A system and method for reliable content access using a cellular / wireless device with imaging capabilities, to use part of a printed or displayed medium for identifying and using a reference to access information, services, or content related to the reference, including capturing an image of the reference with an imaging device, sending the image via a communications network to a processing center, pre-processing to identify relevant frames within the image and to perform general purpose enhancement operations, detecting the most relevant frame within the image, and frame properties, applying geometric, illumination, and focus correction on the relevant frame, using color, aspect ration, and frame color, to perform a coarse recognition and thereby limit the number of possible identifications of a reference within the relevant frame, and using specific techniques of resealing, histogram equalization, block labeling, edge operation, and normalized cross correlation, to identify the reference within the image.