System and method for using a mobile telephone to retrieve information about an article

• US 20050064900A1
• Filed: 09/24/2003
• Published: 03/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Agere Systems Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Agere Systems Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Goris, Norman, Scheit, Wolfgang
• Application Number:
  US10/669,848
• Publication Number:
  US 20050064900A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/556.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisious for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10722 Photodetector array or CCD scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2755 by optical scanning
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality

Abstract

A system for, and method of, using a mobile telephone to retrieve information about an article and an associated mobile telephone. In one embodiment, the system includes: (1) a camera, associated with the mobile telephone, that records an image of coded data associated with the article and (2) a database, remote from the mobile telephone, that supplies information about the article to the mobile telephone based on a received, decoded form of the coded data derived from the image.

Claims

1. A system for using a mobile telephone to retrieve information about an article, comprising:

a camera, associated with said mobile telephone, that records an image of coded data associated with said article; and

a database, remote from said mobile telephone, that supplies information about said article to said mobile telephone based on a received, decoded form of said coded data derived from said image.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said coded data is received from said mobile telephone via a selected one of:

an infrared connection, and

a direct radio link.

3. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein said direct radio link conforms to a standard selected from the group consisting of:

Bluetooth,

WLAN, and

HomeRF/SWAP.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said coded data is decoded in said mobile telephone.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said mobile telephone contains software that defines a structure corresponding to said database.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said coded data is contained in a barcode.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said mobile telephone provides said information to a user a selected one of:

visually, and

acoustically.

8. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein said information comprises price information.

9. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein said database contains said price information in at least two different currencies.

10. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein a memory in said mobile telephone stores data pertaining to a plurality of articles and said image is a video sequence.

11. A method of using a mobile telephone to retrieve information about an article, comprising:

recording, with a camera associated with said mobile telephone, an image of coded data associated with said article; and

supplying, from a database remote from said mobile telephone, information about said article to said mobile telephone based on a received, decoded form of said coded data derived from said image.

12. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said coded data is received from said mobile telephone via a selected one of:

an infrared connection, and

a direct radio link.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein said direct radio link conforms to a standard selected from the group consisting of:

Bluetooth,

WLAN, and

HomeRF/SWAP.

14. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising decoding said coded data in said mobile telephone.

15. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said mobile telephone contains software that defines a structure corresponding to said database.

16. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said coded data is contained in a barcode.

17. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising providing, with said mobile telephone, said information to a user a selected one of:

visually, and

acoustically.

18. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein said information comprises price information.

19. The method as recited in claim 18 wherein said database contains said price information in at least two different currencies.

20. The method as recited in claim 11 further comprising storing, in a memory in said mobile telephone, data pertaining to a plurality of articles and said image is a video sequence.

21. A mobile telephone, comprising:

a camera;

software that receives an image associated with an article from said camera, decodes coded data contained in said image and queues said data for transmission to a database remote from said mobile telephone; and

a display that receives and displays information about said article from said database.