Claims
- 1. A method for opening a file on a computer system comprising presenting a printed version of said file to an optical sensor, and opening the file on the computer system.
- 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the printed version includes identifying information hidden therein, and wherein the optical sensor provides scan data which is analyzed to determine the identifying information, said identifying information being used to interrogate a data record to identify a file address associated with the file so that once the address is identified the file can be opened on the computer system.
- 3. The method of claim 2, further comprises a step of monitoring the file address to determine an address change, and updating the data record to reflect the change.
- 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the identifying information hidden in the printed version comprises a steganographic watermark.
- 5. The method of claim 2 further comprising a step of verifying authority to access the file prior to opening the file on the computer system.
- 6. The method of claim 5, wherein authority is verified via a password.
- 7. The method of claim 5, wherein authority is verified via a security token.
- 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the security token comprises at least one of a voice-print, fingerprint and retinal scan.
- 9. A method comprising:
presenting a printed document to an optical sensor; and in response thereto, loading an electronic version of said document using an application program with which the document was originally generated.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said printed document comprises optically-detectable indicia thereon, said indicia being machine-readable, but not generally intelligible to human viewers thereof, the optical sensor producing scan data, said method further comprising the steps of decoding the scan data to produce binary data corresponding to said indicia; accessing a data store using at least a portion of said binary data; obtaining from said data store an electronic address at which an electronic version of said printed document is stored; and determining the application program suitable for opening said electronic version.
- 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the indicia is a steganographic watermark.
RELATED APPLICATION DATA
[0001] The present application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/629,401, filed Aug. 1, 2000 (Allowed). The Ser. No. 09/629,401 application is a continuation-in-part of copending applications Ser. No. 09/343,104, filed Jun. 29, 1999, and Ser. No. 09/571,422, filed May 15, 2000.
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09629401 |
Aug 2000 |
US |
Child |
10118653 |
Apr 2002 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09343104 |
Jun 1999 |
US |
Child |
09629401 |
Aug 2000 |
US |
Parent |
09571422 |
May 2000 |
US |
Child |
09629401 |
Aug 2000 |
US |