Method and apparatus for accessing electronic data via a familiar printed medium
DCFirst Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for displaying programming to a user, the system comprising:
- a printed commercial document having at least one machine recognizable feature;
a feature recognition unit having associated therewith a means for recognizing said feature and a means for transmitting a coded signal in response to the recognition of said 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.
246 Citations
139 Claims
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1. A system for displaying programming to a user, the system comprising:
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a printed commercial document having at least one machine recognizable feature;
a feature recognition unit having associated therewith a means for recognizing said feature and a means for transmitting a coded signal in response to the recognition of said 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, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 132, 133, 134, 135)
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- 82. A system as defined in claim in 1 wherein said programming material comprises information.
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85. A system as defined in claim wherein said information comprises information about an organization identified by said printed commercial document.
- 91. A system as defined in claim in 1 wherein said programming material comprises a service.
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126. 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 commercial document;
scanning said machine recognizable feature of said commercial document; 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 commercial document. - View Dependent Claims (127, 128, 136, 137)
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129. A method of providing a user access to supplemental programming material associated with a commercial document, comprising the steps of:
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printing a machine recognizable feature within said commercial document, wherein said machine recognizable feature has associated therewith a command sequence for accessing programming material;
scanning said machine recognizable feature within said commercial document 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 commercial document. - View Dependent Claims (130, 131, 138, 139)
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Specification