Monday, April 17, 2006
Microsoft Research's Photo2Search: Finally a Good Use for a Phone Camera?
Posted by Jason Dunn in "ARTICLE" @ 03:30 PM
"There’s a new restaurant in town. Wonder what people are saying about it? Take a photo...Photo2Search works like this: Seeking information about something seen, a user takes a photo of the object and sends the photo, via e-mail or Multimedia Messaging Service, to a Web-based server, which searches an image database for matches. The server then delivers database information—whether it be a Web page featuring the object in the photo or information associated with the object—to the user, who can act on the information received: read a menu, enter a gallery, book a hotel room, make a purchase. Sounds simple, right? The devil, as always, is in the details."
This is one of those examples of research that will likely take years to come into the mainstream, but holds fascinating possibilities for gaining useful data from the combination of a portable device and a camera. When I'm out shopping for something I'm often wishing I had more data about a product. Imagine something such as this linking into a product review service so you could easily read a review about the product you're about to buy. That would be excellent!
This is one of those examples of research that will likely take years to come into the mainstream, but holds fascinating possibilities for gaining useful data from the combination of a portable device and a camera. When I'm out shopping for something I'm often wishing I had more data about a product. Imagine something such as this linking into a product review service so you could easily read a review about the product you're about to buy. That would be excellent!
