NEC has developed an image recognition service for smartphones, called GAZIRU, and as of June will begin offering this service to commercial customers. By comparing images captured by the smartphone with saved image data, it displays the names and details of the objects on screen.

“Here are two different types of demonstrations. The first way we’re thinking of providing the service is to do everything within the smartphone, from recognizing the picture to displaying the results. The other way is to do the processing in the cloud and then show the results.”

The service uses NEC’s all-round image recognition engine, achieving a world-class recognition rate. NEC also uses its own logic to compress data and minimize computation.

“For example, here, I’ve made spaghetti. Even with spaghetti that no-one’s photographed before, this system recognizes it. That’s the big selling point of this service.”

“You take a picture, and send it, like this. I’m sending the picture over the network to NEC’s cloud system. The cloud server side determines what the picture resembles most, and sends back the result.”

Applications for the service include investigating the names of unfamiliar objects, searching without having to enter text, and using this service as a gateway to other services.

“For example, we think this could be used for cars, by used-car dealers, and for buildings, by real estate agents.”

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