Barcodes with Graphical Elements

• US 20110121069A1
• Filed: 01/28/2011
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Target Brands Inc. (Target Corporation)
• Inventors: Halbur, Ted C., Kaiser, John J., Kuhn-Wallace, Kelly, Sha, David, Eggleston, Bonnie, Boldt, Ellen A., Erickson, Eric B., Domka, Vicki L., Lindahl, Kim O., Butcher, John J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,840,032 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06 characterised by the kind of the digital marking, e.g. shape, nature, code
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates

Abstract

Barcodes are provided that convey images to help consumers and/or to help identify information about the origin of an article. The images conveyed by the barcodes may be associated with a merchant, a department, an event, a season, a theme or a product, for example. The barcodes may be placed on any number of articles including purchaser receipts, gift receipts, marketing receipt coupons, paper coupons, electronic coupons, rewards cards, gift cards, registry printouts, and products/packaging, for example. Under some embodiments, the barcodes help consumers to associate articles with a particular merchant or department. Under other embodiments, the barcodes help consumers to distinguish purchaser receipts from gift receipts. In some embodiments, the barcodes are generated dynamically by altering font-based barcodes to convey the image.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a coupon to send to an electronic device, the coupon comprising a barcode that encodes an offer identifier and that provides at least part of an image;

sending the coupon to the electronic device; and

storing the coupon on the electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the barcode provides an image associated with one of a group consisting of:

a merchant, a department, an event, a season, a theme, and a product.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying the coupon on a display on the electronic device such that the barcode is visible.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying the coupon on a display on the electronic device such that the barcode and the at least part of the image are visible.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying a coupon comprises navigating a website and clicking on a link or control associated with the website.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising printing the coupon.

7. A method comprising:

identifying font-based barcode elements to encode a value, the font-based barcode elements describing a block barcode;

dynamically modifying the font-based barcode elements to produce a modified barcode that conveys an image other than a block barcode; and

printing the modified barcode.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein dynamically modifying the font-based barcode elements comprises modifying at least one line segment that describes a portion of the font-based barcode elements.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein dynamically modifying the font-based barcode elements comprises modifying descriptions of curves and line segments that define an outline barcode font.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein modifying comprises at least one of adding additional curves, adding additional line segments, changing a starting point or ending point of a curve or line segment, and changing a shape of a curve.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein dynamically modifying the font-based barcode elements comprises forming a bitmap from the font-based barcode elements and applying the bitmap to a mask to form the modified barcode.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the mask adds additional graphical elements to the font-based barcode elements.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the mask removes portions of the font-based barcode elements.

14. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

for each of a plurality of values, identifying font-based barcode elements to encode the value;

dynamically modifying the font-based barcode elements for each value to produced a modified barcode that conveys an image for each value, wherein the same image is conveyed for each value; and

printing the modified barcodes.

15. A method comprising:

adding graphical elements to a plurality of barcodes to form a plurality of graphical patterns;

testing each graphical pattern to ensure that the barcode within the graphical pattern is machine-readable; and

placing the graphical elements in a style sheet for use with a plurality of barcodes including at least one barcode that was not used during testing.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein placing the graphical elements in a style sheet comprises indicating spacing that should be used between the design elements and barcodes.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein placing the graphical elements in a style sheet comprises indicating a color for the graphical elements.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising evaluating the graphical elements to determine if the graphical elements include intellectual property before placing the graphical elements in the style sheet.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein testing each graphical pattern comprises determining whether each graphical pattern is recognized on a single pass of a scanner.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein if the testing of one of the plurality of barcodes is unsuccessful, the method comprises redesigning the graphical elements.