Granted Patent B2

US 7,051,086 · App. 09/803,369 · Granted May 23, 2006

Abstract

Claims (54)

1. A method comprising:

accessing a central site to obtain a steganographically-encoded item, the item including at least a unique identifier;

applying the steganographically-encoded item to a document; and

inputting data relating to a proprietor of the document, the data being input into a database, wherein the data is associated with the unique identifier.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the document is a business card.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the document comprises one of a sticker, résumé, label, brochure, post-it, envelope, stationary, and letterhead.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data is formatted into a standardized format.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the standardized format comprises a vCard.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data comprises audio or visual data.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data comprises pronunciation data.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising translating the data into a different language.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing an audio pronunciation of the data.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the steganographically-encoded item comprises one of a background, tint, graphic, shading, logo, text or font.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the steganographically-encoded item comprises a business card.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the steganographically-encoded item includes an electronic address associated with the central site.

13. A method comprising:

providing a steganographically encoded item for integration with a printed object, the encoded printed object including a unique identifier associated with a network database;

receiving data in the network database, the received data corresponding to a proprietor of the printed object;

associating the received data with the unique identifier;

permitting access to the received data in the network database when presented with the unique identifier; and

providing a digital file comprising a pronunciation of at least some of the received data.

14. A method comprising:

providing a steganographically encoded item for integration with a printed object, the encoded item including a unique identifier associated with an internet database;

receiving data in the internet database, the received data corresponding to a proprietor of the printed object;

associating the received data with the unique identifier;

permitting access to the received data in the internet database when presented with the unique identifier; and

providing a digital file comprising a translation of at least some of the received data.

15. A method comprising:

providing a steganographically encoded item for integration with a printed object, the encoded item including a unique identifier associated with an internet database;

receiving data in the internet database, the received data corresponding to a proprietor of the printed object;

associating the received data with the unique identifier;

permitting access to the received data in the internet database when presented with the unique identifier; and

standardizing the format of the received data, wherein the format comprises a vCard.

16. A system comprising:

a central computer, said central computer communicating with a network;

a database in communication with the central computer, the database indexing user data according to unique identifiers;

a gallery of items maintained by the central computer, each item capable of hosting encoded data;

an encoder to steganographically-encode a unique identifier per item of the gallery of items; and

an interface through which at least one user can access the gallery items and database.

17. The system according to claim 16 , wherein the gallery of items comprises at least one of background, tints, shading, graphics, text, fonts, and logos.

18. The system according to claim 16 , wherein the encoder encodes an address of the system per item of the gallery of items.

19. The system according to claim 16 , wherein a unique identifier is communicated to a user.

20. A method comprising:

receiving a request through a network interface to obtain a graphic or design from a gallery of graphics or designs;

upon a selection of a graphic or design, steganographically encoding the graphic or design with at least one plural-bit identifier;

associating the identifier with an entity that requested the graphic or design; and

providing the steganographically encoded graphic or design through the network interface.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the gallery of graphics or designs comprise at least one of a pattern, image, graphic, color, shading, tint, background, logo and font.

22. The method of claim 20 , wherein the gallery of graphics or designs comprise a visual representation of graphics or designs.

23. The method of claim 20 , wherein the network interface comprises an internet portal, and the gallery of items are viewable through the internet portal.

24. A method comprising:

receiving a request at a central computer to obtain a steganographically-encoded graphic or design from a gallery of steganographically-encoded graphics or designs, the requested graphic or design including at least one plural-bit identifier;

associating the identifier with an entity associated with the request; and

providing the steganographically-encoded graphic or design from the central computer.

Assignments (6)