Digital coupons are catching on with consumers, but the market's growth has been hampered by a pesky problem: Many retailers still aren't equipped with laser scanners that can detect bar codes off of the reflective, shiny, backlit screen of a smartphone.

Procter & Gamble Co. is working on a potential solution. The consumer-goods giant said Monday it is working with start-up mobeam Inc. on a pilot program that will allow consumers to redeem coupons for P&G products straight from their phones. San Francisco-based mobeam has patented a way to beam out a bar code from the screen of a phone that is legible to normal laser scanners.

US consumers saved more than USD1.2 billion from redeeming digital coupons in 2010, according to a research report by digital-coupon provider Coupons.com, up 41 percent from a year earlier.

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