A method for retrieving associated information using an image (10), comprising: locating a spatial pattern (13) in an image (10) captured by an image capture device, the spatial pattern (13) providing an instruction (12, 14, 15) or a specification for further processing to occur; wherein if a first predetermined spatial pattern is located in the image (10), a steganographic signal (12) is decoded from the image (10) for extracting a profile configuration of the image (10) in order to retrieve the associated information; and if a second predetermined spatial pattern is located in the image (10), image features of the image are recognized (15) in order to retrieve the associated information.