WEB-BASED SCAN-TASK ENABLED SYSTEM AND METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DEVELOPING AND DEPLOYING THE SAME ON A CLIENT-SERVER NETWORK

• US 20150128116A1
• Filed: 01/18/2012
• Published: 05/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Metrologic Instruments Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Metrologic Instruments Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Enyi, Du, Jiangeng, Zhang, Weilin, Zhu, Xiaoxun
• Granted Patent: US 9,753,704 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9554 by using bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/315 Object-oriented languages
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/41 Compilation

Abstract

An improved development and deployment environment and processes for developing and deploying object-oriented web-based scan-task enabled applications, wherein web-based scan-task enabled client computers use scan task specifications and task decoders to retrieve and decode a scan tasks encapsulated on each web page requested and received from a web server supported by an application server and database server, and then perform specified actions, including the display of web controls, required by the scan task script contained within the decoded scan task, corresponding to the served web page.

Claims

1. A method of developing a web-based scan-task enabled system implemented using object-oriented programming language, and including (i) a client-side having a client machine including a scanner, a scan driver, a task decoder and a web browser, and (ii) a server side having a web server, an application server supporting said web server and a database server supporting said application server, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a scan task specification to a task compiler, running on a computer system, wherein said scan task specification includes definitional components for type, description, parameter and scan task script;

(b) providing said scan task specification to said application server;

(c) using said task compiler and said scan task specification to generate a scan task, implemented in said object-orient programming language, and transferring said scan task to said application server, for encapsulation on said server side, supported by said application server and said database server; and

(d) said application server using said scan task specification, and said scan task generated by said task compiler, to encapsulate said scan task on said server side.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein during step (d), said scan task is encapsulated into a web page served by said web server, by writing said scan task into a hidden field within said web page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein during step (d), said scan task is encapsulated into a web page served by said web server, by storing said scan task in a cookie stored in the web browser of said client machine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein during step (d), said scan task is encapsulated into a web page served by said web server, by storing said scan task within said database server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said object-orient programming language is selected from the group consisting of Java, C#, and Objective C.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said scan task is implemented as a class using said object-oriented programming language.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said task compiler supports one or more of the following services:

(i) calling a web service from said application server to retrieve a list of all web pages from said web server so as to determine the scan scenario of said web-based scan-task enabled system, and select a web page from said list to define a specific scan task for said web page;

programming classes, so that a specific scan task can be viewed as a instance of a parsed class; and

(iii) writing said specific scan task into said application server supporting the web server serving said web page.

8. An object-oriented system development environment for developing a web-based scan-task enabled application implemented using object-oriented programming language on a selected deployment environment, said object-oriented system development environment comprising:

a client side, and a server side;

wherein said server side has an application server and a database server;

wherein said client side has a client machine having a display surface, a code scanner, a scan driver, a web browser, and a task decoder;

a task compiler running on a computer system during a task preparation phase;

a scan task specification provided on said client side;

wherein said scan task specification includes definitional components for type, description, parameter and scan task script;

wherein said scan task specification is also provided on said server side; and

wherein a developer of said web-based scan-task enabled application uses said task compiler and said scan task specification to generate a scan task for encapsulation on said server side.

9. The object-oriented system development environment of claim 8, wherein said task compiler enables encapsulation of said scan task on said server side, by writing said scan task into a hidden field within a web page served by said web server and associated with said scan task.

10. The object-oriented system development environment of claim 8, wherein said task compiler enables encapsulation of said scan task on said server side, by storing said scan task in a cookie stored in the web browser of said client machine, and associated with a web page served by said web server.

11. The object-oriented system development environment of claim 8, wherein said task compiler enables encapsulation of said scan task on said server side, by storing said scan task within said database server supporting said application server and said web server serving a web page associated with said scan task.

12. The object-oriented system development environment of claim 8, wherein said object-oriented programming language is selected from the group consisting of Java, C#, and Objective C.

13. The object-oriented system development environment of claim 8, wherein said scan task is implemented as a class using said object-oriented programming language.

14. The object-oriented system development environment of claim 8, wherein said task compiler supports one or more of the following services:

(i) calling a web service from said application server to retrieve a list of all web pages from said web server so as to determine the scan scenario of said web-based scan-task enabled system, and select a web page from said list to define a scan task for said web page;

(ii) loading said scan task specification and then parsing said scan task specification into object-oriented programming classes, so that a specific scan task can be viewed as a instance of a parsed class; and

(iii) writing said specific scan task into said application server supporting the web server serving said web page.

15. A method of deploying a web-based scan-task enabled application implemented using an object-oriented programming language, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a client-server network having a client side and a server side;

wherein said client side has at least one client machine provided with a display surface, a scanner, a scanner driver, a web browser and a task decoder; and

wherein said server side has a web server, an application server supporting said web server, and a database server supporting said application server;

(b) providing a scan task specification to said client machine on said client side, wherein said scan task specification includes definitional components for type, description, parameter and scan task script, and corresponds to a scan task, implemented in said object-oriented programming language, and encapsulated on said server side;

(c) providing said scan task specification to said application server;

(d) said web server serving to said web browser, a web page associated with said scan task encapsulated on said server side;

(e) said client machine using said task decoder and said scan task specification to decode said scan task, corresponding to said webpage, and parse said scan task into its component parts including type, description, parameter and scan task script; and

(f) selecting said scan task script from said component parts, for execution by said web browser, to display web controls embedded in said web page and linked to said scan task.

(e) displaying said web page, including said web controls, on the display surface of said client machine.

22. The deployment environment of claim 15, wherein said \scan task is encapsulated on said server side, by writing said scan task into a hidden field within said web page.

23. The deployment environment of claim 15, wherein said scan task is encapsulated on said server side, by storing said scan task in a cookie stored in the web browser of said client machine. storing said scan task within said database server.

25. The deployment environment of claim 15, wherein said object-oriented programming language is selected from the group consisting of Java, C#, and Objective C.

26. The deployment environment of claim 15, wherein said scan task is implemented as a class using said object-oriented programming language.

27. The deployment environment of claim 15, wherein each said client machine is selected from the group consisting of mobile code symbol reading smart phones, web-enabled optical code scanner driven device, and portable computing systems having an integrated bar code symbol reading engine, and/or RFID tag reading engine.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said client machine is provided with a hard scan button, and wherein said method further comprises:

(f) a user selecting said hard scan button on said client machine;

(g) said scanner scanning a code, and automatically generating code data representative of said read code;

(h) said scan driver providing said code data to said task decoder;

(i) said task decoder setting said code data as a parameter in said selected scan task script; and

(j) said web browser executing said scan task script and automatically updating said web page and any web controls linked to said web page.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein said web controls include a scan button displayed on said display surface of said client machine, and wherein said method further comprises:

(f) a user selecting said scan button displayed on the display surface of said client machine;

(g) said scanner scanning a code, and automatically generating code data representative of said read code;

(h) said scan driver providing said code data to said task decoder;

(i) said task decoder setting said code data as a parameter in said selected scan task script; and

(j) said web browser executing said scan task script and automatically updating said web page and any web controls linked to said web page.

19. A deployment environment for deploying a web-based scan-task enabled application implemented using an object-oriented programming language, said deployment environment comprising:

a client side having at least one client machine, wherein each said client machine includes a display surface, a code scanner, a scan driver, a web browser, and a task decoder;

a server side having a web server, an application server supporting said web server, and database server supporting said application server;

a scan task specification provided on each said client machine,

wherein said scan task specification includes definitional components for type, description, parameter and scan task script, and corresponds to a scan task, implemented in said object-oriented programming language, and encapsulated on said server side;

said scan task specification provided on said server side, for use by said application server;

wherein said web server serves said web page to said web browser of at least one said client machine;

wherein said web page is associated with said scan task encapsulated on said server side;

task, associated with said webpage, and parse said scan task into its component parts including type, description, parameter and scan task script;

wherein said task decoder selects said scan task script from said component parts, for execution by said web browser, to display web controls embedded in said web page and linked to said scan task; and

wherein said web browser displays said web page, including said web controls, on the display surface of said client machine.

20. The deployment environment of claim 19, wherein said client machine is provided with a hard scan button;

and

wherein when a user of said client machine selects said scan button, the following operations automatically occur;

(i) said scanner scan a code, and automatically generates code data representative of said read code;

(ii) said scan driver provides said code data to said task decoder;

(iii) said task decoder sets said symbol character data as a parameter in said selected scan task script; and

(iv) said web browser executes said scan task script and automatically updates said web page and any web controls linked to said web page.

21. The deployment environment of claim 19, wherein said web controls include a scan button displayed on said display surface of said client machine, and

wherein when a user of said client machine selects said scan button, the following operations automatically occur;

(i) said scanner scan a code, and automatically generates code data representative of said read code;

(ii) said scan driver provides said code data to said task decoder;

(iii) said task decoder sets said symbol character data as a parameter in said selected scan task script; and

(iv) said web browser executes said scan task script and automatically updates said web page and any web controls linked to said web page.

28. A web-based scanner-driven communication system comprising:

a client side having a plurality of web-enabled scanner-driven client computer systems; and

a server side having a web server, an application server and a database server;

wherein said web server is operably connected to the infrastructure of the Internet, and has a hardware platform including one or more CPUs, a memory architecture, and an I/O network interfaces, and running an operating system (OS) and a web server application and suitable application adapters;

wherein said application server operably connected to the infrastructure of the Internet, and has a hardware platform including one or more CPUs, a memory architecture, and I/O network interfaces, and running an operating system (OS) and a web-based scan-task enabled application implemented using an object-oriented programming language;

wherein said database server operably connected to the infrastructure of the Internet, and has a hardware platform comprising one or more CPUs, memory architecture with sufficient data storage, and I/O network interfaces, and running an operating system (OS) and a SQL-type database application supporting said web-based scan-task enabled application;

wherein said web server is supported by said application server, and said application server is supported by said database server; and

wherein each web-enabled scanner-driven client computer system includes a hardware platform including one or more CPUs, a memory architecture, and I/O network interfaces, scanning hardware, and running an operating system (OS) supporting a set of software modules, including;

with a scan task encapsulated on said server side, and specified by a scan task specification that is integrated with said application server and each said web-enabled scanner-driven client computer system;

wherein said scan task specification includes definitional components for type, description, parameter and scan task script;

(ii) a task decoder for requesting said scan task from said application server, and decoding said scan task according to said scan task specification and parsing out the scan task script for said decoded scan task; and

(iii) a scan driver for driving said scanning hardware, handling scan requests, acquiring scanned code data, and returning code data to said task decoder for setting parameters in said scan task script, and execution by said web browser so as to automatically update said web page and any web controls linked to said web page.

29. The web-based scanner-driven communication system of claim 28, wherein said scanning hardware is selected from the group consisting of an integrated code symbol scanner and an RFID tag reader.

30. The web-based scanner-driven communication system of claim 28, wherein said implemented scan task is encapsulated into said web page served by writing said scan task into a hidden field within said web page.

31. The web-based scanner-driven communication system of claim 28, wherein said implemented scan task is encapsulated into said web page served by storing said scan task in a cookie stored in the web browser of said web-enabled scanner-driven client computer system.

32. The web-based scanner-driven communication system of claim 28, wherein said implemented scan task is encapsulated into said web page served by storing said scan task within said database server.

33. The web-based scanner-driven communication system of claim 28, wherein said object-oriented programming language is selected from the group consisting of Java, C#, and Objective C.

34. The web-based scanner-driven communication system of claim 28, wherein said scan task is implemented as a class using said object-oriented programming language.

35. The web-based scanner-driven communication system of claim 28, wherein said web-enabled scanner-driven client computer system is selected from the group consisting of mobile code symbol reading smart phones, web-enabled optical code scanner driven device, and portable computing systems having an integrated bar code symbol reading engine, and/or RFID tag reading engine.

36. A development environment for developing a web-based scan-task enabled application to be deployed on a client-server network having a client side and a server side, said development environment comprising:

a task compiler, along with a scanning task specification, for defining and writing a scanning task for encapsulation on the server side of said client-server network;

wherein said web-based scanning enabled application has web pages that are served from a web server on said server side, supported by an application server, and database server; and

wherein at least one of said web pages is associated with said scan task encapsulated on said server side.

37. A method of deploying a web-based scan-task enabled application on a client-server network having a client side provided with a client computer, and a server side provided with a web server supported by an application server and a database server, said method comprising:

(a) providing said client computer with a web browser, a code scanner, a task decoder and a scan task specification;

(b) from said web server, serving a web page associated with a scan task that has been encapsulated on said server side;

(c) using said scan task specification and said task decoder to retrieve and decode said scan task encapsulated on said server side;

(d) obtaining a scan task script from the decoded scan task;

(e) using said scanner to scan a code and generate code data representative of said scanned code;

(f) setting said code data as a parameter in said scan task script; and

(g) executing the said scan task script so as to perform specified actions including the display of web controls and updating said web page and any web controls linked thereto.