Interface systems for providing content using context hotspots

Abstract

The present invention teaches a variety of computer interface methods and systems for providing content to a user through an indirection. One interface system has an encoded physical medium, a sensor, a network device, a routing server, and a content server. The encoded physical medium has at least one indirection hotspot with a content ID encoded therein. The sensor decodes the content ID and then transmits the decoded content ID to a network device. In turn, the network device transmits the decoded content ID over a network to the routing server. The routing server responds to the receipt of the content ID (which is essentially a request for content) by redirecting the request to a given content address corresponding to the given content ID. Additionally, the routing server may log information regarding the content request on a service access log maintained on a computer readable medium. Another aspect of the present invention teaches a method for providing a user content over a computer network such as the Internet. The method requires the steps of receiving at a routing web server a uniform resource locator (URL) identification number (ID) transmitted over the computer network by a web device, determining at the routing web server the URL that corresponds to the URL ID, redirecting the request for content to a content web server identified by the URL, and then providing the web device with the requested content.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.