WO2002015120A1

WO2002015120A1 - Method and device for extracting information-bearing features from a digital image

Info

Publication number: WO2002015120A1
Application number: PCT/DE2001/003059
Authority: WO
Inventors: Frank Müller; Jörg Küchen
Original assignee: Gavitec Ag
Priority date: 2000-08-18
Filing date: 2001-08-17
Publication date: 2002-02-21
Also published as: DE10193423D2; DE10040899A1; AU2001283796A1; EP1312035A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for extracting information-bearing features. To this end, the information-bearing feature, which is recorded by an electronic camera, is extracted by means of a decoding device of a server, especially a service server or a decoding server.

Description

Method and device for extracting information-bearing features from a digital

image

The invention relates to a method and a device for extracting information-carrying features from a digital image.

With the commercialization of the Internet in the mid-1990s, the importance of network services, especially Internet services, has increased rapidly. Ordering goods and services, retrieving information, paying bills and doing banking on the Internet is commonplace today.

In order to be able to make sensible use of an Internet service, the user must have an Internet-capable terminal device, which usually also has an input unit and a display unit. The input unit is used to input data that is required to execute a service. The input unit normally consists of a keyboard and / or a computer mouse.

The display unit is typically designed as a computer screen on which, among other things, a browser window is visible.

With the input or selection of a website via the input unit, an Internet connection is established to a remote server, which in turn sends the content of a website to the terminal. The display unit of the terminal then displays the content of the website in the browser window.

Such a page contains on the one hand informative parts, but on the other hand also control elements that can be operated by the user using the input unit. These controls can be implemented as selection menus, text fields or hyperlinks, for example. The advantage of selection menus and hyperlinks compared to text fields is that they allow the service to be controlled by a pointing device, in particular a mouse. This is much easier and less prone to errors than typing on a keyboard. Text fields are required at least if the number of possible entries is very large. This is particularly the case for services in which a database query is started by entering a keyword. A typical example in which text fields are entered are search engines, which are used, for example, to search for addresses of websites that contain this keyword.

A disadvantage of text fields is the need for keyboard inputs, which require more effort from the user than, for example, "pointing and clicking" with a mouse. Particularly in the case of mobile Internet-enabled devices in which the alphanumeric keyboard has multiple assignments (eg WaP cell phones), the input can be alphanumeric characters are so cumbersome that the user does not use a service that is otherwise of interest to them.

In many cases, the user has a character string to be entered in writing. This can be, for example, the article number of a device about which the user requests information. But it can also be strings relating to a personal customer number at a mail order company or a supplier (electricity, water, telephone). But it can also be the name of a company or its Internet address. In such cases, the user has to enter the appropriate character string on the keyboard in order to be able to use the service desired by him.

In order to avoid the input of character strings in particular, such character strings, as well as information going beyond them, are increasingly coded in so-called bar codes, such as bar codes. Such codes are usually read in with a special code reader, so that the code read can be decoded by a decoding device of the code reader and the information contained in the code is available for further use. Known code readers, however, have the decisive disadvantage, in particular for a private user, that they are very expensive and are therefore often used only for commercial purposes. In addition, known code readers can only be used for one purpose, namely for reading codes, precisely because of their direct design. Among other things, all of this represents an important reason that coded information and the associated services are not used by a private user at all or only to a very limited extent.

The invention is based on the object of providing a method and a device which uses the information of a digital image without a specially designed device and facilitates the input of information into computer networks. As a solution, the present invention proposes a method for extracting information-bearing features from a digital image, in which the information-bearing features of the digital image are extracted by means of a decoding device of a server, in particular by means of a service server or a decoding server.

According to the invention, an information-carrying feature is to be understood to mean any marking, for example on a packaging of a product, which is suitable for containing information in a coded form. Optical codes such as barcodes, two-dimensional codes, three-dimensional codes, color codes, matrix codes, plain text markings, OCR fonts or the like are particularly suitable for this purpose.

In general, it can be said that the part of a digital image that is extracted typically contains information relevant to the user and / or contains information relevant to the proper execution of an application selected by a user. Information-bearing features also allow conclusions to be drawn, for example, about the scene recorded by the recording device. For example, information-carrying features are also; an existence and / or an expression of certain structures, the existence and / or the number and / or the size of certain objects contained in a scene. Furthermore, such an information-carrying feature can also consist of the decoded data of an optical code, which has preferably been applied to an object or to a document, the digital image at least partially containing an image of the object or the document on which the optical code is attached is.

In order to have such information-carrying features available, for example, in a form that can be used for a data processing system, the information-carrying feature is, as already mentioned briefly, for example a component of a digital image taken with a device suitable for this purpose. It goes without saying that the digital image can not only be present as a single image, but rather also as a digital image sequence. A digital image sequence is obviously nothing more than a large number of digital individual images that are lined up, which are viewed, for example, at short intervals in succession. For example, the digital image sequence is a video film.

The digital image is, for example, a two-dimensional image of a two-dimensional as well as a three-dimensional scene. A two-dimensional scene is, for example, a document which is an image of a microfilm, a document scanner, an X-ray image, a fax or is similar. A three-dimensional scene is, for example, a three-dimensional code that has been stamped into a product, for example.

It goes without saying that the term "digital images" can also be understood to mean parts of digital images. Parts of digital images can be individual areas - image sections - whereby an image section can in particular also be linear. Parts of digital images can, however consist of any subset of image data to be characterized differently.

In the extraction method according to the invention, it is advantageously no longer necessary for the object to be extracted or decoded to have a special marking. This applies in particular to optical codes, in the vicinity of which a marking is often arranged, for example to make it easier to find an optical code on a surface.

Dispensing with a marking is particularly advantageous if the method according to the invention is to be used, for example, for authorization by means of a fingerprint, for automatic face recognition or for iris recognition. This is also advantageous in the case of automatic component recognition or automatic size recognition.

In order to extract the information-bearing features of a digital image, a decoding device is required. Such decoding devices perform, for example, calculations that are necessary, for example, to decode a bar code. In most cases, the decoding device is designed in a special hardware, different information-carrying features each requiring a special decoding device. For example, a decoder that specializes in decoding barcodes of a particular symbology is not able to extract identifying features from fingerprints at the same time. If a user wants to extract information relevant to him from an existing digital image in an automated manner, he needs a decoder specially designed for this purpose. Since such decoding devices are predominantly adapted to only one type of information-carrying features, they are correspondingly expensive.

The decoding device extracts information from the digital image and / or from a digital image sequence, for example, and makes the extracted information available, for example in the form of metadata, which describe certain features of the image data. The term “extract” not only describes “peeling out” of information arranged in a scene of a digital image, but preferably also a decoding of the information-carrying feature associated therewith.

The term “decoding server” means a server that preferably has at least one decoding device. The decoding servers can be operated independently of the service servers and / or independently of an application. For example, the services (feature extraction) of a decoding server are bundled or billed on a case-by-case basis. This enables operators of decoding servers, for example, to bill decoding services individually.

It is also possible that competition between individual operators of decoding servers arises and the service server or the application decides which decoding server should be used.

As mentioned briefly at the beginning, many industrially manufactured goods, including everyday products and their packaging, are not only provided with text in plain text, but also, for example, with machine-readable optical codes, especially barcodes. In conjunction with special devices for decoding this code (hereinafter called reading devices), the goods marked in this way can be identified automatically. In order to ensure clear identification, internationally standardized barcodes (EAN, JAN, UPC) are used in commercial trade. These barcodes were originally developed to automate the flow of goods in supermarkets and to simplify checkout. Since the codes of the EAN / UPC family also have the content of the barcode (the so-called EAN number) printed in plain text under the actual barcode, this number can be read without a special reader and entered using a keyboard.

A disadvantage of using such services is that the EAN number must be entered manually using a text field. Since EAN numbers represent sequences of digits that are difficult to remember and have no meaning for a human user, entering the EAN number is much more troublesome for the user than, for example, entering an equally long natural language word. For the same reason, entering an EAN number is also more susceptible to errors (e.g. number rotator) than entering a natural language word. There are a number of reading devices that are constructed similarly to the reading devices that are used in supermarket checkouts. However, since these barcode readers only provide a small additional benefit for the user of the terminal, only much simpler and correspondingly inexpensive reading devices are actually offered and used for this purpose. These readers are usually designed in pen form. These are moved by the user in a steady movement over the barcode, so that a reading is achieved. However, handling these reading pens requires a certain amount of practice. In particular, if the pen is used only rarely, practice is lacking and multiple attempts to read are often necessary to achieve a satisfactory reading.

With the method according to the invention, a user who is interested in a network service, for example, is given the opportunity to use a network service by extracting information-carrying features from a digital image and to receive corresponding services with the extracted information.

To prevent people from identifying themselves with documents that do not belong to them, for example, ID documents are often provided with passport photos of the respective owner. However, by exchanging the passport photo for another picture, for example, the passport photo protection can be easily circumvented with regard to improper use. Forgeries regarding such identification documents are often difficult to detect. For example, the likelihood of such counterfeits being discovered can be increased by the issuing authority extracting certain features of the passport photo, converting them into an optical code (e.g. a data matrix code) and printing this optical code on the identification document. Such identification documents can easily be checked for authenticity with the method according to the invention. For this purpose, for example, a digital image of the identification document is recorded by a user of the extraction method and sent to a service server. The service server extracts, for example, the relevant features of the recorded passport picture by means of a first decoding server and decodes, for example, the data matrix code printed on the identification document by means of a second decoding server. In this case, the service server preferably checks whether the features transmitted by the different decoding servers match. If they match, it is very likely that the passport photo has not been replaced afterwards. If they do not match, the likelihood that the passport photo has been exchanged is very high and the ID document has been falsified accordingly.

The extraction method according to the invention can also be used advantageously, for example, in the detection and identification of objects. For example, an auto repair shop can do that Use the extraction method according to the invention to simplify the ordering of spare parts. For this purpose, a workshop employee holds the defective original part in front of a camera, which takes a digital image of the original part and transmits it to a service server, for example, which then preferably coordinates the ordering of spare parts. The service server in turn queries identifying features of the recorded digital image via one or more decoding servers. In the ideal case, the component is clearly identified, whereupon the service server informs the user of the extraction method according to the invention of important data about this component. This can be data about the price and / or the delivery time, for example.

However, the service server can also offer the user an order mask that has already been largely filled in, so that the order can be placed with little effort.

If the component cannot be uniquely identified by the service server, the service server can provide the user with further selection questions with sufficient information about the component with the aim of uniquely identifying the component. Information about the year of manufacture or the engine variant of the vehicle may already be sufficient to ensure clear identification. The user can then manually enter this queried data into the system, for example. However, he can also hold the vehicle registration certificate or another document identifying the vehicle in front of a digital camera, thus enabling the service server to obtain the information it needs, among other things, using a decoding server. The previously described object identification can significantly simplify the search for specific entries, for example in spare parts catalogs, and at the same time reduce the likelihood of field orders.

It is particularly advantageous here that the user can now also extract and decode information-bearing features of a digital image with devices that were originally intended solely for image recording and possibly image storage and can make simplified use of network-wide services without making any further investment with regard to special reading devices on the part of the user.

The extraction method according to the invention not only simplifies the input of data for the use of network services, but rather, for example, the input of data for the use of local applications can also be simplified. For example, a word processing program can be made to print an optical code in the footer of the document, which for example indicates the location of the document and possibly additional information about the document receives. If there is now a document which is to be processed further, but whose name and / or its storage location is not or no longer known, a digital image can be generated from the document. For this purpose, a user only needs to place the document in front of a camera, for example, so that the optical code of the document is read by means of the extraction method according to the invention and is decoded by a corresponding decoding device. Here, for example, the location of the file is known, so that the document can be opened for further processing with a suitable program.

For example, it is also possible to provide business cards with optical codes in which at least part of the information present on the business card in plain text is encoded. If, for example, the business card with the optical code contained in it is held in front of a PC camera, a program for address management is preferably started, this program receiving the data contained in the code. For example, a form for entering new contacts can be opened, the fields of which are partially or completely filled with the data of the business card.

With the extraction method according to the invention, for example, electronic cameras already in masses in private households, which neither had the ability to extract information-carrying features at the time of manufacture nor at the time of purchase, and which were also not prepared by the manufacturer for such capabilities, can be used in this way that an extraction of information-bearing features of a digital image is made possible. As a result, the field of use of such cameras is considerably expanded and the use of such cameras is increased.

As already described in the previous application examples, a preferred method variant provides that the digital image is recorded by an electronic camera.

A real scene is converted into a digital image using this electronic camera. This digital image can also contain an optical code, for example, as an information-carrying feature, which in turn contains, for example, corresponding information for the use of a network service.

Capturing the digital image using an electronic camera offers a wide range of possible applications, in particular for a private user. Since electronic cameras and general consumer devices in particular, which are able to take digital pictures, are already mass products today, they are already inexpensive to manufacture and offer. For example digital consumer devices include electronic cameras, video cameras, PC cameras, document scanners and fax machines.

The extraction method according to the invention expands the possible uses, for example of a digital camera, in such a way that an automatic feature extraction is available to almost every user and a large number of Internet services are thereby made more easily accessible to this group of people. In particular, this results in the fact that it is superfluous to acquire a corresponding decoding device for different information-bearing features of a digital image, which can then only be used, for example, on a case-by-case basis.

It does not matter if the electronic camera is only able to take the picture and does not have a corresponding decoding device. The decoding device is spatially separated from the recording unit. The recording unit or the electronic camera is thus located where the information-carrying feature is located. However, the decoder is "somewhere".

This has the advantage that other reading devices become superfluous and additional costs for a special reading device are avoided. Rather, all conceivable information-carrying features can be read in via a commercially available electronic camera. It is particularly advantageous here that the cameras do not even have to be retrofitted, but can be used as part of their original function.

Here, the camera sends, for example, the digital image containing the information-bearing feature or a section of the digital image containing the information-bearing feature to a server on which the information-bearing feature can be extracted or decrypted by means of a decoding device.

These features advantageously contain information that leads to hyperlinks of the manufacturer of the product, to test reports or to information on related products. It can make sense to record the character strings generated by the decoding server on one page in a browser window, so that the user is able to check his input.

For their part, manufacturers of products can additionally or exclusively provide their products or their packaging or their instructions for use with, for example, information-carrying features which contain information about an Internet address. Here, the user, for example via the service server, is directly directed to a corresponding website of the manufacturer, the drive or a company responsible for support. For example, the user who reads an older code from a package or the like can be directed to the updated website via corresponding links, although the code only contains data for an older website.

Furthermore, services are also conceivable in which the user can identify himself by means of a printed code. For example, an invoice contains a code that clearly identifies the invoice in addition to an Internet address. In this way, the customer can conveniently pay the invoice "online".

An electronic camera has the further advantage that it can be positioned relatively easily in front of an information-carrying feature, a document provided with plain text or another object provided with a code or plain text. Positioning is achieved very simply by the user "aiming" at the object, for example with the camera. Reading in any information-carrying feature does not pose any problems. Alternatively, the user can also hold the object in front of the camera.

It is particularly advantageous that the electronic camera is also able to record symbologies other than EAN or UPC barcodes. Thus, for example, complete Internet addresses in the form of URLs (e.g. http://www.gavitec.com) as barcodes or as two-dimensional codes (e.g. a DataMatrix) can be applied to products, brochures, posters or other printed products and used for easy navigation on the Internet become.

Another major advantage is that, on the one hand, the digital devices listed above can be used to read or record information-carrying features whose symbologies have not yet been developed. Thus, the user can be sure that a device that has been purchased is also suitable for reading in a new generation of optical codes, for example.

On the other hand, a service provider who wants to use other than the symbologies established at this point in time can be sure that enough potential users can also use its service, since the devices already on the market before the introduction of the corresponding code can also be used in the Are able to read in or record new symbologies.

It is advantageous here that the electronic camera receives a corresponding decoding device by a download controlled by a server, in particular a service server, and thus becomes temporarily extractable. In order in particular to give users who want to extract a large number of different information-carrying features the possibility of extracting information-carrying features from a digital image, it is particularly advantageous if a corresponding decoding device is made available as a "download" - Wisely done by a service server connected to the electronic camera checking whether the camera already contains a decoding device that matches the respective information-carrying feature.

If, for example, a corresponding decoding device has been loaded from a server at an earlier point in time, the electronic camera is also able to extract the information-carrying feature. However, if the server determines during the check that there is no corresponding decoding device, the electronic camera is provided with a corresponding copy of a decoding device via a network.

It is also advantageous if handwritten character strings can be recorded using the electronic camera. The recorded information-carrying feature can thus be a handwritten character string. For this purpose, the service server has, for example, a corresponding decoding device for recognizing the handwriting. Thus, a rarely required decoding device, for example for handwritten character strings, does not have to be purchased and made available by an individual user, but rather the corresponding decoding device is preferably used only temporarily in the form of a service.

In order to also be able to record and process text in plain text, it is advantageous if the electronic camera can also record printed character strings and, for example, the service server has a decoding device for recognizing this plain text and preferably makes it temporarily available to the user.

It is also possible that the information-carrying feature is not extracted and used directly by a service server, but rather the information-carrying feature is extracted first by or using another instance, in order thereby to obtain, for example, a character string which is used as an instruction for using a Network service can be used.

The service server advantageously has a logical connection to a second server, in particular a decoding server, so that the decoding server can provide the service server with an appropriate decoding device. For example, the digital image that was recorded with the electronic camera is fed in at the input of the decoding device. If this image contains an information-bearing feature of a decoder-supporting symbology, the decoding unit can extract this information-bearing feature. This means that after a certain time the extracted information-bearing feature is present at the output of the decoder, which contains information in the form of a character string, for example.

The service server can send the picture to the decoding server and get the information-carrying feature (a character string) back from it. It is also possible for the service server to download the decoding device from the decoding server and then carry out the extraction of the information-carrying feature itself.

It is also possible that the decoding device can also be used on a terminal, e.g. the electronic camera, is executable. When establishing the connection to the terminal or at a later point in time, the service server determines whether there is hardware on the terminal on which the decoding unit suitable for the service can run. If this is the case, the service server calls the appropriate decoding unit from the decoding server and sends it to the terminal (upload). This ultimately makes the terminal device itself capable of code reading. However, the service server can also contact the terminal beforehand in this way and clarify by means of a corresponding data exchange whether the terminal already has such an applet. The upload is then made dependent on the answer to this “question”.

So that the imported information-carrying features can be meaningfully processed with the encrypted information, they must first be extracted or decrypted. This requires a decoding device that can be configured either in hardware or software.

If the decoding device is implemented in hardware, it can run on the decoding server. If the decoding device is implemented in software, it can be designed in such a way that it can run on the decoding server.

The software can also be designed in such a way that it can run on other platforms (so-called applets). In particular, it can be designed such that it can run on the service server or the input device containing the camera. Advantageously, a decoding device can be made available to an input device by a server, in particular by a decoding server. Here too, the corresponding server can check whether the input device is suitable for executing a decoding device. If so, it can be further checked whether the input device already has a corresponding decoding device and if this is not the case, the corresponding server provides the input device with the decoding device by download.

Because an input device or a terminal, a decoding server, a service server or any other server is able to extract an information-bearing feature, the customer is offered a complete and well-rounded system in order to make use of a corresponding network service to be able to take.

One variant of the method provides that the service server provides and controls a corresponding service after input of data. It is advantageous here that a network service of a service provider is made available to a user in a particularly simple manner.

It is also possible that the decoding servers specialize in various tasks. For example, there may be decoding servers that specialize in the decoding of EAN barcodes, others may, for example, decode data matrix codes, with other decoding servers being able to read or decode plain text or handwriting.

A preferred method variant provides that the service server controls at least one decoding server. For example, there are several specialized decoding servers, the decoder server being controlled by a service server or, in particular, also being controlled by an application.

For example, there may also be decoding servers that solve at least parts of the feature extraction task. Such a decoding server could, for example, recognize whether a digital image contains a bar code, a data matrix code or both. This information is preferably sent to the service server, which in turn selects the appropriate decoding server (s), which then carry out, for example, barcode decoding or data matrix decoding.

For example, a decoding server specializing in data matrix decoding can make use of a further decoding server, which first determines the existence and location of a data matrix code in the digital image. The object on which the invention is based is also achieved by a device for extracting information-carrying features from a digital image, the device having an electronic camera and a decoding device, and a network being arranged between the electronic camera and the decoding device.

In order to be able to transmit data, in particular data containing information-carrying features, quickly and inexpensively over long distances, the Internet is preferably used as a network. Another advantage arises from the fact that the Internet is available at all times of the day and night and you can access the desired data from almost anywhere in the world. The cost-effective use of the Internet and the same standard of transmission protocols worldwide offer a further advantage.

It is particularly advantageous that an ordinary consumer camera can be used to record the optical code. Since these cameras are mass-produced, they are offered in almost all price categories. Thus, these devices are not a luxury item. As is known, these consumer cameras in their original delivery state have no device with which a recorded information-carrying feature of a digital image can be extracted and decoded. It is all the more astonishing that these cameras can now be used to provide a network service to a user.

In order not only to be able to read in different information-bearing features with the aid of an electronic camera and to be able to feed this data into a network, but also to receive the information associated with the extracted information-bearing features, it is advantageous if the electronic camera is in one Terminal is arranged, which comprises a network-compatible display unit. This is then preferably designed as a browser window.

Most electronic cameras are equipped with a two-dimensional optical semiconductor sensor in CCD or CMOS technology (a so-called area sensor). The sensor is divided into light-sensitive cells (pixels) and generates a discrete electrical signal that corresponds to the amount of light striking the individual pixels.

Furthermore, electronic cameras also contain one or more lenses, which project an image of the scene that is in the field of view of the camera onto the sensor. The sensor is then read out by electronics which are also located in the camera, whereupon a digital image is created in the camera which represents a true image of the scene "seen" by the camera. It is advantageous that the electronic cameras are constructed in such a way that they can process data digitally without further notice and can forward this data via a corresponding interface. These are, for example, cameras, such as digital cameras, video cameras, Internet cameras or cameras, which are components of a PC or a cell phone and an electronic diary. All of these devices are ideally suited to be used with regard to the method according to the invention.

In order to be able to record the different information-carrying features, such as color codes, for example, the electronic camera preferably includes a color light-sensitive area sensor for image recording. However, a color light-sensitive area sensor is also advantageous when recording black / white codes, since the color light-sensitive area sensor is able to distinguish between a black / white area and a colored area. As a result, a black and white code in a colored environment can be detected much more easily by the device according to the invention. Among other things, this makes reading a black and white information-bearing feature much safer.

Furthermore, the electronic camera can have a device for image transmission, so that the captured images or sections of the captured images that contain the information-carrying feature are advantageously forwarded online to a corresponding server via the network, in particular the Internet.

If the online function is not immediately available, it is advantageous if the electronic camera includes a device for image storage. The camera is then connected at a later point in time to an internet-compatible device via an interface, whereupon the content of the image memory or at least part of it is transmitted via the internet to the service server, for example.

This is particularly advantageous in the case of digital cameras, since these have the option of storing an image, as well as an interface for the transmission of data and a trigger. If the camera has a flash light, this can advantageously be used, for example, to illuminate the information-carrying feature, so that sufficient illumination is available even in unfavorable lighting conditions.

As a further exemplary embodiment of the electronic camera, a video camera can be used if this video camera itself is Internet-compatible or if it contains an interface that can display an image. Transfer to an internet-enabled device. The recorded images containing the information-bearing feature are then transmitted at the same time or at a later point in time, for example to an Internet-compatible PC. An Internet service can then be used from the PC, for example.

Some internet cameras can also be disconnected from a PC, such as a camera. They contain their own power supply and can therefore be used anywhere. They also contain an image memory and a trigger. If a corresponding image is recorded and stored in an image memory, the camera can be connected to an internet-enabled device at a later time and the images or sections of the images contained in the image memory are transmitted to this device. The transmission can be wired or wireless via a radio interface or an infrared interface.

In the event that the device or the electronic camera does not have a suitable memory on which the extraction software can be stored and / or no processor is available for the extraction, it is advantageous if the decoding device is on a server , in particular on a service server. If the extraction of the information-carrying features is carried out on the remote server computer, the recorded image containing the information-carrying feature or at least an image section which contains the information-carrying feature is transmitted via the network to the server computer, which then carries out the extraction. Here, a simpler and cheaper network access device can also be used instead of a computer.

In order, for example, to be able to extract an information-carrying feature which is in the form of a handwriting, it is advantageous if the server comprises a device for recognizing a handwriting.

In order, for example, to be able to extract an information-carrying feature which is in the form of plain text, it is advantageous if the server comprises a device for recognizing plain text.

In order to be able to use conventional digital recording devices, for example, which do not have a decoding device, for the purposes of the invention, it is advantageous if the server comprises a device for extracting information-carrying features from a digital image. Ultimately, it is proposed that the extraction device comprise a device in which a decoding device can be stored at least temporarily. This is particularly advantageous if the device according to the invention or the electronic camera per se is to be made extractable. For example, an image memory of the electronic camera or a replaceable memory chip of an electronic camera can be used as the device on which the decoding device can be stored. The device for storing the decoding device is preferably located on the area sensor of the electronic camera, since in particular an area sensor of an electronic camera is excellently suited for recording such a device.

Further advantages, goals and properties of the present invention are illustrated with the aid of the following explanation of the attached drawing, in which, by way of example, a device for entering data into computer networks is shown.

It shows

the FIGURE shows a device for entering data in computer networks with an electronic camera, a decoding server, a service server and a network arranged between the electronic camera and the service server.

The device 1 consists of an electronic camera 2, a network 3, a service server 4 and a decoding server 5 with a decoding device 6. In the exemplary embodiment of the electronic camera 2 shown, it is a network-compatible camera which communicates directly via a corresponding interface 7 the network 3 is connected. The camera 2 comprises an optical system 8, via which an optical code 9 can be photographed as a real image. A positioning aid 10 is arranged on the camera 2, with the aid of which the camera 2 can be positioned simply and precisely in front of the code 9. The camera 2 also has a color light-sensitive area sensor 11 with which the real image is recorded. Furthermore, an image processing unit 12 is arranged in the camera 2, in which the real image is converted into a digital image. The recorded data are fed into the network 3 via the interface 7.

There is also a flash device 14 on the camera 2, which can be used to optimally illuminate the code at the time of the recording.

It goes without saying that a large number of suitable cameras are already on the market today. These can also be used as a receiving unit in the inventive sense. Examples include a video camera, a digital camera, an Internet camera, an electronic diary and a mobile phone.

In order to be able to use a video camera as a link in the device according to the invention, this video camera only has to contain an interface that transmits images to an internet-compatible device, e.g. enabled to a PC or directly networkable.

Another possibility to take a real picture is the so-called digital camera. With this variant, a spatial separation between the digital camera and an Internet-enabled device is not a major problem. Since digital cameras have an image memory, the scene or code recorded by the camera can be stored in digital form. The camera can then be connected at a later time via an interface to a device capable of Internet access, so that the content of the image memory is transmitted to a service server via the network, in particular the Internet.

Another network-compatible end device can consist of an Internet camera, a home computer or an Internet camera and an Internet console.

An Internet camera generally consists of an image recording part and a processing unit. The processing unit takes over protocol and transmission functions by means of an external interface (e.g. parallel interface, USB). The interface can also be wireless, e.g. as a radio interface or as an infrared interface. The Internet camera is connected to an Internet-enabled device via this interface.

Some internet cameras can also be used separately from the PC like a camera. They contain their own power supply and can therefore be used anywhere. Similar to a digital camera, you can also save a scene in an image memory by pressing a shutter release. At a later point in time, the camera is then connected to an Internet-enabled device so that the images contained in the image memory are transferred to this device. The stored data can be transmitted in a wired or wireless manner via a radio interface or an infrared interface.

Electronic diaries, which are equipped with a camera and a mobile radio unit, can also be used as network-compatible terminal devices in the sense of the invention. Mobile phones are also suitable as end devices. On the one hand, mobile phones offer the possibility of establishing a connection to the Internet, on the other hand, mobile phones will also be equipped with a camera in the future, so that they can be used as a network-compatible device. This will be the case in particular for telephones according to the new UMTS mobile radio standard, because this new standard offers higher data transmission rates. Multimedia applications are also supported.

The devices listed above as examples can all be used to position an optical code relative to a camera, so that it is possible to record the optical code using the camera. This creates the basis for being able to read in character strings in the code in a simple manner, without having to enter the string prone to errors on a keyboard.

The network 3 provides the connection between the electronic camera 2 and the service server 4 and the decoding server 5 in the manner according to the invention. The network 3 is preferably meant here as the Internet.

However, any other network can also be used which appears suitable to adequately support the method and the device according to the invention.

The service server 4 is an essential component of the device 1 according to the invention. The special network services are arranged on the service server 4. The user of the terminal 2 can thus use a service offered by the service server 4 when a connection is established between this terminal 2 and the service server 4. The decoding server 5 is also connected to the service server 4.

It goes without saying that the service server 4 and the decoding server 5 as well as the network-capable terminal 2 can be connected to any number of other servers.

As the name already clarifies, there is a decoding device 6 on the decoding server 5. This enables the extraction and decoding of a code 9 belonging to a specific symbology. A code 9 read by the user is decoded in the decoding device 6 in such a way that at the output the decoding device 6 has information with which a corresponding network service can offer the user information on a display-like output device.

Thus, through the inventive consideration and through the inventive action, a device is used in such a way that it was never intended to function. The user can use devices that Take or image transmission are provided, read various optical codes and thereby use the appropriate network services.

Claims

claims:

1. A method for extracting information-bearing features from a digital image, characterized in that the information-bearing features of the digital image are extracted by means of a decoding device (6) of a server (4, 5), in particular by means of a service server (4) or a decoding server ( 5).

2. Extraction method according to claim 1, characterized in that the digital image is recorded by an electronic camera (2).

3. Extraction method according to claim 2, characterized in that the electronic camera (2) receives a corresponding decoding device (6) by a download controlled by a server, in particular by a service server (4) and thus becomes temporarily extractable.

4. Extraction method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that at least one information-bearing feature of the digital image is a handwritten character string.

5. Extraction method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that at least one information-bearing feature of the digital image is a printed string.

6. Extraction method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that a corresponding decoding device (6) is made available by a decoding server (5) to a service server (4).

7. Extraction method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that a decoding device (6) is provided by a server, in particular by a decoding server (5), an input device (2).

8. Extraction method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the information-bearing features can be extracted from the digital image by a decoding device (6) of a decoding server (5), a service server (4), a terminal or another server.

9. Extraction method according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the service server (4) provides and controls a corresponding service after input of data.

10. Extraction method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the service server (4) controls at least one decoding server (5).

11. Device (1) for extracting information-carrying features from a digital image, characterized in that the device (1) has an electronic camera (2) and a decoding device (6), and between the electronic camera (2) and the decoding device (6) a network (3) is arranged.

12. Extraction device (1) according to claim 11, characterized in that the network (3) is the Internet.

13. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 11 or 12, characterized in that the electronic camera (2) in the manufacturer's delivery state does not comprise a decoding device.

14. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that the electronic camera (2) is arranged in a terminal device which comprises a network-compatible display unit.

15. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 11 to 14, characterized in that the electronic camera (2) comprises a color light-sensitive area sensor (11) for image recording.

16. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that the electronic camera (2) comprises a device for image transmission.

17. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 11 to 16, characterized in that the electronic camera (2) comprises a device for image storage.

18. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 11 to 17, characterized in that the decoding device (6) on a server (4, 5), in particular on a service server (4), is arranged.

19. Extraction device (1) according to claim 18, characterized in that the server (4, 5) comprises a device for recognizing a handwriting.

20. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 18 or 19, characterized in that the server (4, 5) comprises a device for recognizing plain text.

21. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that the server (4, 5) comprises a device for extracting information-carrying features from a digital image.

22. Extraction device (1) according to one of claims 11 to 21, characterized in that the extraction device (1) comprises a device in which a decoding device can be stored at least temporarily.