SBIR Phase I: IBARS - An Image Barcode Acquisition and Recognition System for Mobile Commerce

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段研究项目旨在利用广泛使用的配备摄像头的移动电话中处理和传感器技术的融合，以开发以获取和识别条形码图像为中心的电子商务应用程序。现代手持设备在一个方便的包中展示了许多技术的融合，包括网络、语音、相机、处理、位置传感和显示。然而，小尺寸和长电池寿命的要求导致这种手持设备的处理能力有限，相机分辨率有限，可用网络带宽多变。为了使这个概念可行，需要改进执行计算机视觉、图像处理和模式识别的算法，使它们既计算效率高，又足够小，以适应消费设备的内存。需要克服的挑战包括能够解扭曲图像，以解释由于透视成像，基材翘曲或非平坦表面造成的扭曲。需要对图像进行处理，以处理成像伪影，如不均匀的光照、模糊和高光。系统中的识别算法必须能够识别许多符号，利用图像中可用的额外信息来解决退化问题，并且高效且小。这个第一阶段的研究将解决这些问题，以证明可行性。建议的条形码和标识识别的可下载组件将支持许多应用程序，包括销售、订单履行、信息传递等。除了服务提供商和原始设备制造商之外，商家、广告商、信息提供商和其他服务提供商也可能是拟议技术的合作伙伴和客户。医疗服务、军事应用、视觉障碍的手语识别也是这项技术的潜在用户。

This Small Business Innovation Research(SBIR) Phase I research project seeks to leverage the convergence of processing and sensor technologies in widely available camera-equipped cellular telephones to develop e-commerce applications centered on the acquisition and recognition of barcode images. Modern handheld devices present a convergence of many technologies in a handy package, including networking, voice, cameras, processing, location- sensing and displays. However, small-size and long battery-life requirements lead to limited processing power, limited-resolution cameras, and varying available network bandwidth on such handheld devices. To make the concept feasible, improvements are needed in the algorithms performing computer-vision, image processing, and pattern-recognition, so that they are both computationally efficient and small enough to fit in the memory of consumer devices. Challenges to overcome include being able to unwarp images to account for distortions due to perspective imaging, warping of the substrate, or non-flat surfaces. The image needs to be processed to account for imaging artifacts such as non-uniform lighting, blurring, and highlights. The recognition algorithms in the system must be able to recognize many symbologies, make use of extra information available in images to tackle degradations, and be efficient and small. This Phase I research will tackle these issues to demonstrate feasibility.The proposed downloadable component for barcode and signs recognition will enable many applications including sales, order-fulfillment, information-delivery and others. Merchants, advertisers, information providers and other service providers are likely partners and customers for the proposed technology besides service-providers and OEMs. Medical care delivery, military applications, sign recognition for the visually challenged are also potential users of this technology.