Handheld scanner and accompanying remote access agent
First Claim
1. A system for automatically connecting a communications device to a remote site identified in printed text, comprising the combination of:
- a handheld scanner including a housing adapted to be held in the hand of a user and scanned over a line of printed text, and containing an image scanning device for converting optical images of text scanned by said scanner into electrical signals representative of the optical images, a memory for storing said electrical signals, a character recognition engine for converting said stored electrical signals into data representative of characters of text, a display unit providing a visual display of the characters represented by said data, a wireless transmission device for transmitting said data to said communications device, and a set of user controls for manipulating the display and transmission of said character data; and
a software agent that operates on said communications device for receiving the data transmitted from said handheld scanner and controlling said communications device to initiate a connection to a remote site that is identified by the characters of text represented by the transmitted data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A handheld device scans single line textual information in the form of internet URL'"'"'S, internet protocol addresses, internet e-mail addresses, FTP sites, USENET news group addresses and DNS addresses as they occur in print advertising and printed media. Scanned textual data is processed with OCR technology and displayed for user verification. The device utilizes onboard memory to store information until such time it can be transmitted via wireless communications to a companion software communications agent executing on a personal computer, network computer, PIN computing device or electronic newspaper. The software communications agent utilizes a connection to the internet to retrieve HTML/VRML documents, e-mail messages, USENET news, Java applets, ActiveX documents, or file transfers from the internet location interpreted by the handheld scanner/OCR device.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A system for automatically connecting a communications device to a remote site identified in printed text, comprising the combination of:
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a handheld scanner including a housing adapted to be held in the hand of a user and scanned over a line of printed text, and containing an image scanning device for converting optical images of text scanned by said scanner into electrical signals representative of the optical images, a memory for storing said electrical signals, a character recognition engine for converting said stored electrical signals into data representative of characters of text, a display unit providing a visual display of the characters represented by said data, a wireless transmission device for transmitting said data to said communications device, and a set of user controls for manipulating the display and transmission of said character data; and a software agent that operates on said communications device for receiving the data transmitted from said handheld scanner and controlling said communications device to initiate a connection to a remote site that is identified by the characters of text represented by the transmitted data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A handheld scanner for reading information to connect a communications device to a remote site identified in printed text, comprising:
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a housing adapted to be held in the hand of a user and scanned over a line of printed text; an image scanning device for converting optical images of text into electrical signals representative of the optical images; a light emitting device for emitting a line of visible light that is aligned with said image scanning device for guiding the handheld scanner along a desired path of travel during a scanning operation; a character recognition engine for converting said electrical signals into data representative of characters of text; a memory for storing said electrical signals and said data; a display unit providing a visual display of the characters represented by said data; a transmission device for transmitting said data to said communications device; and a set of user controls for manipulating the display and transmission of said character data. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A system for automatically connecting a communications device to a remote site identified in printed text, comprising:
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a handheld scanner including an image sensing device for converting optical images of scanned symbols into electrical signals, a character recognition engine for converting said electrical signals into data representative of alphanumeric characters, and a transmission device for transmitting said data to said communications device; and a software agent that operates on said communications device, for receiving the data transmitted from said handheld scanner and controlling said communications device to initiate a connection to a remote site that is identified by the alphanumeric characters represented by the transmitted data. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification