Object identification method comprising detecting a candidate object in an image (12, Fig. 1) and comparing candidate data with locally stored templates (exemplars) S204. Failure to match results in the identification of object identifiers. The object identifiers are used to search a further object data store S206 to identify the candidate object. Object data may comprise: lines; edges; ridges; corners; blobs; textures; shapes; gradients; regions; boundaries; surfaces; volumes; colours; and/or shadings. Object templates may comprise: 3D models; neural network weights; image sets; and/or eigenimages. Object identifiers may be from: the object: the object’s environment; or another object within the environment. Object identifiers may be machine-readable markings such as: barcodes; QR codes; matrix codes; microchips; and/or URLs (14, 16, 18, Fig. 2). Object identifiers may be used in a web-search to identify the further data store. Templates may be downloaded from the remote database to the local datastore when they provide a match. An identification confidence rating may be generated and stored with the associated template. The further object data store may provide secondary object data (e.g. best before/expiry date, manufacturer etc) S210. A user may be presented with data pertaining to the identified object.
Recognition apparatus and method