Method and system for additive bar codes to minimize the size and optimize the function and usability of a bar code scannable business catalog

• US 20050171868A1
• Filed: 01/05/2005
• Published: 08/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Jump Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Jump Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Healy, Tom, Lam, Norton
• Granted Patent: US 7,680,705 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0603 Catalogue ordering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A system and method is provided for automating placement of orders from a catalog that has been JumpCode enabled by inclusion of bar codes. A sequence of additive bar codes uniquely identify each item available from the catalog. A scanner is used for designating items from the catalog by scanning the identifying sequences of bar codes, which include at least a bar code element that uniquely identifies the catalog and the page of an item, and a further bar code element that uniquely identifies an item among the other items on a page, using a common reference scheme that is applicable to each page. This combination of bar code elements is a JumpCode, and JumpCodes for the items scanned are grouped into orders by affiliate and sent to the respective e-commerce sites of each affiliate, which are designed to handle orders from the catalog. The web sites generate shopping carts from the orders and appropriate URLs are returned to the user, who can use a browser to complete the order by direct communication with the respective web sites.

Claims

1. A system for automating placement of orders from a catalog, comprising:

a scanner for designating an item on a page in the catalog by scanning a sequence of bar codes, the sequence in combination uniquely identifying the item, said identifying sequence comprising a plurality of bar code elements individually scanned, at least one of said plurality of elements being located on a page reference and at least one other of said plurality of elements being located on a common reference, both said page reference and said common reference being part of said catalog; and

automated means for converting the identifying sequence of bar codes into an order at an e-commerce web site.

2. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 1, wherein the automated converting means further comprises:

a computing device for receiving from the scanner the identifying sequence of bar codes;

a server for receiving from the computing device the identifying sequence of bar codes scanned by the scanner, and for sending to an e-commerce web site an order containing the designated item; and

a server application for translating the received sequence of bar codes into an order readable by said e-commerce web site.

3. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 1, wherein

the page reference is the page in the catalog on which said item is identified and the bar code element on said page reference uniquely identifies said catalog and said page from said catalog;

and

the common reference displays a series of ordinal number bar codes, where each item is uniquely identified on each catalog page by a number in said series.

4. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 3, wherein the common reference further displays a series of bar codes corresponding to different values of an attribute distinguishing orders of said item.

5. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 3, wherein the catalog is a printed catalog and the common reference is one or more pull-out tabs in the printed catalog.

6. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 3, wherein the catalog is displayed from a CD-ROM on a computing device, and the common reference is displayed from said CD-ROM in one or more windows on said computing device.

7. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 2, wherein said server application is distributed between said server, said computing device, and a server at said e-commerce web site.

8. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 7, wherein said computing device is a personal computer, the scanner is connected to the personal computer by a wireless link, and the portion of said server application distributed to the personal computer includes putting the identifying sequence of bar codes into an XML packet using the cXML protocol.

9. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 2, wherein said computing device is a personal digital assistant and the scanner is built in to the personal digital assistant.

10. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 2, wherein said server application includes a database associating each catalog item with an identifying sequence of bar codes, and wherein said database resides on said server and a portion of said server application residing on said server includes a function for looking up in said database a unique item corresponding to said identifying sequence of bar codes.

11. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 2, further comprising a plurality of designated items, said items being grouped into a plurality of orders by said server, said grouping being responsive to a selection of affiliates by a user of said computing device, each of said plurality of orders being sent to an e-commerce web site associated with said respective affiliate.

12. The system for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 11, further comprising

means for receiving from each of said plurality of e-commerce web sites a shopping cart created from said respective order;

and

means for said computing device to display said plurality of shopping carts for said user, said user being able to use said display to modify and finalize each order.

13. A method for automating placement of orders from a catalog, comprising the steps of:

designating an item on a page in the catalog by scanning a sequence of bar codes, the sequence in combination uniquely identifying the item, said identifying sequence comprising a plurality of bar code elements individually scanned, at least one of said plurality of elements being located on a page reference and at least one other of said plurality of elements being located on a common reference, both said page reference and said common reference being part of said catalog; and

converting by automated means the identifying sequence of bar codes scanned in the designating step into an order at an e-commerce web site.

14. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 13, wherein said converting step further comprises the steps of:

receiving by a computing device the identifying sequence of bar codes scanned in the designating step;

receiving by a server the identifying sequence of bar codes from the computing device;

translating the received sequence of bar codes into an order readable by an e-commerce web site;

sending the translated order to the e-commerce web site.

15. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 13, wherein

the page reference is the page in the catalog on which said item is identified and the bar code element on said page reference uniquely identifies said catalog and said page from said catalog;

and

the common reference displays a series of ordinal number bar codes, where each item is uniquely identified on each catalog page by a number in said series.

16. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 15, wherein the common reference further displays a series of bar codes corresponding to different values of an attribute distinguishing orders of said item.

17. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 15, wherein the catalog is a printed catalog and the common reference is one or more pull-out tabs in the printed catalog.

18. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 15, wherein the catalog is displayed from a CD-ROM on a computing device and the common reference is displayed from said CD-ROM in one or more windows on said computing device.

19. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 14, wherein said server application is distributed between said server, said computing device, and a server at said e-commerce web site.

20. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 19, wherein said computing device is a personal computer, the scanner is connected to the personal computer by a USB cable, and the portion of said server application distributed to the personal computer includes putting the identifying sequence of bar codes into an XML packet using the cXML protocol.

21. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 14, wherein said computing device is a personal digital assistant and the scanner is built in to the personal digital assistant.

22. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 14, wherein said server application includes a database associating each catalog item with an identifying sequence of bar codes, and wherein said database resides on said server and a portion of said server application residing on said server includes looking up in said database a unique item corresponding to said identifying sequence of bar codes.

23. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 14, wherein a plurality of items is designated in the designating step, said items being grouped into a plurality of orders, said grouping being responsive to a selection of affiliates by a user of said computing device, each of said plurality of orders being sent to an e-commerce web site associated with said respective affiliate.

24. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

receiving from each of said plurality of e-commerce web sites a shopping cart created from said respective order; and

displaying at said computing device said plurality of shopping carts for said user, said user being able to use said display to modify and finalize each order.

25. The method for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

registering a user for said designating step;

including user information from the registering step into the order sent to the e-commerce site; and

creating by the e-commerce web site an order fulfillment that is dependent upon the user information.

26. An improved apparatus for automating placement of orders from a catalog, said catalog being comprised of a plurality of display units for displaying items for ordering, the improvement comprising:

a first bar code uniquely identifying each of said display units, said first bar code being located on a page reference;

a common reference displaying a series of bar codes representing an ordered set of symbols used to distinguish among items displayed on a display unit;

a scanner for designating an item in the catalog by scanning an identifying sequence of bar codes comprising a first bar code of the display unit on which the item is displayed together with said distinguishing bar code from said common reference;

automated means for converting the identifying sequence of bar codes into an order at an e-commerce web site,

wherein both said page reference and said common reference are part of said catalog.

27. An improved apparatus for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 26, wherein the common reference includes an additional series of bar codes representing an ordered set of attribute values, and wherein said identifying sequence for an item includes a bar code representing one of said set of attribute values.

28. An improved apparatus for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 26, wherein the display unit is a page in a printed catalog, the page reference is the page in the catalog on which said item is identified, and the common reference is one or more pull-out tabs in the printed catalog.

29. An improved apparatus for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 26, wherein the catalog is displayed from a CD-ROM on a computing device, the unit of display is tailored to fit a screen size of the computing device display, and the common reference is displayed from said CD-ROM in one or more windows on said computing device display.

30. An improved apparatus for automating placement of orders from a catalog as in claim 27, wherein said attribute value is a quantity of said item.