Jump to content

New from Microsoft - 'Lincoln - Mobile search using pictures


Guest lzitnick

Recommended Posts

Guest lzitnick

This has just been posted on MoDaCo by Microsoft themselves! ;)

Hi,

I’m Larry Zitnick from Microsoft Research. We’ve been working on a Smartphone prototype that just got released to the public called “Lincoln”. The basic idea behind the app is to allow people to search for info using cell phone images. For example, say you’re in Blockbuster and you want to find out more info on a DVD. With this app, you can take a picture of it, the DVD is recognized from the picture, and sends you back Amazon reviews. For more info check out:

http://lincoln.msresearch.us/

You can also read an article about it at:

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18368/

We’re looking for people to find creative ways for using this technology. Currently, we’ve preloaded the database with about 1,000 DVDs with Amazon reviews that should be in your “New Releases” section of your video store. We’re also allowing anyone to upload their own photos with corresponding web links to the database for others to search against (Say you’re in a band. You can upload your band’s concert poster so that anyone who takes a picture of it will be sent to your band’s webpage.)

Hope you get a chance to check it out. Feedback is always welcome.

-Larry

I have a lot of respect for the Microsoft Research guys, and Lincoln sounds like a very exciting concept that's in need of some community involvement to load in some data!

What are you waiting for? Head over to the site (in IE by the way) and give it a go :D

P

post-1-1173864331_thumb.png post-1-1173864340_thumb.png post-1-1173864357_thumb.png

[Edited for news by Paul (MVP)]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Confucious

Sounds a good - I was just about to ask if it worked on PPCs as well and according to the site it does! Also the .net cab is there - in the past I've not found anywhere where you can download just the cab!

Is the database US centric at the moment? UK films, I believe, often have different covers. But the general concept certainly sounds like a winner - provided the quality of the pics is good enough to be recognised - only one way to find out! I'll give it a try.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest tsutton

Interesting. But it didn't work for me. See attached screenshot...

However for older releases, it worked. I guess the Queeen DVD is too new. ;)

post-104092-1173861370_thumb.jpg

Edited by tsutton
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest awarner (MVP)
Promoted to News, cheers awarner for pointing me at this :D

P

I was just leaving to go to work at 5am so could not put in News myself ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Confucious

Just tried on my Universal and got "An unknown Error occured [Wednesday 10:29 am]" when I clicked capture - has anyone tried it on a PPC yet - s/ware installed OK but maybe it is only SmartPhone at the mo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Demens
Interesting. But it didn't work for me. See attached screenshot...

However for older releases, it worked. I guess the Queeen DVD is too new. ;)

Hahah, i got the same result from a Merlin -movie.

I also tested toilet paper, Mach 3 turbo, 360 controller, spiderman 2 movie, National treasure, Clive Barkers Undying and constantine.

Only constantine worked and it brought the same amount of info that could be read from the back cover. :D

But still, cool application. Would be nice if it worked, no more awkward googling for a game review while standing on the store.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Knocksock

It didn't work to take a picture of an baguette to see some adult covers - so I tried Aeon Flux with my i-mate JAMin and it worked like it should smooothly! ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Monolithix (MVP)

Same problem here on my Universal Confucious...

Just tried on my Universal and got "An unknown Error occured [Wednesday 10:29 am]" when I clicked capture - has anyone tried it on a PPC yet - s/ware installed OK but maybe it is only SmartPhone at the mo.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Confucious

I wonder if it's the res? Quickmark for the Universal took a lot longer than other PPCs - is there something different about the camera? or just the res?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Paul (MVP)

IIRC the Universal has some odd problems with it's WM5 Camera API... that's what I imagine the problem is (i.e. it's not supporting the generic API properly).

P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Confucious

I was thinking the res is just the screen, the camera res is fairly std. I wonder why the camera API is not handled correctly in WM5 - or, I should imagine - WM6 ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest lzitnick

Thanks to everyone for trying Lincoln and for adding images to the database! The more images we have the more useful this is for everyone.

Let me try and answer some of the questions that have popped up.

1. Does it work for Pocket PCs? Yes, it does on some models. The Lincoln app launches the camera app on your pocket PC/Smartphone and then looks for the image saved in a certain location. We’re looking into whether some models save the image in a different location than we’re expecting or whether the resolution is unsupported.

2. What does it recognize? Lincoln can recognize flat or curved printed things, like DVDs, posters, CDs, books, etc. It also has to be in our database for us to recognize it (currently this is mostly limited to DVDs). Some things we can’t recognize are people, your pet cat, clothes, plants, etc. Objects which change shape or have a lot of 3D structure are hard for our system.

Let us know if you have any other problems/ideas.

-Larry

MS Research

Edited by lzitnick
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Monolithix (MVP)

It seems WM6 support is a little flakey for the moment (Thanks for you quick replies on the email last night Larry!)

I've also got it working on my Wizard and Tornado...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest lzitnick
It seems WM6 support is a little flakey for the moment (Thanks for you quick replies on the email last night Larry!)

I've also got it working on my Wizard and Tornado...

Monolithix - Yes you're right. It turns out it's a problem with the WM6 camera support (depends on the device you're using). So for now, it looks like Lincoln is hit or miss on WM6 (WM5 should have no problems).

Paul - On the bulk uploader. We're working on an internal bulk uploader right now. Not sure if we'll make it public. How many CDs do you have, and what web content do you have it linked to?

-Larry

MS Research

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Confucious

Interesting on the WM6 front. I've just loaded QuickMark and haven't tried it yet. Any idea why it's different? Or is it low down on your priority list? Guess you have enough to do getting it sorted on WM5 first!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Paul (MVP)
Monolithix - Yes you're right. It turns out it's a problem with the WM6 camera support (depends on the device you're using). So for now, it looks like Lincoln is hit or miss on WM6 (WM5 should have no problems).

Paul - On the bulk uploader. We're working on an internal bulk uploader right now. Not sure if we'll make it public. How many CDs do you have, and what web content do you have it linked to?

-Larry

MS Research

I want to be able to write something that will create the data for upload from other sources ;)

P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Microsoft

I can't understand why this is so usefull? Why capture a cover?! It is standing what movie it is, no need to search a database to figureout!

Make a track ID rip off instade! It is much more usefull imo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.