20130238407 | VISUAL CHECK-IN FEATURE USING A SOFTWARE SERVICE - A system and method of accumulating points redeemable for goods or services using a visual check-in feature. An electronic file indicative of a digital photograph of a physical object taken by a user is received. The electronic file includes an image of the physical object and associated location information of where the digital photograph was taken. An image recognition engine identifies an indicium associated with the physical object. The user is granted access to a software service based on the digital photograph and the location information, both of which are required to access the software service. A software service determines whether the identified indicium matches one of predetermined indicia stored in a database. If so, points are awarded to the user based on the matching indicium and location information, and the awarded points are added to a point meter. The accumulated points are redeemable for goods or services. | 09-12-2013 |