Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

David A Bell

Paul Richard Simons

Nigel J Byrnes

A system and method for obtaining information relating to a person, such as contact details, without face-to-face, verbal or other contact. The apparatus uses an image recognition system for obtaining personal information related to a target person, and includes: an image acquisition device for capturing an image of a target person; a database of stored image data items each relating to one of a plurality of candidate persons, each image data item being associated with stored personal data relating to the respective candidate person; a search engine for matching the captured image of the target person to a candidate person image data item and retrieving the personal data relating thereto; a display device for displaying the personal data relating to the target person; and control device, operable by each candidate person, to control third party access to the stored personal data relating to the candidate person.

Image recognition

A portable device () comprises a power source () and a processing system () for processing media content received from a service provider () via a delivery channel. A control apparatus () determines remaining capacity of the power source () and receives information from the service provider () about available delivery parameters for an item of content. The control apparatus determines an operating duration for the device based on the delivery parameters and the remaining capacity of the power source and sends a request to the service provider () specifying at least one delivery parameter for delivery of the content. By specifying what format the service provider () should deliver the content, power savings can be made in the processing () and rendering () stages and in the receive chain of the portable device. Selection of delivery parameters can be automatic or under user control.

Portable device for receiving media content

An electronic device, such as a portable telephone or PDA, has a display in the form of a pixel display with an image deflection system overlying the display. The display is controlled to provide at least two independent display images which, when displayed through the image deflection system, are individually visible from different viewing positions relative to the screen. Suitably, the image deflection system comprises a lenticular screen with the lenticles extending horizontally or vertically across the display such that the different views may be seen through tilting of the device.

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London, United Kingdom

David A Bell