Triggered data collector and data transmitter

• US 20010038037A1
• Filed: 03/19/2001
• Published: 11/08/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/1995
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Bridgelall, Raj, Kahn, Joel
• Granted Patent: US 6,415,982 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/462.14
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisious for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1011 Aiming
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1013 Multi-focal
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10851 Circuits for pulse shaping, amplifying, eliminating noise signals, checking the function of the sensing device basic electronic circuitry H03
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10881 constructional details of hand-held scanners

Abstract

A plurality of data collectors and/or a transceiver for transmitting data in a plurality of transmissions are actuated by independent, manual actuations of a triggering circuit, preferably comprising a plurality of trigger switches, or a single trigger switch having a plurality of trigger positions.

Claims

1. An arrangement for processing information, comprising:

a) a support;

b) a first, actuatable data collector on the support, for collecting first data;

c) a second, actuatable data collector on the support, for collecting second data; and

d) a triggering circuit for independently, manually actuating the first and second data collectors to independently collect the first and second data, respectively.

2. The arrangement of

claim 1

, wherein the support is a generally planar card.

3. The arrangement of

claim 2

, wherein the card is a PCMCIA card.

4. The arrangement of

claim 1

, wherein each data collector is one selected from a group comprised of a bar code symbol reader, a radio frequency identifying tag reader, a smart card reader, a magnetic stripe reader, a biometric reader, a charge coupled device reader and an infrared data reader.

5. The arrangement of

claim 1

, wherein the triggering circuit includes a pair of independently operable trigger switches.

6. The arrangement of

claim 1

, wherein the triggering circuit includes a single trigger switch having a plurality of trigger positions, each operative for actuating the respective data collectors.

7. The arrangement of

claim 1

, and further comprising a wireless transceiver on the support, for transmitting at least one of the data by wireless communication to a host remote from the support.

8. An arrangement for processing information, comprising:

a) a support;

b) an actuatable data collector on the support, for collecting data;

c) an actuatable transceiver on the support, for transmitting the data by wireless communication to a host remote from the support; and

d) a triggering circuit for independently, manually actuating the data collector and the transceiver.

9. The arrangement of

claim 8

, wherein the triggering circuit includes a pair of independently operable trigger switches.

10. The arrangement of

claim 8

, wherein the triggering circuit includes a single trigger switch having a plurality of trigger positions, each operative for actuating the data collector and the transceiver, respectively.

11. An arrangement for processing information, comprising:

a) a support;

b) a plurality of data collectors on the support, for collecting a plurality of data;

c) an actuatable transceiver on the support, for transmitting the plurality of data by wireless communication to a host remote from the support; and

d) a triggering circuit for independently, manually actuating the transceiver to transmit one of the data during a first actuation of the triggering circuit, and to transmit another of the data during a second actuation of the triggering circuit.

12. The arrangement of

claim 11

, wherein the triggering circuit includes a pair of independently operable trigger switches.

13. The arrangement of

claim 11

, wherein the triggering circuit includes a single trigger switch having a plurality of trigger positions, each operative for actuating the triggering circuit.

14. A method of processing information, comprising the steps of:

a) collecting first data by operating a first, actuatable data collector;

b) collecting second data by operating a second, actuatable data collector; and

c) independently actuating the data collectors by manually operating a triggering circuit.

15. The method of

claim 14

, wherein each collecting step is performed by performing one of the steps of reading a bar code symbol, a radio frequency tag, a smart card, a magnetic stripe, a biometric characteristic of a user, an image, and infrared data.

16. The method of

claim 14

, wherein the actuating step is performed by independently operating a pair of trigger switches.

17. The method of

claim 14

, wherein the actuating step is performed by actuating a single trigger switch to a plurality of trigger positions.

18. The method of

claim 14

;

and further comprising transmitting at least one of the data by wireless transmission to a host remote from the collectors.

19. A method of processing information, comprising the steps of:

a) collecting a plurality of data; and

b) transmitting the plurality of data by wireless communication to a host by transmitting one of the data during a first actuation of a triggering circuit, and by transmitting another of the data during a second actuation of the triggering circuit.