1. A method practiced by a battery-powered mobile wireless communications device equipped with a camera and microphone, the device having multiple recognition modes enabling recognition of multiple types of content, the method comprising the acts: initiating one or more stages of a first recognition agent process to recognize audio or image content data captured by the mobile device, the first recognition agent process performing a recognition selected from a list consisting of: image watermark recognition, image recognition, object recognition, facial recognition, barcode recognition, optical character recognition, audio watermark recognition, speech recognition, speaker recognition, or music recognition; receiving detection state data indicating a state of the first recognition agent process in performing the selected recognition; after initiating the first recognition agent process, receiving first user interest data indicating interest of the user in obtaining a result of the first recognition agent process; and varying an allocation of processing resources to the first recognition agent process based on both said detection state data and on said user interest data; the method thereby optimizing use of the device battery by allocating processing resources in response both to the state of the first recognition agent process in performing the selected recognition, and to user input received after the first recognition agent process has been initiated, indicating user interest in the result of the first recognition agent process.
1. A method practiced by a battery-powered mobile wireless communications device equipped with a camera and microphone, the device having multiple recognition modes enabling recognition of multiple types of content, the method comprising the acts: initiating one or more stages of a first recognition agent process to recognize audio or image content data captured by the mobile device, the first recognition agent process performing a recognition selected from a list consisting of: image watermark recognition, image recognition, object recognition, facial recognition, barcode recognition, optical character recognition, audio watermark recognition, speech recognition, speaker recognition, or music recognition; receiving detection state data indicating a state of the first recognition agent process in performing the selected recognition; after initiating the first recognition agent process, receiving first user interest data indicating interest of the user in obtaining a result of the first recognition agent process; and varying an allocation of processing resources to the first recognition agent process based on both said detection state data and on said user interest data; the method thereby optimizing use of the device battery by allocating processing resources in response both to the state of the first recognition agent process in performing the selected recognition, and to user input received after the first recognition agent process has been initiated, indicating user interest in the result of the first recognition agent process. 2. The method of claim 1 that further includes: determining a relevance score for a second recognition agent process that the mobile device may run, the relevance score being based on data including at least one data selected from a list consisting of: location, sensor data available in a memory, context, expressed user intent, and user history; determining a cost score for said second recognition agent process, the cost score being based on data including at least one data selected from a list consisting of: memory usage, CPU usage, and communication bandwidth; and based on at least (a) the detection state data for the first recognition agent process, (b) the relevance score of the second recognition agent process, and (c) the cost score for the second recognition agent process, terminating the first recognition agent process and initiating the second agent process; wherein operation of the device adapts in response to changing context, by terminating the first recognition agent process in favor of the second recognition agent process, without express user instruction to do so.