Indicia reader having unitary-construction

• US 9,984,267 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2017
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Colavito, Stephen, Saber, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Toan
• Application Number:
  US15/637,142
• Publication Number:
  US 20170300729A1
• Time in Patent Office: 334 Days
• Field of Search: 23546245, 23546247, 23547201
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10881 constructional details of hand-held scanners
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1439 including a method step for retrieval of the optical code
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1443 locating of the code in an image

Abstract

A hand-held indicia-reading device includes a housing and a cable having a unitary-construction. The indicia-reader has a head portion with an indicia-reading system including a printed circuit board. The entire handle portion of the reader is typically over-molded onto a host-connector cable. The host-connector cable includes a circuit board connector on one end and a connector for connecting to a host at an opposite end extending from a base portion of the handle.

Claims

1. An indicia-reading device, comprising:

one or more interchangeable scanning heads;

a handle removably attached to at least one of the scanning heads via a mating mechanism;

wherein the handle physically integrates and surrounds a portion of a host-connector cable forming a single part, the host-connector cable having at least one connector end; and

wherein the at least one connector end of the host-connector cable extends from an upper portion of the handle.

2. The indicia-reading device according to claim 1, wherein the host-connector cable has a first end connector at an upper portion of the handle and a second end connector at a base portion of the handle.

3. The indicia-reading device according to claim 1, further comprising an indicia-capturing system comprising a printed circuit board operatively connected to electro-optical components.

4. The indicia-reading device according to claim 2, wherein the first end connector is operatively connected to the printed circuit board.

5. The indicia-reading device according to claim 2, wherein the second end connector is operatively connected to a host.

6. The indicia-reading device according to claim 5, wherein the host is a computer.

7. The indicia-reading device according to claim 1, wherein the handle is attached to the at least one scanning head via a mating mechanism, wherein the mating mechanism comprises fasteners, threaded fasteners, clamps, clips, and/or pins.

8. The indicia-reading device according to claim 3, wherein the indicia-capturing subsystem comprises a laser-scanning subsystem and/or an imaging subsystem.

9. A method of manufacturing an indicia-reading device, comprising:

forming a handle portion as a unitary-construction, wherein the handle integrates and surrounds a portion of a host-connector cable such that at least one connector end of the host-connector cable extends from an upper portion of the handle; and

attaching one of a plurality of interchangeable scanning heads to the handle portion via a mating mechanism.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the handle portion is formed by over-molding the handle portion onto the portion of the host-connector cable.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the handle portion is injection-molded onto the portion of the host-connector cable.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the handle portion is blow-molded onto the portion of the host-connector cable.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein the mating mechanism comprises fasteners, threaded fasteners, clamps, clips, and/or pins.

14. The method according to claim 9, further comprising attaching a first end connector to a first end of the host-connector cable at an upper portion of the handle and a second end connector to a second end of the host-connector cable at a base portion of the handle.

15. The method according to claim 9, further comprising providing a print circuit board (PCB) in the scanning head and operatively connecting the PCB to electro-optical components.

16. The method according to claim 14, further comprising operatively connecting the first end connector to a printed circuit board.

17. The method according to claim 14, further comprising operatively connecting the second end connector to a host.

18. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

providing, within the scanning head, an indicia-capturing subsystem for acquiring information about indicia within the indicia-capturing subsystem'"'"'s field of view; and

providing, within the scanning head, an indicia-decoding subsystem configured for decoding indicia information acquired by the indicia-capturing subsystem.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the indicia-capturing subsystem comprises a laser-scanning subsystem and/or an imaging subsystem.

20. A method for reading indicia, comprising:

selecting a scanning head from a plurality of interchangeable scanning heads;

attaching the scanning head to a handle portion of an indicia-reading device, wherein the handle is formed as a unitary-construction that integrates and surrounds a portion of a host-connector cable having at least one connector end, and the at least one connector end extending from the handle;

operatively connecting the host-connector cable to a host; and

using the indicia-reading device to acquire indicia information.