WO2002048918A1

WO2002048918A1 - Method and device for allocating product codes to printed material

Info

Publication number: WO2002048918A1
Application number: PCT/SE2001/002622
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mikael Lockner; Fredrik Johansson
Original assignee: Telia Ab (Publ)
Priority date: 2000-12-14
Filing date: 2001-11-27
Publication date: 2002-06-20
Also published as: SE0004637D0; SE0004637L

Abstract

The present invention relates to method and device to make it possible to digitally get access to physical pieces of information published in journals and similar media. For the purpose, article and other pieces of information are allocated alphanumeric identities which indicate bibliographical data such as publication, date of issue, subject field, author etc. Users who want access to the information establish contact with a search function which by means of an indicated code finds and transmits/transfers the information to one for the user personal home page, at which the information is stored on especially selected home pages, to which the user has access. Derived/produced information is at that allowed to be stored according the user's wishes. The storing device can be specified in advance, or by additive information be given at ordering/request of the information. Input/entering of the codes can be done in different ways, for instance by keyboard/keyset, verbally, or by SMS-message.

Description

Method and device for allocating product codes to printed material

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to telecommunication networks where pieces of information are transmitted/transferred digitally. Especially is in this context related to conversion of physical publications such as articles in newspapers into digital form, which are made accessible by for instance Internet .

PRIOR ART

It is previously known to provide a user with Universal Resource Location, to an article in a printed media, in form of a code and to utilize Internet to load down requested web page. The transmission between the user and the computer can be wireless. This is evident from publication WO 08/40823.

Further is evident from patent document US 5 905 251 that terminals with www-access are known. The terminal contains a code reader which reads codes which locates documents on Internet. The terminal can be used in cellular telecommunication systems. The document asked for is then shown on screen to the user. Further is shown in patent document S 5 005 976 a method and device for distribution of pieces of information related to printed articles. The method utilizes a telecommunication system.

In patent document US 5 496 071 a method to provide printed work with article identities is described. Printed work, for instance articles, are provided with a code which is used at filing/storing of the articles.

Further example is patent document US 5 640 193 which shows a device with a scanner which reads markings on an object and which transmits/transfers the code of the marking to a user interface. The interface can be wireless. By the above mentioned documents it consequently is previously known to, by different technologies, identify and present articles via, for instance, Internet. The presentation seems in this context primarily to be done via the publisher's own Internet page, alternatively by information retrieval in the publisher's databases. At this said Internet pages are identified via the described retrieval/search procedures in above mentioned documents.

TECHNICAL PROBLEM

There is a need to, in a simple way, identify articles on physical formats in order to, via telephones of different kinds, identify said article. Said article shall after that be possible to transmit to a portal or the like where the user has access to said article. There consequently shall be created a link between a printed physical information and a digital media on Internet.

Further wishes are that articles and pieces of information of similar kind shall be possible to identify and be derived/produced from a plurality of different sources at the same time. All information that turns up shall be possible to store in one to the user well-arranged and easily accessible way. There further is a wish that the sorting should be done according to by the orderer made up criteria, for instance author, field of subject, publication, date of issue etc.

Further, there are wishes that articles/publications shall be filed/stored centrally and only apply to the current user' s need. The present invention has the intention to solve these problems .

THE SOLUTION

The present invention relates to method at telecommunication system, intended to make possible transmission of printed information to a user. The information is arranged by information publishers, who allocate the information an alphanumeric identification. An identification code is transmitted/transferred by the user to the receiver. The receiver identifies from the identification code the wanted information. The receiver transmits/transfers the identification to the information publishers, who transmit/transfer the requested information to an information database from which the user is allowed to read/study the information as electronic documents.

Identification codes are transmitted/transferred by the user verbally or by means of keyboard/keyset. The identification codes are further allocated pieces of information regarding publisher, date, author etc. The information further is transmitted to a portal, to which the user is connected and allocated a home page. Storing of the information is also allowed at own place, or transmitted via e-mail, or saved in other way by the operator so that the material/file will be accessible to the customer. Pieces of information are transmitted to a portal, where the user is allocated personal pages. The information on the personal home page is stored according to by the user made up criteria, such as author, subject fields, media etc. Further, the system is based on Internet, where the user reads/studies the information by establishing connection to the portal via Internet, and that set up is made via fixed or mobile Internet.

The invention further relates to device at telecommunication system, where the telecommunication system includes users and service providers. The service providers are arranged to, from by the users transmitted codes, identify in printed media existing pieces of information which are made accessible to the users in digital format. The digital information is transmitted/transferred to the user over a personal home page .

The personal home page is located under a portal to which the user is arranged to have access to the personal home page on the Internet. The codes are further alphanumeric and uniquely indicated for each printed piece of information. The codes further indicate which media, for instance journals or other publications, that are referred to. The code further indicates author, subject fields, publication date and issue date of the journal/publication. The customer is further allowed to specify/indicate sorting criteria, for instance publication date and/or author and/or name of the journal/media. The portal further is Internet based, and is arranged to retrieve said information from current databases, which includes the access to the publications/articles. The code is further transmitted/transferred from the terminal, preferably a mobile terminal. The code is allowed to be transmitted/ transferred as SMS-messages from the users. The code is further allowed to be transmitted/transferred verbally or via keyboard.

ADVANTAGES The present invention has the advantage that ordering of production/arranging of articles on physical media are easy to identify and transmit and can be stored in place where the user has access to the information digitally. Further, the invention makes it possible that the user can store and arrange the information in one to the user attractive way. This means that storing and deriving of information is done related to author, publication, publication date etc. Further advantages are that the user need not specific reading devices such as bar-code readers. To have possibility to request reading/recording of found information from just any place by means of telephones, mobile telephones, computers etc, is a definite improvement which the user certainly will welcome.

The user further has an advantage of the possibility to search information similar in character by requesting searching based on different search criteria, such as author's name, subject field and at that find this information from different publishers. The invention consequently provides users with a tool for storing, searching and cataloguing of information within the frame of one and the same system.

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

Figure 1 shows example of how the coding of the pieces of information can be incorporated in respective physical pieces of information. Articles and other information included in a publication, D, is allocated alphanumeric identification, A.

Figure 2 shows a schematic description of the principle of the invention.

A user, 1, gets into contact with a portal, P, and states a search criteria, identifying one or more articles/publications published by publishers, or the like, 3-4. The portal includes search functions, which are utilized for searching in the databases of the publishers.

Requested information is after that returned to the portal which transmits/transfers the pieces of information to the user's, 1, home page, 2, where the user after that has access to the requested information via Internet.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In the following, the invention is described with reference to the figures and the indications in them. The present invention relates to a method and device to make it possible to digitally get access to physical information, published in journals and similar media. For the purpose, articles and other pieces of information are allocated alphanumeric identities, which indicate bibliographical data such as publication, publication date, subject field, author etc. Users who want access to the information contacts a search function which, by means of an indicated code, finds and transmits/transfers the information to one for the user personal home page, alternatively on data files or other media to which the customer has access, at which the information is stored on especially selected pages, to which the user has access. The information in question is at that allowed to be stored according to the user's wishes. The order of storing can be specified in advance, or by additional information given at ordering of the information. Input/entering of the codes can be done in different ways, for instance by keyboard/keyset, verbally, or by SMS-message.

Information in newspapers and other printed media is to a larger and larger extent converted by the publishers into digital form and is accessible via the Internet. These pieces of information are mainly accessible on the publisher's own home pages. For persons who want to read/study a specific article/specific articles, is at present used the possibility to establish connection with respective publisher's home pages. To get access to the information in question, is after that required that the person in question by means of different search tools finds the information he/she wants to read/study.

According to the present invention is suggested that articles and other information in printed media are allocated numerical codes. Said codes identify unequivocally publishers, publications, date, the name of the article, author etc. Said information is accessible in one at the publisher's arranged database. The database in this case relates to pieces of information about own articles and other information that have been given.

A user who wants information about a specific article, establishes connection, via his/her telephone, with a portal or the like, to which the code in question is transmitted/transferred. The code can be transmitted/ transferred orally, via SMS, or by means of keying a keyboard/keyset. By means of the entered codes, the portal identifies which publisher/publishers that are concerned and establishes connection with them. When connection have been established with publishers, the information in question, the alphanumeric code, is transmitted/ transferred, at which the publisher identifies the publication in question and which part/parts of the newspaper the customer wants to read/study. Further, an identification which the publisher uses to identify the orderer is transmitted/transferred. This information can be telephone number, name or similar pieces of information which early identifies the person in question. The publisher after that derives/produces the information in question and transmits/transfers it to a portal, to which the user has established a connection and has a personal home page. The information is after that stored under the portal on personal pages/the catalog, after which the user has possibility to read said information after establishing connection with the Internet.

The invention further provides a possibility to search certain types of articles, not necessarily published by one and the same publisher. The user is, for instance, interested in articles which relate to a specific subject field. In such a case, information related to subject field is entered, at which the search function makes a search for which pieces of information that exist in this respect. The information is after that, in way that has been described above, transmitted/transferred to the user's home page. The storing of the downloaded files is done in an order which the user decides. This can be done in chronological order, according to author, newspaper etc.

A user, 1, reads a printed publication, D, articles, A, which he/she is interested in. The user at that notes the alphanumeric code, aall, bb 11 etc, of the articles. The user further can get said codes of the articles via other persons or via mail etc. The user finds/determines that one of the articles is interesting and shall be saved on a place where the user has access to said articles. For this reason the user establishes a connection with a portal, P, by means of his/her telephone, which can be a fixed as well as a mobile one, whereupon the user identifies himself/ herself to the portal, P, and transmits/transfers the alphanumeric code. By identification is in this context meant that the user identifies himself/herself actively by means of different types of identification systems, or that the system identifies users, for instance by A-number identification or the like, alternatively that the user indicates specific codes which indicate alternative storing places. The transmission/trans er of the alphanumeric code can be made by keying on keyboards/keysets, verbally, and by means of SMS-messages. The portal includes search functions by the aid of which the article can be identified regarding publisher, publication in question etc. The portal, P, after that contacts publishers, 3-5, to find out whether any of these has the article in question in stock. The article is after that transmitted/transferred electronically to the portal, P, which forwards the information to one for the user personal web page, 2. On the personal web page, or via the media the user has selected, the user has possibility to request that the pieces of information be stored according to rules which have been stipulated by the user. The storing, can for instance, be done with regard to subject content, author, publication date etc. The instructions for storing can one the one hand be selected in advance, on the other be selected in connection with the deriving of the publications/publications in question by indications in the given codes .

The user, 1, now can read/study said publications, A, by connecting to his/her personal web page via Internet. When connection has been established to the personal page, the user opens that page of the web page which contains the downloaded articles. This part of the web page is preferably only accessible to the user. The pieces of information after that can be retrieved as electronic documents on computer, as SMS-message, voice message etc.

The invention is only limited by the patent claims below, and can be subject to modifications within the frame of the idea of invention.

Claims

PATENT CLAIMS

1. Method at telecommunication system, intended to make transmission of printed information to a user possible, at which the information is made up/arranged by an information publisher, at which the information publishers allocate the pieces of information an alphanumeric identification, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the user transmits an identification code to a receiver which/who identifies the wanted information, that the receiver transmits the identification to the information publishers, who transmit the wanted information to an information database from which the user is allowed to read/study the pieces of information as electronic documents.

2. Method as claimed in patent claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the user transmits/transfers the identification code verbally or by means of keyboard/keyset.

3. Method as claimed in patent claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the identification code is allocated pieces of information regarding publisher, date, author etc.

4. Method as claimed in any of the previous patent claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the pieces of information are transmitted/transferred to a storing place, for instance a portal, to which the user is connected and allocated a home page/storage space, at which the pieces of information are transmitted/transferred to in the portal/storage space, for the user, personal pages/storage spaces.

5. Method as claimed in patent claim 4, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the pieces of information are stored according to by the user made up criteria, such as author, subject field, media etc.

6. Method as claimed in any of the previous patent claims, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the system is based on Internet, that the user reads/studies the pieces of information by establishing connection to the portal via Internet, and that establishing of connection is done via fixed or mobile Internet.

7. Device at telecommunication system, at which the telecommunication system includes users and service providers, where the service providers are arranged to via from the users transmitted codes identify in printed media existing pieces of information which are made accessible to the users in digital format, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the digital information is transmitted to a personal home page belonging to a user.

8. Device as claimed in patent claim 7, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the personal home page is located under a portal, to which the user is arranged to have access to the personal homepage on Internet .

9. Device as claimed in patent claim 7 or 8, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the codes are alphanumeric and uniquely indicated for each piece of printed information.

10. Device as claimed in patent claim 9, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that the codes further indicate which media, for instance journals or other publications, that are referred to.

11. Device as claimed in any of the patent claims 7 to 10, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in, that said codes further indicate author, subject field, publication date and the issue number of the journal/publication.

12. Device as claimed in any of the patent claims 7 to 11, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the customer is allowed to indicate sorting criteria, for instance publication date and/or author and/or the name of the journal/media.

13. Device as claimed in any of the patent claims 7 to 12, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the portal is Internet-based, and is arranged to derive said pieces of information from appropriate databases, which include access to the publications/articles.

14. Device as claimed in patent claim 1, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the code is transmitted/transferred from a terminal, preferably a mobile terminal.

15. Device as claimed in patent claim 7 or 14, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the codes are transmitted/transferred as SMS-messages from the users .

16. Device as claimed in any of the patent claims 7 to 15, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the codes are allowed to be transmitted/transferred verbally or via keyboard/keyset .