TERMINAL HAVING PLURALITY OF OPERATING MODES

• US 20110169999A1
• Filed: 01/08/2010
• Published: 07/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Pease, Michael, Skvoretz, Matthew, Baker, Jeffrey, Garmon, Scott, Grunow, Jonathan T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,698,949 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/370
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/651 for reducing power consumption by affecting camera operations, e.g. sleep mode, hibernation mode or power off of selective parts of the camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/667 Camera operation mode switching, e.g. between still and video, sport and normal or high- and low-resolution modes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/74 by influencing the scene brightness using illuminating means

Abstract

There is set forth herein a terminal having an image sensor array and a plurality of operator selectable operating modes. The image sensor array can have an associated light source bank. The operator selectable operating modes can include at least one camera operating mode and at least one flashlight operating mode. In the at least one camera operating mode the image sensor array and light source bank can be controlled for optimization of frame capture. In the at least one flashlight operating mode the image sensor array and the light source bank can be controlled for optimizing illumination of an operators viewing area with reduced average power consumption.

Claims

1. A terminal comprising:

an image sensor array having a plurality of pixels arranged over a two dimensional area;

an imaging lens for use in focusing an image onto the image sensor array wherein the imaging lens in combination with the image sensor array define a field of view of the terminal;

a light source bank for use in projecting light in a direction of the field of view;

a hand held housing incorporating the image sensor array;

wherein the terminal is configured to be operative in an operator selectable camera operating mode and an operator selectable flashlight operating mode;

wherein the terminal is operative so that when a trigger signal is activated when operating in the camera operating mode, the terminal captures and processes a plurality of frames of image data, and energizes the light source bank during exposure periods for the plurality of frames; and

wherein the terminal is further operative so that when a trigger signal is activated when operating in the flashlight operating mode, the terminal energizes the light source bank and restricts operation of the image sensor array for a duration of the flashlight operating mode.

2. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the light source bank comprises a white light emitting LED.

3. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the light source bank comprises a single white light emitting LED.

4. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal when processing the plurality of frames of image data in the camera operating mode attempts to decode a bar code symbol utilizing at least one of the plurality of frames.

5. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal in the camera operating mode selectively energizes the light source bank so that the light source bank is de-energized intermediate of the plurality of exposure periods.

6. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the terminal includes a random access memory and wherein for operation in the camera operating mode, the terminal executes a first software program, and wherein for operation in the flashlight operating mode, the terminal executes a second software program, wherein the first software program is provided by an application level software program not loaded into the random access memory during bootup of the terminal, and wherein the second software program is provided by system level software program that is available for immediate execution before or on completion of a bootup of the terminal.

7. A terminal comprising:

an image sensor array having a plurality of pixels arranged over a two dimensional area;

an imaging lens for use in focusing an image onto the image sensor array wherein the imaging lens in combination with the image sensor array define a field of view of the terminal;

a light source bank for use in projecting light in a direction of the field of view;

a hand held housing incorporating the image sensor array;

wherein the terminal is configured to be operative in an operator selectable camera operating mode and an operator selectable flashlight operating mode;

wherein the terminal is operative so that when a trigger signal is activated when operating in the camera operating mode, the terminal captures and processes a plurality of frames of image data, and energizes the light source bank during exposure periods for the plurality of frames, the terminal in the camera operating mode having a first average power consumption attributable to activity of the image sensor array and image data processing; and

wherein the terminal in the flashlight operating mode responsively to activation of a trigger signal and during an active period captures a parameter determination frame and processes the parameter determination frame to determine an operating parameter determining an aspect of operation of the terminal in the flashlight operating mode, the terminal in the flashlight operating mode having a second average power consumption attributable to activity of the image sensor array and image data processing, the second average power consumption being lower than the first average power consumption, the terminal in the flashlight operating mode restricting operation of the image sensor array during an inactive period subsequent to the active period, the inactive period being longer than the active period.

8. The terminal of claim 7, wherein the terminal in the flashlight operating mode subsequent to determination of the operating parameter restricts operation of the image sensor array for a duration of the operation of the terminal in the flashlight operating mode subsequent to the determination of the operating parameter.

9. The terminal of claim 7, wherein the terminal in the flashlight operating mode has a second active period following the inactive period in which the terminal captures a second parameter determination frame, and processes the second parameter determination frame, the terminal in the flashlight operating mode having a second inactive period following the second active period, wherein a shortest of the first and second inactive periods is longer than a longest of the first and second active periods.

10. The terminal of claim 9, wherein the shortest of the first and second inactive periods are at least 10 times the duration of the longest of the active periods.

11. The terminal of claim 7, wherein the operating parameter is a light source bank energization level.

12. The terminal of claim 7, wherein the terminal includes a random access memory and wherein for operation in the camera operating mode, the terminal executes a first software program, and wherein for operation in the flashlight operating mode, the terminal executes a second software program, wherein the first software program is provided by an application level software program not loaded into the random access memory during bootup of the terminal, and wherein the second software program is provided by system level software program that is available for immediate execution before or on completion of a bootup of the terminal.

13. A terminal comprising:

an image sensor array having a plurality of pixels arranged over a two dimensional area;

an imaging lens for focusing an image onto the image sensor array wherein the imaging lens in combination with the image sensor array define a field of view of the terminal;

a light source bank for use in projecting light in a direction of the field of view;

a hand held housing incorporating the image sensor array;

a CPU configured to execute system level software, the system level software including a basic input/output system (BIOS) and an operating system;

wherein the terminal is configured to be operative in an operator selectable camera operating mode and an operator selectable flashlight operating mode;

wherein the terminal in the camera operating mode executes a first software program, the terminal in accordance with the first software program subsequent to activation of a trigger signal energizing the light source bank and controlling the image sensor array so that the terminal has a first average power consumption attributable to activation of the image sensor array and processing of image data;

wherein the terminal in the flashlight operating mode executes a second software program, the terminal in accordance with the second software program energizing the light source bank and controlling the image sensor array so that the terminal in the flashlight operating mode has a second average power consumption attributable to the activation of the image sensor array and processing of image data, the second average power consumption being less than the first average power consumption;

wherein said first software program is executed as an application controlled by the operating system; and

wherein said second software program is provided as a part of the system level software.

14. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the terminal includes a random access memory and, wherein the terminal is operative so the first software program is stored in a file directory of said terminal and loaded into the random access memory a time after bootup of the terminal responsively to an operator initiated command.

15. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the terminal includes a random access memory, and wherein the second software program is loaded into the random access memory during bootup.

16. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the terminal includes a random access memory, and wherein the terminal is operative so that the second software program can be executed without loading of the operating system into the random access memory.

17. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the terminal is operative so that the image sensor array is restricted from operation for a duration of operation of the terminal in the flashlight operating mode.

18. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the terminal includes a system non-volatile memory provided by a read only memory, and wherein the second software program is stored in the read only memory for immediate execution by the CPU without a software loading delay.

19. The terminal of claim 13, wherein the terminal includes a storage memory, a system non-volatile memory provided by a ROM, and a system volatile memory provided by a RAM, wherein the first software program is stored on the storage memory and loaded into the random access memory for execution by the CPU a time after completion of bootup of the terminal responsively to an operation initiated command, and wherein the second software program is stored on the non-volatile memory for immediate execution by the CPU.