Methods and apparatus for disseminating product information via the internet

The method of retrieving, via the Internet, product information about items produced by a plurality of different manufacturers, each of said items being of a type that is uniquely specified by a corresponding universal product code, said method comprising, in combination, the steps of

• establishing at least one product code translator at at least one predetermined uniform resource location on the Internet,
• providing to said product code translator a plurality of cross-references, each of which specifies a relationship between at least a given one of said universal product codes and an Internet address from which descriptive information may be obtained about the product type specified by said given one of said universal product codes;
• and
• utilizing said product code translator to provide, in response to a query containing at least a portion of a particular uniform product code, at least one Internet address from which descriptive information about the product or products designated by said portion of said particular uniform product code may be obtained.

A product code translator for disseminating, via the Internet, information describing each of a plurality of items originating from a plurality of different manufacturers, each of said items being of type identified by a universal product code, said product code translator comprising, in combination:

• means for accepting via the Internet one or more cross-references designating items originating with each of said different manufacturers, each of said cross-references consisting of the specification of at least one universal product code and associated location data from which the Internet address at which information describing the type of items identified by said universal product code may be accessed,
• means for performing a lookup operation in response to a query received via the Internet to produce a response, said query including the specification of at least a portion of at least one universal product code and said response including the location data associated with said one universal product code;
• and
• means for transmitting said response via the Internet to the source of said query.

The method of providing potential customers with information via the Internet relating to each of a plurality of product types produced by a plurality of different manufacturers, each of said product types being designated by a universal product code, said method comprising, in combination, the steps of

• storing said information at a plurality of different storage locations selected by said manufacturers, each of said storage locations being designated by a different Internet address,
• storing at one or more predetermined product code translators plurality of cross-references each of which associates one or more particular universal product codes with one of said Internet addresses,
• transmitting to at least one of said product code translators a query specifying a the universal product codes of said plurality of different products to obtain said cross-references;
• transmitting to said potential customers a hypertext product listing identifying each of said said product types and displaying, for each of said product types, a hyperlink to an Internet address specified in a cross-reference to enable said potential customers to obtain additional information concerning a selected product identified on said listing.