Patent ID: 7508954

Claim:
A method for recognizing symbols and identifying users or services, the method comprising: displaying an image or video clip on a display device in which identification information is embedded in the image or video clip; capturing the image or video clip on an imaging device; transmitting the image or video clip from the imaging device to a communication network; transmitting the image or video clip from the communication network to a processing and authentication server; processing the information embedded in the image or video clip by the server to identify logos, alphanumeric characters, or special symbols in the image or video clip, and converting the identified logos or characters or symbols into a digital format to identify the user or location of the user or service provided to the user; wherein the display device further displays additional information which identifies the type or location of the display device; wherein said embedded identification information in the image or video clip is the original image or video clip in which no modification has been made to the image or video clip for the purpose of enabling machine recognition of said embedded identification information.