Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for harvesting ambient energy. In one embodiment, an energy harvester comprises: a first RF rectifier to output a first voltage determined by rectified RF energy in response to received RF energy; a first energy reservoir coupled to the first RF rectifier to store energy at the first voltage; a DC/DC converter coupled to the first energy reservoir to convert the first voltage to a second voltage; a second reservoir coupled to the DC/DC converter to store energy at the second voltage, the second voltage being greater than the first voltage; and a third reservoir coupled to the second reservoir to receive energy transferred from the second reservoir periodically.

Abstract: The techniques include an image recognition system to receive a realogram image including a plurality of organized objects and to detect and identify objects in the realogram image of one or more items on a retail shelf, identify shelf fronts and labels on the shelf fronts, identify empty space under shelves, identify areas where unidentified products may be, and identify areas where products are “out of stock”.

Abstract: A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system and associated techniques are disclosed. The MMR system provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types (e.g., printed paper as a first medium and digital content and/or web link as a second medium). The present invention provides a system, method, and computer program product for annotating unindexed documents. Captured digital images of unknown paper documents or portions associated with a user are received with annotations. Features are extracted from the captured digital image and are stored, along with the captured digital image and the annotations.

Abstract: A smart display detection system is disclosed. The smart display system is configured to allow mobile users to connect with display screens through mobile device cameras. The system can detect the display screens within images captured by the mobile device camera in real time by matching the camera query image with screen images dynamically updated from the display devices. A synchronized time-stamped matching strategy is applied to achieve high performance in detecting the screens playing motion intensive video contents and an aggressive feature selection method is applied to minimize the system uploading bandwidth. The system can accurately find display screens playing either static or dynamic content within an image captured on a mobile device.

Abstract: A system and method for determining an object or product represented in an image is disclosed. The system receives a first image, determines a region of interest in the first image, determines a classification score for the region of interest using a convolutional neural network that assigns the region of interest the classification score corresponding to a class, and identifies a first product in the first image based on the classification score.

Abstract: The disclosure includes a system and method for indexing synthetically modified images of a high quality image. An image recognition application receives images of a product, crops background regions from the images, scales the image based on a minimum value among width and height of the image and generates multiple image sizes, blurs the images, brightens the image and indexes the images as being associated with the product. The images can be of box-shaped packages that include four or six images or cylindrical packages that include, for example, eight images of the packages. The images can be indexed in a k-dimensional tree for faster retrieval.

Abstract: A method for product recognition from multiple images includes producing a plurality of recognition results for a plurality of input images, stitching the plurality of input images into a single stitched image; merging the plurality of recognition results using information from stitching the plurality of input images to generate a merged recognition result; and outputting the merged recognition result. The disclosure also includes systems for implementing the method.

Abstract: An MMR system for searching across multiple indexes comprises a plurality of mobile devices, a pre-processing server or MMR gateway, and an MMR matching unit, and may include an MMR publisher. The MMR matching unit receives an image from the pre-processing server or MMR gateway and sends it to one or more of the recognition units to identify a result including a document, the page, and the location on the page. The MMR matching unit includes a distributor for distributing the image to corresponding content type specific index tables and an integrator for integrating recognition results. The result is returned to the mobile device via the pre-processing server or MMR gateway. The techniques described herein also include a number of novel methods including a method for processing content-type specific image queries and for processing queries across multiple indexes.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses for management of unconsciously captured documents are described. Various documents generated by networked devices are unconsciously captured and stored according to a non-semantic organization. The unconsciously captured documents are archived for possible search and retrieval at a later time. When an event occurs (e.g., lawsuit, audit, change in ownership) that results in a desire for a particular subset of the unconsciously captured documents, the documents are searched for a relevant subset. The subset of documents identified by the search are copied and stored according to a second organization (e.g., subject matter, particular audit). In one embodiment, subsequent unconsciously captured documents are stored according to the first organization. If the subsequent documents satisfy the criteria for the subset of documents, the subsequent documents are copied and stored according to the second organization.

Abstract: The disclosure includes a system and method for distinguishing between stock keeping units of similar appearance that vary in size. An image recognition application receives an image including a shelving unit stocking a plurality of items, identifies each item in the image, generates a region of interest for each identified item in the image, identifies a physical dimension of a portion of region depicted in the image, determines a dimension of the region of interest for each identified item and the portion of region in pixels, determines a pixel-to-physical dimension ratio using the dimension in pixels of the portion of region and the physical dimension of the portion of region depicted in the image, and determines a stock keeping unit identifier of each identified item in the image based on the pixel-to-physical dimension ratio and the dimension of the region of interest for each identified item.

Abstract: The techniques include an image recognition system to receive a realogram image including a plurality of organized objects and to detect and identify objects in the realogram image of one or more items on a retail shelf, identify shelf fronts and labels on the shelf fronts, identify empty space under shelves, identify areas where unidentified products may be, and identify areas where products are “out of stock”.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is disclosed herein for sensor node and access point communication. In one embodiment, the method comprises embedding, by a sensor node, data from one or more sensor readings in a field of a first message, the field being designated as part of a standardized protocol to send information other than the data sensor readings; determining without the use of a receiver, by the sensor node, whether a wireless communication channel is at a predetermined quality level to send the first message; and broadcasting the first message wirelessly to a component according to the standardized protocol.

Abstract: Light field images of a three-dimensional scene are transformed from an (image,view) domain to an (image,scale,depth) domain. Processing then occurs in the (image,scale,depth) domain.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods, processes, and systems for the manufacture of three-dimensional articles of polymer materials using 3D printing. A syringe or an inkjet print head prints a solution of prepolymer onto a build plate. The printed prepolymer is exposed to a stimulus whereby the prepolymer is converted to the polymer. After a predetermined time, sequential layers are printed to provide the three-dimensional article. The three-dimensional article can be cured to produce the 3D article made from the final polymer.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods, processes, and systems for the manufacture of three-dimensional articles made of polymers using 3D printing. A layer of prepolymer is deposited on a build plate to form a powder bed. The deposited powder bed is heated to about 50° C. to about 170° C. Then, a solution of activating agent is printed on the powder bed in a predetermined pattern, and a stimulus is applied converting the prepolymer to the final polymer. After a predetermined period of time, sequential layers are printed to provide the three-dimensional article. The three-dimensional object can be cured to produce the three-dimensional article composed of the final polymers.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods, processes, and systems for the manufacture of three-dimensional articles made of polymers using 3D printing. A layer of prepolymer is deposited on a build plate to form a powder bed. The deposited powder bed is heated to about 50° C. to about 170° C. Then, a solution of activating agent is printed on the powder bed in a predetermined pattern, and a stimulus is applied converting the prepolymer to the final polymer. After a predetermined period of time, sequential layers are printed to provide the three-dimensional article. The three-dimensional object can be cured to produce the three-dimensional article composed of the final polymers.

Abstract: A crowdsourced question and answer platform enhanced with image recognition technology is disclosed. The platform generates and organizes conversations surrounding an object recognized from an image uploaded by a user. Generating and organizing conversations includes receiving an image a from a user, analyzing the image to recognize an object in the image, receiving a comment related to the recognized object in the image from the user, generating content related to the recognized object in the image based on the received comment and adding the content related to the recognized object in the image to a conversation corresponding to the recognized object in the image.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods, processes, and systems for the manufacture of three-dimensional articles of polymer materials using 3D printing. A syringe or an inkjet print head prints a solution of prepolymer onto a build plate. The printed prepolymer is exposed to a stimulus whereby the prepolymer is converted to the polymer. After a predetermined time, sequential layers are printed to provide the three-dimensional article. The three-dimensional article can be cured to produce the 3D article made from the final polymer.

Abstract: A system and method that grants a token to authenticate a user requesting access to an application in a domain is disclosed. The method includes receiving a response from an identity (ID) provider in a second domain responsive to a first request from a user to access an application provided by an application server in a first domain, the response indicating the authenticity of the user in the second domain, randomly selecting a first key and a second key from a key store, generating a secret by randomly permuting the first key and the second key, generating a signature by signing user information associated with the user using the secret, generating an authentication token including the signature, determining whether the authentication token is valid, and responsive to determining that the authentication token is valid, granting access to the first application to the user based on the authentication token.

Abstract: The disclosure includes a system and method for distinguishing between stock keeping units of similar appearance that vary in size. An image recognition application receives an image depicting a plurality of items, the image including a reference marker with a known physical dimension. The image recognition application performs image recognition to identify an item in the image and a region of interest for the identified image. The image recognition application further determines a pixel-to-physical dimension ratio using the dimension of a region of interest of the reference marker and the known physical dimension of the reference marker. Finally, the image recognition application determines a stock keeping unit identifier of the identified item in the image based on the pixel-to-physical dimension ratio and a dimension of the region of interest of the identified item.