OT brainstorming: camera integration

[Bob Rasmussen]

Hi all,

I'd like to pose a question: if you could integrate a camera into your 
user interface for a filePro application, what might you do with it?

By camera, I might mean:

* A webcam facing the user, such as on a laptop, tablet, etc.;
* A rear-facing camera, such as on a tablet (iPad);
* A small tethered (or wireless) camera that could be easily pointed at 
anything;
* A document camera, pointed down at a horizontal surface where you could 
slip a document, where the camera could capture the image in at least 100 
DPI.

Interaction might be automatically triggered when something came in to 
view (such as a barcode). More likely, a monitor window would be open on 
the screen, showing a continuous (video) image from the camera, and the 
user would initiate an action (keystroke, mouse click, touch) when 
"ready".

Assume a picture, once captured, could be printed, emailed, attached to an 
email, uploaded, viewed, zoomed in on, cropped, and/or saved locally.

Assume the process of taking the picture could take one second or less. 
Contrast this to the time needed to scan a single piece of paper - maybe 
30 seconds.

To get you started, here are some ideas I've had:

* Snap a picture of a recipient's signature.
* Take a picture of an inventory item.
* Add supporting documents to an emailed invoice.
* Verify who's sitting at the terminal.
* See what just printed out of the printer.
* Collect evidence photos for an insurance claim.
* Capture buyer's driver's license image.
* Recognize and react to barcode, QR code, or numeric ID.
* Anything you can do with the camera on an iPhone.

Please brainstorm away.

Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com
  company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com
           voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
             fax: (US) 503-624-0760
             web: http://www.anzio.com
  street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
                  10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
                  Portland, OR  97223  USA