Hardware Requirements: Difference between revisions

distinguish between general purpose and barcode scanner. The former makes sense as a feature of a mass market phone, the latter does not
(note about alternative product identification schemes using image recognition)
(distinguish between general purpose and barcode scanner. The former makes sense as a feature of a mass market phone, the latter does not)
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*The phone could have a built-in digital camera. I've just tried out the Nokia 7650 and 3650 models. The phones are fitted with VGA resolution cameras. The focusing and resolution properties of the phones were maybe just a little bit too poor that one could use the pictures to OCR the numerical representation of EAN-codes. But it came very close, so hopes are high that OCRing the code will be possible in the near future. OCR could alternatively be done from shelf tags, which usually contain the product name in a fairly big font with uniform typeface. Also using image recognition of the packaging graphics is being considered.
*The phone could have a built-in digital camera. I've just tried out the Nokia 7650 and 3650 models. The phones are fitted with VGA resolution cameras. The focusing and resolution properties of the phones were maybe just a little bit too poor that one could use the pictures to OCR the numerical representation of EAN-codes. But it came very close, so hopes are high that OCRing the code will be possible in the near future. OCR could alternatively be done from shelf tags, which usually contain the product name in a fairly big font with uniform typeface. Also using image recognition of the packaging graphics is being considered.


*The phone could have a bar-code or a general purpose scanner. This would be a perfect hardware feature for Consumerium usability. It would boost the speed and precision of using Consumerium, but unfortunatelly it doesn't seem one of the likeliest gadgets to be integrated into a mobile phone. I've been in contact with Nokia about this feature and I got information that Nokia and other phone-manufacturers have researched the feasibility of integrating a bar-code scanner. At the moment I don't have knowledge of anything concretic happening in this area, but hey, who knows?
*The phone could have a [[general purpose scanner]]. This could be used to read the bar-code or the numeric representation. The usefulness of having a small (4-5mm width) general purpose scanner embedded in your phone is apparrent:
**Scanning business cards
**Scanning the telephone book
**Making a quick note of a newspaper article or just-off-the-press quaterly report
**Storing open hours, addresses, contact info from adverts
**With advanced enough reading techonology the scanner could be adapted to read straight off a CRT or TFT display


*The First Ever [[Bluetooth]] [[Barcode]] [[Scanner]], The [[BaracodaPencil]], has been introduced by [http://www.baracoda.com Baracoda Wireless Technologies]], which will play a major role in the ease-of-use of Consumerium. We are expecting pricing information soon
*The phone could have a bar-code scanner. This would be a perfect hardware feature for Consumerium usability. It would boost the speed and precision of using Consumerium, but unfortunatelly it doesn't seem one of the likeliest gadgets to be integrated into a mobile phone.
 
*The First Ever [[Bluetooth]] [[Barcode]] [[Scanner]], The [[BaracodaPencil]], has been introduced by [http://www.baracoda.com Baracoda Wireless Technologies], which will play a major role in the ease-of-use of Consumerium. We are expecting pricing information soon


*There are reports saying that [[w:RFID]] (Radio Frequency IDentification) might be surpassing bar codes even in retail stores as a means of product identification. In such a case an integrated [[w:tranceiver]] would be optimal.
*There are reports saying that [[w:RFID]] (Radio Frequency IDentification) might be surpassing bar codes even in retail stores as a means of product identification. In such a case an integrated [[w:tranceiver]] would be optimal.
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