Mixed Media Reality Link Weighting for Print-Digital Bridging
Solution Overview
Problem
There is a gap between printed media and electronic media, as users lack tools to link physical printed documents with their digital counterparts, preventing publishers from easily migrating printed content into electronic form with augmented content, and hindering advertising linked to electronic media in mass media publishing.
Innovation Solution
A Mixed Media Reality (MMR) system that integrates mobile devices, an MMR gateway, an MMR matching unit, and an advertising brokerage network, allowing image queries from printed media to retrieve associated digital content and advertisements, with a unique architecture for registering images and content, and differentially weighting links for advertising placement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If publishers use traditional printed media, then content distribution is simple and direct, but users cannot access digital content or advertisements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an MMR gateway as an intermediary component that receives image queries from mobile devices, retrieves associated digital content and advertisements from servers, and delivers them to users. This mediator bridges the gap between simple printed media and complex digital content delivery without requiring direct integration between end-user devices and content servers.
Solution Approach 2:
The system is divided into distinct functional modules: mobile devices for capturing images, MMR gateways for processing queries, servers for storing content, and databases for managing advertisements. This segmentation allows each component to perform its specific function independently, reducing overall system complexity while enabling digital content access.
2Productivity
If publishers migrate printed content to electronic form, then advertising effectiveness improves, but the process becomes complex and difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-associates advertisements with specific images and content during the content creation phase. Advertisements are stored in databases linked to image identifiers before the actual printing and distribution occur. This preliminary association simplifies the migration process by eliminating the need for complex real-time matching during content delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
Mobile devices automatically capture images of printed content and send queries to MMR gateways without requiring manual intervention. The system self-services the entire process from image capture to digital content delivery, reducing the complexity of the migration process while maintaining high advertising effectiveness.
3Adaptability or versatility
If the system retrieves all associated content, then user engagement increases, but information retrieval time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements differential weighting that assigns different importance levels to different types of content based on their relevance to the queried image. Frequently accessed content and highly relevant advertisements receive higher weights and are prioritized for retrieval, while less important content is retrieved with lower priority. This selective approach maintains user engagement by delivering relevant content quickly without the time penalty of retrieving all possible content.
Data Source
AI summary
An MMR system for publishing comprises a plurality of mobile devices, an MMR gateway, an MMR matching unit and an MMR publisher integrated into a network with an advertiser, an ad broker, and an MMR service bureau. The MMR matching unit receives an image query from the 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 service bureau uses the result to retrieve advertising or other links associated with the location on the page. The list of results and links are sent back to the MMR gateway for presentation on the mobile device. The present invention also includes a number of novel methods including a differentially weighting links associated with an MMR document.