Patent ID: 8723962

Claim:
A method, in a portable computing device comprising a camera, for exchanging information between a user and a provider, comprising: capturing an image using the camera of the portable computing device; determining an identifier of a physical object associated with the captured image; transmitting, by the portable computing device, the identifier of the physical object, and selected user information describing a user of the portable computing device, to a separate computing device associated with a provider of the physical object; receiving, by the portable computing device, in response to the transmitting, physical object information associated with the physical object from the separate computing device associated with the provider of the physical object; and storing, in a storage device of the portable computing device, the physical object information in association with at least one of the captured image or the identifier of the physical object, wherein transmitting the identifier of the physical object, and selected user information to a separate computing device associated with a provider of the physical object comprises automatically sending a transmission of the selected user information to an object computing device coupled to the physical object located within a field of view upon which the camera of the portable computing device is focused in response to the capturing of the image, and wherein the object computing device transmits the identifier of the physical object and the selected user information to the separate computing device.