A little light on Neomedia vs Abaxia is shed

The plot thickens

By Tony Dennis: Tuesday 20 February 2007, 21:15

HAVING PUBLISHED the rumour that French software house, Abaxia, was thinking of suing arch rival, Neomedia Technologies, over bar code technology, the INQ has been deluged with requests for more information.

Sadly, we haven't been able to get either side to comment as yet. But there is some light that we can shed on the matter.

There are definitely moves ahead to create a global standard for mobile bar-coding.

As Neomedia recently stated,"We are also making great strides to create a global standard for the wireless Web and have scheduled a high-level meeting in London this month [February] with some of the world's leading technology firms to begin to define and document this important standards-based initiative."

It also said, "We envision a future in which consumers routinely "qode it" when they want more information on a product or service."

The company obviously wants to establish its own brand – Qode- as the standard name for this kind of behaviour. Just as photocopying was once called 'Xeroxing'.

The fly in the ointment is that Abaxia and its existing customerbase, which includes several leading mobile operators, don't reckon that Neomedia can actually patent the technology in Europe.

In Europe you can't patent something which people have been doing for ages, just because you're the first to the patent office with an application form.

More here

Scanbuy Awarded Two Patents for Decoding and Enhancing Barcodes for Mobile Devices

Scanbuy, Inc., (http://www.scanbuy.com/) a global provider of wireless commerce solutions today 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.