Method and apparatus for bar code data interchange
View Patent ↗A new method and system for bar code data interchange includes a bar code scanner, such as a high scan rate LED scanner, and reads bar coded information from a video display. This bar coded information is scanned from the video display into a host device. The bar coded information may be sent to a user in a variety of ways, including over the Internet, any intranet, or any type of telephony network. The bar coded information may be viewed by the user on the video display as part of an e-mail message, as displayed on a web-page, or as displayed on television programming. The scanned bar coded information is decoded and may then be used. A first software program may have been used to create the bar coded information, and a second and distinct software application may be used with the now decoded bar coded information.
1. A method of using video displayed bar code data in bar code data interchange to exchange data between a first software application and a second software application, both executing on a computing device, the method comprising:
displaying an electronic document associated with the first software application on a video display associated with the computing device, the electronic document comprising a bar code;
decoding the bar code data into information;
using the information to populate a data field associated with the second software application executing on the computing device to thereby complete the data interchange from the first software application to the second software application.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic document is created by scanning a paper document.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first software application provides for displaying email messages.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second software application provides for displaying email messages.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first software application provides for displaying a web page.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the second software application provides for displaying a web page.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the video display is associated with a phone.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the video display is associated with a television.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the electronic document is a form document and the data field is a fill-in field.
10. A method of using video displayed bar code data in bar code data interchange, the method comprising:
creating an electronic document for data interchange, the electronic document comprising (a) an information field for containing information and (b) a bar code encoding information within the information field;
transmitting the electronic document;
displaying the electronic document on a video display associated with a computing device;
decoding the bar code into information;
using the information to populate a data field to thereby complete the data interchange from the electronic document to the data field.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the electronic document further comprises at least one tag associated with the information field.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the bar code encodes the at least one tag.
13. The method of claim 10 wherein the video display is associated with a phone.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein the video display is associated with a television.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein the electronic document is a form document and the data field is a fill-in field.
16. A method of using video displayed bar code data in bar code data interchange, the method comprising:
creating an electronic document for data interchange, the document comprising (a) an information field for containing information and (b) a bar code encoding information within the information field;
displaying a representation of the document on a video display associated with a computing device;
decoding the bar code into information; and using the information to populate a data field to thereby complete the data interchange from the electronic document to the data field.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein the video display is associated with a phone.
18. The method of claim 16 wherein the video display is associated with a television.
19. The method of claim 16 wherein the electronic document is a form document and the data field is a fill-in field.