Multiple-interface selection system for computer peripherals
Contents
1. 35 45 55 65 10 initiated for example by actuating the programming switch 312 on the device 310 Alternately programming may be automatically initiated upon power up or power down of the device 310 In the power up example when the device is powered up the programming frequency signal would be emitted and upon receipt the RFID tag would emit its signal transmitting programming data to the device Such a system would not require the user to perform any act except plug in the correct cable and turn on the data reader and the data reader itself would obtain the proper configuration informa tion for example from the RFID tag on the cable and in this example configure itself for the host device such as by selecting the proper internal parameter An RFID programming tag 343 may alternately be located on the host device itself By activating the program ming sequence the device 310 may receive the data from the tag 343 identifying the host device 340 allowing the periph eral device to be configured for that host device Thus a peripheral configuration system and method have been shown and described Though certain examples and advantages have been disclosed further advantages and modifications may become obvious to one skilled in the art from the disclosures therein The invention therefore is not to be limited except in the spirit of the claims that follow I claim 1 Amethod for interfacing a data reader of a data reading syst2. FIGS 3 and 4 the printed circuit board 20 located within the scanner 10 includes an edge connector 21 shown with seven edge contacts 22 numbered 1 through 7 Though there is a distinction between edge contacts and pins for the purposes of the present invention they are interchangeable a pin connector with its mating plug con nector may be interchanged for an edge connector pair or any other suitable electrical contact pair The board 20 is designed and constructed to be operable with a number of host computers by way of an externally activated hardware configuration provided by the intercon nect cable 38 As viewed in FIG 4 in the edge connector 30 the edge contacts 5 and 7 are electrically connected illustrated as being jumped Edge contacts 1 and 3 are also jumped while edge contacts 2 4 and 6 are used for communication When the interconnect cable 38 is plugged into the printed circuit board 20 edge contacts 1 and 3 of 10 15 45 55 65 4 the edge connector 21 are thereby electrically connected and edge contacts 5 and 7 are also electrically connected By so electrically connecting these electrical contacts cer tain circuits within the circuit board 20 become electrically connected resulting in a desired configuration The scanner 10 becomes configured to accept a particular host computer 15 The user has configured the scanner merely by plugging in the correct interconnect cable 38 A simi
3. a plurality of different host computers or computer terminals To provide initial configuration or change configuration when switching host computers the peripheral is configured merely by selecting the correct interconnect cable 38 The electrically connected pins in the end connector of the interconnect cable provide the switch ing necessary within the scanner 10 activating or deacti vating certain circuits thereby configuring the scanner 10 for the particular host computer The interconnect cable 38 may be designed in any suitable manner In FIGS 3 and 4 illustrate jump connections between the respective edge contacts 32 of edge connector 30 or edge contacts 42 of edge connector 40 other electrical connection mechanisms may be employed The contacts may be electrically connected by a simple hard wire connection The interconnect cable 38 itself may include a printed circuit board 50 preferably in a unitary structure which may provides the desired electrical connection between the pins The interconnect cable 38 or the printed circuit board 50 thereon may itself be equipped with dip 10 15 35 45 55 6 switches 52 dual inline package switches or some other type of switch An interconnect cable equipped with switches would have certain advantages as only one cable version need be manufactured The cable type correspond ing to a particular peripheral would be selected by setting the switches by the manufacturer or b
4. class of computer peripherals the first end connector including at least one electrical connection between two pins for completing a circuit within the computer peripheral thereby enabling the computer peripheral Where the peripheral is a data reading device such as a laser scanner or RFID reader alternate or additional configuration may be obtained with data reading device from the label on the interconnect cable The label which may for example be a bar code or RFID tag contains information or instructions by which the data reading device and or the host is configured 30 Claims 5 Drawing Sheets 5 703 347 Sheet 1 of 5 Dec 30 1997 U S Patent 5 703 347 Sheet 2 of 5 Dec 30 1997 U S Patent 22 21 CN FUOD US Patent Dec 30 1997 Sheet 3 of 5 5 703 347 U S Patent Dec 30 1997 Sheet 4 of 5 5 703 347 N SHIELD L GROUND 7 164 7 164b oe 164 16 414 11 U S Patent Dec 30 1997 Sheet 5 of 5 5 703 347 5 703 347 1 MULTIPLE INTERFACE SELECTION SYSTEM FOR COMPUTER PERIPHERALS RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of Ser No 08 305 517 now U S Pat No 5 563 402 which is a continuation in part of application Ser No 08 039 606 filed Mar 25 1993 now U S Pat No 5 347 113 which is a continuation in part of Ser No 08 034 189 filed Mar 22 1993 now U S Pat No 5 330 370 which is a continu
5. et al 235 436 4 868 375 9 1989 Blanford 235 462 Ul 120 4 889 497 12 1989 Riches vccssssssssssssscsseseersecnseeor 439 620 4 902 244 2 1990 Endo etal 439 488 4 915 639 4 1990 Cohn et al 439 488 4 941 845 7 1990 Eppley et al 439 505 4 954 101 9 1990 Nelson 439 502 5 040 993 8 1991 Krug 439 620 5 092 793 3 1992 Stephan 235 472 X 5 181 858 1 1993 Matz et al 439 489 5214268 5 1993 Doing 235 462 5 222 164 6 1993 Bass Sr et al 438 488 5 250 792 10 1993 Swartz et al 5 330 370 7 1994 Reddersen et al 5 347 113 9 1994 Reddersen et al 5 563 400 10 1996 Reddersen et al Primary Examiner Donald T Hajec Assistant Examiner Karl D Frech Attorney Agent or Firm Lyon amp Lyon LLP 57 ABSTRACT An interface selection and configuration system for a com puter peripheral in which configuration for the peripheral and or the host interface is at least in part accomplished by the interface connector cable In a preferred embodiment the computer peripheral is equipped with one or more hardware interfaces The interface connector cable has a first end connector for attaching to the computer peripheral The first end connector of the interface connector cable is typi cally a multiple pin connector constructed and arranged to be properly physically and electrically connectable only to a specific computer peripheral or
6. 37 to the central processing unit 240 In this arrangement the host is literally the wedge 240 but may be also be considered to comprise a host assembly contained within the dashed lined box and designated by numeral 250 FIGS 5 8 illustrate a preferred alternate embodiment in which the peripheral is a handheld data reading device 110 such as a bar code laser scanner a CCD reader or other device The scanner 110 is attached to a host diagrammati cally illustrated as a data terminal 140 by a connector cable 120 with a first end connector 122 plugged into the scanner 110 and the second end connector 124 plugged into the data terminal 140 The connector cable 120 is provided with a label 135 which contains encoded data which may be read by the data reader 110 The label 135 may for example be a separate tag on which the bar code is imprinted or the bar code may be imprinted directly on the cable 120 itself As described below the label may also comprise an RFID tag containing the pertinent programming data As best shown in FIG 6 the first end connector 122 is illustrated as an edge connector having a plurality of edge contacts including contacts 122a 122b for connection into a corresponding connector in the handle of the scanner 110 FIGS 5 and 7 illustrate the second end connector 124 as a pin connector having a plurality of pins including pins 124a 124b for connection into a corresponding connector in the data terminal 149 The
7. FIG 1 an example computer peripheral is illustrated as a handheld laser scanner 10 used for scanning a bar code 11 5 703 347 3 The scanner 10 is operably connected to a host interface diagrammatically illustrated as a computer 15 via an interconnect cable 38 The interconnect cable 38 includes an end plug or edge connector 30 which connects to a mating connector 21 on the end of a printed circuit board 20 within the scanner 10 The interconnect cable 38 provides a com munication link between the host computer 15 and the laser scanner 10 and may also provide power to the scanner 10 Referring to FIG 2 the interconnect cable 38 has a first end connector 30 which plugs into the scanner 10 attaching to the edge connector 21 of the circuit board 20 and a second end connector 40 which plugs into the host computer 15 attaching to the edge connector 18 The first end con nector 30 includes tabs 34 36 which slide into and mate with corresponding slots 24 26 in the body of the handle of the scanner 10 Different types of scanners may be equipped with different positions of the slots 24 26 Only an end connector 39 having the correct configuration of tabs 34 36 will be correctly physically connectable to the scanner 10 An interconnect cable 38 without the correct tab configura tion cannot physically be plugged into the scanner 10 Similarly on the host computer side of the interconnect cable 38 the second end connector 40 is equipped
8. United States Patent Reddersen et al US005703347A 5 703 347 Dec 30 1997 ug Patent Number 45 Date of Patent 54 MULTIPLE INTERFACE SELECTION SYSTEM FOR COMPUTER PERIPHERALS 5 Inventors Brad R Reddersen Phillip W Shepard Rockie D Moch Jon Paul Charles Williams all of Eugene Oreg 73 Assignee Spectra Physics Scanning Systems Inc Eugene Oreg Notice The term of this patent shall not extend beyond the expiration date of Pat No 5 347 113 21 Appl No 706 736 22 Filed Sep 9 1996 Related U S Application Data 63 Continuation of Ser No 305 517 Sep 13 1994 Pat No 5 563 402 which is a continuation in part of Ser No 39 606 Mar 25 1993 Pat No 5 347 113 which is a continuation in part of Ser No 34 189 Mar 22 1993 Pat No 5 330 370 which is a continuation of Ser No 788 267 Nov 4 1991 abandoned 51 Int CL G06K 7 10 52 US CI 235 472 235 462 58 Field of Search 235 462 472 235 436 439 329 488 489 491 620 502 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 579 407 4 1986 Shimada eene 439 620 4 678 288 7 1987 Lonsdale et al 350 432 4 694 182 9 1987 Howard 250 566 4 699 447 10 1987 Howard we 350 6 9 4 820 193 4 1989 Noorily 439 488 4 861 972 8 1989 Elliott et al 235 462 4 866257 9 1989 Elliott
9. abel and the data reader comprises a barcode reader 14 A method according to claim 10 wherein the label comprises a radio frequency identification tag and the data reader comprises a radio frequency identification reader 15 A method according to claim 10 wherein the step of setting a function of the data reading system comprises configuring the data reading system for proper interface with the given host 16 A method according to claim 10 wherein the label is positioned on the interconnect cable 17 A method according to claim 16 wherein the label is positioned on an end connector of the interconnect cable 18 A multiple interface data reading system comprising a data reader and an interconnect cable detachably connect able to the data reader the interconnect cable being remov able by being connecting to and being disconnected from the data reader wherein hardware and or firmware of the data reading system is automatically configured to interface with a given host changing the interconnect cable and connecting the interconnect cable to the data reader 19 A system according to claim 18 wherein the intercon nect cable includes a switch for changing configuration of the interconnect cable 20 A system according to claim 18 wherein the intercon nect cable includes a printed circuit board 21 A system according to claim 18 further comprising an identifying code located on an outer surface of the intercon nect cable the identify
10. and easy to use intercon nection system which can be effectively used by the average user 15 35 45 55 65 2 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an interface selection system for a computer peripheral in which configuration for the peripheral and or its host is at least in part accomplished through the interface connector cable In a preferred embodiment the computer peripheral is equipped with one or more hardware interfaces The interface connector cable has a first end connector for attaching to the computer peripheral The first end connector of the interface connector cable is typically a multiple contact connector such as pin or edge connector constructed and arranged to be properly physically and electrically connectable only to a specific computer peripheral or class of computer peripherals and a specific host interface the cable connector including at least one electrical connection between two contacts for completing a circuit within the computer peripheral thereby enabling the computer peripheral In another preferred embodiment where the peripheral is a data reading device such as a laser scanner or an RF identification receiver alternate or additional configuration may be provided by obtaining with the data reading device information from the label on the interconnect cable The label which may for example be a bar code contains information or instructions by which the data reading de
11. and the given host application identified in steps 1 and 2 30 A method according to claim 28 further comprising 5 using the data reader to obtain data contained by a label on the interconnect cable 6 processing the data which contains instructions for selection of interface configuration parameters for the data reading system 7 by means of an internal configuration routine config uring the data reading system for the given application by selecting proper internal parameter settings on the basis of the instructions from the encoded data
12. ation of application Ser No 07 788 267 filed Nov 4 1991 abandoned BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of the present invention relates to interconnec tion systems for computers and computer peripherals or more specifically methods and devices for selecting proper interface between a computer peripheral and its host inter face such as may include a computer Host computers need to be interconnected to a wide variety of peripheral devices including printers scanners monitors and controllers among others When the host computer is being connected to a certain type of peripheral for example a handheld laser scanner the computer typically has a single input output connector to which the scanner may be connected by an interconnect cable It is frequently desirable that a particular handheld scanner be usable with a variety of different host computers Conversely it is also desirable that the host computer be able to support a variety of different handheld scanners Heretofore there have been several systems for achieving proper configuration between the host computer and the peripheral In a typical system a particular peripheral is configured to work with a particular host computer or terminal that is the peripheral has contained a single dedicated interface Similarly the host computer was con figured to accept only a particular type of peripheral Any time the peripheral was moved to a different host computer it was necessa
13. cable 120 may also include an identification label 139 which has identification information to assist the user in selecting the correct cable for the particular scanner and host pair Other or alternate selection means such as color coding may be provided to assist the user in selecting the correct interconnect cable for the particular application FIG 8 schematically illustrates an example cable connec tion scheme 150 for the cable connector 120 of FIG 5 Color coded cable wires Brown Orange Black Yellow Green 5 703 347 7 White provide desired electrical communication path between edge contacts nos 10 9 18 etc in the first end connector 122 and respective pin contacts nos 4 3 7 etc in the second end connector 124 The cable connector 120 also includes peripheral configuration selection by electrical connector 121 connecting edge contacts 14 and 13 and by electrical connector 123 connecting edge contacts 1 and 17 FIGS 9 12 illustrate another preferred alternate embodi ment in which the peripheral is a handheld data reading device 155 such as a bar code laser scanner a CCD reader or other device The scanner 155 is attached to a host diagrammatically illustrated as a data terminal 180 by a connector cable 160 with a first end connector 162 plugged into the scanner 155 and the second end connector 164 plugged into the data terminal 189 The connector cable 160 is provided with a label 175 which contains encoded
14. ctice the user is supplied with a plurality of specific connector cables which correspond to the possible scanner host pairs which the customer may have When plugged into the scanner the cable 420 itself selects a certain configuration scheme in the scanner 410 The cable 420 may also configure the host interface The cable 420 may be equipped with physical connector elements to ensure that only the correct cable may be even physically plugged into the host Once plugged into the scanner and the host using the scanner itself the operator then scans the label on the cable which completes or confirms scanner host con figuration Besides the bar code label there are other types of labels or tags containing information which may be obtained by a reader device One such label or tag is an RFID tag radio frequency identification tag The RFID tag is normally passive but when activated or prompted by a signal from a interrogator the RFID tag emits a signal with its information to a receiving device In one alternative embodiment the cable 320 may include a label 336 comprising an RFID tag instead of a bar code The scanner 310 may comprise an RFID tag interrogator receiver either exclusively or in combination with a bar code scanning mechanism which prompts the RFID tag 336 for its data and receives the data The data is then used to set internal configuration function or the like The programming RFID tag process may be 10 15 25
15. d rate 2400 baud 9600 baud etc data format settings parity stop bits data bits hardware handshaking CTS RTS software handshaking Xon Xoff intercharacter delay none 10 ms 20 ms etc UPC Data Format UPA A UPC E Check Digit Number System Digit system specific parameters prefixes suffixes symbology identifiers etc reading restrictions the instructions might restrict the set of codes options that the decoder may have to handle by restricting the reading options the operation speed of the autodiscrimination algorithm the means by 5 703 347 9 which the decoder figures out which code it is seeing may be increased as compared to requiring the algo rithm to consider all code types The preferred actual location on the cable for the encoded label will depend upon the particular application Referring to FIG 5 for example the label 135 is located adjacent the second end connector An alternate location is directly on the second end connector 124 as shown by symbol label 133 on end connector 124 If the second end connector 124 is too small to practically accommodate the label 133 or if the connection location to the data terminal 140 provides incon venient access the label 135 may preferably be located up the cable connector 120 at a suitable distance from the second end connector 124 In general it is impractical to locate the label 135 on the first end connector 122 or immediately adjacent theret
16. data which may be read by the data reader 155 The label 175 may for example be a separate tag on which a bar code is imprinted or the bar code label may be imprinted directly on the cable 160 itself As described in detail below if required the user may at least partly configure the scanner 155 merely by scanning the bar code label 175 An internal operation routine within the scanner 155 then configures the scanner itself on the basis of the configuration information provided by the bar code As best shown in FIG 19 the first end connector 162 is illustrated as an edge connector having a plurality of edge contacts including contacts 162a 1625 for connection into a corresponding connector in the handle of the scanner 155 FIGS 9 and 11 illustrate the second end connector 164 as a plug connector similar to the type conventionally used on home telephones having a plurality of wire connectors including wire connectors 164a 1645 for connection into a corresponding connector in the data terminal 180 FIG 12 schematically illustrates an example cable con nection scheme 190 for the cable connector 160 of FIG 9 Color coded cable wires Brown Orange Black Yellow Green White provide desired electrical communication path between edge contacts nos 10 9 18 etc in the first end connector 162 and respective contacts nos 1 2 3 4 in the second end connector 164 The cable connector 160 also includes peripheral configuration se
17. em with a particular host comprising the steps of identifying the data reader assembling the data reading system by selecting a corre sponding interconnect cable the interconnect cable having a label associated therewith containing data which may be read by the data reader and connecting a first end of the interconnect cable to the data reader providing the data reading system with sufficient internal hardware and or firmware so as to be configurable for at least two different hosts connecting a second end of the interconnect cable to the host configuring internal hardware and or firmware for the data reading system by the steps of obtaining the data from the label with the data reader processing the data which contains instructions for selection of internal hardware and or firmware for the data reading system and configuring the data reading system for the particular host on the basis of the instructions from the data 2 A method according to claim 1 wherein the data reader comprises a handheld laser scanner 3 A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of ensuring a correct interconnect cable is selected for the particular host and the data reader 4 A method according to claim 1 wherein the label comprises a bar code label and the data reader comprises a barcode reader 5 A method according to claim 1 further comprising providing the interconnect cable with a printed circuit board 6 A method accord
18. ing code corresponding to a particular host or class of hosts to which the interconnect cable corresponds 22 A peripheral system comprising a peripheral device a connector on the peripheral device and a interconnect cable detachably connectable to the connector the interconnect cable being changeable by connecting to and being discon nected from the peripheral device wherein hardware and or firmware of the peripheral system is automatically config ured to interface with a given host by changing the inter connect cable and connecting the interconnect cable to the peripheral device 23 A data reading system which is configurable to a first host having an interface configuration and a second host 35 45 55 12 having an interface configuration different than the interface configuration of the first host comprising a data reader unit a first interconnect cable connectable at a first end thereof to the data reader unit and connectable at a second end thereof to the first host the first interconnect cable configuring the data reading system for the interface configuration of the first host a second interconnect cable connectable at a first end thereof to the data reader unit and connectable at a second end thereof to the second host the second interconnect cable configuring the data reading system for the interface configuration of the second host 24 A data reading system according to claim 23 wherein the data reade
19. ing to claim 5 wherein the step of configuring the data reading system comprises switching a setting on the printed circuit board 7 A method according to claim 1 wherein the label is positioned on the interconnect cable 8 A method according to claim 7 wherein the label is positioned on an end connector of the interconnect cable 9 A method according to claim 1 wherein the label comprises a radio frequency identification tag and the data reader comprises a radio frequency identification reader 5 703 347 11 10 A method for setting a function of a data reading system comprising the steps of selecting an interconnect cable corresponding to a data reader and a given host device the interconnect cable having a label associated therewith containing data which may be obtained by the data reader connecting a first end of the interconnect cable to the data reader and a second end to the given host device activating the data reader and the given host device obtaining the data from the label with the data reader setting a function of the data reading system on the basis of the data obtained from the label 11 A method according to claim 10 wherein the data reader comprises a handheld laser scanner 12 A method according to claim 10 further comprising the step of ensuring a correct interconnect cable is selected for the given host device and the data reader 13 A method according to claim 10 wherein the label comprises a bar code l
20. lar configuration selection system may alternately or in combination be applied to the host computer connec tion side The edge connector 40 has certain of its edge contacts 42 electrically connected in the illustrated example pins 5 and 7 of the edge connector 40 are jumped When the edge connector 40 is plugged into the edge connector 18 of host computer 15 edge contacts 5 and 7 within the edge connector 18 become electrically connected completing a circuit within the host computer 15 thereby configuring the host computer 15 for the particular peripheral The user may therefore configure the host computer 15 for the particular scanner 10 by merely selecting and plugging in the correct interconnect cable 38 In practice the user would be provided with a single peripheral such as a scanner and several interconnect cables To connect the scanner the user would merely select the interconnect cable corresponding to the particular host computer and plug it into the scanner The interconnect cable would then configure the scanner for the particular host computer To move the scanner to a different host computer the user would merely have to switch cables The intercon nect cable 38 may be provided with means for identifying such as identifying markings 39 imprinted directly on the interconnect cable 38 itself color coding a label with identification information connected to the cable 38 or the like to assist the user in selecting the cor
21. lection by electrical connector 161 connecting edge contacts 14 and 13 and by electrical connector 163 connecting edge contacts 1 and 17 In the preferred embodiment of the present invention as shown in FIG 14 the data reader device 310 is further or alternately configured by reading a label having encoded data thereon such as a configuration bar code 335 which is placed on the interconnect cable 320 By reading the con figuration code 335 the scanner 310 and or the host 340 is configured for the particular application on the basis of the encoded instruction data by means of an internal configu ration routine within the scanner 310 or the host 340 U S Pat Nos 4 866 257 and 4 861 972 herein incorpo rated by reference disclose examples on how a scanner may be configured by scanning a bar code or by downloading information from a host computer Once the bar code has been scanned or the control information the configuration information is stored in a memory preferably a non volatile memory such as EEPROM in the scanner so that repetitive configuration is not required and the configuration of the scanner is not lost when power is turned off Typically the bar codes are contained in the user manual and the user must obtain the manual and then select the correct bar code to be 10 15 35 45 55 65 8 scanned However according to the preferred embodiment shown in FIG 14 the user 305 need only select the correc
22. o because when the first end connector 122 is plugged into the scanner 155 the scanner 155 cannot be oriented to scan a label located immediately adjacent the first end connector 122 Nonetheless in certain applications it may be desirable to locate the label 135 near the first end connector 122 If the connector cable 120 is relatively long for example 50 feet 15 meters the label may be preferably positioned about 2 feet 60 cm from the first end connector 122 Such a position is close enough to be easily located but far enough to allow convenient access Such a location is illustrated in FIG 14 where the bar code label 335 is located on the cable 320 at a convenient distance from scanner 319 Though the cable connector configuration embodiment and the cable connector data reader configuration embodi ment may be used separately to configure the peripheral the embodiments may be combined together to provide a com prehensive and readily implemented configuration proce dure By way of example FIG 15 illustrates a peripheral shown as a laser scanner 410 is equipped with a multi interface architecture which allows any one of many differ ent types of host interfaces such as a data terminal a fixed scanner or other point of sale unit 450 or a handheld key entry unit 460 to be selected for a particular scanner A cable 420 is selected corresponding to the particular scanner 410 and the desired host interface 440 450 460 pair In pra
23. r comprises a handheld laser scanner 25 A data reading system according to claim 23 wherein the second end of the second interconnect cable includes a multiple contact connector constructed and arranged to be properly physically connectable only to the second host or similar class of hosts 26 A data reading system according to claim 23 further comprising means for ensuring correct selection of the interconnect cable for the data reader 27 A data reading system according to claim 23 further comprising an identifying code located on an outer surface of the interconnect cable the identifying code corresponding to a particular host or class of hosts to which the interconnect cable corresponds 28 A method for internally configuring a data reading system for a given host application comprising the steps of 1 identifying the data reader 2 identifying the given host application for which the data reader will be used 3 selecting a correct interconnect cable by identifying an interconnect cable corresponding to the data reader and the given host application identified in steps 1 and 2 4 configuring the data reading system by connecting the interconnect cable selected in step 3 to the data reader and the host 29 A method according to claim 28 wherein the step of selecting the correct interconnect cable comprises selecting an interconnect cable having an identifying code imprinted thereon corresponding to the data reader
24. rect interconnect cable for the given host The illustrated seven edge connector embodiment is a simplified example for a connector design Electrical contact configurations may of course be more or less than seven contacts and the two ends need not be the same In a preferred scanner application an interconnect cable plug with 30 pins is set forth in Table A as follows TABLE A Signal name TEST_DATA READ_DATA_WAND START_DATA CLOCKIN lt CLOCKOUT RDATA_RIN SDATA RTN CLOCK IN RTN CLOCK OUT RTN VCC OUT VCC IN CLEAR TO SEND TRANSMIT DATA RETURN DATA RETURN S DATA PLUS DATA MINUS BEEP IN PWR EN TRIGGER BAR CODE OUT GOOD READ JN START OF SCAN FAIL Data Description s BEBRPBSSIARAEGHES 24 u 5 703 347 5 TABLE A continued Pin Signal name Data Description s 26 GROUND CONFIG 1 CONFIG 2 CONFIG 3 CONFIG 4 BBR The interconnect cable plug may use certain of the pins for communication or power Some of the pins may be unused and available for other applications it being desir able that the same pin design be usable for different con figurations The last four pins 27 30 are dedicated for providing the configuration for the peripheral The varia tions of configurations are limitless and may be designed to suit a particular application The example in Table A is provided in part to show the wide variety of configurations tha
25. ry to replace the interface software and hardware in the peripheral The host computer may include a software selection program in which the user inputs information identifying the particular peripheral enabling the system to have proper operation Such an operation requires the user to correctly input information into the host computer identifying the particular peripheral Alternately means are provided for scanning a code on the outside of the peripheral which informs the computer of the type of peripheral Some peripherals actually include identifying signals which again inform the particular host of the type of peripheral and software provides the desired configuration Many of these systems still require correct interface hardware In another configuration technique the peripheral includes interface hardware for more than one host com puter When configuring the printed circuit board of the peripheral requires certain hardware configuration in order to be correctly linked to a host computer Such hardware configuration may be effectuated by manually actuable external switches or by internal switches or jumpers within the printed circuit board and or within the host computer which activate or deactivate certain components Such an operation typically requires the expertise of an electronics technician or skilled user and is not a desirable field operation to be performed by the typical user It is desirable to have an inexpensive
26. t interconnect cable 320 and the correct bar code label 335 to be scanned is automatically selected since it is on the cable itself Moreover being on the cable the bar code is readily accessible and locatable without having to locate the user manual Though once the system has been initially configured the system will preferably store the configura tion information if it becomes necessary to reconfigure the configuration bar code 335 remains readily accessible on the cable 320 In order to ensure that a scanner is not inadvertently reconfigured a configuration switch may be provided which must be actuated to place the scanner in programming mode Once the switch is actuated the scanner enters programming mode enabling the programming label 335 on the cable to be read and configure the scanner The switch may be a hardware switch such as a dip switch 312 sec FIG 14 on the housing of the scanner 310 Alternately programming mode may be entered and exited if desired by a soft switch such as a switch label 337 located on the cable 320 Though the configuring bar code conveniently appears on the inter connect cable configuration bar codes the same bar code as appearing on the cable as well as additional bar codes may nonetheless be provided in the user manual to allow the user to configure the peripheral as desired such as to specific user optional settings Alternately the program ming label may be positioned on the host compu
27. t may be employed By the cable configuration scheme the peripheral may be configured setting for example com munication baud rate bit setting 8 bit 16 bit etc parity or some other parameter Though particular types of end connectors have been described the pin connector may be any suitable electrical connector means for providing electrical contact including plugs pin connectors sockets edge connectors and the like The end connector has multiple contacts the contacts pro viding the actual electrical contact surface The contacts may be pins edge contacts plugs sockets or any suitable electrical contact element The center of the interconnect cable 38 may comprise any suitable transmission medium including a wire as illustrated cable fiber optic cable radio frequency link infra red light link or other transmission medium The cable configuration system described may be com bined with other configuration systems some of which have been previously described For example the interconnect cable system described herein may be used to automatically select a configuration for a certain class or group of periph erals The peripheral may additionally include external or internal switches identifying the particular peripheral within the group thereby completing the described configu ration In practice a computer peripheral such as a laser scanner 10 will be equipped with hardware and firmware so that it may be used with
28. ter or terminal Such a location may be less desirable since dif ferent scanners may be plugged into the same host possibly requiring different programming labels Alternately the pro gram switch label may be positioned on the host as shown by the label 342 on the host 349 of FIG 14 The user would then scan the label 342 to switch to programming mode and then scan the programming label 335 on the cable 320 Configuration on the basis of the encoded data instruc tions obtained by reading the label or bar code 335 may be accomplished by a suitable internal configuration routine For example the routine may configure by way of selecting proper internal switch settings or by selecting and running a given protocol program The data reader preferably stores its configuration parameters in a non volatile programmable memory such as EEPROM These parameters may be set by manual programming or reset by the configuration routine The instructions from the label may cause the software in the data reader to execute a series of commands resulting in the setting or resetting of the EEPROM stored parameters Configuration selection or parameters change or set particular function for the peripheral Possible configuration selections or parameters may include by way of example for a handheld scanner interface identification for a laser scanner may include Undecoded IBM 4683 OCIA RS 232 Wand Emulation etc communication parameters such as bau
29. vice and or the host is configured BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a diagrammatic view of a handheld laser scanner attached to a host computer according to the present inven tion FIG 2 is a diagrammatic view of an interface connector system according to the present invention FIG 3 is a detailed diagrammatic view of a printed circuit board of FIG 2 FIG 4 is a detailed diagrammatic view of an edge connector as in FIG 2 FIG 5 is a diagrammatic view of an alternate peripheral configuration system FIG 6 is an end view of an end connector in FIG 5 taken along line 6 6 FIG 7 is an end view of an end connector in FIG 5 taken along line 7 7 FIG 8 is a connector schematic illustrating an example cable connection scheme for the cable connector of FIG 5 FIG 9 is a diagrammatic view of an alternate peripheral configuration system FIG 10 is an end view of an end connector in FIG 9 taken along line 10 10 FIG 11 is an end view of an end connector in FIG 9 taken along line 11 11 FIG 12 is a connector schematic illustrating an example cable connection scheme for the cable connector of FIG 9 FIG 13 illustrates an alternate cable connection embodi ment FIG 14 illustrates a cable scanning code operation and FIG 15 illustrates various peripheral host pairs DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings In
30. with a tab 44 which mates with a corresponding slot 17 at the mating edge connector 18 of the host computer 15 Only an end connector 40 having the correct configuration of the tab 44 will be correctly physically connectable to the host computer 15 An interconnect cable 38 without the correct tab con figuration cannot physically be plugged into the host com puter 10 Therefore in order to connect a particular peripheral such as a laser scanner 19 to a particular host computer a cable having the correct tab configurations at both end connectors must be selected The unique physical configurations ensures that the user must select the correct cable for the host computer and peripheral pair The preferred embodiment may only require tab configuration on the host computer end because it is not anticipated that the various handheld scanners will require the dedicated interconnect cables but tab configurations on the peripheral end may be desired in other peripheral applications Further the tab configurations illustrated are but one example means for ensuring proper interconnect cable selection The tabs and slots are readily added to conventional end connectors The design illustrated does not prevent end connectors without tabs from connect ing to the peripheral 10 and the host computer 15 but such design may be modified by one skilled in the art such as by reversing the positions of the slots tabs to prevent such connection Referring to
31. y the skilled user and the cable could then stamped with an identifying code 39 As described above the handheld data reader or other computer peripheral is generally connected by a connector cable to a given host or interface The host or interface is typically a host computer such as a central processing unit CPU or other intermediate device which in turn commu nicates with the CPU The host may be a communication module such as an RF transmitter which is provides a radio frequency communication link to the host computer In such an application the cable is nonetheless connected to the host computer or CPU albeit through the communication module If the peripheral is a printer for example the host may be a network interface into which the connector cable is plugged which is in turn connected to the host computer There are myriad of potential hosts for a given peripheral By way of another example FIG 13 illustrates a system in which a handheld bar code scanner 210 is connected to a key entry terminal 230 The interconnect cable 220 has a first end connector 222 plugged into the handheld bar code scanner 210 The second end connector 224 is actually plugged into a translator module 235 sometimes called a wedge which converts the signal transmitted from the scanner 210 into a signal of the same form as that produced by the key entry terminal 230 The key entry terminal 230 is in turn connected by a suitable communication link 2
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