SMART SCAN PERIPHERAL
First Claim
1. A peripheral housing shaped to hold a mobile computing device comprising a smartphone or mobile tablet for triggering a magnetometer in the mobile computing device, the peripheral housing comprising:
- a trigger attachment shaped to facilitate holding the peripheral housing;
a platform coupled to the trigger attachment, the platform having platform attachments configured to receive the mobile computing device comprising the magnetometer; and
a trigger coupled to the trigger attachment and an actuator, wherein the actuator moves a magnet from a first position to a second position along the platform when the trigger is depressed to alter the electromagnetic field of the magnetometer to signal a plurality of different types of events.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A smart scan peripheral is capable of attaching to a mobile computing device (e.g., a smartphone) allowing the resulting combination to be used like a traditional gun scanner. The scan handle peripheral does not require a power source or any electrical connection to the mobile computing device but can operate to still relay trigger pull information to a running application on the mobile computing device. This scan handle peripheral makes use of a magnetometer found in the mobile computing device by moving a magnet into the vicinity of the electromagnetic field generated by the magnetometer. As the handle magnet enters the magnetic field around the magnetometer, a software application in the processor of the mobile computing device monitoring the magnetometer readings and when a disruption is detected, a trigger event is sent to the processor to trigger an operation such as a barcode scanning event. In an alternative embodiment, a passive near field communication (NFC) tag 600 is mounted on an actuator which slides into a readable position of an NFC reader on the mobile computing device to cause a trigger event.
57 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A peripheral housing shaped to hold a mobile computing device comprising a smartphone or mobile tablet for triggering a magnetometer in the mobile computing device, the peripheral housing comprising:
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a trigger attachment shaped to facilitate holding the peripheral housing; a platform coupled to the trigger attachment, the platform having platform attachments configured to receive the mobile computing device comprising the magnetometer; and a trigger coupled to the trigger attachment and an actuator, wherein the actuator moves a magnet from a first position to a second position along the platform when the trigger is depressed to alter the electromagnetic field of the magnetometer to signal a plurality of different types of events. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system, comprising:
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a peripheral housing having a handle with a trigger, a platform coupled to the handle and having attachments configured to receive a mobile computing device comprising a smartphone or mobile tablet, and an actuator coupled to the trigger and capable of responding to the depression of the trigger by moving a magnet from a first position to a second position along the platform; and the mobile computing device having at least one magnetometer creating a magnetic field near the second position, and a processor configured to detect interruption of the magnetic field to signal a plurality of different types of events in response to the detected interruption of the electromagnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15-19. -19. (canceled)
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20. A method, comprising:
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attaching a mobile computing device comprising a smartphone or mobile tablet including a magnetometer to a platform of a peripheral housing; depressing a trigger on a handle of the peripheral housing at least once to move a magnet from a first position on the peripheral housing to a second position in a vicinity of an electromagnetic field created the magnetometer; detecting by a processor of the mobile computing device an interruption of the electromagnetic field; and signaling an event by the processor based upon the detected interruption; wherein the processor is configured to signal a plurality of different types of events based upon the detected interruption of the electromagnetic field. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. (canceled)
Specification