| 主权项 |
1. A method for using a mobile native application resident on a mobile communication device to identify an unknown plant, the method comprising:
opening a mobile native application on a mobile communication device and accessing a plant identifier page of the mobile native application, wherein the mobile native application is downloaded from an APP STORE over a network to the mobile communication device, and the mobile native application is resident in a memory of the mobile communication device, and the mobile native application is configured for the operating system of the mobile communication device; taking an image of a plant unknown to an end-user of the mobile communication device; transmitting the image of the plant as an image inquiry message over a network to a server; receiving the image inquiry message at the server from the mobile native application of the mobile communication device over the network, the mobile communication device comprising a camera component and a GPS component, the image inquiry message comprising the image, geographical location information for the image, and an optional plurality of comments about the image, optionally categorizing the image into a predetermined category selected from the group consisting of flower, tree, vegetable, fruit, house plant, weed, lawn, pest and plant disease, provided by an end user, wherein the image is of a plant, plant disease or plant pest, wherein the image inquiry message concerns the identification of the plant, plant disease or plant pest; analyzing the image at the server to determine if the image is acceptable; transferring the image at the server for substantive content analysis; analyzing the image to generate a color and texture feature vector for the plant; comparing the color and texture feature vector to a database of available plants; utilizing recognition software to identify candidates for the plant, plant disease or plant pest; preparing a response at the server to identify the plant, plant disease or plant pest, wherein the response is based on the image, the geographical location, the comments, and information contained in the database of the server; and transmitting a response message from the server to the mobile native application of the mobile communication device, wherein the response message identifies a plurality of possible plant, plant disease or plant pest matches, and provides product information for the identified plant, plant disease or plant pest; wherein if the end-user cannot visually determine a match from the plurality of possible matches, the end-user then requests the opinion of an human expert from the mobile communication device; wherein the request is passed from the mobile communication device to the server; wherein the original identification request and the server-generated response message are sent to the expert; wherein the expert is provided a web site to view the end-user request, and the server generated response; wherein the expert uses the web site to filter identification candidates by common name, Latin name, category, user comments, color, texture, or geolocation; wherein the expert generates a second response message identifying the plant or disease from an existing database entry, by modifying an existing database entry, or by creating a new response which is stored in the database; wherein the second response is sent from the server to the mobile communication device. |
