Method and apparatus for accessing electronic data via a familiar printed medium
OwnerSpencer A. Rathus, Jeffrey S. Nevid +1inventors
InventorsSpencer A. Rathus, Jeffrey S. Nevid, Lois Fichner-Rathus
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Abstract
The disclosed methods and apparatus relate generally to the electronics media industry, such as cable television (CATV), home shopping services, on-line computer services and computer memory applications. These methods and apparatus allow a user to access and make use of electronic media input and output devices by reference to and/or utilization of standard printed matter, such as magazines, textbooks, or any other printed matter that can be correlated to electronic media.
Claims139
A system for displaying programming to a user, the system comprising:
- a printed commercial document having at least one machine recognizable feature;
- a feature recognition unit having associated therewith a means for recognizing said feature and a means for transmitting a coded signal in response to the recognition of said feature;
- an intelligent controller having associated therewith a means for accessing said programming material in response to receiving said coded signal;
- and
- a display unit for presenting said programming material.
A system as defined in claim in 1 wherein said programming material comprises information.
A system as defined in claim wherein said information comprises information about an organization identified by said printed commercial document.
A system as defined in claim in 1 wherein said programming material comprises a service.
A method of providing a user access to programming material, comprising the steps of:
- printing a machine recognizable feature within a commercial document;
- scanning said machine recognizable feature of said commercial document;
- and
- transmitting data associated with said machine recognizable feature via a communication link to access said programming material, wherein said programming material is related to said commercial document.
A method of providing a user access to supplemental programming material associated with a commercial document, comprising the steps of:
- printing a machine recognizable feature within said commercial document, wherein said machine recognizable feature has associated therewith a command sequence for accessing programming material;
- scanning said machine recognizable feature within said commercial document and downloading data indicative of said machine recognizable feature via the Internet to a remote server;
- accessing programming material from said remote server;
- and
- transmitting said programming material to said user allowing said user to perceive said programming material in a humanly perceivable form, wherein said programming material is related to said commercial document.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.