Accenture demos the 'Pocket Supercomputer'

Linaker, pictured above, explained that to pinpoint the features necessary to identify an object, the image is run through an algorithm called Scale-Invariant Feature Transform, or SIFT, a technology developed by academic David Lowe.

The software extracts feature points from a jpeg, according to Linaker, and makes a match against images in the database at the full frame rate of the camera, which is 10 frames per second. If a match exists then the software on the server retrieves information and sends it back to the user's phone.

The advantage with video is that if you have a "bad angle" you have another image for comparison supplied "a few milliseconds later", according to Linaker.