Granted Patent B2

US 8,655,972 · App. 11/382,472 · Granted Feb 18, 2014

Abstract

Claims (35)

1. A method for controlling a computer with recorded information of a recorded media, comprising:

embedding an audio tone within the audio bandwidth of the recorded media such that the audio tone is portable with the recorded media and such that an audible representation of the audio tone is output during playback of the recorded media, wherein the audio tone encodes a product code;

extracting the product code from the audible representation of the audio tone during playback of the recorded media to a user at a user location;

using the product code at the user location to look up first routing information accessible at the user location;

transmitting the product code from the user location to a vendor location using the first routing information;

using the product code at the vendor location to look up product information associated with the product code; and

transmitting the product information from the vendor location to the user location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first routing information is associated with an intermediate location on the network, wherein the step of transmitting the product code from the user location to the vendor location using the first routing information further comprises the steps of:

transmitting the product code to the intermediate location using the first routing information;

accessing a database of vendor routing information in response to receiving at the intermediate location the transmitted product code from the user location;

using the product code at the intermediate location to look up second routing information in the database and transmitting the second routing information to the user location; and

in response to receiving the second routing information at the user location, interconnecting the user location with the vendor location over the network using the second routing information.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the user location further includes user ID information that uniquely identifies the user at the user location, and

wherein the database at the intermediate node includes user profile information which is associated therein with the user ID information of the user, and

wherein the step of transmitting the product code over the network to the intermediate location also includes transmitting the user ID information to the intermediate location, and

wherein the step of using the product code at the intermediate location to look up the second routing information further comprises using the received user ID information of the user location to look up profile information associated with the received user ID information, and

wherein the step of transmitting the second routing information back to the user location further includes appending to the second routing information the profile information, and

wherein the profile information is transmitted to the vendor location via the user location.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network is a global communication network that provides a universal resource locator (URL) for each location on the network and the routing information is comprised of the URL for the location.

5. A method for controlling a computer with recorded information of a recorded media, comprising:

embedding an audio tone within the audio bandwidth of the recorded media such that the audio tone is portable with the recorded media and such that an audible representation of the audio tone is output during playback of the recorded media, wherein the audio tone encodes a product code;

extracting the product code from the audible representation of the audio tone during playback of the recorded media to a user at a user location;

transmitting the product code to an intermediate location disposed on the network using first routing information accessible at the user location;

using the product code at the intermediate location to look up second routing information and transmitting the second routing information to the user location, wherein the second routing information defines the location of a vendor location on the network;

using the second routing information at the user location to transmit the product code to the vendor location;

using the product code at the vendor location to look up product information associated with the product code; and

transmitting the product information from the vendor location to the user location.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising the step of: accessing a database of vendor routing information in response to receiving at the intermediate location the product code from the user location, the database providing an association between the product code and the second routing information.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the user location further includes user ID information that uniquely identifies the user at the user location, and

wherein the database at the intermediate node includes user profile information which is associated therein with the user ID information of the user, and

wherein the step of transmitting the product code over the network to the intermediate node also includes transmitting the user ID information to the intermediate location, and

wherein the step of using the product code at the intermediate location to look up the second routing information further comprises using the received user ID information of the user location to look up profile information associated with the received user ID information, and

wherein the step of transmitting the second routing information back to the user location further includes appending to the second routing information the profile information, and

wherein the profile information is transmitted to the vendor location via the user location.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the network is a global communication network that provides a universal resource locator (URL) for each location on the network and the first and second routing information comprise a first URL and a second URL, respectively.

Assignments (13)