Microsoft’s Camera Phone Search Project and Other Camera Phone Search Tech
Search Briefs
Camera Phone Searching
Searching With Your Camera Phone: Photo2Search, Research from Microsoft
Always searching for info online by typing a query via a keyboard might one day be considered old school for some types of searching. It will not be today, tomorrow, or even five years from now but it’s coming. Think of it as another option to the keyboard.
Earlier this week we posted that Google was awarded a patent for voice-based search (the patent was filed in 2002) and we’re ending the week with this item about camera phone searching. We’ve been mentioning this type of technology for the past couple of years and now via this news release from MSFT we read about an MS Research Asia project called Photo2Search.
“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.” More about Photo2Search will be presented in a paper at the seventh International Conference on Mobile Data Management in May. The paper itself is not online (yet) but we will try to track down a copy. You can also monitor the MSR Asia Web Search & Mining Group site as well as the personal sites and blogs of the authors for more about Photo2Search.
Other camera phone search technology is already available. Including:
+ Mobot
Basically, point your cameraphone at an ad in magazine, movie poster, logo, etc., snap a pic, and send it via SMS. Info about what you’ve snapped is returned via a text message. More about the technology that powers Mobot here.
+ Semacode
An open system. Point your cameraphone at barcode-like symbols and be taken to a web page about that item. Here’s a gallery of what a few people have done with Semacode thus far including the Semapedia (cameraphone searching + Wikipedia data). In the future will “tagging” something refer to Semacode tags? 
In 2003, Amazon began offering cameraphone comparison shopping. Snap an image of a barcode and get pricing info on your phone.
UPDATE: This technology comes from NeoMedia’s QUODE.
Content based image retrieval (CBIR) also comes into play here and we’ve posted several items on companies, tools, and research in this space. You’ll also find a few demos.
+ All About Content Based Image Retrieval.
+ Demo Some Content Based Image Retrieval Software
+ Image Databases to Find “Visually Similar” Imagery and More
+ Finding “Patterns” in Your Face
Companies mentioned in these posts include VIMA Technologies, LTU Technologies, and Google.
Finally, in the past six months Riya, a facial recognition search tool, has gotten plenty of attention. Register to use Riya here (free).
See Also: Like.com
UPDATE: xcavator Content Based Image Search Adds More Imagery and More Image Search Providers
UPDATE: Both Exalead and Google now offer facial recognition search.
June 29th, 2006 at 4:18 am
[...] + Cameraphone Searching in Japan (via SEW Blog) Greg Sterling offers a great review of today’s NY Times article. For more on something similar, cameraphone searching, take a look at this comprehensive ResourceShelf post from a few months ago. We mention several products, word of research from MS and a look at several services including Semapedia. Btw, we also include a mention of some cameraphone searching availability in Japan since 2003. More on the service from NeoMedia in this announcement. [...]
August 16th, 2006 at 4:05 am
[...] + Google Acquires Image Recognition Firm (via Google Blogoscoped) NOTE: This RS post from April has links to numerous cameraphone demos and image recognition search tools. Several demos. Lots of new names. Of course, you’ll also read about MS research in this area. [...]
September 13th, 2006 at 1:02 am
[...] + Search comes to Mobile Wow, no mention of startups like 4INFO, Synfonic, UpSnap, and others. Don’t forget that mobile cameraphone searching is also just around the corner with services like Mobot, Semacode, and research from MS and others. In-depth overview in this RS post. Also, take a look at the Semapedia project, cameraphone and Wikipedia in one. [...]
September 19th, 2006 at 6:26 am
[...] + Microsoft—Faceted Search Coming Soon? (via InfoToday) See Also: Siderean Has Been Offering Faceted Search for Years. Coming Soon to the LII. See Also: More Here Including Several Demos (2nd Item) See Also: SEW First Posted About The Clustering Toolbar in 2005 See Also: Other Work Being Done at Microsofts China Lab Includes Cameraphone Searching [...]
November 1st, 2006 at 1:18 am
[...] In fact, in Japan you’ve been able to use your cameraphone to search and compare product prices for three years. We make note of this in this post about a related area, cameraphone searching. This post has an overview. [...]
December 28th, 2006 at 1:07 am
[...] See Also: Microsoft’s Camera Phone Search Project and Other Camera Phone Search Tech [...]
April 2nd, 2007 at 4:51 am
[...] This post from about a year ago discusses several of these projects as well as content-based image retrieval. You’ll read about: + Semacode and Semapedia (Bar Codes + Wikipedia) + Bar Code Searching from Amazon.com Dating Back to 2003 + Mobot (Just point your cameraphone at an ad in a magazine). + Cameraphone Research from Microsoft See Also: Demos from Qode (mentioned in article) [...]
May 14th, 2007 at 5:23 am
[...] Note: The researcher’s working on this project are also working on MS cameraphone search research that we posted about a year ago. Source: A “Press Release” from Microsoft [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 2:07 am
[...] See Also: Don’t Forget Cameraphone Searching From companies like Qode, Semacode, and Mobot. [...]
July 13th, 2007 at 7:49 am
[...] + Microsoft’s Camera Phone Search Project and Other Camera Phone Search Tech [...]
January 9th, 2008 at 7:14 am
[...] in 2006 we posted about research at Microsoft dealing with cameraphone searching. We also listed other players in the cameaphone search space. That post is still online and many of [...]