Patent Publication Number: US-2013238407-A1

Title: Visual check-in feature using a software service

Description:
COPYRIGHT 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     FIELD OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure relates to a visual check-in feature that uses a software service to accumulate rewards by participants that can be redeemed for goods or services. 
     SUMMARY 
     Aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods of accumulating points redeemable for goods or services using a visual check-in feature. A “check-in” is used by software services, such as an online social networking service, to allow the user access to the social network. By “visual” it is meant that the check-in procedure according to aspects of the present disclosure require that the user take a photograph of a physical object and send it to the software service to gain access to the software service. The electronic file corresponding to the photograph includes metadata indicative of geographic coordinates where the photograph was taken. Aspects of the present disclosure utilize indicia extracted from the photograph taken as well as the geographic coordinate information to determine a number of points or credits to be awarded to the user, points or credits which can be redeemed for goods or services or anything of value. 
     Additional aspects of the present disclosure will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the detailed description of various aspects, which is made with reference to the drawings, a brief description of which is provided below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram of a system for implementing one or more aspects of the present disclosure; 
         FIGS. 2A and 2B  illustrate a flow chart diagram implementing a process, method, or procedure according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure; and 
         FIGS. 3A-3D  illustrate screen shots of example graphical user interfaces associated with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     While the present disclosure can be embodied in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will be described various exemplary aspects of the present disclosure with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles thereof and is not intended to limit the broad aspect of the present disclosure to the illustrated aspects. 
       FIG. 1  is a functional block diagram of various components, modules, or features that are involved in some aspects of the present disclosure. A system  100  includes a portable computing device  102 , such as a smartphone, laptop, tablet computing device, or the like, carried by a user. The system  100  includes a software service  104  hosted on a server  106  remote from the portable computing device  102 . The portable computing device  102  includes a controller  108  operatively coupled to a display  110 , a digital imaging device  112 , such as a digital camera, and an image and geotag extraction component  114 . The digital imaging device  112  is configured to tag digital photographs taken by the digital imaging device  112  with geotags, a form of metadata embedded in the image file produced by the digital imaging device  112 , which includes geographic location information including the latitude and longitude coordinates of the location where the digital photograph was taken. The image geotag extraction component  114  extracts the geotag information (generally referred to as location information) from the electronic file produced by the digital imaging device  112  and the image of a physical object  116 . The image and geotag extraction component  114  can be a software or functional component of an “app” as they are colloquially referred, or more specifically a mobile software application executed by the controller  108  of the portable computing device  102 . 
     Although only one portable computing device  102  is shown in  FIG. 1 , it should be understood that many portable computing devices, each like the portable computing device  102 , can be communicatively and operatively linked to the software service  104 . The software service  104  can support many clients (portable computing devices). 
     The image and geotag extraction component  114  communicates at least the image of the physical object to an image recognition engine  118 , such as the image labeling service available from IQ Engines, Inc. based in Berkeley, Calif. The image file format can be JPEG, TIFF, or any other suitable digital image file format. The geotag metadata can be formatted using the EXIF or XMP formats, for example. 
     The software service  104  includes a controller  120  that is coupled to a matching algorithm component  122  and to a points calculation component  124 . The software service  104  also includes a point meter  126 , which keeps track of the number of points accrued by the users of the software service  104  as explained in more detail below. The matching algorithm component  122  is operatively coupled to a database  128 , which can be optionally located remote from the server  106  or incorporated in the server  106 . The database  128  stores information about the physical objects  116  being photographed by the users of portable computing devices, such as known products and the makers of those products. A product can be a tangible good or a service such as a digital service or a service offered over the Internet. A records database  130  stores records associated with various users of the software service  104  and is accessed by the points calculation component  124  to determine what points to award to each user who successfully checks in with the software service  104 . The term “software service” refers to its meaning as that term is understood in the context of software architecture, service-oriented architecture (SOA), and refers to a set of software functionalities. An example of a software service is a web service. The software service  104  has both offline and online components or features. The portable computing device  102  conventionally communicates with the software service  104  over a network such as the Internet via a wired, wireless, or cellular communications connection. 
     It should be emphasized that the exemplary architecture shown in  FIG. 1  is not intended to be limiting. For example, the image recognition engine  118  can be incorporated into the portable computing device  102  or into the software service  104 . The software service  104  can reside entirely on the portable computing device  102 , and the database  128  can be hosted by the same server  106  that also hosts the software service  104 . 
     The image and geotag extraction component  114 , under control of the controller  108 , transmits the image taken by the digital imaging device  112  to the image recognition engine  118 . The image recognition engine  118  is configured to scan the image for indicia and to convert the indicia to corresponding text labels, which the image recognition engine  118  passes back to the image and geotag extraction component  114 . 
     Next, an exemplary operation of various aspects of the present disclosure will be described. The controller  108  receives an electronic file indicative of a digital photograph of a physical object  116  taken by a user. The electronic file includes an image of the physical object  116  and associated location information indicative of a location where the digital photograph was taken. As described above, the location information can be embedded as GPS coordinate metadata in the electronic file. 
     The portable user device  102  receives, from the image recognition engine  118 , an indication of an indicium identified by the image recognition engine  118  as being associated with the physical object  116 . The indication of an indicium can be, for example, one or more alphanumeric text labels corresponding to alphanumeric text or graphics comprising alphanumeric text that appear on the physical object  116 . In a specific, non-limiting example, if the physical object  116  is a beer bottle, the indicium can include the name of the beer and the brewery who made the beer. The indication of the indicium can take the form of one or more text labels. In another example, the indicium can be the name of a product, if the physical object  116  is a product, and the corresponding maker of the product. These can be expressed as alphanumeric text labels and returned from the image recognition engine  118  in that form. 
     The controller  108  or the controller  120  grants the user access to the software service  104  based on at least the digital photograph acquired by the digital imaging device  112  and the location information. Both the digital photograph and the location information represent a minimum set of eligibility criteria required to access the software service  104 . When the user is granted access to the software service  114 , the matching algorithm component  122 , under control of the controller  108 ,  120 , determines whether the identified indicium matches one of a predetermined indicia stored in an electronic database, such as the database  128 . For example, if the indicium identified by the image recognition engine  118  is a particular brand of beer, the matching algorithm component  122  passes the brand of beer as a text label to the database  128  as a query, and the database  128  returns whether that particular brand of beer was located in the database  128 . If the identified indicium matches one of the predetermined indicia in the electronic database  128 , the points calculation component  124 , under control of the controller  108 ,  120 , calculates a number of points to be awarded as an award to the user based on at least the matching one of the predetermined indicia and the location information. In other words, the number of points awarded is a function of the identified physical object  116  (regardless of whether an indicium associated with that physical object  116  is found in the database  128 ) and the location information representing where the photograph of the physical object  116  was taken. 
     The points calculation component  124 , under control of the controller  108 ,  120 , adds the calculated number of points to the point meter  126  associated with the user. The points accumulated in the point meter  126  are redeemable for goods or services. The point meter  126  can be displayed on the display  110  of the portable computing device  102  with a graphic indicating the total number of points accumulated by the user. 
     The identified indicium (e.g., the name of the product corresponding to the physical object) can be stored in a record associated with the user in the user&#39;s records database  130 . The user&#39;s records database  130  includes records each corresponding to a user of a portable computing device, such as the portable computing device  102 . As discussed above, multiple portable computing devices, such as thousands or tens of thousands or greater, can be communicatively coupled to one or more servers like the server  106 . Each portable computing device corresponds to a unique user, and the user&#39;s records database  130  stores a unique record for each user. The user&#39;s records database  130  can be composed of one or more databases. For convenience, it is represented diagrammatically in  FIG. 1  as a single block. Each record in the records database  130  includes historical indicia each associated with corresponding physical objects and corresponding location information that the user has previously used to be granted access to the software service  104 . The record is embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable tangible medium, such as on a hard-disk or solid-state drive or memory device. For example, if the physical objects  116  correspond to beers, the historical indicia can include the names of beers that the user has taken photographs of to check into (gain access to) the software service  104  as well as the corresponding geotag information associated with each photograph. Note that because the digital imaging device  112  tags each photograph with the geotag information, the user&#39;s location where the user actually checks into the software service  104  is not relevant. This allows the user to snap a photo of a beer, change locations (e.g., go back home), but still check into the software service  104  at a later point in time from a different location and the matching algorithm component  122  still receives the geotag information extracted from the photograph. This is unlike other check-in schemes where the location of the user&#39;s portable computing device  102  is used to check into a software service. Without limiting the scope of the physical object  116 , the physical object  116  can correspond to a consumable item, such as a food or beverage that is consumed in a social setting. For example, beer or wine or spirits are consumed typically in a bar, restaurant, or pub in a social setting. The physical object can correspond to a maker of a consumable item. The indicium associated with the consumable item can correspond to a label indicium associated with a container or package or dispenser containing the consumable item or to a maker indicium bearing the name of the maker of the consumable item. In the case of beer, the beer can be contained within a bottle or a can, for example, and the maker (brewery) of the beer can be affixed as a label to the bottle or can. 
     However, it should be emphasized that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to any particular physical object. The physical object can be non-naturally occurring (e.g., beer) or naturally occurring (e.g., flowers or birds). In general, the physical object  116  can correspond to anything that is capable of being photographed by a digital imaging device  112 , including extra-terrestrial objects such as stars or planets. 
     The points calculation component  124  can calculate the number of points to be awarded to the user based on any one or more criteria. For example, points can be awarded based on whether the identified indicium (e.g., corresponding to a name of a beer) is the first time the identified indicium has been matched to one of the predetermined indicia as determined by a search of the record associated with the user in the records database  130 . For example, if the user takes a photograph of a new beer that the user has not previously checked into the software service  104 , the points calculation component  124  can award a bonus number of points to the user&#39;s point meter  126  compared to the number of points that are awarded if the identified indicium is not the first time the identified indicium has been matched to one of the predetermined indicia. For example, if this is the second time that the user has checked in with a particular beer, no bonus points are awarded, at least for this criterion (whether this is the first beer this user has checked into the service  104 ). A bonus corresponds to a number of points and can vary depending on the criterion used to assess whether a bonus number of points are to be awarded to the user. 
     Alternately or additionally, the points calculation component  124  can calculate the number of points based on whether the location information associated with the identified indicium is the first time the location information appears with the identified indicium in the record. For example, if this is the first time the user has checked into the service  104  with a photograph of a beer in a particular city/town or country or both, the points calculation component  124  adds a bonus number of points to the point meter  126  compared to the number of points that are awarded if the location information associated with the identified indicium is not the first time the location information appears with the identified indicium in the record. For example, if this is the second time that the user has checked in a particular beer to the service  104  from the same location, no bonus points are awarded for this criterion (whether this is the first beer to be checked in at this location). 
     In these examples, the identified indicium can correspond to a type of the physical object (e.g., a stout versus a pale ale). Alternately or additionally, the points calculation component  124  can calculate the number of points based on whether the type is the first time the type has been matched to any type corresponding to any of the predetermined indicia. For example, if this is the first time the user has checked in a beer of the stout type, the points calculation component  124  awards a bonus number of points to the point meter  126  compared to the number of points that are awarded if the type does match a type corresponding to any of the predetermined indicia in the record. For example, if this is the third or fifteenth time the user has checked in a beer of the stout type, no bonus points are awarded for this criterion (whether this is the first time a beer of a particular type has been used to check into the service  104 ). 
     Alternately or additionally, the points calculation component  124  can calculate the number of points based on a frequency of award accumulation by the user in a predefined window of time such that if the user accumulates a threshold number of awards within the predefined window a bonus number of points is added to the point meter  126 . For example, if the player achieves 15 awards within an hour, the points calculation component  124  can award a bonus number of points (e.g., 1000 bonus points) for achieving this milestone. 
     According to any or some aspects of the present disclosure, if the identified indicium does not match any of the predetermined indicia in the database  128 , the software service  104  can communicate the image to a remote server  140 , which determines whether a match can be located for the given identified indicium. The software service  104  receives from the remote server  140  an indication as to whether the identified indicium is approved for inclusion in the electronic database  128 . The remote server  140  can include a human operator that reviews the image to determine one or more indicia associated with the image (e.g., who made the physical object  116  and a brand name corresponding to the physical object  116 ). If the remote server  140  returns an indication that the identified indicium corresponds to a valid product and/or maker, the points calculation component  124  can award a bonus number of points to the point meter  126  for being the first user to locate the identified indicium. In the case where the physical objects are beer cans or bottles, this bonus scheme incentivizes users to try to find really rare beers to achieve bonus points. Finding common or popular beers would not result in a high number, if any, of bonus points. The rarer the beer, the more bonus points are awarded. Alternately, the first time a new beer is released, this bonus scheme incentivizes users to try to be the first to check into the service  104  with a photograph of the newly released beer. 
     Alternately or additionally, the points calculation component  124  can calculate the number of points based on whether the location information associated with the identified indicium satisfies a criterion. For example, the criterion can include whether the location information corresponds to a country that is not the user&#39;s country of residence. If the user has checked into the service  104  with a photograph of a physical object taken in a country other than the user&#39;s country of residence, the points calculation component  124  can add a bonus number of points to the point meter  126 . This bonus scheme incentivizes the user to find unique or non-local locations to photograph physical objects and to check into the service  104  using photographs taken at those remote locations. Typically, users will connect or link to other local users, in the case of beer, which is typically a social event that involves local friends or companions within a fixed geographic area. Users who find beers in bars, pubs, or restaurants in other countries or far away from the user&#39;s home are awarded with bonus points. 
     It should be emphasized that the phrase “checking in” refers to the user gaining access to the software service  104  by taking a geotagged digital photograph of the physical object  116  with the digital imaging device  112 . A minimum (but not necessarily exclusive) of two items of information are needed by the software service  104 : a digital photograph of a physical object  116  and associated location information of the coordinates where that digital photograph was taken. A third item can correspond to a maker of the physical object  116  (e.g., when the physical object  116  is a consumable item such as beer). The points calculation component  124  can further calculate a number of points to award to the user based on the maker of the consumable item in addition to the consumable item and the location information as stated above. 
     If the identified indicium does not match any of the predetermined indicia in the electronic database  128 , the matching algorithm component  122  can communicate the identified indicium or the image to a crowdsourcing service  142 , such as a web-based crowdsourcing service. The crowdsourcing service  142  can try to identify the indicium and label it appropriately by associating one or more text labels with the identified indicium. The software service  104  receives from the crowdsourcing service  142  an indication as to whether the identified indicium was identified. If it was, the software service  104  also receives receiving identification information associated with the identified indicium from the crowdsourcing service. For example, if a user attempts to check in to the software service  104  with an unusual or rare beer and this beer is not located in the database  128 , the software service  104  sends the image of the beer to the crowdsourcing service  142  for a determination as to the name of the beer and optionally or additionally the brewery that made it. If the crowdsourcing service  142  determines the identity of the beer, this information is passed back to the software service  104 , which can have this identification information added to the database  128 . 
     As stated above, a user can accumulated points or bonus points. In addition, the user can award a prize for accumulating a predetermined number of points in the user&#39;s point meter  126 . For example, when the user has accumulated 30,000 points and/or bonus points in the point meter  126 , the user can be awarded a prize of 5,000 points, bringing the total to 35,000 points. Alternately, the points calculation component  124  can award a prize to the user when the user locates a physical object associated with the same identified indicium in a predetermined number of geographic locations. For example, if the user has checked into the service  104  the same (rare) beer found at five different locations, the player is awarded a prize of, for example, 500 points. These prize points are a separate category for the normal points or bonus points the user is awarded based on other criteria. 
     The user of the software service  104  can link to one or more other users of the software service  104  and be deemed a follower of such other users. The points calculation component  124  can award a prize when the user accumulates a predetermined number of followers, such as 100. This incentivizes users of the software service  104  to have the most number of followers to achieve a special or enhanced social status or standing among the users of the software service  104 . 
     The matching algorithm component  122  can assign a rarity index to the identified indicium. The rarity index indicates a rareness of the identified indicium relative to the other predetermined indicia such that a high rarity index indicates a relatively rare indicium and a low rarity index indicates a relatively common indicium. In the case of beer, a rare beer is assigned to a high rarity index where as a common beer is assigned to a relatively low rarity index. A greater number of points are awarded to the user the higher the rarity index and the greater the distance of the location information from the user&#39;s home location. Thus, while a user can be awarded more points based on the rarity of the physical object  116 , the user can be awarded even more points for finding a rare physical object  116  at a location that is far away from the user&#39;s home location. This incentivizes users to try to find rare beers outside of the user&#39;s local geographic area. 
       FIGS. 2A and 2B  illustrate an example flowchart of an algorithm  200  according to aspects of the present disclosure. For ease of discussion, it will be assumed that the product in question is beer, but as mentioned above, the physical object  116  is not limited to a consumable item. The user grabs a product, such as a beer, by taking a photograph of the beer with the digital imaging device  112  ( 202 ). The portable computing device  102  communicates the photograph of the beer, along with the associated geotag metadata, to the image recognition engine  118  ( 204 ). The image recognition engine  118  determines whether it can recognize a characteristic of the beer (e.g., the brand and/or brewery name) ( 206 ). If so, the image recognition engine  118  returns an indicium such as in the form of a text label ( 212 ). As explained above, the text label can correspond to an attribute or a characteristic or a description of the beer, such as the beer name or the brewery that made the beer. 
     If the image recognition engine  118  does not recognize the beer, the portable computing device  102  or the software service  104  sends the photograph to a crowdsourcing service  142  to determine whether the service  142  can recognize the beer ( 208 ). The crowdsourcing service  142  determines whether it can recognize an attribute or characteristic or description of the beer and/or the brewery that made it ( 210 ). If the crowdsourcing service  142  can identify the beer, it returns an indicium, such as in the form of text label(s) corresponding to the identified attribute, characteristic, or description of the beer or its maker ( 212 ). If the crowdsourcing service  142  cannot determine the beer ( 214 ), the portable computing device  102  is informed that no beer could be determined from the photograph and the user is awarded no points ( 226 ). Optionally, an operator monitoring the photographs submitted to the crowdsourcing service  142  via the remote server  140  can intervene, and if the operator intervenes in time ( 250 ), a message is generated ( 254 ) and sent to the portable computing device  102  ( 246 ). The operator can send a customized message to the user informing the user that the beer was not recognized and encourage the user to retake the photograph or try again ( 246 ). If the operator does not intervene in time ( 250 ), a standard default message is generated ( 252 ) and sent to the portable computing device ( 246 ). 
     Returning to block  212 , if a valid identification information about the photographed beer is determined either by the image recognition engine  118  or by the crowdsourcing service  142  ( 212 ), the matching algorithm component  122  determines whether a match can be found for the identified indicium in the database  128  ( 216 ). If no match is found ( 214 ), the user is awarded no points ( 226 ) and an operator can optionally intervene ( 250 ) to send a customized message to the user ( 254 ) or a standard default message can be generated ( 252 ) and sent to the portable computing device  102  ( 246 ). 
     If a match is found in the database  128 , the points calculation component  124  optionally carries out a velocity check ( 218 ), which is representative of the rate of matches found in a predetermined period of time. If the user is grabbing too many beers at too high a rate, such as more than five per hour, the points calculation component  124  can begin deducting points from the point meter  126  to discourage excessive consumption of beer or to discourage users from trying to “game” the app, such as by taking multiple photographs of beers at a liquor store. If the rate of beer grabs does not exceed a threshold rate (e.g., five per hour), the algorithm  200  determines whether the beer in question fails any checks ( 220 ). For example, one check can be whether the location information associated with the geotagged photograph corresponds to any of a predetermined database of liquor stores. If so, the beer can be rejected. Another check can be whether the beer brand matches a brewery. A mismatch between the beer brand and brewery will cause the check to fail, and if an operator is available ( 222 ), the operator can check and verify the product ( 224 ). If the product is approved ( 228 ), the points calculation component  124  determines how many points to award to the user ( 230 ). If the beer passes all checks, the points calculation component  124  determines how many points to award to the user ( 230 ) as a function of at least the identified indicium and the location information associated with the beer. 
     Optionally, if the number of points to be awarded exceeds a threshold, such as 125 points ( 234 ), the product is tagged ( 236 ) and the operator, if available ( 238 ), has an opportunity to check and verify the product  240 . This check ensures that before a significant number of points (including bonus points or prize points) are awarded to the user, the operator has an opportunity to check or verify the details of the beer and the points before awarding the points to the user. If the operator approves the product ( 244 ), the software service  104  accepts the details of the product, and the software service  104  sends to the portable computing device  102  ( 246 ) a message indicating that the product has been approved and the number of points to be added to the user&#39;s point meter  126  ( 242 ). If the operator does not approve the product ( 244 ), the user is not awarded any points, and the software service  104  sends a message to the portable computing device  102  indicating an explanation for the failure ( 248 ), which the portable computing device  102  can display to the user on the display  110 . 
     If the number of points to be awarded does not exceed the threshold, or if the operator is not available, or if the operator is available and approves the product details, the software service  104  accepts the details of the product, sends a message to the portable computing device  102  that the product has been accepted along with the number of points to be added to the user&#39;s point meter  126  ( 242 ). 
     Referring now to  FIG. 2B , which is a continuation of the flowchart shown in  FIG. 2A , the software service  104  offers the user an opportunity to confirm the product details ( 256 ) before accepting the points. This optional feature is described in more detail in connection with  FIGS. 3C and 3D . If the user confirms the product ( 256 ), meaning that the identified indicium matches the user&#39;s understanding of the same, a confirmation message is sent to the user ( 258 ), the points to be awarded are added to the user&#39;s point meter  126  ( 260 ), and the user is checked into the software service  104  ( 262 ), which provides the user access to other features of the software service  104 , such as social networking features, user comment features, user account or settings/preferences services, point redemption services, for example. 
     If the user rejects the find ( 264 ), a “checked-in” status of the user is updated to reflect that the user has rejected the find (e.g., the identified indicium as corresponding to the photographed object) ( 266 ). An operations team, using the remote server  140 , reviews the details of the rejected find ( 268 ) and determines whether the found product is valid ( 270 ). If not, the operator rejects the find as not being a product ( 272 ), and then determines whether to award the user points anyway, such as for the “fun factor” of the find ( 274 ). If not, no points are awarded to the user along with an explanation as to why ( 276 ). If the operator determines that “fun factor” points are to be awarded ( 274 ), the operator adds a number of points and allocates a type or category for the award ( 278 ). An alert is sent to the user ( 280 ) informing the user how many points, if any, were added, and explanatory comments for the award or non-award. The user is not checked in ( 282 ) to the service  104 , but can still accrue points if the product photographed is determined to be worth awarding “fun factor” points to the user. 
     Returning to block  270 , if the product is determined by the operations team to be a valid product, the operations team reviews research and details about the maker (brewer) of the beer in question ( 284 ). If the operations team can find information about the product or maker ( 286 ), the operations team adds the product as a new product or maker to the database  128  ( 292 ), allocates a bonus award to the user ( 296 ) for making a unique and rare find, adds the bonus points to the point meter  126  and sends a message to the user with an explanation for the bonus award ( 298 ), and then the software service  104  checks in the user ( 299 ) to permit the user access to the software service  104 . 
     However, if the operations team is unable to find information about the beer or its brewer ( 286 ), the product is flagged as an unknown type ( 288 ), and a message can be sent to the user to have the user tell the operations team what type of beer he or she has found ( 290 ) along with an incentive number of points (in this example, 1000 points) if the user complies. 
       FIG. 3A  is an exemplary screenshot of a graphical user interface  300   a  that can be displayed on the display  110  of the portable computing device  102 . The display  110  can be overlaid conventionally by a transparent touchscreen to permit gesture inputs to be made by the (human) user relative to the touchscreen over the surface of the display  110 . Various graphical images, some of which are selectable via the touchscreen, are displayed on the graphical user interface  300   a.  User identification information  302  is displayed along with an avatar  304  selected by the user. The user identification information  302  can include a user name (saulegoode) and the user&#39;s geographic location. The point meter  126  can be displayed as a point meter graphic  306  that displays the total number of points accumulated by the user (in this example, 35,769 points). A selectable icon labeled “unfollow”  308  is displayed to allow the user to de-link one or more users so that they can no longer follow or track the user&#39;s activities on the software service  104 . A “Latest Find” graphic  308  indicates the most recent find by the user, along with an image icon  310  of the found product, which can also include the maker of the product. Next to the “Latest Find” graphic  308  is a “Latest Location” graphic  312  that shows the location where the product on the left was found, along with a map  314  showing the map coordinates of the found product. A total finds meter  316  shows a running tally of the total number of products found by the user. In this example, this user has found 154 beers. A total followers meter  318  shows a running tally of the total number of other users following this user, and in this example, this user has 1,089 followers. A selectable “Trails” icon  322  when selected shows a map with pins for each location where a find was made and checked into the service  104 , allowing the user to track all around the world where beers have been found and checked in. A selectable “Grab” icon  320  is pressed by the user to begin a photo grab of a new physical object. When this icon  320  is selected, the digital imaging device  112  is activated to take a photograph of the next physical object  116  the users wishes to check into the service  104 . 
       FIG. 3B  is an exemplary screenshot of another graphical user interface  300   b  that can be displayed on the display  110  of the portable computing device  102 . This interface  300   b  lists a history of finds by the user along with the number of points awarded for each find. The row  330  shows a graphical image of the product photographed, the details of the identified indicium and optionally the brewer of the product and the location where the product was found along with the date and time information as to when the photograph was taken. The award icon  332  indicates that the user was awarded 34 points for this particular find. Similarly, rows  334 ,  338 ,  342 ,  346  show graphical images of the various products photographed, the details of the identified indicium, the brewer if identified, the location, and the date and time when the photograph was taken. The award icons  336 ,  340 ,  344 ,  348  correspond to the number of points awarded for each find, except that in the case of rows  338  and  342 , no points were awarded because the products were not matched in the database or no valid product or maker of the product could be ascertained by the operations team, by the database  128 , or by the crowdsourcing service  142 , or because the user failed a velocity check by checking in too many beers within a predetermined time period. 
       FIG. 3C  is an exemplary screenshot of yet another graphical user interface  300   c  that can be displayed on the display  110  of the portable computing device  102 . In this example, the user has already taken a photograph of the physical object  116  (in this example, a bottle of beer), and the identified indicium has determined that the beer is made by the brewery Belhaven and the name of the beer is Twisted Thistle. The location where the photograph was taken is a city called Old Saybrook. A graphic  360  of the photographed beer is displayed along with a map below it showing the location where the photograph was taken. The user in this interface  300   c  is being asked to confirm a find. A breakdown of the total number of points to be awarded for this find is also displayed. For example, 2 points are to be awarded for finding a beer made by the brewery Belhaven. The user is awarded a multiplier of 4×  364  for finding a beer named Twisted Thistle. A further multiplier of 3×  366  is awarded for finding the beer in Old Saybrook. And because this beer is the user&#39;s fifth such find, the user is awarded a bonus of 500 points  368  for a total of 524 points ( 370 ). 
     A selectable icon  372  is displayed asking the user to confirm this find, and another selectable icon  374  allows the user to reject this find. A comments field  376  allows the user to enter comments on this particular find, which can be posted to a social networking service or posted on the software service  104  for other linked users to view. A selectable “Find” icon  378  allows the user, having taken a photograph, to instruct the software service  104  to see if a match can be found. This interface  300   c  assumes the software service  104  has found a match, and the details of the match along with the number of points are displayed on this interface  300   c.  In this example, the user has selected the “Confirm Find” selectable icon, indicating that the user intends to confirm this find. Once confirmed, 524 points will be added to the user&#39;s point meter  126 . 
     In the next graphical user interface  300   d  shown in  FIG. 3D , the user has rejected a find. In this example, the product actually photographed is called Twisted Tea not Twisted Thistle. Because the software service  104  has mistakenly identified this find as a sixth such find of a beer called Twisted Thistle, it is about to award the user 624 points. Because the user has rejected the find, the operations team can send a message to the user&#39;s portable computing device  102 , which is displayed in the comments field  376 , inviting the user to explain why this find was rejected. As explained above, as an incentive to the user, a bonus number of points can be awarded to the user for providing an explanation. 
     Although the algorithms described above including those with reference to the foregoing flow charts have been described separately, it should be understood that any two or more of the algorithms disclosed herein can be combined in any combination. Any of the methods, algorithms, implementations, or procedures described herein can include machine-readable instructions for execution by: (a) a processor, (b) a controller, and/or (c) any other suitable processing device. It will be readily understood that the controller  108 ,  120  can include such a suitable processing device. Any algorithm, software, or method disclosed herein can be embodied in software stored on a non-transitory tangible medium such as, for example, a flash memory, a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), or other memory devices, but persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the entire algorithm and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than a controller and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware in a well known manner (e.g., it may be implemented by an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), a field programmable logic device (FPLD), discrete logic, etc.). Also, some or all of the machine-readable instructions represented in any flowchart depicted herein can be implemented manually as opposed to automatically by a controller, processor, or similar computing device or machine. Further, although specific algorithms are described with reference to flowcharts depicted herein, persons of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that many other methods of implementing the example machine readable instructions may alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. 
     It should be noted that the algorithms illustrated and discussed herein as having various modules which perform particular functions and interact with one another. It should be understood that these modules are merely segregated based on their function for the sake of description and represent computer hardware and/or executable software code which is stored on a computer-readable medium for execution on appropriate computing hardware. The various functions of the different modules and units can be combined or segregated as hardware and/or software stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium as above as modules in any manner, and can be used separately or in combination. 
     While particular embodiments and applications of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described, it is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the precise construction and compositions disclosed herein and that various modifications, changes, and variations can be apparent from the foregoing descriptions without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.