Scanbuy, Inc., (www.scanbuy.com) a global provider of wireless commerce solutions, announced it has been granted two U.S. patents. The first patent addresses a method for decoding and analyzing barcodes using a mobile device to transmit and access information via WAP, SMS, or MMS. The second is focused on a system that provides an algorithm designed to enhance images of barcodes to facilitate the decoding process.
US Patent No. 7,156,311, describing a system for decoding barcodes using a mobile device like a cell phone equipped with a digital camera, uses software located on the mobile device to enhance the barcode image and subsequently decode the barcode information. The software uses the camera to read the barcode, transmit the decoded information to a server in multiple ways such as WAP, SMS, or MMS, and then connects the device via a wireless network to the corresponding media content and/or information.
U.S. patent No. 7,168,621 named “section based algorithm for image enhancement” provides a process for enhancing images of barcodes that can compensate for many shortcomings of camera-equipped mobile devices, allowing many more images captured by camera-phones to be decoded, and as a result enhances users’ decoding experience.
“The patents we’ve been granted demonstrate the depth and strength of Scanbuys, ever growing, IP portfolio, and, more importantly, help to position Scanbuy as the partner of choice for handset manufacturers, carriers, content providers and advertisers,” said Jonathan Bulkeley, Chief Executive Officer of Scanbuy, Inc.
Scanbuy software works on most mobile handheld devices with a camera and Internet connection — and can enable the connection of physical objects to the Internet. The company was recently listed as “A Company to Watch in 2007” by Microsoft’s Don Dodge.
