processor being configured to receive data of or relating to
the character string read by an optical character recognition (OCR)
reader in information of the digital photograph and to process said
data.
2. A terminal according to claim 1, comprising the OCR reader.
3. A terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal comprising
a wireless telecommunications transmitter and wireless telecommunications
receiver, the transmitter being configured to transmit the information
of the digital photograph, and the receiver being configured to
receive the data of or relating to the character string from the
OCR reader and to forward said data to the processor.
4. A terminal according to claim 1, further comprising a display,
in which the processor is configured to process the data by providing
said data to the display.
5. A terminal according to claim 1, including an authorisation
stage configured to enable a user of the terminal to indicate to
the processor that the character string should be processed further.
6. A terminal according to claim 5, in which the character string
is a telephone number, the authorisation stage enables the user
to indicate that a call connection to a terminal associated with
the telephone number should be made, and the processor comprises
a dial-up stage operative to establish said call connection to said
terminal associated with the telephone number.
7. A terminal according to claim 1 comprising a character string
translation stage configured to process the character string to
provide a corresponding string in another language or alphabet.
8. A terminal according to claim 1, in which the processor comprises
a geographic location stage configured to process the character
string to provide information of location of the terminal.
9. Wireless telecommunications network apparatus comprising a receiver,
an optical character recognition (OCR) reader, and a transmitter,
the receiver being configured to receive information of a digital
photograph of an item bearing a character string from a wireless
telecommunications terminal, the OCR reader being configured to
read a character string in the information of the digital photograph,
the transmitter being configured to transmit to the wireless telecommunications
terminal data of or relating to the character string read by the
OCR reader.
10. Wireless telecommunications network apparatus according to
claim 9, comprising a directory enquiry stage configured to process
the character string from the OCR reader to provide a telephone
number or Internet address, the transmitter configured to transmit
the data of the telephone number or Internet address.
11. Wireless telecommunications network apparatus according to
claim 9, comprising an Internet search engine configured to process
the character string from the OCR reader to provide a Internet address,
the transmitter being configured to transmit the data of the Internet
address.
12. Wireless telecommunications network apparatus according to
claim 9, comprising a character string translation stage configured
to process the character string to provide a corresponding character
string in another language or alphabet, the transmitter being configured
to transmit said corresponding character string.
13. A wireless telecommunications network apparatus according to
claim 9, comprising a geographic location stage configured to process
the character string to provide information of location of the terminal,
wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit said information.
14. A method of using a wireless telecommunications terminal comprising
a digital camera, the method comprising the steps of: taking a digital
photograph of an item bearing a character string, receiving data
of or relating to that character string, the character string having
been read by optical character recognition, OCR, in information
of the digital photograph.
15. A method according to claim 14, comprising the step of displaying
said data of or relating to the character string.
16. A method according to claim 14, wherein the data is data of
the character string that is a telephone number, the method including
the step of the user indicating that a call connection to a terminal
associated with the telephone number should be made, and the step
of establishing said call connection to said terminal associated
with the telephone number.
17. A method of operating wireless telecommunications network apparatus,
the method comprising the steps of: by radio reception receiving
information of a digital photograph of an item bearing a character
string from a wireless telecommunications terminal, reading a character
string in the information of the photograph using optical character
recognition OCR, by radio transmission transmitting data of or relating
to the character string.
18. A system comprising a wireless telecommunications network and
a mobile wireless telecommunications terminal, the terminal comprising
a digital camera and a wireless telecommunications transmitter,
the camera being configured to take a digital photograph of an item
bearing a character string, the wireless telecommunications transmitter
being configured to transmit information of the digital photograph,
the telecommunications network comprising an optical character recognition
(OCR) reader configured to read a character string in the information
of the photograph.
19. A system according to claim 18, wherein the network comprises
a transmitter configured to transmit data of or relating to the
character string from the OCR reader, and the terminal comprises
a receiver configured to receive said data.
20. A system according to claim 19, in which the terminal comprises
call connection circuitry, the receiver of the terminal being configured
to forward to the call connection circuitry said data of or relating
to the character string so as to make a call connection to a terminal
associated with said data.
Digital Camera Patent Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to wireless telecommunications,
particularly but not exclusively to mobile wireless telecommunications.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
[0002] It is known for a user to be presented with a telephone
number or other character string on one apparatus, such as a computer
terminal screen, a phone book or even a scrap of paper, and then
to type the number or other character string into a telephone handset,
in order to make the call or otherwise act on the data.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0003] An example of the present invention is a wireless telecommunications
terminal comprising a digital camera and a processor. The digital
camera is configured to take a digital photograph of an item showing
a character string. The processor is configured to receive data
of or relating to the character string read by an optical character
recognition (OCR) reader in the digital photograph information,
and to process said data.
[0004] In some embodiments, the terminal may comprise a display,
the processor then being configured to process the data by providing
the data of or relating to the character string to the display.
In some embodiments, the terminal may include an authorisation stage
configured to enable a user of the terminal to indicate to the processor
that the character string should be processed further. For example,
where the character string is a telephone number, the authorisation
stage may enable the user to indicate that a call connection to
a terminal associated with the telephone number should be made.
[0005] Another example of the invention is a wireless telecommunications
network apparatus comprising a receiver, an optical character recognition
(OCR) reader, and a transmitter. The receiver is configured to receive
information of a digital photograph of an item bearing a character
string from a wireless telecommunications terminal. The optical
character recognition (OCR) reader is configured to read a character
string in the information. The transmitter is configured to transmit,
to the wireless telecommunications terminal, data of or relating
to the character string read by the OCR reader.
[0006] The present invention also relates to broadly corresponding
methods.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] Some embodiments of the present invention will now be described
by way of example and with reference to the drawings, in which:
[0008] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a mobile terminal according
to a first embodiment,
[0009] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating operation of the mobile
terminal shown in FIG. 1,
[0010] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a mobile terminal and network
according to a second embodiment,
[0011] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating operation of the mobile
terminal and network shown in FIG. 3,
[0012] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a mobile terminal and network
according to a third embodiment,
[0013] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a mobile terminal and network
according to a fourth embodiment,
[0014] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a mobile terminal and network
according to a fifth embodiment, and
[0015] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a mobile terminal and network
according to a sixth embodiment,
[0016] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a mobile terminal according
to a further embodiment,
[0017] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a mobile terminal according
to a yet further embodiment.
[0018] The drawings are not to scale but are schematic representations.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] When considering a known system, the inventor realised that
it was unnecessarily laborious, and a potential source of error,
that a user had to read and type in a telephone number in order
to make a call.
[0020] The inventor realised that as more and more wireless terminals,
such as mobile phones are becoming equipped with built-in digital
cameras, it would be useful to be able to point the terminal at
a visually displayed phone number and press an appropriate function
key on the terminal's keypad, such as a "dial" or "store"
function key.
Number Recognition at the Mobile Terminal
[0021] As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile terminal 2 includes a digital
camera 4 connected to an optical character recognition (OCR) reader
6. The OCR reader 6 is connected both to a visual display 8 of the
mobile terminal 2, such as a liquid crystal diode (LCD) display,
and also to a storage device 10, such as a memory. The storage device
10 is connected to the display 8. The display 8 is connected to
an authorisation stage 12 via which the user can indicate, via keypad
14 connected to the authorisation stage 12, whether he wishes the
displayed number to be dialled up. The authorisation stage 12 is
accordingly connected to a dial-up stage 16 which is connected to
a transmitter-receiver 18.
[0022] As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile terminal 2 shown in the FIG.
1 operates as follows:
[0023] In the mobile terminal 2, the camera 4 takes a digital photograph
in the form of a JPG file (step a). A JPG file is one in accordance
with the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) standard. (In other
embodiments, the digital photograph could be, for example, a Tag
Image File Format (TIFF) file, a Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)
file, or the like.
[0024] This JPG file is then passed to the OCR reader 6 (step b).
[0025] The OCR reader processes the JPG file to recognise all the
text in the picture which it converts to ASCII text, in other words
text strings within a text file (step c).
[0026] The OCR reader 6 also queries that text file in order to
identify number strings (step d).
[0027] The OCR reader 6 provides those text strings to the display
8 where they are displayed (step e).
[0028] The user selects among the number strings that are displayed
on the display 8 using the keypad 14 (step f).
[0029] If the user decides to dial-up one of the numbers displayed
(step g) then appropriate signals are sent from the keypad 14 causing
the authorisation stage 12 to direct the numbers to the dial-up
stage 16. A call connection is then made via the transmitter-receiver
18. In other words, a call is made (step h). (In some otherwise
similar embodiments, the user can select the type of call made to
the identified telephone number string. For example, the dial-up
stage 16 can be controlled by the user to select between a voice
call or an SMS text message or an e-mail communication.) If the
user elects not to dial the number (step i) then the user is asked
to indicate via the keypad 14 whether he wishes the number to be
stored (step j).
[0030] If he indicates yes (step k) via the keypad 14 then an appropriate
signal is sent via the authorisation stage 12 to the storage element
10 so as to store (step l) the number for subsequent recall and
use.
[0031] Alternatively, if the user indicates (step m) via the keypad
14 that the number is not to be stored, then the authorisation stage
12 acts to have that number discarded (step n).
[0032] When the OCR reader 6 recognises more than one number string
within the digital picture received from the camera 4, it orders
the number strings based on location within the picture and relative
numeral size. The OCR reader 6 includes optical character recognition
software such as "SimpleOCR". Details of "SimpleOCR"
are available from the following Internet site address: http://www.simpleocr.com/.
"SimpleOCR" is provided by SimpleOCR having postal address
of P.O. Box 548, Knoxville, Tenn. 37901-0548, USA, and a physical
address of 1808 N. Cherry Street, Knoxville, Tenn. 37917, USA, The
OCR reader 6 not only identifies the number strings but also the
location of those number strings within the picture.
Number Recognition at a Remote Node
[0033] In a second example embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the optical
character recognition reader is shifted from the mobile terminal
to a node within the radio access network, for example to a base
station or base station controller.
[0034] As shown in FIG. 3, in the mobile terminal 302 a digital
camera 304 is connected to a radio transmitter-receiver 318. The
mobile terminal 302 includes a visual display 308, a storage means
310 such as a memory, and a keypad 314 connected via an authorisation
stage 312 to a dial-up stage 316. The dial-up stage 316 is connected
to the transmitter receiver 318. In the network node 320, there
is a further radio transmitter-receiver 322 connected to an optical
character recognition (OCR) reader 306.
[0035] The arrangement shown in FIG. 3 operates as shown in FIG.
4 as follows:
[0036] The camera 304' takes a digital photograph in the form of
a JPG file (step a').
[0037] This JPG file is passed to the transmitter receiver 318
and so sent by radio (step b') to the network node.
[0038] In the network node, this JPG file is received (step b1).
The JPG file is then processed (step c'), specifically by converting
all text in the picture to ASCII text and giving the results as
text strings ordered based on, for example, location within the
picture and relative size. The optical character recognition software
used is preferably "SimpleOCR" mentioned above, which
provides text strings and the location of the text within the picture.
[0039] In the optical character recognition reader 306 the text
strings are queried to identify number strings (step d').
[0040] These number strings are returned to the transmitter receiver
322 from where they are transmitted (step d1) back to the mobile
terminal 302.
[0041] Back at the mobile terminal 302, those transmitted number
strings are received and displayed (step e') on the visual display
308.
[0042] The user selects among the number strings that are displayed
on the display 8 using the keypad 14 (step f,).
[0043] If the user decides to dial-up one of the numbers displayed
(step g') then appropriate signals are sent from the keypad 314
causing the authorisation stage 312 to direct the numbers to the
dial-up stage 316.
[0044] A call connection is then made via the transmitter-receiver
318. In other words, a call is made (step h'). (In some otherwise
similar embodiments, the user can select the type of call made to
the identified telephone number string. For example, the dial-up
stage can be controlled by the user to select between a voice call,
an SMS text message or an e-mail communication.)
[0045] If the user elects not to dial the number (step i') then
the user is asked to indicate via the keypad 314 whether he wishes
the number to be stored (step j').
[0046] If he indicates yes (step k') via the keypad 314 then an
appropriate signal is sent via the authorisation stage 312 to the
storage element 310 so as to store (step l') the number for subsequent
recall and use.
[0047] Alternatively, if the user indicates (step m) via the keypad
314 that the number is not to be stored, then the authorisation
stage 312 acts to have that number discarded (step n').
[0048] The picture is transmitted from the mobile terminal 302
to the network node 322 by e-mail. The number strings are returned
to the mobile terminal 302 via a short message service (SMS) message
or by e-mail.
Applications
[0049] It will be seen that regardless of whether the optical character
recognition is undertaken within the mobile or at a remote node,
in these example systems, it is a straightforward matter to make
a telephone call. For example, a telephone number on a roadside
advertisement such as a billboard can be photographed and dialled-up
in a largely automated way as the user of the terminal is driven
by in a car. Also, numbers can be photographed from advertisements
on television or computer screens etc, and readily dialled up.
[0050] There are many applications for such example systems. For
example, product packaging can be printed with telephone numbers
which are free for the user to dial (i.e. without a call charge
to the user). A user can simply photograph the telephone number,
and indicate, for example using a single keypad key that he wishes
to dial up the number, and by the mobile handset then dialling-up
the number, the user hears a description of the product.
[0051] Another application is where dialling a phone number in
respect of a product causes the user to be charged with the cost
of the product. For example, a vending machine for soft drinks can
have phone number labels for products. The user sends a SMS message
to the selected phone number requesting charging of the appropriate
cost to the user's account.
Some Variants
[0052] In the particular example systems described above, it is
number strings, specifically telephone number strings, that are
sought out by the OCR readers. Of course character strings such
as recognised by OCR readers, can include alphabetic letters. One
possible variant is basically as shown in FIG. 3, but with the OCR
reader 306 identifying letter strings, such as words, or alphanumeric
strings that are combinations of letters and numbers, rather than
number strings for transmission to the mobile terminal. Such character
strings are displayed at the mobile terminal and can be selected
by the user for incorporation into SMS text messages and/or e-mails.
[0053] Some other possible variants, in particular to the example
system shown in FIG. 3, are shown in FIGS. 5 to 8. In each of these
example variants, the mobile terminal and network node are basically
as described in respect of FIG. 3, subject, of course, to the variations
explained below.
[0054] As shown in FIG. 5, the network node (here denoted 520)
can be adapted so that character strings, in particular strings
of letters, are directed to a directory service stage 524. The directory
service stage 524 acts to inspect directory databases (not separately
shown) so as to provide a telephone number from identified letter
strings of names, or name and address combinations or the like.
The mobile terminal can include a mobile global positioning system
(GPS) locator 526, such that position data of the location of the
mobile terminal 502 is sent to the network node 520. This position
information is passed to the directory service 524 enabling a telephone
number to be identified with little information identified by the
OCR reader 506; for example merely a person's name or a company
name.
[0055] In the variant shown in FIG. 6, the character string could
be an Internet domain name, such as a URL, or a URL-like character
sequence, or a search engine 624 such as Google could be used to
do a search of letter strings, such as names or words, in the photograph
so as to identify possible Internet addresses of interest.
[0056] In the variant shown in FIG. 7, character strings provided
by the optical character reader 706 are input into a character string
translator 724. The character string translator 724 is operative
to translate letters or words into a selected language or script.
For example a photograph of a sign could be taken by the mobile
terminal 702, and transmitted to the network node 720. The network
node 720 would identify the letter strings using its optical character
recognition reader, be they for example, in Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese
or Japanese script. The text string translator 724 would then operate
to convert the text strings recognised into for example roman letters.
As another example, the character string translator 724 could be
used to translate from one language to another, for example French
to English.
[0057] In the variant shown in FIG. 8, at the network node 820,
the optical character recognition reader 806 is connected to a geographic
feature-locator 824. Character string information identified by
the OCR reader 806, such as street names from street name-plates,
information on signs, and milestones, is provided to the geographic
feature-locator 824 which processes that information to give an
estimate of the position of the mobile handset and/or an electronic
map of the vicinity of that estimated position. That position information
or map is then transmitted to the mobile handset 802 for display
on the mobile handset 802 so as to inform the user.
[0058] In some embodiments, where the OCR reader is in the terminal,
for example as shown in FIG. 3, the OCR reader can include a character
string translator as shown in FIG. 9 or a geographic feature-locator
as shown in FIG. 10. As shown in FIG. 9, a mobile 902, which is
basically as shown in FIG. 1 can include an OCR reader 906 including
a character string translator 924. The character string translator
924 is operative to translate letters or words into any selected
language or script. Similarly as shown in FIG. 10, a mobile 1002
that is basically as shown in FIG. 1 includes a geographic feature-location
1024 with the OCR reader 1006. The geographic feature-locator 1024
processes the character string information to give an estimate of
the position of the mobile handset e.g. on an electronic map.
[0059] In some embodiments, other types of OCR software or processors
than "SimpleOCR" can be used.
[0060] In some embodiments, rather than ordering character strings
based on location in the picture and/or relative size, strings can
be ordered based on similarity to known telephone numbers for example.
In some embodiments character strings can be added to by further
software, for example identified telephone number strings can be
extended by country codes or area prefixes.
General
[0061] The present invention may be embodied in other specific
forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics.
The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only
as illustrative and not restrictive. The scope of the invention
is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the
foregoing description. All changes that come within the meaning
and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within
their scope.
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