US 6,330,976 · Granted 2001-12-18

Xerox's Paper-to-Internet Bridge: The Patent That Made Printed Pages Click

Imagine printing a page with a special barcode or QR-code-like marking on it. When you scan or photograph that marking, it tells the internet which page it is and what action to perform — like opening a website, playing a video, or ordering something. Xerox patented this idea of connecting physical paper directly to digital actions through the network.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claims cover a system where machine-readable markings embedded in or on printed material encode two pieces of information: an identifier that points to a specific digital counterpart (like a unique page ID or document ID), and an action identifier that triggers a specific function through the network. What's protected is the combination of these identifiers working together—whether that's a page ID plus an action code, or a sticker ID plus instructions for what happens when it's scanned. The marking itself translates into automated network behavior without requiring the user to manually type or search.

Why it matters

This patent sits at the intersection of print and digital technology, protecting a concept that anticipated how physical objects would eventually connect to online services. Though filed in 1999, before smartphones and QR codes became ubiquitous, Xerox's core idea—that machine-readable markings on paper could trigger networked actions—became foundational to modern applications like scanning product codes to view reviews, tapping NFC tags, or using visual codes in marketing campaigns. The patent gave Xerox a broad claim over that category of bridging technology.

Real-world use

When you photograph a QR code on a cereal box and it opens a recipe website, or tap your phone to an NFC sticker that connects to a product page, you're using the same principle Xerox protected: physical markings that pull information and actions from the network.

Original USPTO abstract

Automatic actions can be obtained through a network using an area of marking medium with machine-readable markings that encode an action/medium identifier. The action/medium identifier identifies an action that can be produced through the network, and also identifies the area of marking medium. For example, it may include a globally unique or network-wide page identifier as well as an action identifier that can be used to produce an action described by data associated with a counterpart digital page. Or it can include both a page identifier and a location identifier, with the location identifier also identifying an action that relates to the page's digital counterpart. Or it can include a document identifier and an action identifier. Or it can be a globally unique or network-wide sticker identifier that can be used to identify a document, a peripheral device, or another object to which the sticker is attached, and that also produces an action through the network.

Patent details

Publication number: US 6,330,976
Filing date: 1999-03-25
Grant date: 2001-12-18
Assignee: Xerox Corporation
Inventor(s): DYMETMAN MARC, COPPERMAN MAX
CPC class: G06F3/03545

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