Network navigation method for printed articles by using embedded codes for article-associated links

• US 6,138,151 A
• Filed: 09/26/1997
• Issued: 10/24/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hanger Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reber, William L., Perttunen, Cary D., Toler, Jeffrey G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cardone, Jason D.
• Application Number:
  US08/938,266
• Time in Patent Office: 1,124 Days
• Field of Search: 709/212, 709/216, 709/218, 709/245, 709/250, 709/227, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 348/100, 348/108, 707/513, 707/505, 359/17
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes

Abstract

A network navigation method includes steps of reading a first code (24) from an object (12), communicating a portion of the first code (24) to a first database (54), receiving translation information from the first database (54) to associate a plurality of electronic addresses with a plurality of codes (24, 26, 30) including the first code (24), and translating the first code (24) to a first electronic address using the translation information. A network navigation system is provided to perform the aforementioned steps.

Claims

1. A method of navigating an electronic network, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a printed publication having a first printed article, a second printed article, a first code associated with the first printed article, and a second code associated with the second printed article;

reading the first code from the printed publication;

accessing a remote database by communicating a portion of the first code to the remote database and receiving translation information from the remote database, the translation information associating a first electronic address with the first code and a second electronic address with the second code, wherein the first electronic address differs from the second electronic address;

translating the first code to the first electronic address using the translation information;

storing, in a local database, the translation information received from the remote database;

reading the second code from the printed publication; and

without accessing the remote database after reading the second code, translating the second code to the second electronic address using the translation information in the local database.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first code includes a publication-specific portion and a first article-specific portion, and wherein the second code includes the publication-specific portion and a second article-specific portion, wherein the first article-specific portion differs from the second article-specific portion.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the portion of the first code is absent of the first article-specific portion.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

prior to translating the second code, determining that the translation information for the second code is present in the local database.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising the step of:

prior to communicating the portion of the first code to the remote database, determining that the local database is absent of the translation information for the first code.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the portion of the first code is communicated to the remote database via the electronic network, and wherein the translation information is received via the electronic network.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of linking to the first electronic address via the electronic network upon translating the first code to the first electronic address.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first code includes a publication-specific portion and a first article-specific portion, wherein the second code includes the publication-specific portion and a second article-specific portion, wherein the portion of the first code communicated to the remote database is absent of the first article-specific portion, the method further comprising the steps of:

prior to communicating the portion of the first code to the remote database, determining that the local database is absent of the translation information for the first code; and

after reading the second code, determining that the translation information for the second code is present in the local database.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the printed publication includes at least one of a newspaper, a magazine, and a journal.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first code and the second code include the portion of the first code.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first code is not human-readable.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic network includes at least one of an Internet, an intranet, and an extranet.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first electronic address includes at least a portion of at least one of a Uniform Resource Locator, a Uniform Resource Name, an Internet Protocol Address, and an electronic mail address.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the first code indirectly encodes the first electronic address.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first code comprises a first bar code and wherein the second code comprises a second bar code.

16. A method of providing electronic address translation information, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a portion of a code read from a printed publication having a plurality of printed articles and a plurality of codes for links associated with the printed articles;

retrieving translation information for the plurality of codes based upon the portion of the code, the translation information associating a plurality of electronic addresses with the plurality of codes; and

communicating the translation information for the plurality of codes.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising the steps, prior to receiving the portion of the code, of:

receiving the plurality of electronic addresses;

generating the plurality of codes; and

storing the translation information associating the plurality of codes with the plurality of electronic addresses.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the plurality of electronic addresses are received from a publisher of the printed publication, the method further comprising the step of communicating the plurality of codes to the publisher.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the plurality of codes indirectly encode the plurality of electronic addresses.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein the code is read from the object at a first location, wherein the translation information is retrieved from a database at a second location, and wherein the translation information is communicated to the first location.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein the code is associated with one of the plurality of printed articles.

22. The method of claim 16 wherein the code includes an article-specific portion and a publication-specific portion, and wherein the portion of the code is absent of the article-specific portion.

23. The method of claim 16 wherein the plurality of electronic addresses includes an electronic address associated with the code, the electronic address comprising at least a portion of at least one of a Uniform Resource Locator, a Uniform Resource Name, an Internet Protocol Address, and an electronic mail address.

24. A system for navigating an electronic network, the system comprising:

a data reader to read a first code and a second code from a printed publication having a first printed article and a second printed article, wherein the first code is associated with the first printed article and the second code is associated with the second printed article;

a transmitter operatively associated with the data reader to communicate a portion of the first code to a remote database;

a receiver to receive translation information from the remote database, the translation information associating a first electronic address with the first code and a second electronic address with the second code, wherein the first electronic address differs from the second electronic address;

a local database operatively associated with the receiver to store the translation information received from the remote database; and

a processor operatively associated with the data reader and the local database to translate the first code to the first electronic address and the second code to the second electronic address using the translation information;

wherein the processor translates the second code to the second electronic address without accessing the remote database after the second code has been read by the data reader.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the data reader comprises a bar code reader.

26. A system for providing electronic address translation information, the system comprising:

a database; and

a computer to receive a first portion of a code read from a printed publication having a plurality of printed articles and a plurality of codes for links associated with the printed articles, the computer operative to retrieve from the database translation information for the plurality of codes based upon the first portion of the code, the translation information associating a plurality of electronic addresses with the plurality of codes, the computer further operative to communicated the translation information for the plurality of codes.