ASIC for supporting multiple functions of a portable data collection device

• US 7,494,064 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2001
• Issued: 02/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Symbol Technologies, LLC (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Symbol Technologies, Inc. (Zebra Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: De Lazari, Daniel B., Slutsky, Michael, Cabana, Joseph, Salvato, Dominick
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim; Ahshik
• Application Number:
  US10/034,072
• Publication Number:
  US 20030121981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,615 Days
• Field of Search: 235/462.01, 235/462.15, 235/462.24, 235/472.01, 235/462.45
• US Class Current: 235/472.01
• 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

Abstract

A portable bar code reading terminal includes an ASIC having circuitry for both a laser scanner and an imager. The terminal also includes a data blender for distributing data from multiple sources to multiple destinations based on the type and/or content of the data. The ASIC further provides circuitry for at least one of the following functions: power management, wake up control and power down, critical suspend shutdown, warm and cold boot functions, serial ports, matrix keyboard scanning, analog converters, touch panel, modular memory IDE interface, imaging support, finger print reader, USB host, and a magnetic stripe interface.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device comprising:

an image capture device coupled to the portable electronic device;

a laser scanner coupled to the portable electronic device;

an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) comprising circuitry for communicating with the image capture device and the laser scanner, and circuitry for carrying out smart and dumb battery function including a gas gauging function; and

a common bus that provides a hardware path from the ASIC to a processor.

2. The portable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising a data blender adapted to receive data from the image capture device and the laser scanner and distribute the data to multiple destinations based on a type or content of the data.

3. The portable electronic device of claim 1, the portable electronic device being a bar code reading terminal.

4. The portable electronic device of claim 1, the ASIC further comprising circuitry for carrying out at least one of the following functions:

power management;

wake up control and power down;

critical suspend shutdown;

warm boot and cold boot;

serial port for WAN radio;

matrix keyboard scanning;

IP security;

analog converters;

touch panel;

modular memory IDE interface;

fingerprint reader;

USB host; and

magnetic stripe interface.

5. The ASIC of claim 1, the smart and dumb battery function including a cycle life function.

6. The ASIC of claim 1, the smart and dumb battery function including a charge control function.

7. The ASIC of claim 1, the smart and dumb battery being a Ni-MH battery.

8. The ASIC of claim 1, the smart and dumb battery being a Li-Ion battery.

9. The ASIC of claim 4, the modular memory IDE interface function including a NAND memory function.

10. The ASIC of claim 4, the modular memory IDE interface function including a CF card function.

11. The portable electronic device of claim 1, the common bus allows data decoded off line to be processed while a current task is implemented.

12. The portable electronic device of claim 1, the common bus provides shared data path from the imager and the laser scanner into a memory.

13. The portable electronic device of claim 1, the data from the imager and the laser scanner is at least one of biometrics data, magstripe data, and RFID data.

14. The portable electronic device of claim 1, a data source coupled to the portable electronic device, the data source communicates with the portable electronic device via the ASIC circuitry.

15. A portable data collection device, comprising:

an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that accepts data from at least one source coupled to the portable data collection device, wherein the ASIC comprises circuitry for carrying out smart and dumb battery function including a gas gauging function; and

a data blender that distributes the data from the at least one source to a first destination based on the type of data, the content or the data, or combinations thereof.

16. The system of claim 15, the data from the at least one source is decoded within the portable data collection device.

17. The device of claim 15, the data from the at least one source is decoded offline and processed on the portable data collection device at a later time.

18. The device of claim 15, the data from the at least one source is routed through a common driver.

19. The device of claim 15, the data from the at least one sources is biometrics data, magstripe data, RFID data, or combinations thereof.