Hand-held portable WWW access terminal with visual display panel and GUI-based WWW browser program integrated with bar code symbol reader in a hand-supportable housing
First Claim
1. A portable WWW access terminal for allowing an operator to access and display HTML-encoded documents located on the WWW by reading bar code symbols encoded with URLs, said portable WWW access terminal comprising:
- a hand-supportable housing supportable within the hand of said operator;
a bar code symbol reader, integrated within said hand-supportable housing, and programmed for (i) reading a bar code symbol encoded with a URL specifying the location of an HTML-encoded document stored in an information server connected to the Internet and supporting the TCP/IP standard, and (ii) producing symbol character data representative of said URL;
visual information display means, integrated with said hand-supportable housing, for visually displaying information including graphical information contained in said HTML-encoded document specified by said URL;
Internet accessing means, disposed in said hand-supportable housing and responsive to said bar code symbol reader, said Internet accessing means further including(i) computing means disposed in said hand-supportable housing, and(ii) a GUI-based WWW browser program executed by said computing means, and integrated with said bar code symbol reader in said hand-supportable housing, so that, in response to said bar code symbol reader reading the bar code symbol encoded with said URL, said GUI-based WWW browser program automatically accesses the HTML-encoded document specified by said URL using said TCP/IP standard and the symbol character data representative of said URL, and automatically displays said accessed HTML-encoded document on said visual information display means for review by the operator; and
telecommunication means, integrated with said hand-supportable housing and being operably connected to said Internet accessing means, for enabling a two-way telecommunication link between said Internet accessing means and a base-station operably connected to an Internet service provider connected the Internet so as to enable said Internet accessing means to access said HTML-encoded document specified by the URL encoded in said bar code symbol read by said bar code symbol reader.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A portable hand-held WWW access terminal for accessing HTML-encoded documents located on the WWW. The terminal includes a bar code symbol reader in a hand-supportable housing for reading URL-encoded symbols specifying the location of HTML-encoded documents stored in information servers connected to the Internet and supporting the TCP/IP standard. A computing platform is provided for supporting a GUI-based WWW browser program integrated with the bar code symbol reader in the hand-supportable housing. A telecommunication modem is operably connected to the computing platform in order to establish a two-way telecommunication link between the GUI-based WWW browser and an Internet service provider (ISP) connected to the Internet. In response to reading a URL-encoded bar code symbol, the WWW browser program automatically accesses a corresponding HTML-encoded document on the Internet, for display on a visual display panel integrated with hand-supportable housing. A keypad is also integrated with the hand-supportable housing for manually providing information to the WWW browser program.
602 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A portable WWW access terminal for allowing an operator to access and display HTML-encoded documents located on the WWW by reading bar code symbols encoded with URLs, said portable WWW access terminal comprising:
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a hand-supportable housing supportable within the hand of said operator; a bar code symbol reader, integrated within said hand-supportable housing, and programmed for (i) reading a bar code symbol encoded with a URL specifying the location of an HTML-encoded document stored in an information server connected to the Internet and supporting the TCP/IP standard, and (ii) producing symbol character data representative of said URL; visual information display means, integrated with said hand-supportable housing, for visually displaying information including graphical information contained in said HTML-encoded document specified by said URL; Internet accessing means, disposed in said hand-supportable housing and responsive to said bar code symbol reader, said Internet accessing means further including (i) computing means disposed in said hand-supportable housing, and (ii) a GUI-based WWW browser program executed by said computing means, and integrated with said bar code symbol reader in said hand-supportable housing, so that, in response to said bar code symbol reader reading the bar code symbol encoded with said URL, said GUI-based WWW browser program automatically accesses the HTML-encoded document specified by said URL using said TCP/IP standard and the symbol character data representative of said URL, and automatically displays said accessed HTML-encoded document on said visual information display means for review by the operator; and telecommunication means, integrated with said hand-supportable housing and being operably connected to said Internet accessing means, for enabling a two-way telecommunication link between said Internet accessing means and a base-station operably connected to an Internet service provider connected the Internet so as to enable said Internet accessing means to access said HTML-encoded document specified by the URL encoded in said bar code symbol read by said bar code symbol reader. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A portable information access terminal for allowing an operator to access and display HTML-encoded documents located on an information network by reading bar code symbols encoded with URLs, said portable information access terminal comprising:
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a hand-supportable housing; a bar code symbol reader, integrated with said hand-supportable housing, and programmed for (i) reading a bar code symbol encoded with a URL specifying the location of an HTML-encoded document stored in an information server connected to said information network and supporting the TCP/IP standard, and (ii) producing symbol character data representative of said URL; visual information display means, integrated with said hand-supportable housing, for visually displaying information including graphical information contained in said HTML-encoded document specified by said URL; network accessing means, disposed in said hand-supportable housing and responsive to said bar code symbol reader, said network accessing means further including (i) computing means disposed in said hand-supportable housing, and (ii) a GUI-based WWW browser program executed by said computing means, and integrated with said bar code symbol reader in said hand-supportable housing, so that, in response to said bar code symbol reader reading the bar code symbol encoded with said URL, said GUI-based WWW browser program automatically accesses the HTML-encoded document specified by said URL using said TCP/IP standard and the symbol character data representative of said URL, and automatically displays said accessed HTML-encoded document on said visual information display means for review by the operator; and telecommunication means, integrated with said hand-supportable housing and being operably connected to said network accessing means, for enabling a two-way telecommunication link between said Internet accessing means and a base station operably connected to an Internet service provider (ISP) connected to said information network so as to enable said network accessing means to access said HTML-encoded document specified by the URL encoded in said bar code symbol read by said bar code symbol reader. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An Internet-based information system for allowing an operator to access and display HTML-encoded documents on the WWW by reading bar code symbols encoded with URLs, said Internet-based information system comprising:
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(A) an Internet information server connected to the Internet, supporting the TCP/IP standard, and storing a HTML-encoded document at a location on the Internet specified by a URL; and (B) a portable WWW access terminal including (1) a hand-supportable housing supportable within the hand of said operator; (2) a bar code symbol reader, integrated with said hand-supportable housing, and programmed for (i) reading a bar code symbol encoded with said URL specifying the location of said HTML-encoded document stored in said Internet information server, and (ii) producing symbol character data representative of said URL; (3) visual information display means, integrated with said hand-supportable housing, for visually displaying information including graphical information contained in said HTML-encoded document specified by said URL; (4) Internet accessing means, disposed in said hand-supportable housing and responsive to said bar code symbol reader, said Internet accessing means further including (i) computing means disposed in said hand-supportable housing, and (ii) a GUI-based WWW browser program executed by said computing means, and integrated with said bar code symbol reader in said hand-supportable housing, so that, in response to said bar code symbol reader reading the bar code symbol encoded with said URL, said GUI-based WWW browser program automatically accesses from said Internet information server, the HTML-encoded document specified by said URL using said TCP/IP standard and the symbol character data representative of said URL, and automatically displays said accessed HTML-encoded document on said visual information display means of said portable WWW access computer terminal for review by the operator; and (5) telecommunication means, integrated with said hand-supportable housing and being operably connected to said Internet accessing means, for enabling a two-way telecommunication link between said Internet accessing means and a base-station operably connected to an Internet service provider connected the Internet so as to enable said Internet accessing means to access said HTML-encoded document specified by the URL encoded in said bar code symbol read by said bar code symbol reader. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification