Method and apparatus for capturing and decoding an image of a remotely located bar code

Abstract

A method for remotely decoding a bar code includes capturing an image of a bar code using a camera, transmitting the image of the bar code across a network, receiving the image of the bar code at a remote location on the network, reproducing the image of the bar code at the remote location to provide a reproduced image of the bar code, and scanning and decoding the reproduced image of the bar code.

1 . A method for remotely decoding a machine readable code for security purposes, comprising:
 sending information displayed as a secure machine readable code;   capturing an image of the machine readable code using a camera;   transmitting the image of the machine readable code across a network;   receiving the image of the machine readable code at a remote location on the network;
 reproducing the image of the machine readable code on a video display at the remote location to provide a reproduced image of the machine readable code; 
   scanning and decoding the reproduced image of the machine readable code from the video display using a machine readable code reader to provide information; and   verifying the information extracted from the reproduced image of the machine readable code matches the security information.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the camera is selected from the set consisting of a phone camera, a security camera, a camcorder, a digital camera, a web camera, and a television camera. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein transmitting the image of the machine readable code across a network is encrypted. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the machine readable code is proprietary. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the machine readable code is a tagged machine readable code. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the machine readable code is tagged using XML. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the video display at the remote location is selected from the set consisting of a television, a laptop screen, a tablet, a PDA, a PC monitor, an ATM display, a cash register display, a digital TV screen, a CRT computer monitor, a liquid crystal display (LCD), and a CRT TV screen. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the scanning and decoding is performed using a device selected from the set consisting of a high scan rate CCD, and an imager. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the scanning and decoding is performed using a software solution executing on a computing device. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the scanning and decoding is performed using a machine readable code scanner integrated into a device selected from the set consisting of a cell phone, a land line phone, a PDA, a computer mouse, a GPS receiver, a pager, a two-way communication device, and a fob. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the source of the image of a machine readable code is selected from a set consisting of a printed machine readable code, and a video displayed machine readable code. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the source of the image of a machine readable code is selected from the set consisting of an identification card, a badge, a ticket, an electronic document, a electronic document with fill-in-fields, an e-mail, a form, a webpage, a spreadsheet, a student record, a student report card, an invoice, a purchase order, a repair order, a warranty, a prescription, a patient record, and a prisoner's record. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the method of securing the information displayed in the machine readable code is selected from the set consisting of a hash, a biometric, and a PIN. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the machine readable code comprises a human readable text portion and machine readable machine readable code portion. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  wherein the human readable text portion does not match the machine readable machine readable code portion to provide increased security. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the video display at the remote location is a cell phone. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the cell phone is verified using an electronic identification code of the cell phone selected from the set consisting of an electronic signature number, a mobile identification number, and a system identification code. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of verifying is performed using a computer running software that verifies information derived from the remote machine readable code matches security information stored in the computer. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising granting physical access to a secured site after the step of verifying.