Methods and systems for initiating application processes by data capture from rendered documents

A capture device comprising:

• a sensor;
• a memory including an identifier;
• a communications interface;
• and
• a processor coupled to said sensor, memory and said communications interface;
• and operative to:
• establish a document context by capturing, through said sensor, a document fragment of a rendered document;
• capture, through said sensor, a human-readable indication of an orderable item from said rendered document;
• and
• communicate said identifier, a representation of said document context and a representation of said orderable item to a remote computing device via said communications interface.

A method of processing an order request from a document capture device, the method comprising:

• obtaining an identifier, a representation of a document context and a representation of an orderable item;
• identifying the orderable item from said representation of the orderable item in relation to said document context;
• processing a payment associated with said identifier for the orderable item;
• and
• fulfilling said order in accordance with fulfillment data associated with said identifier.

A computer comprising:

• a memory containing computer executable instructions for processing an order request from a document capture device by:
• obtaining an order comprising an identifier, a representation of a document context and a representation of a captured indication of an orderable item;
• identifying the orderable item from said representation of the a captured indication of the orderable item in relation to said document context;
• requesting fulfillment of said order in accordance with fulfillment data associated with said identifier;
• and
• a processor coupled to said memory operative to execute said computer executable instructions.

A computer system comprising:

• an optical or voice capture device;
• a computing device coupled to said capture device and operative to:
• obtain a representation of a document context of a rendered document from said document capture device;
• determine from said document context an electronic counterpart of said rendered document;
• obtain an indication of a desired item from said capture device;
• locate the desired item in said electronic counterpart of said rendered document;
• and
• generate an order for the desired item, including fulfillment data.

A method of ordering an item from a rendered document, the method comprising:

• establishing a document context of the rendered document;
• capturing a human-readable document fragment of the rendered document containing an indication of an orderable item;
• and
• generating an order for said orderable item comprising said document context, a representation of said document fragment and an identifier associated with a purchaser.

An electronic order placement system comprising:

• a means for capturing a portion of a rendered document;
• a means for obtaining a representation of a document context of a rendered document from said capturing means;
• a means for determining from said representation of a document context an electronic counterpart of said rendered document;
• a means for obtaining an indication of a desired item from said capturing means;
• a means for locating the desired item in said electronic counterpart of said rendered document;
• and
• a means for generating an order for the desired item.