System and method for obtaining information relating to an item of commerce using a portable imaging device

A computer system for communicating information regarding a selected item to a user present at a location of a first retail entity, wherein the system comprises a server operated by a second retail entity that is different than the first retail entity and the selected item is available for purchase at the second retail entity, the server being in communication with an imaging device of the user that is configured to capture an image of identifying data associated with the selected item, the server comprising:

• a subsystem configured to receive an image from the imaging device of the user, wherein the image contains multiple instances of identifying data associated with the selected item;
• a subsystem configured to extract the identifying data from each of the multiple instances in the image using a data recognition procedure that operates on an instance of the identifying data and produces an output;
• a subsystem configured to compare the output of each of the data recognition procedures to corroborate the identification of the selected item that is obtained from each instance of the identifying data;
• a subsystem configured to obtain item information associated with the selected item by using the corroborated identifying data when the data recognition procedures output identifying data that is corroborated, and otherwise obtaining the item information by determining a quality of the output of each of the data recognition procedures and based on the output having a higher quality, using the identifying data of the higher quality output to obtain the item information, wherein the item information is obtained from at least one resource;
• a subsystem configured to communicate the item information directly to the imaging device of the user while the user remains present at the location of the first retail entity;
• and
• a subsystem with a storage database configured to store at least one of the instances of identifying data as profile information associated with the user, wherein the profile information is used to anticipate the user's purchasing interests and provide one or more targeted offers to the user to purchase an item based on the user's anticipated purchasing interests,
• wherein each of the subsystems of the server operate using a processor in communication with a memory unit of the server.

A tangible computer-readable storage medium having a computer-executable component for communicating item information for a selected item to a user present at a location of a first retail entity, wherein the selected item is available for purchase at a second retail entity that is different than the first retail entity, and wherein the computer-executable component is executed by a server of the second retail entity and communicates the item information by:

• receiving an image from an imaging device of the user, said image containing multiple instances of identifying data associated with the selected item;
• for each of the multiple instances of identifying data, extracting the identifying data from the image using a data recognition procedure that produces an output;
• comparing the output of each of the data recognition procedures to corroborate the identification of the selected item that is obtained from each instance of the identifying data;
• determining whether the data recognition procedures output identifying data that is corroborated and based on that determination, when the identifying data is not corroborated, determining a quality of the output of each of the data recognition procedures and using identifying data of a higher quality output to obtain item information associated with the selected item, otherwise using the corroborated identifying data to obtain item information associated with the selected item;
• communicating the item information directly from the server to the imaging device of the user while the user remains present at the location of the first retail entity;
• and
• storing at least one of the instances of identifying data as profile information in a database associated with the user, wherein the profile information is used to anticipate the user's purchasing interests and provide one or more targeted offers to the user to purchase an item based on the user's anticipated purchasing interests.

An integrated portable apparatus for obtaining item information for a selected item available for purchase at a location of a first retail entity, the apparatus comprising:

• an input device configured to capture an image that contains multiple instances of identifying data associated with the selected item;
• an output device for outputting item information for the selected item as obtained from a second retail entity that is different than the first retail entity;
• a tangible storage medium for storing said identifying data and program instructions for processing the image;
• and
• a computer processor communicatively coupled to the input device, the output device, and the storage medium, for executing the program instructions that process the image by:
• for each of the multiple instances of identifying data, extracting the identifying data from the image using a data recognition procedure that produces an output;
• comparing the output of each of the data recognition procedures to corroborate the identification of the selected item that is obtained from each instance of the identifying data;
• determining whether the data recognition procedures output identifying data that is corroborated and based on that determination, when the identifying data is not corroborated, determining a quality of the output of each of the data recognition procedures and outputting identifying data of a higher quality output on the output device to allow the user to review and edit the identifying data before the identifying data is communicated to a server operated by the second retail entity, otherwise outputting the corroborated identifying data on the output device to allow the user to review and edit the identifying data before the identifying data is communicated to the server operated by the second retail entity;
• communicating the identifying data to the server operated by the second retail entity, wherein the selected item is available for purchase from the second retail entity;
• storing at least one of the instances of identifying data as profile information in a database associated with the user, wherein the profile information is used to anticipate the user's purchasing interests and provide one or more targeted offers to the user to purchase an item based on the user's anticipated purchasing interests;
• receiving, from the server of the second retail entity, item information for the selected item identified by the identifying data obtained from the image;
• and
• outputting the item information on the output device, wherein the output device communicates the item information to a user while the user remains at the location of the first retail entity.