iPAQ + Camera = Sign Translation

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3197571.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3197571.stm</a><br /><br /></div>HP has developed a prototype solution based on an iPAQ, a WiFi connection, and a CF camera that can automatically translate signs if you just point the solution at it. It's obviously not ready for primetime, but this may be a cool harbinger of things to come if you could use something like a Smartphone or a Pocket PC Phone with a built-in camera to accomplish the same effect.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20030903-HP-translator2.jpg" /><br /><br />"Dr Howard Taub, Director of the Printing and Imaging Research Centre at HP labs in Paolo Alto in California let Go Digital, the BBC World Service radio programme, try out their sign recognition and translation system. The idea is that by using a wireless connection to the internet, the device can be a handy camera which makes use of translation resources on the net."

[Marc Zimmermann]

Damn HP, I want that friggin' driver to use the HP Pocket Camera in my iPAQ like I see in the photo!

[SandersP]

According to my friend 'Merci', must mean 'garbage can', in French, since Merci is printed on all garbage can swinging lid across Quebec train stations.

:lol:

[dean_shan]

I am going to link back (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17510&highlight=) to the thread I started on it. Moderators might want to lock it. I need to start reporting news to you guys. This is the second time I'd seen somthing and not contributed. I'll nab a front-page post some day :D.

P.S. I read about this in a Pocket PC Mag about a year ago.

[timbur]

I've got a conceptual problem with this story:

Camera = jpeg image

Therefore some kind (?) of OCR software

Then (mis)translation

Is that sign To Let or Toilet??

:?:

[Jason Dunn]

I am going to link back (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=17510&highlight=) to the thread I started on it. Moderators might want to lock it. I need to start reporting news to you guys. This is the second time I'd seen somthing and not contributed. I'll nab a front-page post some day :D. P.S. I read about this in a Pocket PC Mag about a year ago.

Yes, please do submit news to the news@ alias - it's much better to focus the discussions, and there's usually more activity around the front page posts.

We posted on something similar to this last year too, which is probably what you saw in Pocket PC Magazine.

[sponge]

There was a researcher from IBM at my school who had this, using the HP Pocket Camera and a Casio PPC. He used it to translate a Chinese sign. Very cool stuff.

[Sven Johannsen]

Damn HP, I want that friggin' driver to use the HP Pocket Camera in my iPAQ like I see in the photo!

No kiddin. Ticks me off that we HP PPC owners can't use the HP camera. Even more so now that HP is all goofy about their new SDIO camera. Funny that I took a moment to contribute to the 'tell Carly' link on the support site about the lack of HP support for HP products, just last night.

I actually have had the HP camera working on a Dell, using the HP driver .dll and MS Portrait as the viewing app. Didn't work under WM2003 though. Rats.

[felixdd]

"&amp;^%#!@)(^&amp;$%"

- hmm...I wonder what that says?
&lt;whips out Ipaq and activates the "solution"

"Do not operate computers in this environment or be persecuted"

- oh dear....

:lol:

[maximus]

Doh. Now mall/department store management have decent reason to start banning PPCs on their premises (no cameras please) :p

[Stephen Beesley]

by a strange cyber-coincidence a discussion on the Newtontalk mailing list has been talking about the same idea being proposed for the saddly neve to materialise "future Newton".

NewtonTalk: I remember reading an article that quoted (was it Spindler? I can't remember anymore) as saying that... the future newton will have voice recognition input and the capability to "read" writing through a builtin camera. He showed a demo that had a Newton pointing to some oriental
writing on a mock city wall and the Newton read the writing and translated it in English on the Newton's screen.

Given that this was in the mid- 90's and the extra processing power and improvements in OCR technology since then, maybe this time it will actually happen.....

Goldtee

[manywhere]

If that device would be able to translate from Finnish to English and Swedish to English, then I know of some funny translations that it'd probably would make:

Maksamaa (north of Vaasa (http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=mmvw&msds=EX01BFF21443$5Fkuz$C8$29uz94002!701000!4$FF!50!Q$FF0!8$FF$0E0Lmmfm$2C.Ijonmou!2$FF50Lmmfm$21$38$A2S$3F$8CG$40Z$F1$96$1CR$9C$35$40$960001000!4$FFh$87!50!2$FF0000!2$FF!6i$EE$3F$14000!6$FF!G020&rfrr=-6600); swe.: Maxmo) could be translated into something like:
Liver-land, Hepaticland, Pay-land... :rotfl:

Malax (south of Vaasa) Swedish->English translation could be:
Ma' Salmon.

Malax in Finnish is Maalahti which could then be:
Earth-bay, Soil-gulf...

Gotta love translating them commune names! :lol:

[cherring]

I got my HP Pocket Camera working on my casio E-200 pocketpc. Try the hack mentioned on www.johncruise.com. It's specific for the casio but I bet I could get it to work on any other pocketpc.

The limitations would still be the same as mentioned on johncruise with the various software.

[eric linsley]

i can jsut see this being a hit with the asian languages

[cherring]

I thought it means thank you