APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SHARING DATA AMONG MULTIPLE TERMINAL DEVICES

• US 20070266109A1
• Filed: 05/11/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vocollect, Inc. (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Vocollect, Inc. (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Mellott, Mark, Zoschg, Ryan, Bender, Brian, Lehotay, Peter, Snyder, Andrew, Karatassos, Harry
• Granted Patent: US 8,438,239 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies

Abstract

Apparatus and method for propagating data between multiple terminal devices includes determining the functional operability of a plurality of devices to assess which devices are properly configured. If a device is properly configured, operating the device in a transmit-mode to transmit functional operability data. If a device is not properly configured, operating the device in a receive-mode to receive the functional operability data. Coupling a transmitting device and at least one receiving device to a plurality of ports that are operably connected together so that the transmitting device and receiving device share the functional operability data.

Claims

1. A method of sharing functional operability data between a plurality of terminal devices comprising:

coupling at least one transmit-mode terminal device which has a desired functional operability to a transmit port;

coupling at least one receive-mode terminal device which lacks the desired functional operability to a receive port;

the transmit and receive ports being coupled together with a data transfer connection;

transmitting functional operability data from the transmit port to the receive port for enabling the receive-mode terminal device with the desired functional operability.

2. The method of claim 1 including initially downloading said functional operability data from a management console to a receive-mode terminal device for converting the terminal device to a transmit-mode device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one receive-mode terminal device which has received said functional operability data is converted to a transmit-mode terminal device and further comprising repeating the method of claim 1 with the converted transmit-mode device to distribute the functional operability data to a plurality of other terminal devices.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said terminal devices is capable of operating as a receive-mode device or a transmit-mode device.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein said terminal devices automatically assume either a receive-mode or transmit-mode functionality upon occurrence of a trigger event.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said trigger event includes the receipt of a trigger signal by the terminal device.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein said terminal devices automatically assume either a receive-mode or a transmit-mode functionality based upon the setting of a selective manual switch.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the devices have rechargeable power supplies, and further comprising recharging power supplies of the terminal devices during the sharing of the functional operability data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the functional operability data allows the device onto a wireless network.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising coupling a plurality of receive-mode terminal devices lacking the desired functional operability to a plurality of receive ports coupled to the transmit port for enabling a plurality of receive-mode devices with the desired functional operability using a single transmit-mode device.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising verifying whether the terminal device coupled to the transmit port has the desired functional operability and only transmitting if it has the desired functional operability.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising verifying whether the terminal device coupled to the receive port has the desired functional operability and, if it does, disabling the receive-mode device from receiving the transmitted data.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the data transfer connection is a wired serial connection.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the data transfer connection is a wireless connection.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to transmitting functional operability data, verifying that the data is to be shared with the receive-mode terminal devices.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the receive port is only configured to receive the transmitted data from the receive port but not to transmit data to the transmit port.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmit port is only configured to transmit the transmitted data to the receive port but not to receive any data from the receive port.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the ports is selectively switchable to act as either a receive port or a transmit port.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting functional operability data repeatedly from the transmit port to the receive port.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

coupling the enabled receive-mode terminal devices that have the desired functional operability with a plurality of transmit ports and repeating the method steps of claim 1 to proliferate the functional operability to a plurality of terminal devices.

21. The method of claim 2 further comprising, prior to transmitting functional operability data, verifying with the management console that the data is distributable and/or the device is authorized to transmit in transmit-mode.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising obtaining the data from the management console to be distributed with the receive-mode terminal devices.

23. The method of claim 14 wherein the receive-mode terminal device verifies the transmit-mode terminal device before receiving the data from transmit-mode terminal device.

24. A method for propagating data between multiple terminal devices comprising:

determining the functional operability of a plurality of devices to assess which devices are properly configured;

if a device is properly configured, operating the device in a transmit-mode to transmit functional operability data;

if a device is not properly configured, operating the device in a receive-mode to receive the functional operability data;

coupling a transmitting device and at least one receiving device to a plurality of ports that are operably connected together so that the transmitting device and receiving device share the functional operability data.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the ports are connected together with a serial connection.

26. The method of claim 24 further comprising determining if the functional operability data is to be distributed and only transmitting distributable functional operability data.

27. The method of claim 24 further comprising repeatedly transmitting the functional operability data with a transmitting device.

28. The method of claim 24 wherein the functional operability data renders the receiving device properly configured when received thereby.

29. A terminal device for operating on a wireless network comprising:

processing circuitry configured to monitor the occurrence of a trigger event and, upon detecting the trigger event, to verify the functional operability of the terminal device on the network; and

communication circuitry;

the processing circuitry, upon verifying the functional operability of the terminal device, further operable for transmitting functional operability data to other terminal devices using the communication circuitry and if unable to verify its functional operability, operable for receiving functional operability data from another terminal device using the communication circuitry.

30. The terminal device of claim 29 wherein the communication circuitry is configured for serial communications.

31. The terminal device of claim 29 wherein the communication circuitry is configured for wireless communications.

32. The terminal device of claim 29 wherein the trigger event includes the receipt of a trigger signal by the terminal device.

33. The terminal device of claim 29 wherein the terminal device is converted to a transmit-mode for transmitting data and is converted to a receive-mode for receiving data.

34. The terminal device of claim 33 wherein said terminal is configured to convert automatically to a transmit-mode or a receive-mode based upon its functional operability.

35. The terminal device of claim 33 wherein said terminal is configured to convert between transmit and receive modes upon manual actuation of a switch on the terminal device.

36. The terminal device of claim 30 further comprising electrical connections for interfacing with a battery charger having multiple bays interconnected by a serial communication link.

37. The terminal device of claim 33 configured to first operate in receive-mode to receive said functional operability data from a management console or other terminal, and then to operate in transmit-mode to distribute said functional operability data to other terminals.

38. The terminal device of claim 29 wherein the processing circuitry is further operable for determining if the functional operability data is designated as distributable and only transmitting distributable data.

39. The terminal device of claim 29 wherein the processing circuitry is further operable for obtaining the functional operability data from a management console for transmitting to other terminal devices.

40. The terminal device of claim 31 wherein the processing circuitry is operable for verifying the terminal device from which the functional operability data is received.

41. The terminal device of claim 29 further comprising a rechargeable power supply, the trigger event including recharging of the power supply.

42. The terminal device of claim 29 wherein the terminal device is shaped to be placed in a docking bay, the trigger event including the terminal being place in a docking bay.

43. The terminal device of claim 29 wherein, when transmitting, the terminal device cyclically repeats the transmission of the transmitted data to the another terminal device.

44. The terminal device of claim 38 wherein the data may be made selectively distributable.

45. The terminal device of claim 29, wherein functional operability data is related to a network configuration for being able to communicate with a wireless network.

64. A system comprising the terminal of claim 29 and a multi-bay battery charger having at least one transmit docking bay adapted to receive a terminal device operating to transmit data and a plurality of receive docking bays adapted to receive terminals operating to receive data.

46. A terminal device comprising:

circuitry configured, when enabled, for communicating with a network, the terminal device operable to monitor for a trigger event for transmitting to or receiving functional operability data from another terminal device;

upon the occurrence of a trigger event, the terminal device determining if it is enabled for communicating with the network;

if enabled, the terminal further operable for transmitting functional operability data for receipt by another terminal device;

if not enabled, the processing circuitry operable for recieve functional operability data transmitted by another terminal device.

47. The terminal device of claim 46 wherein the functional operability data transmitted enables the another terminal device to communicate with a network.

48. An apparatus for transferring data between terminal devices comprising:

a plurality of ports including at least one transmit port and at least one receive port;

the transmit port configured for transmitting data from a terminal device coupled thereto to the receive port;

the receive port configured for only receiving data from the transmit port for uploading the transmitted data to a terminal device coupled to the receive port.

49. The apparatus of claim 48 further comprising a plurality of receive ports each configured for only receiving data from the transmit port.

50. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein the receive port is not configured to transmit data to any other port of the apparatus.

51. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein at least one of the ports is selectively switchable between being configured to act as a receive port or being configured to act as a transmit port.

52. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein at least one of the ports may be selectively disabled from acting as a transmit port or a receive port for transferring data between terminal devices.

53. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein the ports are coupled together with one of a wired connection or wireless connection.

54. The apparatus of claim 48 further comprising bays housing the ports and configured for cradling a terminal device for the transfer of data.

55. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein at least one of the ports is coupled to a power supply and is configured to transfer power to a device coupled thereto.

56. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein said ports comprise parts of a cable fan.

57. The apparatus of claim 48 wherein the apparatus is configured to couple to another similar apparatus having a plurality of receive ports.

58. The apparatus of claim 54 wherein the bays include connections for charging a battery of terminal device cradled therein.

59. A charger apparatus for charging the power supplies of terminal devices comprising:

a plurality of ports coupled to a power supply and configured to transfer power from the power supply to individual power supplies of a plurality of terminal devices coupled with the ports;

the ports including a data transmission link therebetween to define at least one transmit port and at least one receive port, and while charging the power supply of the terminal device coupled thereto, the transmit port configured for transmitting data from the terminal device to the receive port.

60. The charger apparatus of claim 59 wherein at least one of ports is selectively switchable between being configured to act as a receive port or being configured to act as a transmit port.

61. The charger apparatus of claim 59 wherein at least one of the ports may be selectively disabled from acting as a transmit port or a receive port, to only charge the power supply of a device coupled thereto.

62. The charger apparatus of claim 59 wherein the data transmission link is a serial connection.

63. The charger apparatus of claim 59 further comprising bays housing the ports and configured for cradling a device for charging and transferring data.

65. A system comprising the charger apparatus of claim 59 with at least one rechargeable terminal device adapted to be operatively coupled with a port of said charger and configured to cooperate with said data transmission link to distribute functional operability data among terminal devices coupled with the ports.