Electronic network and method for obtaining topic-specific information regarding a product

• US 7,055,737 B1
• Filed: 03/05/2001
• Issued: 06/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Abram, Philip M., Gudorf, Gregory D., Tobin, Christopher M., Raymond, Brian, Iso, Kazuaki, Siegel, Brian, Beckwitt, Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Michael G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Kimberly D.
• Application Number:
  US09/799,227
• Time in Patent Office: 1,919 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/486, 235/449, 235/383, 235/385, 705/16, 705/27, 705/23, 705/14
• US Class Current: 235/375
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method of obtaining, from a remote location, topic-specific information regarding a product includes: electronically receiving one of a plurality of machine-readable codes electronically navigating to an information resource at a remote location; and displaying the information resource'"'"'s topic-specific information about the product on an electronic display device. In further detail, each of the machine-readable codes is associated with an information topic relating to a product, with at least one machine-readable code having an associated information topic which is different from that of the other machine-readable code or codes. Also, each of the machine-readable codes encodes an identifier which is associated with a corresponding information resource at a remote location. At least one corresponding information resource includes topic-specific information about the product which is different from that of the other corresponding information resource or resources. In the electronic-navigation step, the corresponding information resource at the remote location is the resource associated with the identifier encoded by the machine-readable code.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining, from a remote location, topic-specific information regarding a product, comprising the steps of:

electronically receiving one of a plurality of bar codes associated with a product, each of the bar codes being associated with topic-specific information relating to the product, at least one of the bar codes for the product being associated with topic-specific information which is different from that of the other bar code or codes for the product, and each of the bar codes encoding an identifier which is associated with a corresponding information resource at a remote location, with at least one corresponding information resource including topic-specific information about the product which is different from that of the other corresponding information resource or resources;

electronically navigating to the corresponding information resource at the remote location, the resource being the resource associated with the identifier encoded by the bar code; and

displaying the corresponding information resource'"'"'s topic-specific information about the product on an electronic display device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the bar codes is affixed to the product or to a container containing the product.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the topic-specific information comprises one or more of installation information, registration information, warranty information, extended warranty information, trouble-shooting information, maintenance information, service information, specification information, update information, recall information, notice information, rebate information, coupon information, related-product information, incentive-program information, contest information, and discount information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifier is related with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in a relational database, the URL specifying the location of the corresponding information resource.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the relational database resides on a remote computer.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the remote computer sends the Uniform Resource Locator to a local computer which navigates to the corresponding information resource.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the local computer navigates to the corresponding information resource automatically.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the relational database resides on a local computer.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the local computer navigates to the corresponding information resource automatically.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifier is a Uniform Resource Locator which specifies the location of the corresponding information resource.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the electronically-navigating step is performed automatically.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of electronically reading the bar code via a bar-code reader.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronically-receiving, electronically-navigating, and displaying steps are performed using a local computer.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the local computer includes a personal-digital-assistant device.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the bar codes is associated with a human-readable topic-specific-information descriptor which describes the nature of the topic-specific information.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the human-readable topic-specific-information descriptor comprises one or more of English, Japanese, French, and German.

17. An electronic network for obtaining, from a remote location, topic-specific information regarding a product, comprising:

a computer which receives one of a plurality of bar codes associated with a product, each of the bar codes being associated with topic-specific information relating to the product, at least one of the bar codes for the product being associated with topic-specific information which is different from that of the other bar code or codes for the product, and each of the bar codes encoding an identifier which is associated with a corresponding information resource at a remote location, with at least one corresponding information resource including topic-specific information about the product which is different from that of the other corresponding information resource or resources;

a remote location which includes the corresponding information resource, the resource being the resource associated with the identifier encoded by the bar code; and

an electronic display device which displays the corresponding information resource'"'"'s topic-specific information about the product.

18. The network of claim 17 wherein at least one of the bar codes is affixed to the product or to a container containing the product.

19. The network of claim 17 wherein the topic-specific information comprises one or more of installation information, registration information, warranty information, extended warranty information, trouble-shooting information, maintenance information, service information, specification information, update information, recall information, notice information, rebate information, coupon information, related-product information, incentive-program information, contest information, and discount information.

20. The network of claim 17 wherein the identifier is related with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) in a relational database, the URL specifying the location of the corresponding information resource.

21. The network of claim 20 wherein the relational database resides on a remote computer.

22. The network of claim 21 wherein the remote computer sends the Uniform Resource Locator to a local computer which navigates to the corresponding information resource.

23. The network of claim 22 wherein the local computer navigates to the corresponding information resource automatically.

24. The network of claim 20 wherein the relational database resides on a local computer.

25. The network of claim 24 wherein the local computer navigates to the corresponding information resource automatically.

26. The network of claim 17 wherein the identifier is a Uniform Resource Locator which specifies the location of the corresponding information resource.

27. The network of claim 26 wherein the local computer navigates to the corresponding information resource automatically.

28. The network of claim 17 wherein a bar-code reader reads the bar code.

29. The network of claim 17 wherein the computer is a local computer which includes the electronic display device.

30. The network of claim 29 wherein the local computer includes a personal-digital-assistant device.

31. The network of claim 17 wherein the product is an audiovisual component.

32. The network of claim 17 wherein at least one of the bar codes is associated with a human-readable topic-specific-information descriptor which describes the nature of the topic-specific information.

33. The network of claim 32 wherein the human-readable topic-specific-information descriptor comprises one or more of English, Japanese, French, and German.

34. A method of obtaining, from a remote location, topic-specific information regarding a product, comprising the steps of:

electronically receiving one of a plurality of machine-readable codes associated with a product, each of the machine-readable codes being associated with topic-specific information relating to the product, at least one of the machine-readable codes further being associated with a human-readable topic-specific-information descriptor which describes the nature of the topic-specific information, at least one of the machine-readable codes being associated with topic-specific information which is different from that of the other machine-readable code or codes, and each of the machine-readable codes encoding an identifier which is associated with a corresponding information resource at a remote location, with at least one corresponding information resource including topic-specific information about the product which is different from that of the other corresponding information resource or resources;

electronically navigating to the corresponding information resource at the remote location, the resource being the resource associated with the identifier encoded by the machine-readable code; and

displaying the corresponding information resource'"'"'s topic-specific information about the product on an electronic display device.

35. An electronic network for obtaining, from a remote location, topic-specific information regarding a product, comprising:

a computer which receives one of a plurality of machine-readable codes associated with a product, each of the machine-readable codes being associated with topic-specific information relating to the product, at least one of the machine-readable codes further being associated with a human-readable topic-specific-information descriptor which describes the nature of the topic-specific information, at least one of the machine-readable codes being associated with topic-specific information which is different from that of the other machine-readable code or codes, and each of the machine-readable codes encoding an identifier which is associated with a corresponding information resource at a remote location, with at least one corresponding information resource including topic-specific information about the product which is different from that of the other corresponding information resource or resources;

a remote location which includes the corresponding information resource, the resource being the resource associated with the identifier encoded by the machine-readable code; and

an electronic display device which displays the corresponding information resource'"'"'s topic-specific information about the product.