Method and apparatus for implementing a camera mouse

A method for capturing information from a substrate comprising:

• positioning an apparatus over an image region of a first image disposed on the substrate using a viewing area of the apparatus;
• the image region including a visible object and coded embedded data indicating information about the visible object;
• the coded embedded data forming a uniform background for the visible object;
• and
• capturing the coded embedded data from the image region using the apparatus, said embedded data including an orientation of the substrate and a location of the coded embedded data on the substrate.

A manually moveable apparatus for interacting with an image disposed on a substrate and for communicating with a data store including information about the image;

• the apparatus comprising:
• image capture means for capturing an image region of the image on the substrate;
• the image region including an object visible to a user and coded embedded data indicating identification information about the visible object;
• the coded embedded data forming a uniform background for the visible object;
• a display for displaying the image region captured by the image capture means;
• signal generation means for a user to generate an operation signal indicating a request to perform an operation related to the visible object;
• and
• communication means for sending the operation signal and the identification information to a processor;
• the processor using the identification information to retrieve second information about the visible object from the data store;
• the processor further using the operation signal to determine the operation to perform using the second information;
• the processor further using the second information about the visible object to display an output image on the display as feedback to the user in response to generating the operation signal.