The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 01, 2003
Filed:
Apr. 24, 2001
Thomas J. Dougherty, Los Altos, CA (US);
S. Joy Mountford, Mountain View, CA (US);
Daniel Cummings, San Francisco, CA (US);
Allison De Fren, San Francisco, CA (US);
Interval Research Corporation, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention improves the human/computer interface by providing printable interfaces that enable a user to invoke and control computer processes. The present invention teaches an encoded physical medium suitable for use in interfacing a computer user and a computer system such that the user can control and/or access a plurality of computer implemented processes such computer applications and web pages. The encoded physical medium has a Linkmark and an instruction mark. Encoded within the Linkmark is machine readable linking information directing to a computer implemented process. Encoded within the instruction mark is a machine readable operating instruction that, when decoded, may be executed by the computer implemented process. The present invention also teaches that the marks can present human readable information related to the nature of the machine readable information stored therein. For example, the Linkmark may have graphical illustrations indicating content found at the web page, media format of the content, user designation, payment and membership requirements, communication speed, duration of content, etc. The present invention further teaches a two-dimensional bar code with a plurality of colored glyphs formed such that the average color of the two-dimensional bar code represents encoded information. The colored glyphs are also arranged such that digital information is encoded within the two-dimensional bar code.