[LINK] New Google patent may improve image search, AdSense, maps

[Roger Clarke]

[Here we go again:  another rubbish patent, whose purpose is 
primarily to slow down the company's competitors and force up their 
costs and risks, and secondarily to contribute to the company's 
war-chest of counter-patents.

[Are there any Kiwis around who are familiar with the history of OCR 
technology and have the energy to attack the big G?  Wikipedia's 
entry starts with "In 1929, Gustav Tauschek obtained a patent on OCR 
in Germany ...".

[To be clear - good on Google for applying technology in fairly-new 
ways (they're almost always a second-mover, not an originator), and 
on a largish scale, and with plenty of money to put into it.  It's 
the anti-competitive aspect, glossed by the pretence of a halo, 
that's so very annoying.


New Google patent may improve image search, AdSense, maps
By David Chartier | Published: January 08, 2008 - 11:45AM CT
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080108-for-a-new-google-patent-a-picture-truly-is-worth-1000-words.html

The days of manually adding things like keywords and location 
information to images could soon be behind us, thanks to a new Google 
patent published this week detailing the company's move into 
extracting text from images and creating keywords from it (e.g., 
reading a street or business sign in a curbside shot and adding that 
text to the image's metadata). Considering the gold mine of products 
and services Google has on the table and in the pipeline, this 
technology could open new doors for both consumers and Google's 
profits.

Detailed in the patent, called Recognizing Text in Images, are 
various methods for accomplishing exactly what the title says. Google 
details processes for analyzing a digital image, enhancing regions, 
extracting text, and using or comparing that text against other 
information or keywords included with the image. Naturally, this 
technology seems to lend itself to basic services like Google Image 
Search, which could benefit greatly from having more searchable data 
about the images it catalogs.

Portions of Google's patent hint at more intriguing applications, 
however, such as tying into location-based services: "Additionally, 
the extracted image text can be combined with location data and 
indexed to improve and enhance location-based searching. The 
extracted text can provide keywords for identifying particular 
locations and presenting images of the identified locations to a 
user." Being able to automatically, and reliably, generate location 
data for images has applications across nearly any field one can 
think of, from consumer services to advertising to law enforcement.

This patent may also represent one of the first forays into the next 
generation of search technologies by a major search player. For a few 
years now, various organizations have been working on boosting the 
power of existing OCR systems to work with context-sensitive search. 
Startups like Riya have been working on facial and object recognition 
technologies, with one of Riya's first product being a "visual search 
engine" that allows users to shop for items based on color, shape, 
and pattern.

Google's industry-dominating array of products and services, however, 
will allow it to implement this text in image technology on a far 
larger and more profitable scale. It isn't hard to see products like 
AdWords, AdSense, and even Gmail benefiting greatly from being able 
to peer inside images for contextual advertising; even Google Book 
Search could benefit. Google Maps and Google Earth gain new 
functionality for users and advertisers if the company is able to 
automatically extract streets, business names, and other pertinent 
info from the mounds of mapping data it collects for these products.


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW