Computer system with wireless pen and relay pairing

• US 8,152,072 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2008
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Original Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Limited
• Inventors: Silverbrook, Kia, Lapstun, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): ST CYR, DANIEL
• Application Number:
  US12/273,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20090091790A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,239 Days
• Field of Search: 235/385, 235/380, 235/382, 235/462.01, 235/462.25, 235/272
• US Class Current: 235/472.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/105 involving programming of a portable memory device, e.g. IC cards, "electronic purses"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3674 involving authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07D 7/004 using digital security elements, e.g. information coded on a magnetic thread or strip
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/20 Manipulating the length of blocks of bits, e.g. padding or block truncation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A computer system includes a printer configured to print visible information and invisible coded data tags on print media. A pen-type device includes an image sensor configured to sense the data tags and wirelessly transmit associated sensed data. A relay is configured to receive the transmitted data. One or more servers are interfaced to the relay, and are configured to process the received data from the relay and to perform an action based upon the received data.

Claims

1. A computer system comprising:

a printer configured to print visible information and invisible coded data tags on a surface associated with a product item, each coded data tag encoding an identity of the product item and a part of a digital signature, the digital signature comprising a plurality of parts;

a pen-type device including an image sensor configured to sense the coded data tags and wirelessly transmit associated sensed data;

a relay configured to receive the transmitted data; and

one or more servers interfaced to the relay, and configured to process the received data from the relay and to authenticate the product item based upon the identity of the product item and the part of the digital signature.

2. A computer system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the relay is electrically coupled to the servers.

3. A computer system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each coded data tag includes:

a target for allowing the image sensor to locate the tag; and

a dot arrangement which represents a value to be sensed.

4. A computer system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the invisible coded data tags are printed to form a pattern using narrowband near-infrared ink.

5. A computer system as claimed in claim 3, wherein the target includes a quartet of dots located about the periphery of the dot arrangement.