2012-05-03

Ricoh Demonstrates “Clickable Paper” at drupa 2012, Bringing a Rich Multi-Media Experience to the Printed Document

New Cross-Media Technology Enables Smartphones to Access Online Content Associated with Any Printed Media

Dusseldorf, drupa 03-16 May 2012, Hall 8a – Ricoh a leading provider of digital output solutions, today announced the demonstration at drupa of Clickable Paper™, a new planned cross-media service enabling consumers to point an iPhone or Android smartphone at any printed surface and receive related online content.  Clickable Paper technology is applicable to any kind of printed media such as newspapers, magazines, direct mail, books, brochures and posters. All types of digital information or services can be linked including multi-media content, web sites, e-commerce services and social networks.

This technology is especially relevant to commercial printers, in-plant users and publishers, as it has the potential to empower them to provide rich cross-media content to their customers. Consumers will be able to instantly recognize a clickable page with an easily identifiable logo.

The Clickable Paper demonstration includes a mobile app and authoring process that links on-line content to any segment or ‘hotspot’ of the printed media.  The smartphone is pointed at an area of interest within a printed media, the captured image is recognized, the hotspot is identified and the relevant content is presented to the user.

At drupa 2012 Ricoh is teaming with PTI Marketing Technologies™ – a leading web-to-print service provider – to demonstrate Clickable Paper.  “Clickable Paper is an exciting new development in cross-media services,” commented Coleman Kane, CEO of PTI.  “Integrating the authoring process into our MarcomCentral^® platform will provide customers with a simple and elegant means of adding value to their printed media.”

Clickable Paper will be demonstrated at drupa on a variety of printed media, including a preview version of the new book, Precision Marketing, authored by Ricoh’s Sandra Zoratti, which examines real-world implementations and benefits of precision marketing.  The clickable hotspots will take readers to related videos, experts’ blog posts, and industry reports that provide greater in-depth information for the reader. 

“We are delighted to demonstrate this exciting new cross-media technology at drupa,” said Sam Hosoe, executive vice president,ProductionPrintMarketingCenter, Ricoh.  “Clickable Paper exemplifies Ricoh’s theme of ’Print And Beyond’, an innovative technology providing a tremendous opportunity to build new services and added value to our customers.”

The underlying technology of Clickable Paper is Ricoh Visual Search developed at Ricoh Innovations, Inc. (RII), a Silicon Valley-based subsidiary of Ricoh Company, Ltd., which develops innovative technologies and new business opportunities for Ricoh. “Ricoh Visual Search is based on many years of research and covered by more than 50 patents granted or pending,” added Dr. Nikhil Balram, president and CEO of RII. “This is an industry-leading technology and we are pleased to support its use in the Clickable Paper service.”

Key features of Clickable Paper include:

• Fast and robust recognition of content including text (in any language), images, photographs, or a combination thereof
• Multiple hotspots per document without editing or reformatting of original source material
• Elegant authoring tool enabling online content to be associated with each hotspot
• Support for a large database of authored documents
• User-friendly mobile app for smartphones

© 2012 Ricoh Americas Corporation. All rights reserved. All referenced product names are the trademarks of their respective companies.

For further information, please contact:
Ricoh Production Print Solutions
Tracey Sheehy
Tel: (212) 616-6003
Email: tsheehy@breakawaycom.com 

Information about the company: Ricoh Sverige AB

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