Patent ID: 7159037

Claim:
A method for providing an interconnection relationship between a product that has disposed thereon a machine readable product code on the product, and a desired location on a global communications network, the machine readable product code having encoded product code information contained therein and the purpose thereof being other than routing to the desired location on the network, the product code information having no routing information embedded therein which would allow the product code information, in and of itself, to cause routing to the desired location over any path on the network, comprising the steps of: reading a machine readable code at a user location on the network; in response to the step of reading the machine readable product code, and without user intervention of a user at the user location on the network, extracting the product code information from the machine readable product code; assembling a message packet containing the product code information; transmitting the message packet to an intermediate node on the network having associated therewith a database which has stored therein relationships between the product code information and routing information for at least one desired location on the network; in accordance with the stored relationships in the database, converting the received product code information to routing information over the network to the at least one desired location associated therewith in the database, which routing information, associated with an instructional code, is returned to the user location and defines the manner by which a user or a computer at a user location wherein the machine readable code was read can communicate with the at least one desired location via an interconnection therewith; receiving at the user location from the intermediate node on the network the routing information and associated instructional code that instructs the user node to connect to the at least one desired location on the network; and connecting the user location to the at least one desired location in accordance with the received instructional code and associated routing information such that connection to the at least one desired location is controlled by the intermediate node through the instructional code, wherein all connections to desired locations are controlled only by the intermediate node and not by any actions at the user location other than the operation of reading, and wherein actions at the user location do not prevent connection or affect connection to the desired location.