Delivering information about an image corresponding to an object at a particular location

Abstract

An information delivery system has a computational device connected over a network with a server and associated storage device. The computational device is configured with functionality that generates a message requesting information relating to a particular geolocation that is stored in association with the server. The server identifies one or more files corresponding to the location information in the message and delivers them to the computational device, which compares information in the files with a visual image relating to an object selected by a computational device user and with an object type relating to the visual image, and displays information in a file if the visual image selected by the user matches visual image information in the file.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . Method of identifying and delivering information corresponding to an image of a particular object of interest, comprising:
 creating and maintaining on a first computational device connected to a network a plurality of location defined files, each of the location defined files having unique geographic position information corresponding to a location of a particular object, visual image information relating to the particular object, object type information, and having information that is descriptive of the particular object;   selecting, by a user of a second computational device, a visual image of a particular object of interest located at a particular geographic position and that is stored on the second computational device, and entering the visual image of the particular object of interest into a content retrieval application running on the second computational device;   classifying, by the content retrieval application, the selected visual image of interest as an object type, and receiving from the second computational device the geographic position information relating to the location of the particular selected object of interest;   generating, by the content retrieval application, a message comprising a request for all location defined files corresponding to the particular geographic position of the selected object of interest and sending the message to the first computational device;   the first computational device receiving the message and using the geographic position information to identify one or more location defined files, and responding to the request message by sending over the network to the second computational device at least some information comprising the identified one or more location defined files;   receiving at the second computational device the one or more location defined files, and determining that at least one of the received files has visual image information and object type information that matches the user selected visual image of the particular object of interest and associated object type classification information; and   displaying by the second computational device at least some of the information in the location defined file on the second computational device for the user to view.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the selected visual image comprises an image of the particular object of interest captured from the environment that is proximate to the second computational device or is an image of the particular object of interest copied from a web page of a network site. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the environment comprises an indoor or an outdoor location. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the particular object of interest comprises an object of art, a person, or a place. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein information descriptive of the particular object of interest comprising each of the location defined files is any one or more of a name of a creator, creator title, description of the particular object of interest, multimedia content relating to the particular object of interest, price of the particular object of interest, origin of the particular object of interest, materials used to create the particular object of interest, location associated with the particular object of interest, and identification number of the particular object of interest. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the content retrieval application comprises computer vision functionality operating in cooperation with a network browser or search engine. 
     
     
         7 . Method for receiving information corresponding to a particular object of interest, comprising:
 selecting, by a user of a first computational device, a visual image of a particular object of interest that is stored on the first computational device and located at a particular geographic position, and the user entering the visual image of the particular object of interest into a content retrieval application running on the first computational device;   classifying, by the content retrieval application, the selected visual image as an object type, and the content retrieval application receiving from a geographic position system running on the first computational device or from the user, geographic position information relating to the particular location of the particular object of interest;   generating, by the content retrieval application, and sending a message over a network to a second computational device requesting all location defined computer files maintained by the second computational device that have information about the particular object of interest located at the particular geographic position;   receiving, over the network from the second computational device in response to the request message, one or more location defined computer files corresponding to the particular geographic location, each of the location defined computer files having visual image information relating to the particular object of interest and having information that is descriptive of the particular object of interest;   determining by the first computational device, that at least one of the received location defined files has visual image information that matches the particular user selected object of interest, and has object type information that corresponds to the particular user selected object of interest; and   displaying by the first computational device at least some of the information in the matching location defined computer file.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the selected visual image of the particular object of interest comprises an image captured from the environment that is proximate to the first computational device or is an image of the particular object of interest copied from a web page of a network site. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the environment comprises an indoor or an outdoor location. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the particular object of interest comprises an object of art, a person, or a place. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein information descriptive of the particular object of interest comprising the location defined computer files is any one or more of a name of a creator, creator title, description of the particular object, multimedia content relating to the particular object of interest, price of the particular object of interest, origin of the particular object of interest, materials used to create the particular object of interest, location associated with the particular object of interest, and identification number of the particular object of interest. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the content retrieval application comprises computer vision functionality operating in cooperation with a network browser or search engine.