Abstract:
A portable data collection terminal (10) has an elongate housing (12) with a hand grip conforming rear surface. A front surface (14) features a numerical keyboard (16) adjacent a lower end of the housing and an LCD screen (15) 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 (46), of the numerical keyboard (16) are identified by indicia (42) disposed on a template (13). 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. As a further embodiment an electromagnetic activation by a pen may be used to enter data into a data terminal. Power saving shutdown extends the battery life of the data terminal. A shutdown mode permits resumption of operations by depression of a key.
Abstract:
A battery powered, portable, hand-held data terminal (10) of modular structure includes a base module (16, 136) with a keyboard (18) and a display screen (19) and their respective electrical functions (167, 164). A data and communications module may be selected from a number of different data and communications modules (48, 55, 75, 135) each having different types of data communications transceiver, or including in addition data collection devices, such as shelf label readers or bar code readers (76). The base module (16, 136) includes a microprocessor-controlled data communications and control interface having a predetermined protocol. To adapt the various type of data and communications modules for selection of any one thereof to become attached to the base module and function therewith, each of the data and communications modules includes a microprocessor (125, 144) operable to function as an emulator to interact with the microprocessor of the base module (16, 136).
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. The selected display screen module may include one of different sized screens, function keys and alphabetical keys.