DYNAMIC PRODUCT INFORMATION DURING BARCODE SCANNING
A computer-implemented method includes receiving a request to scan a barcode and in response, displaying a split screen having a camera image portion and a product information portion. At least part of an image currently being captured by a camera and containing a barcode is displayed in the camera image portion. Product information for a product represented by the barcode is displayed in the product information portion.
The present application is a continuation of and claims priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/031,430, filed Jul. 10, 2018, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUNDMobile devices such as Smart Phones have become sophisticated computing devices that include processors capable of executing one or more applications, touch screens providing interactive user interfaces and cameras capable of capturing still images and video. Nearly all mobile devices include a web browser application that allows users to download and view pages from websites on the Internet as well as various types of media including documents and videos. Many web browser applications support script execution within the web browser, such as the execution of Java Script.
Mobile devices are typically shipped with a small collection of applications that can be executed on the mobile device. Additionally, users are able to download applications on the mobile device through a network connection to an application marketplace. However, downloading additional applications requires the user to take several steps that act as a barrier to acquiring the functionality provided by the applications. In particular, the user must discover that the application exists either through word of mouth or by performing searches in the application marketplace. Additionally, the user must select the application from the marketplace and wait for the application to download to the mobile device. Given the large number of applications in the marketplace, most users do not download a significant percentage of the available applications. As a result, adoption of mobile device applications is typically quite low.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.
SUMMARYA computer-implemented method includes receiving a request to scan a barcode and in response, displaying a split screen having a camera image portion and a product information portion. At least part of an image currently being captured by a camera and containing a barcode is displayed in the camera image portion. Product information for a product represented by the barcode is displayed in the product information portion.
In accordance with a further embodiment, a mobile device includes a camera, a display, a memory containing instructions, and a processor executing the instructions in the memory to perform steps. The steps include receiving a request to scan for barcodes and displaying a user interface with an image area containing images produced by the camera, and a product area containing product information for a product associated with a barcode shown in the image area wherein the product information changes automatically when the barcode shown in the image area changes.
In accordance with a still further embodiment, a method includes executing a web application within a browser application on a device such that the web application performs a test to determine if the browser application can request images from a camera on the device. When the browser application can request images from the camera, the web application displays a control to request barcode scanning and receives an indication that the control has been used to request barcode scanning. In response, the web application shows a split screen user interface depicting images captured by the camera in one portion of the user interface.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
The cameras on mobile devices can be used to capture images of barcodes on products. Numbers and/or letters represented by the barcode can then be decoded from the barcode and can be submitted as an identifier for the product. Such identifiers can be submitted as a request to purchase the product online and/or to receive additional information about the product online. In the past, as soon as the barcode was decoded, the user interface was changed to either take the user to a purchase page or to take the user to a page displaying information about the product. If the user wished to scan another barcode for a different product, they had to interact with several controls in order to move away from the page they have been directed to and bring back a user interface that could be used to capture the barcode. These interactions made the mobile device inefficient when attempting to receive information for a large number of products based on their barcode.
In the various embodiments described below, a user interface is provided in which a split screen is shown with one portion of the screen containing images provided by a camera in the mobile device containing a barcode of a product and a second portion of the split screen containing information for the product associated with the barcode. When the user shifts the mobile device so that the camera captures an image of a different barcode, the displayed product information automatically changes so that it corresponds to the new barcode without the user having to select any controls on the mobile device. As a result, the user is able to quickly receive product information for a number of different products simply by scanning over the barcodes of the different products. Further, since the product information changes as soon as the barcode is capable of being read, the user is able to receive feedback that the barcode has been properly positioned within the camera portion of the split screen based on the change in product information in the product information portion of the split screen.
“Barcode” as used herein includes one-dimensional or linear codes that use black and white vertical lines to encode information as well as multi-dimensional codes (two or more) including QR codes, that encode information using two-dimensional shapes and/or multiple different colors. In some embodiments, the barcode is embedded within another graphic. In some embodiments, the barcode can be perceived by human eyes and in other embodiments, the barcode can only be perceived by a camera or scanner that includes a digital filter.
At step 204 of
Camera interface 150 provides the stream of camera images to a UI control 152, which displays a split screen user interface with a camera image portion and a product information portion at step 208. In accordance with one embodiment, the split screen user interface is created within a window created by browser app 110.
The continuous evaluation of barcodes in step 210 means that as camera 112 is shifted and a new barcode comes into view, barcode processing 154 and UI control 152 automatically update the product information displayed in product information portion 504 without requiring the user to interact with any further controls. For example, user interface 700 shows a change in the product information of product information portion 504 due to a different barcode 702 being captured by camera 112 as shown in camera portion 502. Thus, the user is able to receive information for a large number of different products simply by moving the camera to different barcodes. In addition, the changes in the product information of product information portion 504 provide feedback to the user that the barcode has been read by the mobile device.
If web request 156 successfully retrieves the product information at step 812, the product information is displayed in the product portion of the split screen user interface at step 814 together with an ADD TO CART button and a VIEW DETAILS button. The process of
Because web app 120 is executing within browser app 118 and because web app 120 requires product information to be sent by website server 106, the product information cannot be displayed if mobile device 102 does not have a network connection and is therefore considered to be “offline”. If web request 156 fails to receive the product information at step 812, web request 156 determines if mobile device 102 is offline at step 818. If mobile device 102 is not offline at step 818, the process returns to step 800 to capture a new snapshot from the image stream. If mobile device 102 is offline at step 818, the barcode data is stored and a listener task is set that will listen for connect event at step 820. Such a listener will be triggered the next time the mobile device connects to the network as discussed further below. At step 822, after the listener has been set, camera interface 150 instructs camera 112 to turn off through camera API 124. UI control 152 then displays the page that was shown before the barcode scan button was selected at step 824.
At step 906, the bit values determine in step 904 for the barcode are compared to patterns defined for the particular barcode protocol being used. The characters or symbols associated with the matching digital patterns are then retrieved at step 906.
Returning to
Although elements have been shown or described as separate embodiments above, portions of each embodiment may be combined with all or part of other embodiments described above.
Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms for implementing the claims.
Claims
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- a camera interface in a web browser application executed by a script engine in the web browser application determining whether the web browser application supports accessing a camera;
- the web browser application determining whether to display a selectable control in a user interface based on whether the web browser application supports accessing the camera, the selectable control for requesting barcode scanning;
- receiving a request to scan a barcode;
- in response, the web browser application displaying a split screen within a browser window of the web browser application, the split screen having a camera image portion and a product information portion;
- displaying at least part of an image currently being captured by a camera and containing a barcode in the camera image portion; and
- displaying product information for a product represented by the barcode in the product information portion.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request to scan a barcode comprises receiving the request from the web application.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 when the web browser application supports accessing the camera, displaying a selectable control for requesting the scan of the barcode; and
- wherein receiving the request to scan the barcode comprises receiving an indication that the selectable control has been selected.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a series of images captured by the camera in the camera image portion such that within the series of images a second barcode is shown in the camera image portion and when the second barcode is shown, second product information for a product represented by the second barcode is automatically shown in the product information portion.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein displaying the product information in the product information portion further comprises displaying a control for adding the product to an electronic shopping cart.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein displaying the product information in the product information portion further comprises displaying a control for obtaining more information about the product.
7. A method comprising:
- a camera interface of a web application executed by a script engine of the web browser application determining whether the web browser application supports accessing a camera;
- the web browser application determining whether to display a selectable control in a first user interface based on whether the web browser application supports accessing the camera, the selectable control for requesting barcode scanning;
- receiving a request to scan for barcodes; and
- the web application executed by the script engine of the web browser application displaying a second user interface within a window of the web browser application, the second user interface having an image area containing images produced by the camera, and an area containing information for an item associated with a barcode shown in the image area wherein the information changes automatically when the barcode shown in the image area changes.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein displaying the area comprises displaying a control to view details of the item.
9. The method of claim 7 further comprising in response to receiving the request to scan for barcodes sending a request for images from the camera through the web browser application.
10. A method comprising:
- executing a web application within a browser application on a device such that: the web application performs a test to determine if the browser application can request images from a camera on the device; when the browser application can request images from the camera, the web application displaying a control to request barcode scanning; receiving an indication that the control has been used to request barcode scanning, and in response showing a split screen user interface depicting images captured by the camera in one portion of the user interface.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein showing a split screen comprises displaying a barcode in the portion of the user interface depicting images captured by the camera and displaying information for a product associated with the barcode in a second portion of the user interface.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein displaying information for a product associated with the barcode comprises displaying information for a second product associated with a second barcode automatically when the image captured by the camera contains the second barcode instead of the barcode.
13. The method of claim 11 further comprising displaying a control for adding the product to an electronic shopping cart with the information for the product.
14. The method of claim 13 further comprising displaying a control to request additional information about the product with the information for the product.
Type: Application
Filed: Apr 29, 2021
Publication Date: Aug 12, 2021
Inventors: Selvaganapathy Kaliamurthy (Bangalore), Divek Karagwal (Bangalore), Shubham Goyal (Bangalore)
Application Number: 17/244,294