Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US20060050996?dq=6,034,652
Timestamp: 2015-08-28 23:47:59
Document Index: 421931074

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Patent US20060050996 - Archive of text captures from rendered documents - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsA facility for storing a text capture data structure for a particular user is described. The data structure comprises a number of entries. Each entry corresponds to a text capture operation performed by the user from a rendered document. Each entry contains information specifying the text captured in...http://www.google.com/patents/US20060050996?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US20060050996 - Archive of text captures from rendered documentsAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS20060050996 A1Publication typeApplicationApplication numberUS 11/098,016Publication dateMar 9, 2006Filing dateApr 1, 2005Priority dateFeb 15, 2004Also published asEP1747508A2, EP1747508A4, EP1749260A2, EP1749260A4, EP1756704A2, EP1756704A4, EP1756729A2, EP1756729A4, EP1759272A2, EP1759272A4, EP1759273A2, EP1759273A4, EP1759274A2, EP1759274A4, EP1759275A2, EP1759275A4, EP1759276A2, EP1759276A4, EP1759277A2, EP1759277A4, EP1759281A2, EP1759281A4, EP1761841A2, EP1761841A4, EP1763842A2, EP1763842A4, EP1880301A2, EP1880301A4, EP2490152A1, US7421155, US7437023, US7593605, US7596269, US7599580, US7599844, US7606741, US7702624, US7706611, US7707039, US7742953, US7818215, US7831912, US8005720, US8019648, US8064700, US8214387, US8442331, US8447144, US8515816, US8521772, US8619147, US8799303, US8831365, US20050234851, US20060023945, US20060026078, US20060026140, US20060029296, US20060036462, US20060036585, US20060041538, US20060041590, US20060041828, US20060047639, US20060061806, US20060078207, US20060087683, US20060119900, US20060294094, US20070011140, US20100177970, US20100183246, US20110019919, US20110044547, US20110085211, US20110154507, US20120041941, US20120297277, US20130132367, US20130201527, WO2005096750A2, WO2005096750A3, WO2005096755A2, WO2005096755A3, WO2005098596A2, WO2005098596A3, WO2005098597A2, WO2005098597A3, WO2005098598A2, WO2005098598A3, WO2005098599A2, WO2005098599A3, WO2005098600A2, WO2005098600A3, WO2005098601A2, WO2005098601A3, WO2005098602A2, WO2005098602A3, WO2005098603A2, WO2005098603A3, WO2005098604A2, WO2005098604A3, WO2005098605A2, WO2005098605A3, WO2005098606A2, WO2005098606A3, WO2005098607A2, WO2005098607A3, WO2005098610A2, WO2005098610A3, WO2005114380A2, WO2005114380A3Publication number098016, 11098016, US 2006/0050996 A1, US 2006/050996 A1, US 20060050996 A1, US 20060050996A1, US 2006050996 A1, US 2006050996A1, US-A1-20060050996, US-A1-2006050996, US2006/0050996A1, US2006/050996A1, US20060050996 A1, US20060050996A1, US2006050996 A1, US2006050996A1InventorsMartin King, Dale GroverOriginal AssigneeKing Martin T, Grover Dale LExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManReferenced by (35), Classifications (83), Legal Events (3) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetArchive of text captures from rendered documents
US 20060050996 A1Abstract
A facility for storing a text capture data structure for a particular user is described. The data structure comprises a number of entries. Each entry corresponds to a text capture operation performed by the user from a rendered document. Each entry contains information specifying the text captured in the text capture operation. Images(11) Claims(48)
1. One or more computer memories collectively containing a text capture data structure for a distinguished user, comprising a plurality of entries each corresponding to a text capture operation performed by the distinguished user from a rendered document, each entry containing information specifying text captured in the text capture operation. 2. The computer memories of claim 1 wherein each entry further contains information identifying an electronic document containing the text captured in the text capture operation. 3. The computer memories of claim 1 wherein each entry further contains information specifying the time at which the text capture operation was performed. 4. The computer memories of claim 1 wherein each entry further contains information specifying a location at which the text capture operation was performed. 5. The computer memories of claim 1 wherein the text capture data structure is accessible to the distinguished user. 6. The computer memories of claim 1 wherein the text capture data structure is available to a user other than the distinguished user. 7. The computer memories of claim 1 wherein the text capture data structure is accessible to a plurality of users. 8. A computing system for constructing a text capture history, comprising: a portable text capture device that captures textual passages from rendered documents in response to user control; and a computer memory that is distinct from the portable text capture device, in which is stored information identifying each textual passage captured by the portable text capture device. 9. The computing system of claim 8 wherein the portable text capture device captures textural passages from rendered documents by visually capturing images of the textural passages. 10. The computing system of claim 8 wherein the portable text capture device captures textual passages from rendered documents by capturing audio clips of a user reading aloud from the rendered documents. 11. The computer memories of claim 1 wherein the text capture operations to which the entries correspond were performed using one or more text capture devices, and wherein the computer memories are physically distinct from any text capture device. 12. The computer memories of claim 1 wherein the text capture operations to which the entries correspond were performed using one or more text capture devices, and wherein the entries are contained in the text capture data structure as the result of multiple data transfers from the text capture devices. 13. A method of computing system for interacting with a text capture history for a distinguished user, comprising: displaying indications of each of a plurality of text capture operations performed by the distinguished user from rendered documents; receiving user input with respect to a distinguished one of the displayed indications; and performing an action relative to the text capture operation indicated by the distinguished indication in accordance with the received user input. 14. The method of claim 13 wherein each displayed indication includes an indication of the time at which the text capture operation was performed. 15. The method of claim 13 wherein each displayed indication includes an indication of a place at which the text capture operation was performed. 16. The method of claim 13 wherein each displayed indication includes an indication of text recognized as part of the text capture operation. 17. The method of claim 13 wherein each displayed indication includes information identifying a document containing the text recognized as part of the text capture operation. 18. The method of claim 13 wherein each displayed indication includes information identifying a location in a document at which the text recognized as part of the text capture operation occurs. 19. The method of claim 13 wherein each displayed indication includes an indication of raw information captured as part of the text capture operation. 20. The method of claim 19 when the raw information is an image captured as part of the text capture operation. 21. The method of claim 19 when the raw information is an audio clip captured as part of the text capture operation. 22. The method of claim 13 wherein each displayed indication includes a contextual passage of an electronic document containing the text captured as part of the text capture operation. 23. The method of claim 13 wherein the action is performed with respect to a document determined to contain the text captured as part of the text capture operation. 24. The method of claim 13 wherein the action is performed with respect to the literal contents of the text captured as part of the text capture operation. 25. The method of claim 13 wherein the performed action is displaying a menu of actions that are available relative to the text capture operation. 26. The method of claim 25 wherein the performed action is displaying a menu of actions that are available relative to a document determined to contain the text captured as part of the text capture operation. 27. The method of claim 25 wherein the performed action is displaying a menu of actions that are available relative to the literal contents of the text captured as part of the text capture operation. 28. The method of claim 13 wherein the indications are displayed as part of a web page. 29. The method of claim 13 wherein the indications are displayed as part of a general-purpose electronic mail client application. 30. The method of claim 13 wherein the indications are displayed as part of a dedicated client application. 31. The method of claim 13 wherein the indications are displayed as part of a desktop search application. 32. The method of claim 13 wherein the indications are displayed as part of an Internet search application. 33. A method in a computing system for tracking text capture operations performed by a user, comprising: receiving indications, it each indication indicating a text capture performed by the user from a rendered document; storing the received indications; generating a display for the user based upon the stored indications; and receiving payment from the user. 34. The method of claim 33 wherein the generating is performed in response to receiving payment. 35. The method of claim 33 wherein the storing is performed in response to receiving payment. 36. The method of claim 33, further comprising maintaining the stored indications in response to receiving payment. 37. The method of claim 33, further comprising, for a distinguished one of the received indications: identifying an electronic document corresponding to the rendered document from which the indicated text capture was performed; and insuring that a copy of the identified electronic document remains accessible to the user for a future period of time. 38. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the rendered document contains at least one line of text, and wherein the text sequence yielded by the text capture operation is a proper subset of the text contained in a single line of the rendered document. 39. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the rendered document contains at least one page of text, and wherein the text sequence yielded by the text capture operation is a proper subset of the text contained in a single page of the rendered document. 40. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the yielded text sequence is comprised of words, and wherein the text capture operation involved specific user interactions with each of the words of the yielded text sequence. 41. The method of claim 40 wherein the user spoke each of the words of the yielded text sequence. 42. The method of claim 40 wherein the user directed an optical sensor at each of the words of the yielded text sequence. 43. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the yielded text sequence is comprised of ordered words, and wherein the text capture operation involved capturing physical phenomenon corresponding to each of the words of the yielded text sequence in the order of the yielded text sequence. 44. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the yielded text sequence is comprised of ordered words, and wherein the text capture operation involved capturing physical phenomenon corresponding to each of the words of the yielded text sequence in the reverse order of the yielded text sequence. 45. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the text capture operation involved manually moving an optical sensor across the rendered document. 46. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the text capture operation involved capturing image data from a non-rectangular region of the rendered document. 47. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the text sequence yielded by the text capture operation comprises fewer than ten words. 48. The method of claim 33 wherein each of the text captures indicated by a received indication yielded a text sequence, and wherein the text capture operation involved capturing an image of fewer than ten words.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/004,637 filed on Dec. 3, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This application is related to, and incorporates by reference in their entirety, the following U.S. Patent Applications, filed concurrently herewith: U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR INITIATING APPLICATION PROCESSES BY DATA CAPTURE FROM RENDERED DOCUMENTS (Attorney Docket No. 435188104US1), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled DETERMINING ACTIONS INVOLVING CAPTURED INFORMATION AND ELECTRONIC CONTENT ASSOCIATED WITH RENDERED DOCUMENTS (Attorney Docket No. 435188075US1), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled CONTENT ACCESS WITH HANDHELD DOCUMENT DATA CAPTURE DEVICES (Attorney Docket No. 435188018US1), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled SEARCH ENGINES AND SYSTEMS WITH HANDHELD DOCUMENT DATA CAPTURE DEVICES (Attorney Docket No. 435188021US1), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled TRIGGERING ACTIONS IN RESPONSE TO OPTICALLY OR ACOUSTICALLY CAPTURING KEYWORDS FROM A RENDERED DOCUMENT (Attorney Docket No. 435188003US1), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled SEARCHING AND ACCESSING DOCUMENTS ON PRIVATE NETWORKS FOR USE WITH CAPTURES FROM RENDERED DOCUMENTS (Attorney Docket No. 435188001US1), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled INFORMATION GATHERING SYSTEM AND METHOD (Attorney Docket No. 435188005US1), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled DOCUMENT ENHANCEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD (Attorney Docket No. 43518.8009US1), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled PUBLISHING TECHNIQUES FOR ADDING VALUE TO A RENDERED DOCUMENT (Attorney Docket No. 435188115US), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled ADDING INFORMATION OR FUNCTIONALITY TO A RENDERED DOCUMENT VIA ASSOCIATION WITH AN ELECTRONIC COUNTERPART (Attorney Docket No. 435188118US), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled AGGREGATE ANALYSIS OF TEXT CAPTURES PERFORMED BY MULTIPLE USERS FROM RENDERED DOCUMENTS (Attorney Docket No. 435188122US), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled ESTABLISHING AN INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR RENDERED DOCUMENTS (Attorney Docket No. 435188123US), U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled DATA CAPTURE FROM RENDERED DOCUMENTS USING HANDHELD DEVICE (Attorney Docket No. 435188117US), and U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______, entitled CAPTURING TEXT FROM RENDERED DOCUMENTS USING SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION (Attorney Docket No. 435188120US). This application claims priority to, and incorporates by reference in their entirety, the following U.S. Provisional Patent Applications: Application No. 60/559,226 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,893 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,968 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,867 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/559,278 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/559,279 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/559,265 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/559,277 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,969 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,892 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,760 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,717 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,499 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,370 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,789 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,791 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/558,527 filed on Apr. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/559,125 filed on Apr. 2, 2004, Application No. 60/558,909 filed on Apr. 2, 2004, Application No. 60/559,033 filed on Apr. 2, 2004, Application No. 60/559,127 filed on Apr. 2, 2004, Application No. 60/559,087 filed on Apr. 2, 2004, Application No. 60/559,131 filed on Apr. 2, 2004, Application No. 60/559,766 filed on Apr. 6, 2004, Application No. 60/561,768 filed on Apr. 12, 2004, Application No. 60/563,520 filed on Apr. 19, 2004, Application No. 60/563,485 filed on Apr. 19, 2004, Application No. 60/564,688 filed on Apr. 23, 2004, Application No. 60/564,846 filed on Apr. 23, 2004, Application No. 60/556,667 filed on Apr. 30, 2004, Application No. 60/571,381 filed on May 14, 2004, Application No. 60/571,560 filed on May 14, 2004, Application No. 60/571,715 filed on May 17, 2004, Application No. 60/589,203 filed on Jul. 19, 2004, Application No. 60/589,201 filed on Jul. 19, 2004, Application No. 60/589,202 filed on Jul. 19, 2004, Application No. 60/598,821 filed on Aug. 2, 2004, Application No. 60/602,956 filed on Aug. 18, 2004, Application No. 60/602,925 filed on Aug. 18, 2004, Application No. 60/602,947 filed on Aug. 18, 2004, Application No. 60/602,897 filed on Aug. 18, 2004, Application No. 60/602,896 filed on Aug. 18, 2004, Application No. 60/602,930 filed on Aug. 18, 2004, Application No. 60/602,898 filed on Aug. 18, 2004, Application No. 60/603,466 filed on Aug. 19, 2004, Application No. 60/603,082 filed on Aug. 19, 2004, Application No. 60/603,081 filed on Aug. 19, 2004, Application No. 60/603,498 filed on Aug. 20, 2004, Application No. 60/603,358 filed on Aug. 20, 2004, Application No. 60/604,103 filed on Aug. 23, 2004, Application No. 60/604,098 filed on Aug. 23, 2004, Application No. 60/604,100 filed on Aug. 23, 2004, Application No. 60/604,102 filed on Aug. 23, 2004, Application No. 60/605,229 filed on Aug. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/605,105 filed on Aug. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,243 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,628 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,632 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,589 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,242 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,602 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,340 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,634 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,461 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,455 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,460 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,400 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,456 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,341 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,361 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,454 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,339 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/613,633 filed on Sep. 27, 2004, Application No. 60/615,378 filed on Oct. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/615,112 filed on Oct. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/615,538 filed on Oct. 1, 2004, Application No. 60/617,122 filed on Oct. 7, 2004, Application No. 60/622,906 filed on Oct. 28, 2004, Application No. 60/633,452 filed on Dec. 6, 2004, Application No. 60/633,678 filed on Dec. 6, 2004, Application No. 60/633,486 filed on Dec. 6, 2004, Application No. 60/633,453 filed on Dec. 6, 2004, Application No. 60/634,627 filed on Dec. 9, 2004, Application No. 60/634,739 filed on Dec. 9, 2004, Application No. 60/647,684 filed on Jan. 26, 2005, Application No. 60/648,746 filed on Jan. 31, 2005, Application No. 60/653,372 filed on Feb. 15, 2005, Application No. 60/653,663 filed on Feb. 16, 2005, Application No. 60/653,669 filed on Feb. 16, 2005, Application No. 60/653,899 filed on Feb. 16, 2005, Application No. 60/653,679 filed on Feb. 16, 2005, Application No. 60/653,847 filed on Feb. 16, 2005, Application No. 60/654,379 filed on Feb. 17, 2005, Application No. 60/654,368 filed on Feb. 18, 2005, Application No. 60/654,326 filed on Feb. 18, 2005, Application No. 60/654,196 filed on Feb. 18, 2005, Application No. 60/655,279 filed on Feb. 22, 2005, Application No. 60/655,280 filed on Feb. 22, 2005, Application No. 60/655,987 filed on Feb. 22, 2005, Application No. 60/655,697 filed on Feb. 22, 2005, Application No. 60/655,281 filed on Feb. 22, 2005, and Application No. 60/657,309 filed on Feb. 28, 2005.
TECHNICAL FIELD The described technology is directed to the field of document processing. BACKGROUND People read for a variety of reasons: for enjoyment, for education, to research a particular topic, for business-related information-gathering, for reference purposes or to keep in touch with current affairs, to name but a few. Every day around the world, a vast amount of human time, effort and mental energy goes into reading. Most of this effort is lost. Even those with good memories will remember only a small proportion of the content that they read. A larger proportion may be remembered in a vague way, but finding previously read material again is a difficult task and conveying that vague knowledge to others even harder. Over the centuries, various attempts to tackle this problem have been made. People annotate books by writing in the margins, they insert bookmarks or use Post-It™ notes to identify favorite passages, they take clippings from newspapers and they photocopy pages. Others transcribe passages onto note cards or compose bibliographies. These solutions, though, all have limitations. No one solution is appropriate for recording items of interest in all situations. Writing annotations in the margin, for example, is only appropriate for the owner of the book. Many of the solutions employ a physical medium that is not always available, such as post-it notes. Others are inconvenient in other ways. Photocopying requires large expensive machines, and handwritten transcriptions are time-consuming. Lastly, none of the aforementioned methods of recording afford users the convenience and flexibility we have come to associate with electronic data; the ability to copy, edit, search, classify, annotate and distribute information with ease. The digital solutions that come closest to capturing printed content of interest have been scanning combined with traditional OCR techniques, which is inconvenient and unreliable, and manual transcription by re-typing, which is time-consuming. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a data flow diagram that illustrates the flow of information in one embodiment of the core system. FIG. 2 is a component diagram of components included in a typical implementation of the system in the context of a typical operating environment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a scanner. FIG. 4 is a high-level data flow diagram showing data flow within a typical arrangement of components used to provide the system. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing some of the components typically incorporated in at least some of the computer systems and other devices used by the system. FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by the system in response to the capture of text from a rendered document by a user. FIG. 7 is a flow diagram showing steps typically performed by the facility in order to present the Life Library archive. FIGS. 8-11 are display diagrams showing typical displays presented by the system when a user accesses his or her Life Library.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview A system is described that allows a reader to capture, with minimal effort and maximum utility, information in a document that interests the reader (“the system”). Part I—Introduction 1. Nature of the System For every paper document that has an electronic counterpart, there exists a discrete amount of information in the paper document that can identify the electronic counterpart. In some embodiments, the system uses a sample of text captured from a paper document, for example using a handheld scanner, to identify and locate an electronic counterpart of the document. In most cases, the amount of text needed by the facility is very small in that a few words of text from a document can often function as an identifier for the paper document and as a link to its electronic counterpart. In addition, the system may use those few words to identify not only the document, but also a location within the document. Thus, paper documents and their digital counterparts can be associated in many useful ways using the system discussed herein. 1.1. A Quick Overview of the Future Once the system has associated a piece of text in a paper document with a particular digital entity has been established, the system is able to build a huge amount of functionality on that association. It is increasingly the case that most paper documents have an electronic counterpart that is accessible on the World Wide Web or from some other online database or document corpus, or can be made accessible, such as in response to the payment of a fee or subscription. At the simplest level, then, when a user scans a few words in a paper document, the system can retrieve that electronic document or some part of it, or display it, email it to somebody, purchase it, print it or post it to a web page. As additional examples, scanning a few words of a book that a person is reading over breakfast could cause the audio-book version in the person's car to begin reading from that point when s/he starts driving to work, or scanning the serial number on a printer cartridge could begin the process of ordering a replacement. The system implements these and many other examples of “paper/digital integration” without requiring changes to the current processes of writing, printing and publishing documents, giving such conventional rendered documents a whole new layer of digital functionality. 1.2. Terminology A typical use of the system begins with using an optical scanner to scan text from a paper document, but it is important to note that other methods of capture from other types of document are equally applicable. The system is therefore sometimes described as scanning or capturing text from a rendered document, where those terms are defined as follows: A rendered document is a printed document or a document shown on a display or monitor. It is a document that is perceptible to a human, whether in permanent form or on a transitory display. Scanning or capturing is the process of systematic examination to obtain information from a rendered document. The process may involve optical capture using a scanner or camera (for example a camera in a cellphone), or it may involve reading aloud from the document into an audio capture device or typing it on a keypad or keyboard. For more examples, see Section 15. 2. Introduction to the System This section describes some of the devices, processes and systems that constitute a system for paper/digital integration. In various embodiments, the system builds a wide variety of services and applications on this underlying core that provides the basic functionality. 2.1. The Processes FIG. 1 is a data flow diagram that illustrates the flow of information in one embodiment of the core system. Other embodiments may not use all of the stages or elements illustrated here, while some will use many more. Text from a rendered document is captured 100, typically in optical form by an optical scanner or audio form by a voice recorder, and this image or sound data is then processed 102, for example to remove artifacts of the capture process or to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. A recognition process 104 such as OCR, speech recognition, or autocorrelation then converts the data into a signature, comprised in some embodiments of text, text offsets, or other symbols. Alternatively, the system performs an alternate form of extracting document signature from the rendered document. The signature represents a set of possible text transcriptions in some embodiments. This process may be influenced by feedback from other stages, for example, if the search process and context analysis 110 have identified some candidate documents from which the capture may originate, thus narrowing the possible interpretations of the original capture. A post-processing 106 stage may take the output of the recognition process and filter it or perform such other operations upon it as may be useful. Depending upon the embodiment implemented, it may be possible at this stage to deduce some direct actions 107 to be taken immediately without reference to the later stages, such as where a phrase or symbol has been captured which contains sufficient information in itself to convey the user's intent. In these cases no digital counterpart document need be referenced, or even known to the system. Typically, however, the next stage will be to construct a query 108 or a set of queries for use in searching. Some aspects of the query construction may depend on the search process used and so cannot be performed until the next stage, but there will typically be some operations, such as the removal of obviously misrecognized or irrelevant characters, which can be performed in advance. The query or queries are then passed to the search and context analysis stage 110. Here, the system optionally attempts to identify the document from which the original data was captured. To do so, the system typically uses search indices and search engines 112, knowledge about the user 114 and knowledge about the user's context or the context in which the capture occurred 116. Search engine 112 may employ and/or index information specifically about rendered documents, about their digital counterpart documents, and about documents that have a web (internet) presence). It may write to, as well as read from, many of these sources and, as has been mentioned, it may feed information into other stages of the process, for example by giving the recognition system 104 information about the language, font, rendering and likely next words based on its knowledge of the candidate documents. In some circumstances the next stage will be to retrieve 120 a copy of the document or documents that have been identified. The sources of the documents 124 may be directly accessible, for example from a local filing system or database or a web server, or they may need to be contacted via some access service 122 which might enforce authentication, security or payment or may provide other services such as conversion of the document into a desired format. Applications of the system may take advantage of the association of extra functionality or data with part or all of a document. For example, advertising applications discussed in Section 10.4 may use an association of particular advertising messages or subjects with portions of a document. This extra associated functionality or data can be thought of as one or more overlays on the document, and is referred to herein as “markup”. The next stage of the process 130, then, is to identify any markup relevant to the captured data. Such markup may be provided by the user, the originator, or publisher of the document, or some other party, and may be directly accessible from some source 132 or may be generated by some service 134. In various embodiments, markup can be associated with, and apply to, a rendered document and/or the digital counterpart to a rendered document, or to groups of either or both of these documents. Lastly, as a result of the earlier stages, some actions may be taken 140. These may be default actions such as simply recording the information found, they may be dependent on the data or document, or they may be derived from the markup analysis. Sometimes the action will simply be to pass the data to another system. In some cases the various possible actions appropriate to a capture at a specific point in a rendered document will be presented to the user as a menu on an associated display, for example on a local display 332, on a computer display 212 or a mobile phone or PDA display 216. If the user doesn't respond to the menu, the default actions can be taken. 2.2. The Components FIG. 2 is a component diagram of components included in a typical implementation of the system in the context of a typical operating environment. As illustrated, the operating environment includes one or more optical scanning capture devices 202 or voice capture devices 204. In some embodiments, the same device performs both functions. Each capture device is able to communicate with other parts of the system such as a computer 212 and a mobile station 216 (e.g., a mobile phone or PDA) using either a direct wired or wireless connection, or through the network 220, with which it can communicate using a wired or wireless connection, the latter typically involving a wireless base station 214. In some embodiments, the capture device is integrated in the mobile station, and optionally shares some of the audio and/or optical components used in the device for voice communications and picture-taking. Computer 212 may include a memory containing computer executable instructions for processing an order from scanning devices 202 and 204. As an example, an order can include an identifier (such as a serial number of the scanning device 202/204 or an identifier that partially or uniquely identifies the user of the scanner), scanning context information (e.g., time of scan, location of scan, etc.) and/or scanned information (such as a text string) that is used to uniquely identify the document being scanned. In alternative embodiments, the operating environment may include more or less components. Also available on the network 220 are search engines 232, document sources 234, user account services 236, markup services 238 and other network services 239. The network 220 may be a corporate intranet, the public Internet, a mobile phone network or some other network, or any interconnection of the above. Regardless of the manner by which the devices are coupled to each other, they may all may be operable in accordance with well-known commercial transaction and communication protocols (e.g., Internet Protocol (IP)). In various embodiments, the functions and capabilities of scanning device 202, computer 212, and mobile station 216 may be wholly or partially integrated into one device. Thus, the terms scanning device, computer, and mobile station can refer to the same device depending upon whether the device incorporates functions or capabilities of the scanning device 202, computer 212 and mobile station 216. In addition, some or all of the functions of the search engines 232, document sources 234, user account services 236, markup services 238 and other network services 239 may be implemented on any of the devices and/or other devices not shown. 2.3. The Capture Device As described above, the capture device may capture text using an optical scanner that captures image data from the rendered document, or using an audio recording device that captures a user's spoken reading of the text, or other methods. Some embodiments of the capture device may also capture images, graphical symbols and icons, etc., including machine readable codes such as barcodes. The device may be exceedingly simple, consisting of little more than the transducer, some storage, and a data interface, relying on other functionality residing elsewhere in the system, or it may be a more full-featured device. For illustration, this section describes a device based around an optical scanner an