Patent ID: 7117227

Claim:
A new use for the Internet Domain Name System which comprises, in combination, the steps of: establishing a plurality of separate hosts connected to the Internet, each of said hosts providing data relating to one or more products, each of said products being designated by a unique universal product code value, and each of said hosts being designated by a unique Internet address, storing cross-references in the Internet Domain Name System, each of said cross-references establishing a relationship between a domain name that incorporates at least a predetermined portion of a given one of said product code values and a corresponding Internet address of the host computer that provides data relating to the product designated by said given one of said product code values, and retrieving data via the Internet that relates to a particular product designated by a particular universal product code value by performing the steps of: transforming said particular universal product code value into a destination domain name that incorporates at least said predetermined portion of said particular one of said universal product code values, using the Internet Domain Name System to convert said destination domain name into the destination Internet address that corresponds to said destination domain name, and retrieving data relating to said particular product via the Internet from the host designated by said destination Internet address.