A Mixed Media Reality (MMR)
system 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). In one particular embodiment, the MMR
system includes an MMR user, a MMR computer, a user printer that produces a printed document, a networked
media server, a
service provider server and a capture device. The MMR system of the present invention provides mechanisms for forming a mixed media document that includes media of at least two types, such as printed paper as a first medium and a digital photograph, digital movie,
digital audio file, or web link as a second medium. The MMR system includes a MMR brokerage network having a customer, an MMR broker, an MMR
service bureau and an MMR clearinghouse. The MMR brokerage network allows these entities to interact to provide a unified point of business access for the customer who wants to add MMR functionality to a document. More specifically, the MMR technology may be used to provide advertising associated with documents and MMR hotspots. Furthermore, the MMR system of the present invention facilitates business methods that take
advantage of the combination of a portable electronic device, such as a cellular
camera phone, and a
paper document. The present invention also includes a number of novel methods including: a method for operation of a MMR brokerage network, a method for
layout independent MMR recognition, a strip fragment candidate
generation process, and a page candidate accumulation process.