Sending data from Client USB or serial to server.

[Bruce]

I'm hoping someone will be able to point me in the general direction
for a solution to the following scenario.

A company I work for has a page in a web app where a user manually
enters data gathered from a USB or Serial device ( a hand held scanner
). Instead of scanning, and then manually entering the data, the
client wants to automatically send the data over the web.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some good books, articles,
sample code, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Bruce.