SpeechGear translates documents and street signs

In an article published in Wired, on the Navy's high tech gadgets, this one caugth my eye:

"Camera phones and digicams may have the Defense Department spooked -- especially since the Abu Ghraib prison scandal broke. But The Office of Naval Research (ONR) thinks the gizmos can be put to good use serving as near-instant translators for documents and street signs.

"Take a picture of an Arabic newspaper, a Chinese menu or a Farsi instruction pack, and send the image to the servers of SpeechGear, an ONR-backed company based in Northfield, Minnesota.

SpeechGear processes the image, looking at changes in pixel color to see where the text is in the image. It then orients the picture around the text, adding pixels if needed to correct a skewed image. Once the picture is right, SpeechGear uses optical-character-recognition software and translation databases to see what's being said. An English version of the text is sent back to the phone in about 15 seconds.

The translations aren't exact, SpeechGear Chief Executive Robert Palmquist said, "but they'll tell you whether you've got a grocery list or plans for the embassy."

emily | 5:54 PM | How people and businesses are using cameraphones |
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