MXPA00003751A - System and method for scanning&storing universal resource locator codes - Google Patents

Abstract

A universal resource locator (URL) code scanning and storing device and method for scanning a code to generate a URL, storing the URL, and later uploading URLs from a list of selected previously stored URLs to an Internet access device. The URL scanning and storing device may also store additional textual and audio comments corresponding to stored URLs. Once the URL is uploaded to the Internet access device, the Internet access device may then use the URL to access information, such as a web-site relating to the URL, via the Internet.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR EXPLORING AND STORING UNIVERSAL RESOURCE LOCALIZER CODES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. - Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and system for acquiring and storing uniform network resource locator codes (URL = Uniform Resources Located) and subsequently transfer the URL codes to an Internet access device terminal. 2, - Description of Related Technology With the rapid expansion of Internet capabilities and Internet users, the number of new sites in the network is expanding rapidly. Each site in the network has its own unique uniform resource locator code (URL). URLs are increasingly used in advertising in newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, the back of trucks and the like. People who see these URLs may want to visit the advertised network sites; however, they may not be able to write or remember the URLs for a long enough time to write them or feed them to an access device.

'"•Internet . Therefore, there is a need for new technology to allow users to remember URLs to use in accessing network sites.

REF .: 32756 COMPENDIUM OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a URL storage device. The URL storage device includes a digitizer for a code to generate a URL, a memory for storing a plurality of URLs, and a transmitter for sending selected URLs to an Internet access device, thereby making the Internet access device Use the URL to retrieve information. URLs can be selected from a list of previously stored URLs of a memory by a user. Additionally, URLs can be stored with additional information to later help identify and recover a particular URL. The additional information can be either in text or audio format or can be fed by a user through an alphanumeric keypad or microphone, respectively. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like elements refer to like numbers and wherein: Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a system according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows an exemplary block diagram of a URL storage device; Figure 3 is an exemplary data structure for storing URLs and related information; Figure 4 is an exemplary flow chart that outlines a method for digitizing and storing URLs according to the present invention; and Figure 5 is an exemplary flow chart that outlines a method for transferring URLs according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED MODALITIES Figure 1 shows an exemplary embodiment of a system 10 according to the present invention. The system 10 includes a URL storage device 100 having a digitizing element 102 for digitizing a code 104 representing a URL 106 for example "www.AT &T. Com". The digitized code 104 is used to generate an electronic version of the URL that is stored within the URL storage device 100. The stored URLs may be transmitted to the Internet access device 118, for use in accessing network sites associated with the URLs. stored. The URL storage device 100 may further include a display 108, a keypad 110, feed keys 116, an audio input / output device 112 and a transmitter 114. The display 108 may be used to display the URLs 104 to a user of the storage device 100. Additionally, the display 108 may be used in conjunction with a keypad 110 and lead keys 116 to display and advance through previously stored URLs, provide text messages corresponding to URLs and the like. The display can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), display of light-emitting diode (LED) or similar. In addition, the keypad 110 and the display 108 can be combined in a display, sensitive to the touch or the like. The keypad 110 can be an alphanumeric or similar keypad. The storage device 100 may include forward keys 116 for performing forward functions in the stored URLs that are presented in the display 108. Additionally, as described in detail below, the keypad 110 may be used to provide and store comments of text corresponding to each URL. The audio input / output device 112 may include a speaker / microphone to play and record audio messages to and from the user. As described in more detail below, the URL storage device 100 can store audio messages corresponding to the stored URLs. The audio messages may subsequently be reproduced through the audio input / output device 112 if the user chooses to listen to additional information regarding a stored URL. The URL storage device 100 uses the transmitter 114 to send the stored URLs to the Internet access device 118 through a corresponding receiver 120. The transmission can occur in a variety of ways, such as via a cable, infrared signal ( IR), radio frequency (RF) signal or the like. Once the URLs sent by the Internet access device 118 are received by the receiver 120, they can be stored by a software application running on the Internet access device 118. The URL can then be used to retrieve information from sites on the Internet. network that correspond to the URLs sent and stored. As described in more detail below, the URL storage device 100 may selectively send the URLs to the Internet access device 118 based on a user selection. A user can select previously stored URLs by going through the URL list and "placing flags" to the URLs to be transmitted. The "flag placement" of the URLs can be achieved by using the keypad 110 to feed flag commands for the URLs displayed. Alternatively, the URLs can be sent according to the date on which they were acquired or a grouping where the URLs can be placed by the user. The Internet access device 118 may include any device that is used to gain access to the Internet. For example, the Internet access device 118 may include computers, personal digital assistants, computer-assisted or smart televisions or the like. In operation, the URL storage device 100 activates, in response to a user command, the digitizer 102 to scan a code 104 representing a URL. The URL storage device can receive the user command through the depression of a digitization activation button. Alternatively, the URL storage device 100 can activate the digitizer 102 by using a proximity detector that activates the digitizer 102 when the URL storage device 100 is adjacent to a URL code. As illustrated in Figure 1, the digitizer 102 can be a barcode scanner, an optical digitizer or the like. When using an optical digitizer, optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms can be used to obtain URLs from the digitizer data. When a bar code reader is used, the dimensions of each bar or combinations of bars in the bar code can be designated as corresponding to characters, words, symbols and the like. The correspondence between the bars and the characters, words, symbols, etc., can be stored in a search table in a memory of the URL storage device 100. Alternatively, the URL can be fed directly through the feeding / output device. 112 audio when using speech recognition to convert a pronounced URL into text format. This can be achieved when the user mentions the URL in the feed / output device 112 whereby a speech recognition system translates a pronounced URL into a text format. The text URL can then be saved in a manner similar to a URL that has been digitized as described above. Once a URL has been acquired, either by digitizing a bar code or through optical character recognition, the URL storage device 100 stores the URL in memory and presents the URL in the display 108. The URL storage 100 instructs the display 108 that presents a message to the user asking the user if he wishes to store or discard the URL. The URL storage device 100 then waits for the user to determine whether the user wants to keep or discard the URL in memory. This can be achieved by visually displaying the interrogation in the display 108 or audibly reproducing the interrogation through the audio input / output device 112. The response of a user can be manually fed by the keypad 110 or through speech recognition by the audio input / output device 112. If the user decides to store the URL, the ego is stored in the memory. The URL storage device 100 can then signal the user to feed more information about the URL. For example, in response to the signal, the user can provide a text message by the keypad 110. Alternatively, a sound recording can be provided through an audio input / output device 112 and stored in memory as a .WAV file, for example. Subsequently, the URL storage device 100 can retrieve the URL and display or reproduce the URL and its corresponding additional information. When a user wishes to send any of the stored URLs to an Internet access device 118, the URL storage device 118 retrieves the requested URLs from the memory and sends them through the transmitter 114 to the Internet access device 118. The URL storage device 100 can send URL to the Internet access device 118 by any of a variety of methods. For example, a user can connect the transmitter 114 of the URL storage devices 100 to the receiver 120 of the Internet access device 118 on a cable. Alternatively, the transmitter 114 can propagate an IR signal with which URL is transmitted while the user directs the transmitter 114 to the receiver 120. Additionally, the storage device 100 can be "plugged" into the Internet access device 118 directly. Any other way of sending data from the storage device 100 to the Internet access device 118 can be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Figure 2 is an exemplary block diagram of the URL storage device 100. The URL storage device 100 may include a controller 302, a display device interface 304, a digitizer interface 306, a transmitter interface 308, a memory 310 and a feed device interface 312. The above components can be coupled via a control / data duct 314. The Previous architecture is only exemplary. Other architectures of the components may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The digitizer interface 306 is coupled to a digitizer 102 and receives a signal corresponding to a URL code. When a URL code signal is received by the controller 302 through the interface of the digitizer 306, the controller 302 generates a URL corresponding to the code. The URL can be generated directly from the code using optical character recognition or the code can be used to search corresponding URLs in a table stored in memory 310 as described above. Once a URL has been acquired, the controller 302 can display the URL via the interface of the display device 304 on the display 108. By doing so, the controller 302 allows the user to confirm that the correct URL has been captured. The controller 302 can present the user with the option of adding the URL to memory or discarding the URL. The user can then provide a response to the controller 302 through the keypad 110. If the user decides to add the new URL, the controller 302 will allow the user to provide additional information regarding the URL to assist in storing, sorting, retrieving and identifying or transmit the URL As described in more detail below, additional text information may be provided by the user through an alphanumeric keypad 110 via the interface of the power supply device 312. Also, audio information may be provided through the microphone 112 through the interface to the feeding device 312. If the user decides to store the URL and any corresponding additional information that has been fed, the controller 312 stores the corresponding URL and information of memory 310. The corresponding URL and information are stored in a data structure for retrieval and shipment at a later time. The above process can be repeated numerous times until the memory 310 is filled. The user can use the keypad 110 to edit and / or delete the corresponding URLs and data. URLs can be grouped together according to a user's preferences, such as grouping all URLs related to gardening in the same group for ease of retrieval at a later date. Additionally, the controller 302 can edit the URL data to add / remove text or audio comments regarding the URL. This can be achieved by having the user advance through a list of stored URLs and selecting URLs for deletion. When the user decides to send one or more URLs in memory 310 to an Internet access device 118, controller 302 retrieves selected URLs stored from memory 310 and sends them to transmitter 114 via transmitter interface 308 transmitting / sending URL of the Internet access device 118. Additionally, the corresponding URL information (ie grouping, audio / text comments, date and the like) can be sent. Once the Internet access device 118 retrieves the URLs, the Internet access device 118 can then access information relating to the URL, such as the network site, using software resident in the Internet access device 118 such as a computer. Internet browser. The URL storage device 100 may also be employed in a manner similar to a television remote control. For example, a user may be able to assign previously stored individual URLs to individual buttons in keypad 110. Subsequently, the user can independently transmit the various URLs to an Internet access device 118 by pressing the corresponding button, whereby a software application running on the Internet access device 118 will immediately retrieve the information such as a network page referring to the URL. Figure 3 shows an exemplary data structure 400 for storing URLs and related information in memory 310. Field 410 is the stored URL. For example, the first URL stored in field 406 is "www.uspto.gov". Field 402 is the order field for URLs. As illustrated in Figure 4, all stored URLs are saved from 1 to 6. The order field 402 can be identical to the order in which the URLs are stored. Alternatively, the order may be based on user rating or user rank of stored URLs, for example order of importance to the user. Field 404 contains the grouping codes of stored URLs. As mentioned earlier, individual URLs can be grouped into URL sets by providing each URL in a set with a common group identifier. For example, as illustrated in fields 404 and 406, the URL "www.yahoo.com" and "www.excite.com", both are given the common group identifier "C". In this example, a user has grouped the URLs together because they are both related to Internet search engines. Additionally, the user can group the URLs together based on the date the URL was acquired and any other user preferences. The group designations in Figure 3 are exemplary only and any other type of group designation may be used without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Field 408 contains the date on which the URL was acquired and stored. The date field 408 can be used to group the URLs as discussed above, can be used to select and transmit all the URLs stored after a particular date and can be used when the URLs of the memory 310 are deleted. For example, all fields Acquired before a particular date can be deleted to free up space in the memory 310. Fields 410 and 412 both contain comments added by the user to further identify the URL. As described above, the user can provide text comments by keypad 110 and store them with a corresponding URL in field 410. For example, the URL "www.uspto.gov" has text comments Patent Office. This field is particularly useful if a URL is not descriptive, such as the URL "www.202178.com". Here as illustrated in field 410, the text comments show the user that the URL is "Dave's page".

Audio comments in field 412 may serve the same purpose as text comments in field 410. Field 412 includes a code corresponding to an audio data file, such as a .WAV file, stored in correspondence with a URL particular. The audio files can be obtained and stored in any known manner, such as using a voice digitizer (not shown) or the like. Field 414 is provided to assist in selecting the URLs of a data structure 400 for Internet access device transmissions 118 by the transmitter 114. As illustrated, field 414 may already be set to either the number 0 or the number 1 to indicate if the corresponding URL is sent. A DI flag value indicates that the URL is to be sent and a flag value of 0 indicates that the URL is not sent. When a user provides a command instructing the controller 302 to send the URLs, the controller 302 will interrogate the user to determine which URLs to send. The controller 302 may display each URL in the display 108, with corresponding text comments, reproduce corresponding audio comments and request that the user feed a response through the keypad 110 to indicate whether the displayed URL is to be sent. If the answer is affirmative, then the predefined value 0 in field 414 is replaced by a 1, in this way indicating that the URL is to be sent. For example, in field 414, the flags corresponding to "www.aol.com" and "www.202178.com" have been set to l, in this way indicating that they will be sent. Subsequently, when the user is ready to send the URLs and once the URL storage device 100 is in proper coupling with the Internet access device 118, the controller 302 will search the field 414 and send any of the URLs that have a flag set to 1. Figure 4 shows an exemplary flow chart that outlines a method of digitizing and storing the URLs according to the invention. As illustrated in Figure 4, in step 500, the controller 302 causes the digitizer 102 to digitize a URL code 104. Next, in step 502, the controller generates a URL of the digitized URL code and passes to the step 503. The URL can be obtained through a search table or using optical character recognition, for example. In step 503, the controller 302 presents a message in the display 108 asking the user if he wishes to store the URL. If the user wishes to store the URL in memory 310, controller 302 continues to step 504; otherwise the controller 302 goes to step 510. In step 504, the controller interrogates the user if the user wishes to store any additional text or audio comments with the URL. The user may respond via keypad 110. If the user wishes to store additional information, controller 302 continues to step 506; otherwise, the controller goes to step 510 and stores the URL in memory 310. In step 506, the controller signals the user to feed additional information corresponding to the URL in any text or audio format. The user can provide text comments through the alphanumeric keypad 110 and audio comments through the audio input / output device 114. In addition, in step 506, the user can feed information regarding the grouping of the URL with other URLs. previously stored. Once the comments are completed, the controller 302 goes to step 508 and stores the corresponding additional information in memory 310 according to the data structure 400. The controller 302 proceeds to step 510 where if the user wishes to continue scanning and storing the URLs, the controller 302 returns to step 500 to repeat the previous process. Otherwise, the controller 302 goes to step 510 where the scanning and storage process is terminated. Figure 5 shows an exemplary flow chart that outlines a method for sending the URLs according to the invention. As illustrated in Figure 5, in step 600, the controller 302 signals a user to choose a URL or URL set, from the URLs stored in the memory 310. As described above, this can be achieved by the controller 302 presenting in the display 108 the URLs stored in order for a user to respond and adjust a flag in field 414 in table 400 indicating that a particular URL is to be sent. Following step 610, the controller 302 accesses the memory 310 to retrieve a URL corresponding to the URLs with flag. In addition, any or all of the information in fields 304 to 314 can also be retrieved to send the Internet access device 118. Once the URLs and corresponding information have been retrieved in step 620, the controller 302 transmits the corresponding data. to the URLs to the Internet access device 118, where it will be received by software resident in the Internet access device 118. After the transmission is complete, the controller 302 will proceed to step 630, thereby terminating the shipping process . In an example of one embodiment of this invention, consider a user, who is reading a magazine. While leafing through the pages, this individual arrives at an ad for a private car that is currently on the market to buy. Content within the advertisement, note a URL code. Since he is unlikely to remember the rather long URL code until a time when he has access to an Internet access device 118, he aligns a digitizer 102 of his storage device with a URL 100 with the URL code digitizing the URL. The URL storage device 100 then presents the URL code in the display 108 and asks the user whether or not to save or discard the URL. The user may then decide to save the URL by pressing an appropriate key on the keypad 110. Next, the URL storage device 100 asks the user if he wishes to store any additional comments with the URL that he has just purchased. The user decides that he wants to save the audio comments that will later remind him that he has stored the URL. While pressing a record key the user mentions the word "auto announcement" in the microphone 112. At a later time, when the user has access to the Internet access device 118, he decides that he would now like to visit the site in the network for the announcement of the car. The user uses his URL storage device 100 to progress through a list of previously stored URLs; however, you can not determine or remember which URL is correct. Therefore, play the audio messages through the horn 112 for each URL until you hear the phrase "auto announcement", which identifies the URL as the one you are looking for. In determining which URL to send, the user then places a flag to the URL to be sent to display the URL and presses an appropriate key on the keypad 110. The user then points to the infrared transmitter 114 of the URL storage device 100 on his access device to Internet 118 and start a transmission by pressing a transmit button. The Internet access device 118 recovers the transmission through a receiver 120 and by software applications that run in it, recognizes the transmission of URLs and subsequently retrieves information contained in the network site corresponding to the URL. In this way, the user is able to store the URLs in the URL storage device 100 for later use when accessing the Internet. As illustrated in Figure 2, the method of this invention is preferably implemented in a programmed processor. However, the URL storage device 100 may also be implemented in a general purpose or special purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit elements, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC = Application Specific Integrated Circuit ) or another integrated circuit, a logical or electronic circuit of physical equipment, such as a discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device such as PLD, PLA, FPGA or PAL or the like. In general, any device in which a finite state machine is capable of implementing the flowchart shown in Figures 4 and 5 can be used to implement the functions of the URL storage device 100 of this invention. While this invention has been described in conjunction with its specific embodiments, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications and variations will be apparent to those with skill in the specialty. Accordingly, preferred embodiments of the invention as set forth herein are intended to be illustrative and not limiting. There are changes that can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention.

Claims (31)

1. CLAIMS Having described the invention as above, the content of the following claims is claimed as property: 1. A method for storing and transmitting one or more URLs, characterized in that it comprises: digitizing a code to generate a URL, storing the URL in a URL list; receive a selection of at least one selected URL from the list of URLs; and transmit to a terminal at least the selected URL.
2. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that storing the URL further includes storing additional information and wherein the additional information includes at least one of text information and audio information. 3. - The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises: grouping one or more URL in the list of URLs in groups of
3. URL; and assign a group identifier to each of the URL groups. . - The method according to claim 1, characterized in that digitizing a code to generate a URL further comprises: digitizing a bar code to obtain bar code values;
4. and generate a URL, based on the values of barcodes and information stored in a search table.
5. 5. - The method according to claim 1, wherein digitizing a code to generate a URL further comprises: digitizing a text code; and generate a URL based on the text code using optical character recognition.
6. 6. - The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises organizing the list of URLs based on a priority assigned to each URL in the list of URLs.
7. 7. - The method according to claim 3, wherein receiving a selection of at least one selected URL includes receiving a selection of a group identifier and selecting each of the URLs in the select group that corresponds to the group identifier .
8. 8. - The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving a selection of at least one selected URL includes receiving a selection of a range of data and selecting each of the URLs in the list of URLs that have a date within of the range.
9. 9. - The method according to claim 1, characterized in that receiving a selection further comprises adjusting a send flag associated with the URL at least based on the selection.
10. 10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that the transmission includes sending in select URL at least based on whether the send flag for the selected URL at least is set for sending.
11. 11. A method for storing a URL, characterized in that it comprises: digitizing a code to generate the URL, storing the URL in a list of the URLs; retrieve, at a later time, a selection of at least one selected URL from the list of URLs; and use the selected URL at least to access a data network.
12. 12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that storing the URL further includes storing additional information and wherein the additional information includes at least one of text information and audio information.
13. 13. - The method according to claim 11, characterized in that it also comprises: grouping one or more URL in the list of URLs in groups; and assign a group identifier to each of the URL groups.
14. 14. - The method according to claim 11, wherein digitizing a code to generate a URL further comprises: digitizing a bar code to obtain bar code values; and generate a URL based on the values of barcodes and information stored in a search table.
15. 15. - The method according to claim 11, characterized in that digitize a code to generate a URL, also comprises: digitize a text code; and generate a URL based on the text code using optical character recognition.
16. 16. - The method according to claim 11, characterized in that it also comprises organizing the list of URLs based on a priority assigned to each URL in the list of URLs.
17. 17. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that recovering a selection of at least one selected URL includes receiving a selection of a group identifier and selecting each of the URLs in the select group corresponding to the group identifier.
18. 18. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that retrieving a selection from at least one selected URL includes receiving a selection from a range of dates and selecting each of the URLs in the list of URLs that have a date within. of the range.
19. 19. - Apparatus for storing and transmitting one or more URL, the device is characterized in that it comprises: a digitizer for a code to generate a URL; a memory to store the URL in a list of URLs; a controller connected to the digitizer and memory to receive a selection of at least one selected URL from the list of URLs; and a transmitter coupled with the controller to transmit the selected URL to at least one terminal.
20. 20. The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the transmitter sends the URL to a terminal through one of cable, infrared and radiofrequency communications links.
21. 21. The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the controller stores the URL in memory with additional information and wherein the additional information includes at least one of text information and audio information.
22. 22. - The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the controller groups one or more of the URLs in the list of URLs in groups stored in memory and assigns a group identifier to each of the URL groups.
23. 23. - The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the digitizer digitizes a bar code to obtain bar code values and the controller generates a URL based on the values of bar code and information stored in memory as a search table.
24. 24. - The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the digitizer scans a text code and the controller generates a URL based on the text code using an optical character recognition.
25. 25. The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the controller organizes the list of the URLs into memory based on a pyoricity assigned to each URL in the list of URLs.
26. 26.- The apparatus according to claim 22, characterized in that the controller receives a selection of at least one selected URL when receiving a selection of a group identifier and selecting each of the URLs in the select group corresponding to the identifier of group.
27. 27. The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the controller receives a selection of at least one selected URL upon receiving a selection of the data range and selecting each of the URLs in the list that has a date within the range .
28. 28. - The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the controller receives a selection and adjusts a shipping flag associated with the URL at least based on the selection.
29. 29. The apparatus according to claim 28, characterized in that the sending controller in the URL selects at least by the transmitter based on whether the send flag by the selected URL at least is set to send.
30. 30. A method for storing and transmitting one or more URLs, characterized in that it comprises: providing a code to generate the URL; store the URL in a list of URLs; receive a selection of at least one selected URL from the list of URLs; and transmit the select URL to at least one terminal.
31. 31. The method according to claim 30, characterized in that providing a code to generate the URL also includes: verbally supplying an audio code; and generate a URL based on the audio code using speech recognition.

    SYSTEM AND METHOD TO EXPLORE AND STORE CODES TfE UNIVERSAL RESOURCE LOCATOR

    SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a device for digitizing and storing universal resource locator codes (URL = Universal Resource location) and a method for digitizing a code to generate a URL, store the URL, and subsequently load the URLs. URL of a list of previously stored URLs selected to an Internet access device. The URL storage and scanning device can also store additional text and audio comments that correspond to stored URLs. Once the URL is sent to the Internet access device, the Internet access device can then use the URL to access information, such as a network site referring to the Internet URL,