Method and apparatus for accessing electronic data via a familiar printed medium
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for displaying programming material to a user, the system comprising:
- a printed service directory having at least one machine recognizable feature;
a feature recognition unit having associated therewith a means for recognizing said machine recognizable feature and a means for transmitting a coded signal in response to the recognition of said machine recognizable feature;
an intelligent controller having associated therewith a means for accessing said programming material in response to receiving said coded signal; and
a display unit for presenting said programming material.
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Abstract
The disclosed methods and apparatus relate generally to the electronics media industry, such as cable television (CATV), home shopping services, on-line computer services and computer memory applications. These methods and apparatus allow a user to access and make use of electronic media input and output devices by reference to and/or utilization of standard printed matter, such as magazines, textbooks, or any other printed matter that can be correlated to electronic media.
258 Citations
106 Claims
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1. A system for displaying programming material to a user, the system comprising:
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a printed service directory having at least one machine recognizable feature;
a feature recognition unit having associated therewith a means for recognizing said machine recognizable feature and a means for transmitting a coded signal in response to the recognition of said machine recognizable feature;
an intelligent controller having associated therewith a means for accessing said programming material in response to receiving said coded signal; and
a display unit for presenting said programming material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100)
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101. A method of providing a user access to programming material, comprising the steps of:
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printing a machine recognizable feature within a printed service directory;
scanning said machine recognizable feature of said printed service directory; and
transmitting data associated with said machine recognizable feature via a communication link to access said programming material, wherein said programming material is related to said printed service directory. - View Dependent Claims (102, 103)
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104. A method of providing a user access to supplemental programming material associated with a printed service directory, comprising the steps of:
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printing a machine recognizable feature within said printed service directory, wherein said machine recognizable feature has associated therewith a command sequence for accessing programming material;
scanning said machine recognizable feature within said printed service directory and downloading data indicative of said machine recognizable feature via the Internet to a remote server;
accessing programming material from said remote server; and
transmitting said programming material to said user allowing said user to perceive said programming material in a humanly perceivable form, wherein said programming material is related to said printed service directory. - View Dependent Claims (105, 106)
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Specification