Techniques for Retrieving Documents Using an Image Capture Device

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide techniques for retrieving electronic documents based upon images captured using an image capture device. One or more images captured by a user using an image capture device are used to search a set of documents to retrieve one or more documents that match the search query. The one or more documents retrieved by the search may then be provided to the user or some other recipient.

1 . A device comprising:
 a processor; and   a storage medium coupled with the processor,   wherein the processor is configured to:
 capture image data; 
 form a search query based on the image data; 
 communicate the search query to a search engine; and 
 receive one or more electronic documents based on the search query. 
   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the processor is further configured to:
 extract contents from the image data; and 
 form the search query based on the extracted content. 
 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the search query comprises textual information. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the processor is further configured to display the one or more electronic documents on a display associated with the device. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the processor is further configured to:
 determine a first text string from the image data; 
 determine a second text string from the image data; and 
 conjoin the first text string and the second text string to generate a third text string, 
 wherein the search query comprises the third text string. 
 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 5  wherein the processor is further configured to:
 determine the first text string and the second text string using a lexicon; and 
 exclude text from the first text string and the second text string if the text is not in the lexicon. 
 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the device comprises a camera or a mobile phone including a camera. 
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 1  wherein the search engine is selected based on geographically proximity of the search engine to a location of the device at the time of communicating the search query. 
     
     
         9 . A method comprising:
 capturing, by an image capture device, image data;   forming, by the image capture device, a search query based on the image data;   communicating, by the image capture device, the search query to a search engine;   receiving, by the image capture device, one or more documents from the search engine in response to the search query.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising displaying, by the image capture device, the one or more documents. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9  wherein forming a search query further comprises:
 extracting, by the image capture device, content of the image data; and 
 forming, by the image capture device, the search query based on the content. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 analyzing, by the image capture device, the content using a text filter to generate filtered content, the text filter being configured to analyze the content based on a lexicon; and 
 generating, by the image capture device, the search query based on the filtered contents, wherein the filtered content excludes any character, word, or mark that is not present in the lexicon. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising:
 determining, by the image capture device, a first text string from the image data; 
 determining, by the image capture device, a second text string from the image data; and 
 conjoining, by the image capture device, the first text string and the second text string to generate a third text string, 
 wherein the search query comprises the third text string. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the first text string and the second text string is determined using a lexicon and wherein any text not present in the lexicon is not included in the first text string and the second text string. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the search query comprises text. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9  wherein the image capture device is a mobile phone including a camera. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 9  further comprising:
 communicating, by the image capture device, the search query to a first search engine and a second search engine; 
 receiving, by the image capture device, a first set of documents from the first search engine and a second set of documents from the second search engine; and 
 providing, by the image capture device, the first set of documents and the second set of documents to a user. 
 
     
     
         18 . A system comprising:
 an image capture device; and   a server;   wherein the image capture device is configured to:
 capture image data; 
 form a search query based on the image data; and 
 communicate the search query to the server; 
   wherein the server is configured to:
 identify one or more electronic documents based on the search query; and 
 communicate the one or more electronic documents to the image capture device. 
   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18  wherein the image capture device is further configured to:
 extract contents from the image data; 
 apply a word filter to the extracted contents to filter out a character, a mark, or a word that is not present in an associated lexicon to generate filtered content; and 
 form the search query based on the filtered content. 
 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18  wherein the image capture device is further configured to:
 determine a first text string and a second text string from the image data; 
 conjoin the first text string and the second text string to generate a third text string; and 
 include the third text string in the search query.