I can’t remember the specifics of it, but if you do a little searching I’m sure you can dig it up pretty easily… a while back there was some big hoopla over this sorta thing, being able to do comparison shopping using barcodes/upcs and isbns (specifically the latter I believe) using a wireless device while out at a real store. It got to the point where people figured out how to hack these freebie little scanner things and use them to scan in a barcode and do instant shopping comparisons. There was a big todo about it at the time, somebody was not at all pleased.

As far as the functionality goes, this was a big thing on the wishlist for the DVD Profiler Community… being able to key in upcs from their cell phones to check against their own personal collection database (since it’s tough to remember certain things when you’re actually out at the store sometimes). The ability to scan/key in these things had been functional in this software and other dvd collection software which made it extremely easy to enter your dvds into your collection database. I don’t know if they ever implemented the mobile features however.

Either way, this type of functionality would be helpful with any consumer shopping to check not only on prices but to double check on your own online inventory/shopping lists to make sure you’re getting the right thing or to just plain remind you what else you need to get when you forget the list, hehe.

As far as patents for X Marks the Technology names for mobile barcode scanners and such I don’t think we’re going to see too many patent suits until the market gets truly ugly since everyone tries to patent everything these days and unless it’s revolutionary technology it’s not really worth going to court over common sense uses or after-the-fact patenting.

Ja