Compact hand-held RF data terminal

• US 5,541,398 A
• Filed: 05/10/1995
• Issued: 07/30/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/1989
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Norand Corporation (Baker Hughes Company)
• Inventors: Hanson, George E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pitts, Harold
• Application Number:
  US08/438,458
• Time in Patent Office: 447 Days
• Field of Search: 235/472
• US Class Current: 235/462.46
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/02 for radio sets, television sets, telephones, or the like; Arrangement of controls thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/0241 for telephones
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1635 Details related to the integration of battery packs and other power supplies such as fuel cells or integrated AC adapter
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1656 Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1698 the I/O peripheral being a sending/receiving arrangement to establish a cordless communication link, e.g. radio or infrared link, integrated cellular phone details of antennas disposed inside a computer H01Q1/2266
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/0225 User interface arrangements, e.g. keyboard, display; Interfaces to other computer systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisious 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 7/10574 Multiple sources
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10584 Source control
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10702 Particularities of propagating elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors G06K7/10831 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10722 Photodetector array or CCD scanning
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10732 Light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10811 Focalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10841 Particularities of the light-sensitive elements semiconductor devices H01L
• 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 7/10881 constructional details of hand-held scanners
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/12 using a selected wavelength, e.g. to sense red marks and ignore blue marks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 : Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 : Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 : Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/22 : by structural association with other equipment or articles
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2001/3894 : Waterproofing of transmission device
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0262 : for a battery compartment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices

Abstract

A compact, hand-held data terminal includes a data display and an alpha-numeric keyboard and a bar code reader provision for manual data entry. The data terminal further includes an RS 232-C data interface for downloading accumulated data into a central computer. The data terminal further includes a transceiver module which provides for an RF communications link to a central computer. An antenna for the transceiver module is contained within the a lower portion of the housing of the data terminal along side walls of a battery compartment. In operation, the data terminal may be inserted into a data transfer cradle coupled to data processing equipment, thereby coupling the data processing equipment via the RF link to the central computer.

Claims

1. A compact, battery-powered, hand-held data terminal for communication with a first external device and a second external device, the first external device communicatively coupled to a data transfer cradle, said data terminal comprising:

a housing;

means for entering data and means for displaying data, said data entry means and said data display means communicatively coupled and disposed on said housing;

data transfer means for communicating data between said data terminal and a first external device in a first communication pathway via a data transfer cradle;

a transceiver disposed within said housing;

a control circuit including means for storing control sequence instructions, means for storing data and means for selectively communicating data between said data storage means, said transceiver and said data transfer means;

an antenna coupled to said transceiver, said antenna positioned within said housing so that said control circuit and said transceiver are shielded from said antenna;

said antenna disposed within the confines of the housing so as to facilitate insertion of said housing into the data transfer cradle;

said data terminal, while inserted into the data transfer cradle, operable to communicate data with the first external device in the first communication pathway via the data transfer cradle while permitting communication with a second external device in a second communication pathway, independent of the first communication pathway, via said transceiver and said antenna.

2. The compact, battery-powered, hand-held data terminal according to claim 1, wherein the data transfer means comprises a serial-type data interface.

3. The compact, battery-powered, hand-held data terminal according to claim 1 further comprising a bar code reader coupled to said control circuit for reading bar code data into said data storage means.

4. The compact, battery-powered, hand-held data terminal according to claim 1, wherein said means for selectively communicating data between said data storage means, said transceiver and said data transfer means includes a microprocessor.

5. The compact, battery-powered, hand-held data terminal according to claim 1, wherein said first external device comprises a printer and said second external device comprises a central computer.

6. A compact, hand-held data terminal for communication in a network having a first and a second external device, said first external device having means for docking, said terminal comprising:

a housing having means for entering data and a display disposed thereon, said housing adapted for insertion into a means for docking of a first external device;

data processing and control circuitry disposed within said housing and having data coupling elements communicatively accessible to the docking means, said data coupling elements communicatively coupling said data processing and control circuitry in a first communication pathway through the docking means to the first external device for data exchange therewith;

a transceiver disposed within said housing and coupled to said data processing and control circuitry;

a power source for providing power to the data processing and control circuitry and the transceiver;

an antenna coupled to the transceiver, said antenna and transceiver communicatively coupling said data processing and control circuitry in a second communication pathway, independent of the first communication pathway, via wireless signals to a second external device for data exchange therewith; and

said antenna positioned within the confines of the housing such that said data terminal may be communicatively coupled with the docking means permitting data communication with the first external device while permitting data communication with the second external device without interference by the docking means.

7. The compact, hand-held data terminal of claim 6 wherein said data processing and control circuitry includes a microprocessor.

8. The compact, hand-held data terminal of claim 6 further comprising a bar code reader electrically coupled to said data processing and control circuitry.

9. The compact, hand-held data terminal of claim 6 wherein said first external device comprises a printer and said second external device comprises a central computer.

10. In a data communication system, the method of capturing and transferring data utilizing a compact, hand-held data terminal, said method comprising the steps of:

reading data from a bar code symbol or the like using a bar code reader coupled to data processing and control circuitry of the terminal;

manually entering data via a keyboard located on said terminal and coupled to the data processing and control circuitry;

communicatively coupling the data processing and control circuitry to a first external device in a first communication pathway via means for docking and to a second external device in a second communication pathway via a transceiver and an antenna of said data terminal;

receiving by the data processing and control circuitry data from the second external device via the transceiver and the antenna; and

transferring by the data processing and control circuitry the manually entered data, the read data, and the received data to the first external device via the docking means; and

arranging said antenna so as to facilitate insertion of said terminal into the docking means.

11. A compact, battery-powered, hand-held data terminal for communication with a first external device in a first communication pathway via a data transfer cradle and with a second external device in a second communication pathway via wireless signals, the first communication pathway independent of the second communication pathway, said data terminal comprising:

a housing having means for entering data and a display thereon, said housing docking with a data transfer cradle of a first external device;

a data transfer means for communicating data between said data terminal and the first external device in a first communication pathway via the data transfer cradle;

a transceiver;

control circuitry in said housing including means for storing data and means for selectively communicating data between said data storage means, said transceiver and said data transfer means;

an antenna, said antenna and transceiver for communicating data between said terminal and a second external device in a second communication pathway via wireless signals; and

said data terminal, while inserted into the data transfer cradle, operable to permit data communication between the first and second external devices via said data terminal using the first and second communication pathways.

12. A compact, hand-held data terminal for communication in a network having a first external device and a second external device, the first external device having means for docking, said terminal comprising:

a housing, said housing adapted for use with means for docking of a first external device;

data processing and control circuitry disposed within said housing and having a data coupling element communicatively accessible to said docking means, said data coupling element communicatively coupling said data processing and control circuitry in a first communication pathway through the docking means to the first external device for data exchange therewith;

a wireless transceiver disposed within said housing and coupled to said data processing and control circuitry, said wireless transceiver communicatively coupling said data processing and control circuitry in a second communication pathway via wireless signals to a second external device for data exchange therewith; and

the first communication pathway independent of the second communication pathway such that said terminal, when said housing is docked with the docking means, is operable to communicate with both the first external device and the second external device.