Abstract: In an exemplary embodiment, the reader unit has a pistol configuration with the automatic scan components in a barrel portion and a battery pack therefor in a handgrip portion. A display may be directed upwardly and rearwardly in the normal hand-held disposition of the reader unit during scanning, and may be of relatively large area, e.g., so as to be adaptable to direct store delivery transactions. A smart card receptacle may facilitate use of the integrated reader and terminal unit for complex transactions. A base station for the hand-held unit may include an interface such that the memory of the hand-held unit appears as a disk drive during downloading to a personal computer.

Abstract: A communication module for use with a portable terminal. The module includes a housing, mounting apparatus, a radio frequency transceiver and an indicia reader connector. The module can enable real-time, on-line communication with a remote host. The system can also include an antenna.

Abstract: A portable data collection terminal system has a housing having a display screen with coincident graphic data input and a keyboard on the frontal side thereof. An accessory pod, having a width less than the width of the display screen and a handgrip extension adapted to hold a selected accessory device, such as a laser scanner, is disposed on the housing, opposite said frontal side. The accessory pod has one or two activation, diaphragm-type switches disposed in a pod wall disposed transversely to the handgrip extension and extending outwardly from, opposite the frontal side, the housing. The switch or switches are connected in parallel, if more than one, and are disposed near an end of the pod wall such that they are operable by either a user's thumb or finger.

Abstract: A portable data collection terminal has an elongate housing with a hand grip conforming rear surface. A front surface features a numerical keyboard adjacent a lower end of the housing and an LCD screen adjacent the keyboard toward an upper end of the housing. The display screen is of elongate rectangular shape, its length extending longitudinally of the housing of the data terminal. The active area of the display screen is covered by a touch sensitive overlay screen which is configured in one mode of operation of the data terminal into an alphabetical keyboard. The orientation of the display is switchable between orientations in which the line direction of the displayed data extends across or longitudinally of the data terminal. The keys of the numerical keyboard are identified by indicia disposed on a template. The orientation of the template may be sensed to switch the orientation of the displayed data and touch sensitive key identifiers to correspond to the orientation of the indicia on the template.

Abstract: In an exemplary embodiment, the reader unit has a pistol configuration with the automatic scan components in a barrel portion and a battery pack therefor in a handgrip portion. A display may be directed upwardly and rearwardly in the normal hand-held disposition of the reader unit during scanning, and may be of relatively large area, e.g., so as to be adaptable to direct store delivery transactions. A smart card receptacle may facilitate use of the integrated reader and terminal unit for complex transactions. A base station for the hand-held unit may include an interface such that the memory of the hand-held unit appears as a disk drive during downloading to a personal computer.

Abstract: In an exemplary embodiment, a hand-held data terminal has external electrical contact pads which mate with resilient contacts of a docking receptacle for the interchange of data and possibly the supply of charging current to the terminal. The terminal may be loaded into and removed from the docking receptacle in a single motion with one hand. Keyboard and display (user interface) of the terminal are fully accessible while in the docking receptacle. The terminal may be fully sealed and be completely free of the conventional pin and socket type electrical connector fittings at its exterior.

Abstract: A portable data collection terminal has an elongate housing with a hand grip conforming rear surface. A front surface features a numerical keyboard adjacent a lower end of the housing and an LCD screen adjacent the keyboard toward an upper end of the housing. The display screen is of elongate rectangular shape, its length extending longitudinally of the housing of the data terminal. The active area of the display screen is covered by a touch sensitive overlay screen which is configured in one mode of operation of the data terminal into an alphabetical keyboard. The orientation of the display is switchable between orientations in which the line direction of the displayed data extends across or longitudinally of the data terminal. The keys of the numerical keyboard are identified by indicia disposed on a template. The orientation of the template may be sensed to switch the orientation of the displayed data and touch sensitive key identifiers to correspond to the orientation of the indicia on the template.

Abstract: An improved hand-held data terminal is provided. A sensing circuit senses the presence of rechargeable batteries. A rechargeable battery pack can be used in the hand-held data terminal. The battery pack can include a short circuit element. The short circuit element comes into contact with the hand-held data terminal when the rechargeable battery pack is assembled with the hand-held data terminal. The short circuit element, when in contact with the hand-held data terminal, serves to indicate the presence of the rechargeable battery pack and to thereby enable the recharging capabilities of the hand-held data terminal. A battery pack which does not contain the short circuit element cannot be recharged by the hand-held data terminal since the recharging circuit of the data terminal would remain in a disabled state. Further, the battery pack can be shaped asymmetrically so that it can only be assembled with the hand-held data terminal in an operational orientation.

Abstract: A hand held data entry apparatus having a body for receiving, storing and transmitting information, including a camming mechanism for quickly sealingly attaching an accessory such as a scanner to the top of a hand held data entry apparatus. Additionally, a similar camming mechanism is utilized to hold a battery pack in place with the additional feature of not only pulling the battery pack securely against the housing, but also pushing the battery pack contacts into abutment with complementary contacts disposed within the housing. A keypad is provided for permitting information to be manually entered into the hand held body and this keypad is encased in a layer of elastomeric material such as silicone. A pair of LED's are utilized, one to indicate a "good scan" and the other to indicate something else, such as a "bad scan." Additionally, these LED's can be encased in operative or dummy keys in order to save keyboard space. A mechanism is provided for pivoting the scanner about either of two perpendicular axes.

Abstract: A hand held data entry apparatus having a body for receiving, storing and transmitting information, including a camming mechanism for quickly sealingly attaching an accessory such as a scanner to the top of a hand held data entry apparatus. Additionally, a similar camming mechanism is utilized to hold a battery pack in place with the additional feature of not only pulling the battery pack securely against the housing, but also pushing the battery pack contacts into abutment with complementary contacts disposed within the housing. A keypad is provided for permitting information to be manually entered into the hand held body and this keypad is encased in a layer of elastomeric material such as silicone. A pair of LED's are utilized, one to indicate a "good scan" and the other to indicate something else, such as a "bad scan." Additionally, these LED's can be encased in operative or dummy keys in order to save keyboard space. A mechanism is provided for pivoting the scanner about either of two perpendicular axes.

Abstract: A portable, hand-held data collection terminal unit is of modular structure including among other modules a display screen module, a keyboard module and a base module, each of which may be chosen from a plurality of modules available for assembly into the terminal unit. Consequently, a wide combination of terminal units may be assembled from a comparatively limited number of modular choices, such that the cost of assembly of a terminal unit with specific functions may be minimized. A particular selected module is a scanning module including a pivotable scanning head to permit a user to adjust the scanning head to a convenient position for operating the scanning module without sacrifice of visual access to a display screen of the display screen module. The display screen module may be selected from modules of standard width equal to the width of the terminal unit, of extended width extending when assembled to a selected keyboard module beyond either or both lateral edges of the terminal unit.

Abstract: An improved hand-held computer terminal for use in the route distribution industries. The housing of the terminal provides a keypad and sixteen line display and is molded to fit the grip of the user. Circuit boards within the terminal housing arc modular in arrangement and are connected by pin and socket and compressible interconnect strip connectors. High speed data communication between the device and external devices is available. A battery power sensing circuit disables random access memory when low power is sensed and interrupt circuitry permits the terminal to enter an inactive, sleep mode when keypad activity is absent for a predetermined period. A sensing circuit senses the presence of rechargeable batteries. Electrostatic discharge protection is provided by circuit devices integrated into signal carrying lines and no conductive sheathing is required. A removable end cap allows introduction of auxiliary memory cards or the like into a slot under the end cap.

Abstract: A portable data collection terminal has an elongate housing with a hand grip conforming rear surface. A front surface features a numerical keyboard adjacent a lower end of the housing and an LCD screen adjacent the keyboard toward an upper end of the housing. The display screen is of elongate rectangular shape, its length extending longitudinally of the housing of the data terminal. The active area of the display screen is covered by a touch sensitive overlay screen which is configured in one mode of operation of the data terminal into an alphabetical keyboard. The orientation of the display is switchable between orientations in which the line direction of the displayed data extends across or longitudinally of the data terminal. The keys of the numerical keyboard are identified by indicia disposed on a template. The orientation of the template may be sensed to switch the orientation of the displayed data and touch sensitive key identifiers to correspond to the orientation of the indicia on the template.

Abstract: A microprocessor circuit of a computerized data collection terminal includes the microprocessor and reprogrammable flash read only memory at memory address locations from which normally start-up and control instructions would be retrieved. A connector port is coupled to the microprocessor circuit through which additional memory, for example in the form of a memory card, may be temporarily and removably coupled into the circuit. A special purpose memory card includes start-up and control instructions to start and operate the microprocessor. The data collection terminal includes a special switch which, when activated, causes the rerouting of start-up code requests by the microprocessor from the memory locations of the reprogrammable flash memory to locations on the special purpose memory card.

Abstract: A vehicle for transport, fork lift or delivery route operations, for example, includes on-board peripherals which are coupled through a Local Area Network (LAN) into a data system. A LAN data bus provides selective access to the peripherals or data devices such as, for example, a large area display, a keyboard, a printer and a data terminal. The data system controls or provides data on tasks executed by or in connection with the operation of the vehicle. To increase the versatility of the vehicle, the data terminal, multiple data terminals, or any of the other data devices may be removably coupled to the LAN to be operable externally of the vehicle. A mobile mount adapter provides a secure electrical connection of a respective data terminal to the LAN to removably incorporate the data terminal into the data system. The data terminal includes base contact areas which are contacted by spring contacts of the adapter.

Abstract: A portable, hand-held data collection terminal unit is of modular structure including among other modules a display screen module, a keyboard module and a base module, each of which may be chosen from a plurality of modules available for assembly into the terminal unit. Consequently, a wide combination of terminal units may be assembled from a comparatively limited number of modular choices, such that the cost of assembly of a terminal unit with specific functions may be minimized. A particular selected module is a scanning module including a pivotable scanning head to permit a user to adjust the scanning head to a convenient position for operating the scanning module without sacrifice of visual access to a display screen of the display screen module. The display screen module may be selected from modules of standard width equal to the width of the terminal unit, of extended width extending when assembled to a selected keyboard module beyond either or both lateral edges of the terminal unit.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to battery powered hand-held data entry terminals wherein a peripheral module may contain an automatically operating full image reader and a wireless communication unit. The reader reads at least one full line of indicia and may comprise a laser bar code scanner or a flash type image reader. Preferably the reader has uniform resolution in orthogonal directions in the field of view so that an area image can be read at any arbitrary angular orientation and re-oriented as a stored digital image to a normalized orientation before decoding. The user interface may lie in a first longitudinally extended layer and the peripheral module may lie in a second longitudinally extended adjoining layer. In normal reading disposition of the automatic reader, the user interface may be close to its normal orientation for user interaction therewith to provide for smooth transitions between reading and user interaction operations.

Abstract: A portable, hand-held data collection terminal unit is of modular structure including among other modules a display screen module, a keyboard module and a base module, each of which may be chosen from a plurality of modules available for assembly into the terminal unit. Consequently, a wide combination of terminal units may be assembled from a comparatively limited number of modular choices, such that the cost of assembly of a terminal unit with specific functions may be minimized. A particular selected module is a scanning module including a pivotable scanning head to permit a user to adjust the scanning head to a convenient position for operating the scanning module without sacrifice of visual access to a display screen of the display screen module. The display screen module may be selected from modules of standard width equal to the width of the terminal unit, of extended width extending when assembled to a selected keyboard module beyond either or both lateral edges of the terminal unit.

Abstract: In an exemplary embodiment, a ring net work is of a multiple petal configuration with the petal path to and from each node extending through a petal isolator at a hub location. A set of terminals is provided at the hub location for each node. An activity detector is coupled to a terminal of each set for detecting the normal network signals returning from a respective node, and a bypass controller is connected to another terminal of each set for sensing such signals transmitted to a respective node. The controller operates to sense separate signal bursts, and to bypass the set of terminals associated with a give node in the absence of signal detection by the associated signal detector after a selected number of separate signal bursts have been transmitted to the node. The timing relationships can be adjusted to accommodate a ring network where signals are transmitted about a ring with signal amplification and undelayed signal transmission at the respective nodes.