Portable Data Terminal

• US 20100314443A1
• Filed: 06/12/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Cudzilo, Dennis Henry
• Granted Patent: US 9,519,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/435
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0728 the arrangement being an optical or sound-based communication interface
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10386 the interrogation device being of the portable or hand-handheld type, e.g. incorporated in ubiquitous hand-held devices such as PDA or mobile phone, or in the form of a portable dedicated RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10881 constructional details of hand-held scanners
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/109 adaptations to make the hand-held scanner useable as a fixed scanner

Abstract

A portable data terminal that includes a housing and an environmentally responsive device for collecting data about the environment surrounding the housing. The portable data terminal also includes an encoded information reader unit with one or more data collection hardware devices, which can capture data encoded in decodable indicia, e.g., bar codes. In one embodiment, the portable data terminal is configured to operate in a mode that processes the decodable indicia, and the environmental data so as to correlate the information decoded in the decodable indicia with the environmental data.

Claims

1. A portable data terminal having a housing in surrounding relation to one or more components for reading a decodable indicia, said portable data terminal comprising:

a memory;

a control circuit communicatively coupled to the memory;

an encoded information reader unit responsive to a signal from the control circuit, the encoded information reader unit comprising a data collection hardware device selected from one of a bar code reading device, an RFID reading device, and a card reading device;

an interface bus communicatively coupled to one or more of the memory, the control circuit, and the encoded information reader unit; and

an environmentally responsive device coupled to the interface bus, the environmentally responsive device comprising a sensing portion in communication with an environment external to the housing in a manner capturing an environmental reading for the environment.

2. A portable data terminal according to claim 1, wherein the sensing portion comprises a temperature sensor exposed to the environment.

3. A portable data terminal according to claim 2, wherein the housing is configured with an aperture for exposing the temperature sensor to the environment.

4. A portable data terminal according to claim 3, further comprising a protective cap disposed on the housing in a manner covering at least a portion of the temperature sensor, wherein the protective cap comprises a thermally conductive material.

5. A portable data terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal is operative in a first sensing mode in which the terminal captures the environmental reading in response to an operator initiated command.

6. A portable data terminal according to claim 5, further comprising

a display for displaying the environmental data;

and

a button for receiving the operator initiated command.

7. A portable data terminal according to claim 1, wherein the terminal is further operative in a second sensing mode in which the terminal captures a plurality of the environmental readings, the environmental readings comprise a first environmental reading and a second environmental reading that occurs at a configurable time period away from the first environmental reading.

8. A portable data terminal according to claim 7, wherein the terminal still further operative to correlate the environmental readings with a time at which the terminal captures the environmental reading.

9. A hand held reader for reading data from the environment, said hand held reader comprising:

a housing comprising an aperture;

an environmentally responsive device supportably connected to the housing in a manner exposing a sensing portion to the environment proximate the aperture, the sensing portion providing an environmental reading for the environment;

an interface bus communicatively coupled to the sensing portion;

a central processing unit coupled to the interface bus, the central processing unit providing a signal for capturing the environmental reading from the sensing portion;

an encoded information reader unit coupled to the central processing unit, the encoded information reader unit comprising a data collection hardware device selected from one of a bar code reading device, an RFID reading device, and a card reading device; and

a memory for storing the environmental reading and data from the data collection hardware device.

10. A hand held reader according to claim 9, wherein the interface bus comprises a two-wire interface.

11. A hand held reader according to claim 10, further comprising a cable comprising a first wire and a second wire, each of the first wire and the second wire connecting the sensing portion with the two-wire interface.

12. A hand held reader according to claim 11, further comprising a protective cap disposed on the housing in a manner covering at least a portion of the sensing portion.

13. A hand held reader according to claim 12, further comprising:

a user input interface comprising an input device permitting a user to select one of the plurality of modes; and

a user output interface comprising an output device communicating the environmental reading to the user.

14. A hand held reader according to claim 9, wherein the sensing portion operates in a plurality of modes comprising a first sensing mode that captures the environmental reading at a first configurable time and a second configurable time that is different from the first configurable time.

15. A hand held reader according to claim 14, wherein the first configurable time is separated from the second configurable time by a configurable time period.

16. A hand held reader according to claim 15, wherein the plurality of modes comprise a second sensing mode in which the terminal captures a plurality of the environmental readings, the environmental readings comprise a first environmental reading and a second environmental reading that occurs at the configurable time period away from the first environmental reading.

17. A hand held reader according to claim 14, wherein the plurality of modes comprise a third mode in which the terminal activates the data collection hardware device to decode a decodable indicia, and captures the environmental reading at substantially the same time.

18. A data collection system for a portable data terminal having a housing with a form factor in surrounding relation to components of the portable data terminal, said data collection system comprising:

an interface bus comprising a two-wire interface;

a temperature sensor coupled to the two-wire interface, the temperature sensor comprising a sensing portion exposed in a manner providing a temperature reading of an environment external to the housing;

a memory for storing the temperature reading; and

an encoded information reader unit in communication with the memory, the encoded information reader unit comprising a data collection hardware device selected from one of a bar code reading device, an RFID reading device, and a card reading device,

wherein the portable data terminal is operative in a first sensing mode that correlates data from the data collection hardware device, and the temperature reading in response to an operator initiated signal.

19. The data collection system according to claim 18, wherein the terminal is further operative in a second sensing mode in which the terminal captures a plurality of the environmental readings, the environmental readings comprise a first environmental reading and a second environmental reading that occurs at a configurable time period away from the first environmental reading.

20. The data collection system according to claim 19, wherein the terminal is still further operative to correlate the environmental readings with a time at which the terminal captures the environmental reading.