Portable autodiscriminating optical reader

• US 7,077,321 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2004
• Issued: 07/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/1994
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Longacre, Andrew Jr., Hussey, Robert M., Ehrhart, Michael A., Koziol, Thomas J., Parker, James A.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, THIEN MINH
• Application Number:
  US10/800,136
• Publication Number:
  US 20040262395A1
• Time in Patent Office: 858 Days
• Field of Search: 23546201-46245, 235/472.01, 235/472.02, 235/472.03, 235/454, 235/455, 235/375, 235/494, 235/432, 235/456
• US Class Current: 235/462.15
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisions 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 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1017 Programmable
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10544 by scanning of the records by radiation in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10821 further details of bar or optical code scanning devices
• 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 7/14 using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light G06K7/10831 - G06K7/1097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1491 the method including a reconstruction step, e.g. stitching two pieces of bar code together to derive the full bar code

Abstract

An optical reader is provided that can be reprogrammed. In one method a plurality of commands are encoded into a plurality of optical symbols, at least one of the optical symbols is displayed on a display, and the at least one displayed optical symbol is read to reprogram an optical reader. In another method an optical reader is coupled to a computer having a plurality of computer programs. The computer can receive an identifier from the optical reader to determine reader compatibility, and select a compatible optical reader program. In another method, a plurality of parameters are encoded into at least one bar code symbol. The at least one bar code symbol can be output in such form that an optical reader can read the at least one bar code symbol, and the at least one barr code symbol can be read to download the plurality of parameters to an optical reader.

Claims

1. A method for programming an optical reader with use of a host processor, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of parameters using said host processor in response to a user initiated command, each of the plurality of parameters for use in determining whether an optical reader will automatically attempt to decode a certain bar code type;

optically encoding data corresponding to each parameter to thereby create at least one bar code symbol, the at least one bar code symbol encoding information corresponding to each of said parameters;

outputting said at least one bar symbol into such form that a said optical reader can read said at least one bar code symbol; and

reading the at least one bar code symbol utilizing said optical reader to thereby download the corresponding parameters from the computer to said optical reader, whereby said optical reader is programmed in accordance with the downloaded parameters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said optical reader includes a slice image data acquisition system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said optical reader comprises a two-dimensional solid state image sensor.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating includes the step of reading utilizing said host processor parameters from an optical reader other than an optical reader being reprogrammed.

5. The method of claim 1, where said outputing step includes one of printing or displaying said at least one bar code symbol.

6. A method for reprogramming an optical reader, the method comprising:

optically encoding each of a plurality of optical reader commands, each optical reader command having a corresponding optical symbol;

displaying at least one of the optical symbols on a display; and

reading the displayed at least one optical symbol with the optical reader, the optical reader being reprogrammed in accordance with the optical reader command encoded by the displayed at least one optical symbol.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the optical reader has a parameter table configured to define reader operating modes, and wherein the command is configured to modify the parameter table.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the optical reader command is a vector processing command.

9. A method for controlling an optical reader, the optical reader including at least one of an operating program and a parameter table configured to define optical reader functionality, the method comprising:

coupling the optical reader to a computer via an interface, the computer including a plurality of computer programs, each of the plurality of computer programs being configured to control the at least one optical reader;

receiving an optical reader identifier from the optical reader;

comparing the optical reader identifier with the plurality of computer programs to determine reader compatibility;

selecting a compatible computer program; and

executing the selected compatible computer program to thereby modify the at least one operating program or the parameter table, whereby optical reader functionality is modified.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said coupling step includes the step of coupling a nonintegrated computer to said reader

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of reading the optical reader operating program.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of reading the optical reader parameter table.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of downloading a new operating program from the computer to the optical reader.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of modifying the optical reader parameter table.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of displaying the optical reader parameter table.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of printing the optical reader parameter table.

17. In a computer including a user interface, the user interface including a display and a selection mechanism, a method for programming a plurality of optical readers, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of parameter tables, each of the plurality of parameter tables determining an operating mode of an optical reader;

optically encoding data corresponding to each parameter table to thereby create a plurality of optical symbols, each optical symbol corresponding to one parameter table;

displaying the plurality of optical symbols; and

reading each of the plurality of optical symbols in succession, each optical reader reading a selected optical symbol to thereby download the corresponding parameter table from the computer to the optical reader, whereby each optical reader is programmed in accordance with the downloaded parameter table.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the optical reader includes a 1D image sensor

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the optical reader includes a 2D image sensor.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of generating includes editing an existing parameter table.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step of downloading the existing parameter table from the optical reader.