Abstract: A concealed card scanner has a camera that surreptitiously captures the image of a card, and a processor that processes the captured image to produce a processed image. An image screen displays the processed image. A cover conceals the camera during image capture and allows selective and surreptitious access to the image screen.

Abstract: A container or box may include a plurality of side panels, a bottom panel and a top panel. The panels are coupled together to form a box interior with a total interior volume Vt. A separating panel is in the box and divides the box interior into a first chamber and a second chamber. The first chamber has a volume greater than or equal to 0.70 Vt, and the second chamber has a volume less than or equal to 0.30 Vt. An orientation sensing unit is provided that is housed entirely within the second chamber and is configured to sense and wirelessly transmit a signal with information on the orientation of the box.

Abstract: According to the present invention, a device and method accomplish in-line serial programming of a default configuration into a configurable device for connection to a message-based network. The configurable device includes an input/output unit, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), programming logic and a protocol engine for exchanging messages with a message-based bus based on the default configuration. The input/output unit includes pins and logic for configuring a portion of the pins to operate in both a normal mode and as a clock pin, a data pin and a program pin in a programming mode. The electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) stores a default configuration for the configurable device. The programming logic is coupled to the input/output unit. It receives signals from the data, clock and program pins and determines data and commands based on the signals.