Portable scanning device for ascertaining attributes of sample materials

A portable scanning device comprising:

• a chamber configured as a controlled environment for capturing an image of a sample material contained in the chamber;
• an openable member configured to enable access to the chamber for receiving the sample material, wherein ambient light of an environment external to the chamber is blocked from the chamber when the openable member is closed;
• a platform inside the chamber configured to shelf the sample material for capturing the image of the sample material;
• and
• an imaging device configured to capture the image of the sample material when disposed on the platform inside the chamber.

A method comprising:

• obtaining, over a communications network, an image of a sample captured with a camera of a handheld mobile device that is mounted on a scanning device configured as a platform for uniformly capturing images of different samples from different sources;
• determining an attribute of the sample based on a combination visual features detected in the captured image of the sample;
• and
• communicating, over the communications network, an indication of the determined attribute of the sample for display on the handheld mobile device.