KR20010053435A - Display capture system - Google Patents

Abstract

The computer system captures information from the television display digital signal. Digital signals are optical character recognition to allow the computer system to recognize the characters displayed on the screen. The text information is then scanned for the desired pattern associated with the contact information. Once the contact information has been isolated, it can be stored or instantaneous contact can be automatically implemented.

Description

Display capture system {DISPLAY CAPTURE SYSTEM}

Personal computers are now moving to areas preempted by television receivers. So-called set-top personal computers interact with television receivers that provide advanced programming capabilities, digital television, and other functions commonly associated with personal computers such as Internet access and gaming. Thus, a user of a set top personal computer is free to use both television functions and functions typically associated with personal computers. Set-top personal computers use television screens as displays for both computer systems and television receivers.

The computer may also display television images on a computer display or monitor. The tuner card of a computer acts as a television receiver to allow television programs to be viewed on a computer monitor.

Contact information is generally displayed in television programming, especially television commercials. Many viewers have difficulty recording contact information because the information is no longer displayed until a pencil and paper are found. Thus, advertisers may miss important opportunities and viewers may miss the desired information.

Similarly, some contact information can be displayed as a graphical image (ie in graphics rather than text mode) on an internet web page. This may be the case if a sophisticated font or graphic display is desired, as in the example with a registered trademark.

It would be desirable to enhance the computer user's ability to retain non-text information from the display.

(Summary of invention)

According to one aspect, a method of obtaining information from an image signal using a computer includes obtaining a digital representation of a display image. Characters in the image are recognized and the desired content in the image is located.

The present invention relates generally to computers and in particular embodiments relates to capturing information from televisions or computer displays.

1 illustrates a display screen of a television showing an advertisement;

2 is a file captured from the information on the screen shown in FIG. 1;

3 is a file containing information captured from the screen shown in FIG. 1;

4 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system for implementing one embodiment of the present invention; And

5 is a flow chart showing the procedure for one embodiment of the present invention.

Images containing contact information may be captured from a television image or computer display and processed by a computer system that facilitates contact with a broadcast content provider, which may be an advertiser on a television program. For example, television advertisers typically broadcast advertisements such as those shown in FIG. 1 displaying various information about their products. These advertisements may also include contact information such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and uniform resource locators (URLs) that may be used to contact the advertiser or other content providers.

The computer monitor display also includes an image containing contact information in image or graphic mode, for example using bitmap graphics, rather than text mode. Contact information may be included, for example, as part of an internet web page.

According to one aspect, signal information producing an image on a television or computer display 10 is digitally captured. For example, the telephone number shown on the display 10 shown in FIG. 1 may be recorded and provided in the form of a digital file 12 as shown in FIG. Similarly, additional information from screen 10 may be captured and placed in the appropriate field 15 depending on the type of contact information.

The software has a logical heuristic that determines which information constitutes a person's name, which information constitutes a company name, which information constitutes an address, which information is a telephone number, and which information constitutes an Internet URL. Can be used. The general characteristics of each of these fields is stored in a program that determines whether the given information belongs to a particular field.

4, set-top computer system 15 includes a processor 16 connected to system memory 18 and north bridge 20. The north bridge 20 is normally connected to a bus 22 which can in turn be connected to a display controller 24 which in turn is connected to a television 25. The bus 22 may also connect to the south bridge 26. Bridge 26 may connect with hard disk drive 28, which may include one or more programs 30 and 31, which may be optical character recognition (OCR) and telephone / address directory programs in the illustrated embodiment.

The south bridge 26 is in turn connected to a bus 32 that can be connected to the serial input / output (SIO) port 34. Port 34 may connect to keyboard 36, telephone dialer 40, and modem 38. Basic input / output system (BIOS) 42 may also be connected to bus 32. Of course, other implementations are possible and various additional components and peripherals may be connected to conventional set top computer systems.

Referring now to FIG. 5, computer system 15 initially receives a request for a capture service as shown in block 44. This is the result of the user pressing a button on the display screen 24 or operating a particular hot key on the keyboard 36. This request is interpreted as a request to capture information from a television display. The image displayed on demand can be digitally captured as shown in block 46 through the operation of the processor 16. The captured digital image must then be optical character recognition transformed, as indicated by block 48, using optical character recognition software 30. The software scans and identifies the information in the digital image and associates the image shape with known characters such as numbers and letters. It then provides a text mode representation of the image or graphic mode data.

The computer system uses heuristics to find information corresponding to the contact information style, as shown in block 50. For example, a word pair with an uppercase letter may be recognized as a full name while the numbers accompanying the letters may be recognized as addresses. Common names can be stored in a database to help determine whether a person's full name is included. Similarly, a particular sequence of numbers can be recognized as a telephone number and a particular character sequence can be recognized as URLs.

Once the contact information has been identified, it can be displayed to the user, for example, on the display screen and as shown in block 52, the user can verify the displayed information to ensure that the desired information has been captured. The user can make corrections in the correction window (block 52) and the contact information is corrected (block 53). For example, if two phone numbers are reported, the user can indicate which phone number is desired.

As indicated by block 54, the selected contact information may then be stored in memory 18 or in hard disk drive 28. In some cases, as indicated by block 56, it may then be desirable to make contact using contact information. Dialer 40 may be operable to automatically call a stored telephone number. Alternatively, if the URL is identified, the modem 38 can be used to automatically contact a suitable internet service provider and to obtain the desired web page.

The contact information captured from the television display can then be automatically added to a database of conventional software 31 that compiles the contact information, such as a software phone or address directory. Once the information has been identified and placed in the appropriate field, it may be supplied to such software directory for later use, as shown in block 58. These directories can provide search and autodial functions and the like.

Computer system 15 determines whether the telephone number is a near or long range number by comparing an arbitrary area code with a pre-determined near area code. If the call is a long distance call, a dialing prefix may be added.

The system facilitates contact with an information provider that provides content such as advertisements over television broadcasts or graphical mode information on web pages. It also facilitates storing such contact information in contact software such as address or phone directory software.

Although the present invention has been described with respect to a single embodiment, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications and variations. It is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall within the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims (22)

A method for obtaining contact information from an image signal using a computer, Obtaining a digital representation of the display image; Recognizing text in the image; And Finding contact information in the text. 2. The method of claim 1 including finding a telephone number in the text and automatically dialing the telephone number. 2. The method of claim 1 including finding an internet address in the text and automatically contacting the internet address. 2. The method of claim 1 including storing the contact information on a computer. 2. The method of claim 1 including providing contact information to the user, allowing the user to change the contact information, and correcting the contact information in accordance with information from the user. 2. The method of claim 1 including recognizing a user command and receiving a user command to obtain a digital representation of the display image displayed when the user command is received. The method of claim 1 wherein the contact information comprises a telephone number. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the contact information comprises an internet address. 2. The method of claim 1 including automatically adding the contact information to a software address directory. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining a digital representation of a television display image. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said obtaining comprises obtaining a digital representation of a computer display image in a graphics mode. A processor; Memory coupled to the processor; An input device coupled to the processor; A television receiver coupled to the processor for displaying a television program; And And an optical character recognition device arranged to scan signal information for generating a television image and to identify contact information in the signal information. 13. The computer system of claim 12 including a telephone dialer coupled to the processor. 13. The computer system of claim 12 comprising a modem coupled to the processor. The computer Obtaining a digital representation of the display image; Recognize characters in the image; And a computer readable medium storing instructions for finding contact information in the text. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the medium stores instructions that cause the computer to recognize user instructions and obtain a digital representation of the display image displayed when the user instructions are received. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the medium stores instructions that cause a computer to find a telephone number and automatically dial the number. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the medium stores instructions that cause a computer to find an Internet address and automatically contact the Internet address. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the medium stores instructions that cause a computer to store the contact information. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the medium stores instructions that cause the computer to provide contact information to the user, enable the user to change the contact information, and correct the information according to information from the user. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the medium stores instructions that cause a computer to automatically add the contact information to a software address directory. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the medium stores instructions that cause a computer to obtain a digital representation of a television image.