System and method for presenting information about an object on a portable electronic device

• US 9,582,689 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2016
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: RFID Technology Innovations, LLC (Leigh M. Rothschild)
• Original Assignee: RFID Technology Innovations, LLC (Leigh M. Rothschild)
• Inventors: Rothschild, Leigh M.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAIL, ALLYSON NEEL
• Application Number:
  US15/149,852
• Publication Number:
  US 20160253530A1
• Time in Patent Office: 295 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/379, 705/39, 705/41.1, 705/80
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/381 using identifiers, e.g. barcodes, RFIDs for URLs G06F16/9554
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06028 using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07 with integrated circuit chips
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/07758 arrangements for adhering the record carrier to further objects or living beings, functioning as an identification tag
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10 by electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical sensing; by corpuscular radiation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10009 sensing by radiation using wavelengths larger than 0.1 mm, e.g. radio-waves or microwaves
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10722 Photodetector array or CCD scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10881 constructional details of hand-held scanners
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1413 1D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for enabling a portable electronic device to retrieve information about an object when the object'"'"'s symbology, e.g., a barcode, is detected. According to one embodiment a method is providing in which symbology associated with an object is detected and decoded to obtain a decode string. The decode string is sent to one or more visual detection applications for processing, wherein the one or more visual detection applications reside on the portable electronic device, and receiving a first amount of information about the object from the one or more visual detection applications. The method also includes sending the decode string to a remote server for processing and receiving a second amount of information about the object from the remote server. The first amount of information is combined with the second amount of information to obtain cumulative information which is displayed on the portable electronic device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

scanning an object using an electronic device wherein the object contains a Radio Frequency Identification Tag (RFID);

detecting symbology associated with the object using the electronic device;

decoding the symbology to obtain a decode string using one or more detection applications residing on the electronic device;

sending the decode string to a remote server for processing;

receiving information about the object from the remote server wherein the information is based on the decode string;

displaying the information on a display device associated with the electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a user of the electronic device to select one or more presets before the symbology is detected.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the presets include at least one of a selection of one or more detection applications to handle scanning operations, a selection of one or more detection applications to handle image capture operations, a maximum number of applications configured to receive a decode string, an amount of information to be displayed, the type of information to be displayed, and ecommerce options.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more detection systems are configured to run in the background with respect to other systems associated with the electronic device, the detection systems comprising the one or more detection applications and one or more detection devices, the one or more detection devices configured to detect the symbology associated with the object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more detection systems are configured to automatically detect the symbology.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

alerting the user when the object containing symbology has been querying the user if decoding of the symbology is desired; and

receiving a reply from the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the symbology comprises detecting the symbology in response to a user initiated trigger of a detection device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the decode string to one or more detection applications for processing and sending the decode string to the remote server for processing further comprises:

instructing the one or more detection applications and remote server to identify the object associated with the decode string; and

instructing the one or more detection applications and remote server to retrieve information about the object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

analyzing the decode string to determine a category of the selecting one or more appropriate applications to process the decode string when the one or more detection applications are not pre-selected, the selection based in part on the category of the object.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

determining if multiple applications are deemed to be appropriate to process the decode string; and

enabling the user to select one or more applications when multiple applications are deemed to be appropriate.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing ecommerce options to allow the user to proceed to a purchasing process for purchasing the object, wherein the object is an article of commerce.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising overlaying the information about the object while displaying a digital image of the object.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein search technology is used to decode the symbology.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein both a digital image of the object and the information associated with the object are displayed on the electronic device.

15. A system, comprising:

an electronic device configured to;

scan an object, wherein the object contains a Radio Frequency Identification Tag (RFID);

detect symbology associated with an object using one or more detection applications;

decode the symbology to obtain a decode string using the one or more detection applications; and

send the decode string to a remote server for processing;

the remote server configured to process the decode string and determine information with regard to the object based on the decode string;

wherein the electronic device is further configured to;

receive the information with regard to the object based on the decode string from the remote server; and

display the information on a display device associated with the electronic device.

16. A system comprising at least one server, wherein the system is in communication with a portable electronic device configured to capture a digital image using a digital image capturing device that is part of the portable electronic device;

detect symbology associated with the captured digital image;

decode the symbology to obtain a decode string using one or more visual detection applications;

communicate with the at least one server; and

display the information on a display device associated with the portable electronic device.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the system is configured to:

receive for processing the decode string from the portable electronic device; and

transmit information about the digital image to the portable electronic device, wherein the transmitted information is based on the decode string.