Method of programming the default cable interface software in an
Contents
1. Sequence Idle Ready to Scan US 8 868 802 B2 Sheet 1 of 12 Oct 21 2014 U S Patent Ol US 8 868 802 B2 Sheet 2 of 12 Oct 21 2014 U S Patent 89L 99r sond Fm eunjejody vs eoJnog 2 s Lan OWI 981 Ja JOJ1002019IN 2281 sondo eBeuu 681 JIT Alquiessy soiuonora SIBAUQ eoe Jojeoipu Vil Aiquiessy Jepeayy BuiBeul snes Buisnoy jeuue s MORITUR dec ee ED di RR ost JosseooJd Japeay obeu ezg US 8 868 802 B2 Sheet 3 of 12 Oct 21 2014 U S Patent Ve Ola 06 861 HOSS300Hd zi c 310IN3N CH wis voL OZ e US 8 868 802 B2 Sheet 4 of 12 Oct 21 2014 U S Patent YOSSa00ud ALOWSY me T 96 061 YOSSS00Ud ISOH WOO Av SI v6l US 8 868 802 B2 Sheet 5 of 12 Oct 21 2014 U S Patent YOSSs00 d ALOWSY 06 dOSS3O2O0Hd 1SOH QSVOSA3M 961 US 8 868 802 B2 Sheet 6 of 12 Oct 21 2014 U S Patent m Q8vOSA3 061 364 YOSSIJOYd i ccs 3LOW3M d U S Patent Oct 21 2014 Sheet 7 of 12 US 8 868 802 B2 Power Up Scanner 230 Begin Boot Sequence 236 Indicate To User That Scanner is Not Ready For Normal Scanning Has an FDI Indicia Been Scanned Interface Default Variable Filled 238 Fill the Default interface Variable 240 Load Interfac2. 9 The indicia reader device set forth in claim 8 wherein the indicia reader device is configured to read a linear bar code when the indicia reader device is in a lower functional state 10 The indicia reader device set forth in claim 8 wherein the interface variable can be reset by reading a reset interface variable program data carrier after the interface variable has been set 11 The indicia reader device set forth in claim 8 wherein a reset to factory defaults program causes the indicia reader device to configure itself to operate with the interconnect cable associated with the indicia previously read which last set the interface variable to the second state 12 The indicia reader device set forth in claim 8 wherein the indicia reader device is configured to boot to a first con figuration when the interface variable is absent and to boot to a second configuration when the interface variable is present 13 The method set forth in claim 1 wherein the indication is at least one of the following illumination of one or more light emitting diodes s a sequence of prerecorded sounds generated by a sound generator and movement of the indicia device by a vibrator 14 The method set forth in claim 6 wherein the indication is at least one of the following illumination of one or more light emitting diodes s a sequence of prerecorded sounds generated by a sound generator and movement of the indicia device by a vibrator 15 The indici
3. for example white green and red LEDs The colors may chosen based on the color of the symbols most commonly imaged by the image reader Different colored LEDs may be each alter natively pulsed at a level in accordance with an overall power budget The aimer light sources 164 may also be comprised of one or more laser diodes such as those available from Rohm In this case a laser collimation lens not shown in these draw ings will focus the laser light to a spot generally forward of the scanning head and approximately at the plane ofthe target T This beam may then be imaged through a diffractive inter ference pattern generating element such as a holographic element fabricated with a desired pattern in mind Examples ofthese types of elements are known commercially available items and may be purchased for example from Digital Optics Corp of Charlotte N C among others The RFID reader unit 170 generally comprises an RFID data processing circuit 172 an RF oscillator and receiver 174 and an RFID antenna 176 The RFID reader unit 170 may be configured to read RF encoded data from a passive RFID tag such as tag 262 FIG 7 Where RFID reader unit 170 is configured to read RF encoded data from a passive RFID tag 262 RF oscillator and receiver circuit 174 transmits a carrier signal from antenna 176 to passive tag 262 Passive RFID tag 262 converts the carrier energy to voltage form and a tran sponder of tag 262 is actuated to transmit a
4. 12 United States Patent Barten US008868802B2 54 75 73 21 22 65 51 52 58 56 METHOD OF PROGRAMMING THE DEFAULT CABLE INTERFACE SOFTWARE IN AN INDICIA READING DEVICE Inventor Henri Barten Limburg BE Assignee Hand Held Products Inc Fort Mill SC US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 176 days Appl No 12 578 635 Filed Oct 14 2009 Prior Publication Data US 2011 0087810 Al Apr 14 2011 Int Cl G06F 13 12 2006 01 G06K 7 10 2006 01 G06K 7 00 2006 01 U S CI CPG stan G06K 7 0004 2013 01 GO6K 7 10881 2013 01 GO6K 2207 1017 2013 01 USPG 2 tenete 710 62 236 462 14 Field of Classification Search CP pa eret ters GO6F 17 00 GO6K 7 10 USPG phien 710 62 235 462 14 See application file for complete search history References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 424 524 A 6 1995 Ruppert et al 705 17 6 293 467 Bl 9 2001 Reddersen et al 6 415 978 B1 7 2002 McAllister 235 462 01 10 Patent No US 8 868 802 B2 45 Date of Patent Oct 21 2014 6 612 495 B2 9 2003 Reddersen et al 235 462 15 6 619 549 B2 9 2003 Zhu etal o 235 462 45 6 707 581 B1 3 2004 Browning s 358 473 6 719 202 BL 4 2004 Kawai etal 235 462 13 6 877 663 B2 4 2005 Kelly etal 235 462 15 7 044 383 B2 5 2006 Zhwet al s 235 462 46 7 104 456 B
5. a boot sequence as indicated by box 230 and then checks to see if the interface default variable is set in box 232 If the interface default variable has not been set then the scanner 112 continues booting up to a first configuration indicated by box 242 and then signals an operator either continuously or intermittently in the manner described above to scan a FDI indicia as indicated by box 234 While the scanner 112 is signaling the user to scan a FDI indicia the scanner 112 tests whether a FDI indicia has been scanned in box 236 Once a FDI indicia has been scanned the interface default variable is filled as indi US 8 868 802 B2 7 cated in box 238 and the interface default is loaded into the memory of the scanner 112 as indicated in box 244 Then the boot sequence is restarted as indicated in box 230 and whether or not the interface default variable has been set is once more been tested as indicated in box 232 Since the interface default variable has been set the scanner 112 con tinues booting up to a second configuration as indicated in box 246 At this time the scanner 112 goes into an idle state waiting to scan and attempt to interpret any indicia After the initial interconnection cable configuration has been set the interconnect cable interface may be changed to allow the scanner 112 to operate with other interface cables using programming indicia listed in a user s instruction manual However changing the interconnect i
6. it is compatible with the cable 192 The label 252 that instructs the user to scan the indicated bar code 254 on the label before trying to use the scanner 112 is shown in FIG 6 FIG 7 is a perspective view of the interconnect cable 260 in aplastic bag 262 similar to that shown in FIG 5 with a RFID tag 264 embedded in a connector 266 of the cable 260 which can be used for initially configuring the scanner 112 so that it is compatible with the cable 260 FIG 8 shows a label 270 which includes a RFID tag 272 and can be placed on the plastic bag 262 for an interconnect cable which may not have an imbedded RFID tag in the interconnect cable The label 270 may be used with intercon nect cables such as an USB interconnect cable which is used with scanners 112 which have different interface configura tions However there may be some cables which are used only with scanners with the same designated cable interface and the embedded RFID tag could be used The RFID tags 264 and 272 are FDI RFID tags in that they are used to initially configure the interconnect cables 260 and 272 Because the RFID tag 264 embedded in the cable con nector 266 may respond to the RFID reader in the scanner 112 after it has been configured and will therefore broadcast its data the FDI RFID tags 264 272 may be encoded to transmit an Application Family Identifier AFI which is different from the AFI ofother RFID tags that are not used to configure the cable interf
7. or monochrome solid state image sensors using such technologies as CCD CMOS NMOS PMOS CD CMD etc One possible sensor is the MT9V022 sensor from Micron Technology Inc Such sensors contain an array of light sen sitive photodiodes or pixels that convert incident light energy into electric charges Many image sensors are employed in a full frame or global shutter operating mode wherein the entire imager is reset prior to an image capture operation to remove any residual signal in the photodiodes The photodiodes pixels then accumulate charge for some period of time exposure period with the light collection starting and ending at about the same time for all pixels At the end of the integration period time during which light is collected all charges are simultaneously transferred to light shielded areas of the sen sor The light shield prevents further accumulation of charge during the readout process The signals are then shifted out of the light shielded areas of the sensor and read out Image sensor 144 may also employ a rolling shutter The illumination assembly 150 generally comprises a power supply 152 an illumination source 154 and illumina tion optics 156 The illumination optics 156 directs the output ofthe illumination source 154 generally comprising LEDs or the like onto the target T The light is reflected off the target T and received by the receive optical system 140 It is to be noted that the illumination provi
8. radio signal representing the encoded tag data RF oscillator and receiver circuit 174 in turn receives the radio signal from the tag and converts the data into a digital format RFID data processing circuit 172 typically including a low cost microcontroller IC chip decodes the received radio signal information received by RF oscillator and receiver circuit 147 to decode the encoded identification data originally encoded into RFID tag 262 The decoded digital data is passed to bus 182a A scanner processor 180 provides overall control of the image reader assembly 114 and electronics assembly 116 The scanner processor 180 and other components of the image reader assembly are generally connected by one or more buses 1827 and or dedicated communication lines In the illustrated example a parallel bus 182a connects the scan ner processor 180 to a cable interface circuit 183 which includes a cable connector and to a main system memory 184 used to store processed and unprocessed image data from the image sensor 144 The scanner processor 180 utilizes an PC bus 1825 to communicate exposure settings to the image sensor 144 and illumination parameters to a microcontroller 186 A dedicated 8 to 10 bit parallel bus 182c is used to transfer image data from the image sensor 144 to the scanner processor 180 The width of the bus 182c may be dependant on the bit size recorded by each pixel in the image sensor 144 The output of the image sensor 144 is proc
9. requires to be configured To set the default interface to match the cable in this bag read the RFID tag below Set Default Interface to USB PC Keyboard For more detailed instructions refer to the First Time Usage section in the user manual or Quick Start Guide FIG 8 US 8 868 802 B2 1 METHOD OF PROGRAMMING THE DEFAULT CABLE INTERFACE SOFTWARE IN AN INDICIA READING DEVICE FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to indicia reading devices and more particularly to a method of programming the default cable interface software in an indicia reading device BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Indicia reading devices also referred to as optical indicia readers scanners RFID readers etc typically read indicia data represented by printed indicia or data carrier indicia also referred to as symbols symbology bar codes RFID tags etc For instance one type of a symbol is an array of rectangular bars and spaces that are arranged in a specific way to represent elements of data in machine readable form Another type of symbol is encoded as data in an RFID tag Optical indicia reading devices typically transmit light onto a symbol and receive light scattered and or reflected back from a bar code symbol The received light is interpreted by an image processor to extract the data represented by the sym bol Laser indicia reading devices typically utilize transmitted laser light RFID readers typically activate RFID tags which tr
10. 2 9 2006 Parker et al 7 389 918 B2 6 2008 Wike Jr et al 7 438 217 B2 10 2008 Bhella et al 7 600 691 B2 10 2009 Rathus et al 7 837 111 B2 11 2010 Yang etal occ 235 462 13 2007 0228137 Al 10 2007 Bhella et al 2008 0228773 Al 9 2008 Stewart et al accesso 707 10 2008 0230607 Al 9 2008 Etten 2008 0307197 Al 12 2008 Calvin et al 2009 0048870 Al 2 2009 Godshall et al cesses 705 3 2009 0078773 Al 3 2009 Carlson et al 2009 0108067 Al 4 2009 Roquemore 235 462 15 2009 0200380 Al 8 2009 Longacre Jr et al 2009 0237221 Al 9 2009 Battles et al FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS WO 2009064759 5 2009 cited by examiner Primary Examiner Titus Wong 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Additon Higgins amp Pendleton P A 57 ABSTRACT An indicia reading apparatus includes an interconnect cable and an indicia reading device The indicia reading device is configured so that if the indicia reader device is not config ured to any interconnect cable and detects an indicia which does not contain one of a plurality of specified sequences of data elements that the indicia reading device will recognize and use to configure itself to operate with the interconnect cable the indicia reading device will indicate to the user ofthe indicia reading device that the indicia reading device needs to be configured to operate with the interconnect cable 17 Claims 12 Drawing Sheets Load interface Default and Continue Boot
11. 3B 3C and 3D are four block diagrams of exemplary systems with which the scanner 112 may be used Although the optical scanner 112 is used in the drawings a wireless or RFID scanner may also be used with the present invention In FIG 3A the scanner 112 is coupled to a local host processor 190 by means an interconnect cable 192 which in FIG 3A may have a USB connection to the host processor 190 Host processor 190 may be connected to a display 194 to a printer 196 and a keyboard 198 As used herein the term local host processor will be understood to include both stand alone host processors and host processors which comprise only one part of a local computer system If the software for the scanner 112 is available locally as for example on a diskette or CD ROM it may be loaded using a suitable drive unit 200 The local host processor 190 may be in communication with a remotely located processor 202 through a suitable transmission link 204 such as an electrical conductor link a fiber optic link or a wireless transmission link through a suitable communication interface 206 such as a modem As used herein the term transmission link will be understood to refer broadly to any type of trans mission facility including an RS 232 capable telephone line an RF link or a computer network e g ETHERNET although other types of transmission links or networks may also be used For example transmission link 204 could be provided by a coa
12. a reader device set forth in claim 8 wherein the indication is at least one ofthe following illumination of one or more light emitting diodes s a sequence of prere corded sounds generated by a sound generator and movement ofthe indicia device by a vibrator 16 The method of claim 1 wherein the indicia reader device is not configured to read and interpret product indicia until the indicia reader device receives the specified sequence of data elements 17 Theindicia reader device of claim 8 wherein the restor ing comprises configuring the indicia reader device to read and interpret product indicia
13. ace ofthe scanner 112 The RFID reader in the scanner 112 would therefore recognize the AFI of transmitted 0 an 5 20 40 45 50 65 8 signal from each RFID tag responding to the RFID reader and ignore FDI RFID tags unless the scanner 112 does not have a configured cable interface or the scanner 112 has been programmed to receive a new default cable interface from an FDI RFID tag While the invention has been described with reference to particular embodiments it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention In addition many modifica tions may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the scope of the invention Therefore it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode con templated for carrying out this invention but that the inven tion will include all embodiments falling within the scope and spirit of the appended claims The invention claimed is 1 A method for requiring a user of an indicia reader device to initially configure the indicia reader device for operating with an interconnect cable comprising the steps of configuring the indicia reader device with factory defaults executing an initial boot sequence that includes a test for the p
14. an enlarged view ofa label for a bag containing an interconnect cable which includes a RFID tag in the label It will be appreciated that for purposes of clarity and where deemed appropriate reference numerals have been repeated in the figures to indicate corresponding features Also the relative size of various objects in the drawings has in some cases been distorted to more clearly show the invention DETAILED DESCRIPTION Reference will now be made to exemplary embodiments of the invention which are illustrated in the accompanying draw ings This invention however may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodi ments set forth herein Rather these representative embodi ments are described in detail so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope structure operation functionality and potential of applica bility of the invention to those skilled in the art Referring to FIG 1 an exemplary hand held indicia read ing device or scanner 112 referred to as scanner 112 has a number of subsystems for capturing images interrogating US 8 868 802 B2 3 RFID tags and decoding dataforms within such images and tags Thescanner 112 has animaging reader assembly 114 an electronics assembly 116 an inner cable 118 from the elec tronics assembly 116 to a connector not shown at the end of a handle 120 and two LEDs 122 and 124 positioned behind transl
15. ansmit data symbols to the RFID readers One dimensional 1D optical bar code readers are char acterized by reading data that is encoded along a single axis in the widths of bars and spaces so that such symbols can be read from a single scan along that axis provided that the symbol is imaged with a sufficiently high resolution along that axis In order to allow the encoding of larger amounts of data in a single bar code symbol a number of 1D stacked bar code symbologies have been developed which partition encoded data into multiple rows each including a respective 1D bar code pattern all or most all of which must be scanned and decoded then linked together to form a complete message Scanning still requires relatively higher resolution in one dimension only but multiple linear scans are needed to read the whole symbol A class of bar code symbologies known as two dimensional 2D matrix symbologies have been developed which offer orientation free scanning and greater data densities and capacities than 1D symbologies 2D matrix codes encode data as dark or light data elements within a regular polygonal matrix accompanied by graphical finder orientation and ref erence structures Conventionally an indicia reader whether portable or oth erwise optical or wireless may include a central processor which directly controls the operations ofthe various electrical components housed within the indicia reader For example the central proc
16. ded by the illumination assembly 150 may be combined with or replaced by other sources of illumination including ambient light from sources outside of the scanner 112 The aiming pattern generator 160 generally comprises a power supply 162 an aimer light source 164 an aperture 166 and aimer optics 168 The aiming pattern generator 160 cre ates an aiming light pattern projected on or near the target which spans a portion of the receive optical system s 140 operational field of view with the intent of assisting the opera tor to properly aim the scanner at the bar code pattern that is to be read A number of representative generated aiming 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 patterns are possible and not limited to any particular pattern or type of pattern such as any combination of rectilinear linear circular elliptical etc figures whether continuous or discontinuous i e defined by sets of discrete dots dashes and the like Alternately the aimer pattern generator may be a laser pattern generator Generally the aimer light source 164 may comprise any light source which is sufficiently small or concise and bright to provide a desired illumination pattern at the target For example the aimer light source 164 may comprise one or more LEDs such as part number NSPG300A made by Nichia Corporation Illumination and aiming light sources with dif ferent colors and combination of colors may be employed
17. der will electronically indicate to the user of the indicia reader that the indicia reader needs to be configured to operate with the interconnect cable 7 The method set forth in claim 6 further including the step of resetting the interface variable to the first status after the interface variable has been set to the second status 8 An indicia reader device configured to perform a method comprising executing an initial boot sequence that includes a test of the indicia reader device configuration wherein the initial boot sequence comprising a detecting the presence or absence of an interface default variable providing an indication to a user of the indicia reading device that if the indicia reading device is not configured to operate with any interconnect cable responsive to detecting that the initial interface default variable is absent shifting the indicia reader device to a lower functional state responsive to detecting that the initial interface default variable is absent self configuring to operate with an interconnect cable wherein the interconnect cable includes a specified sequence of data elements and wherein the self config uring comprises reading the specified sequence of data elements on the interconnect cable and populating the interface default variable and restoring the indicia reading device to a normal functional state responsive to populating the interface default vari able 20 25 30 35 10
18. e Default and Continue Boot Sequence FIG 4A Idle Ready to Scan U S Patent Oct 21 2014 Sheet 8 of 12 US 8 868 802 B2 Power Up Scanner Indicate To User That Scanner is Not Ready For Normal Scanning Boot Sequence Has an FDI Indicia Been Scanned Boot to a First Configuration Fill the Default Interface Variable Interface Default Variable Filled Load Interface Default Boot to a Second Configuration FIG 4B Idle Ready ta Scan U S Patent Oct 21 2014 Sheet 9 of 12 US 8 868 802 B2 se s a p oW FIG 5 U S Patent Oct 21 2014 Sheet 10 of 12 US 8 868 802 B2 Standard USB Cable VOR IMPORTANT NOTICE Please be notified when you do use your bar code reader for the first time it will beep and flash the leds to let you know its default interface requires to be configured 252 To set the default interface to match the cable in this bag scan the bar code below efault Interface to USB PC Keyboard For more detailed instructions refer to the First Time Usage section in the user manual or Quick Start Guide FIG 6 U S Patent Oct 21 2014 Sheet 11 of 12 US 8 868 802 B2 FIG 7 U S Patent Oct 21 2014 Sheet 12 of 12 US 8 868 802 B2 Standard USB Cable LNA IMPORTANT NOTICE Please be notified when you do use your bar 270 code reader for the first time it will beep and flash the leds to let you know its default interface
19. essed by the scan ner processor 180 utilizing one or more functions or algo rithms which may be stored in an EEPROM 187 to condition US 8 868 802 B2 5 the signal appropriately for use in further processing down stream including being digitized to provide a digitized image of target T Another function of the scanner processor 180 is to decode machine readable symbology represented within an image captured by the image sensor 144 Information respecting various reference decode algorithms is available from various published standards such as by the International Standards Organization ISO The scanner processor 180 also con trols the scanner housing status indicator device drivers 189 which drives the LEDs 122 and 124 the vibrator 132 and the sound generator 134 The microcontroller 186 maintains illumination param eters used to control operation of the illumination assembly 150 and the aiming pattern generator 160 in a memory 188 For example the memory 188 may contains tables indicative of power settings for the power supplies 152 and 162 corre sponding to various states ofthe signal from the image sensor 144 Based upon signals from the scanner processor 180 and or the image sensor 144 the microcontroller 186 sends signals to the power supplies 152 and 162 based on values stored in the table in memory 188 An exemplary microcon troller 150 is the CY8C24223A made by Cypress Semicon ductor Corporation FIGS 3A
20. essor controls detection of keyboard entries display features trigger detection and indicia read and decode functionality Efforts regarding such systems have led to continuing developments to improve their versatility practicality and efficiency SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention comprises in one form thereof an indicia scanning apparatus including an interconnect cable an indi cia reading device configured to provide an indication to a user of the indicia reading device that the indicia reading device needs to be configured to operate with an interconnect a 5 20 40 45 55 60 2 cable ifthe indicia reader device detects an indicia which does not contain a specified sequence of data elements that the indicia reading device will recognize and configure itself to operate with the interconnect cable and an indicia with on or in the interconnect cable with the specified sequence of bar data elements In still another form the invention includes a method for requiring a user of an indicia reader device to initially con figure the indicia reader device for operating with an inter connect cable The method comprises the steps of configuring the indicia reader device so that if the indicia reader device detects an indicia which does not contain one ofa plurality of specified sequences of data elements that the indicia reading device will recognize and use to configure itself to operate with the interconnect cab
21. he interconnect cable associated with the indicia previously read or received which last set the interface variable to the second state 5 The method set forth in claim 1 wherein the indicia reader device boots to a first configuration when the interface variable is in the first state and boots to a second configura tion when the interface variable is in the second state 6 A method for configuring an indicia reader for operating with a factory default interconnect cable comprising the steps of setting an interface variable to a first status prior to ship ping the indicia reader to a user such that the indicia reader is not operable to read indicia that is not one ofa plurality of interface configuration indicia providing the interface factory default interconnect cable with an indicia which contains one of the plurality of US 8 868 802 B2 9 interface configuration data elements prior to shipping the factory default interconnect cable to the user executing an initial boot sequence that includes a test of the interface variable and setting the interface variable to a second status upon read ing one of the plurality of interface configuration data elements if the indicia reader needs to be configured to operate with the interconnect cable based on the test wherein the functionality of the indicia reader is limited when the interface variable is in the second status and wherein during the initial boot sequence the indicia rea
22. le the indicia reading device will indicate to the user of the indicia reading device that the indicia reading device needs to be configured to operate with the interconnect cable and providing an indicia with an inter connect cable which includes one of the plurality of specified sequences of data elements which is applicable to the inter connect cable BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The aforementioned and other features characteristics advantages and the invention in general will be better under stood from the following more detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which FIG 1 is a partial cutaway view of an optical indicia reader in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention FIG 2 is a block diagram of the optical indicia reader of FIG 1 FIGS 3A 3B 3C and 3D are block diagrams of typical data processing systems with which the reading device shown in FIG 1 may be used FIGS 4A and 4B are flow charts ofalternate procedures for initially configuring the reading device shown in FIG 1 FIG 5 is a perspective view on an interconnect cable in a plastic bag with a label for initially configuring the reading device shown in FIG 1 FIG 6 is an enlarged view of the label shown in FIG 5 FIG 7 is a perspective view on an interconnect cable in a plastic bag with an embedded RFID tag for initially config uring the reading device shown in FIG 1 and FIG 8 is
23. le in the BMN mode an initial boot sequence is performed as indicated in box 230 The boot sequence includes a test of the interface default variable to determine if it is filled as shown in box 232 If the interface default variable has not been filled the scanner 112 indicates to the user that the variable has not been filled as shown in box 234 The indication may be illumination of one or both of the LEDs 122 124 shown in FIG 1 either constantly or inter mittently The indication may also be a sequence of prere corded sounds generated by the sound generator 134 and or a movement in the scanner 112 by the vibrator 132 In addition since the scanner 112 has not completed the boot sequence in the embodiment shown in FIG 4 the scanner 112 will not be configured to read and interpret product indicia such as bar codes and RFID tags or perform any other functions that the scanner is capable of when it has completed the boot sequence The scanner 112 than waits until a flash default interface FDI indicia is received as indicated in box 236 The FDI indicia provides software commands which the scanner 112 uses to configure itself to an interconnect cable associated with the FDI indicia After the FDI indicia is detected the scanner fills the interface default variable as shown in box 238 and resumes the boot sequence including loading the interface default programmed in the FDI indicia as shown in box 240 In FIG 4B the scanner 112 begins
24. ner 112 to the LAN 220 at a LAN connector 222 Power supply 216 connected to a power connector 217 which in turn is connected to the LAN connector 222 to provide power to the scanner 112 In the past scanners may have been preprogrammed to operate with a specific interface cable which may be part of a scanner kit However in some cases the preprogrammed scanner does not match the interconnect cable in the kit For example a customer may buy a USB kit but the scanner is programmed for a keyboard wedge and consequently the scanner does not work out of the box Once connected the scanner seems to be ready and there is no indication that further setup is required The problem is that in mass produc tion the manufacturer sometimes does not know in what kit a scanner will end up Another downside of the preprogrammed scanners is that if the factory defaults indicia is scanned the scanner defaults to the device s default interface which isn t necessarily the interface the user requires or expects FIGS 4A and 4B are flow diagrams showing alternate embodiments of the steps used to initially configure the scan ner 112 by an end user for a particular type of interconnect cable when the scanner 112 is in a boot mode new BMN mode meaning that an interface default variable has not been set and there is no interconnection cable configuration set in the scanner 112 Turning to FIG 4A whenever the scanner 112 is powered up whi
25. nterface in this manner may not change the interface default variable and if a master reset indicia is scanned the interconnect cable inter face may revert to the initial interconnection cable configu ration Thus if a user sets the default interface variable with a FDI indicia for a USB cable later changes to an interconnect cable configuration for a keyboard wedge by scanning the indicia for a keyboard wedge interconnect cable in the user s manual and then later scans a master reset indicia the scan ner 112 may revert back to the USB interconnect cable con figuration However the manufacturer may provide a hidden com mand available to the manufacturer s support personnel to erase the interconnection cable configuration putting the scanner back into the BMN mode The user would then have to set the default interface variable using a process such as those shown in FIG 4A or 4B By resetting the FDI variable the scanner 112 would then be ready for sale to anew user or for use in a different location in a company and the master reset command would not cause an unwanted change in the interface cable configuration The FDI indicia on the cable bag may be a linear 1D bar code in orderto work with a basic scanner 112 which can only read linear 1D bar codes FIG 5 is a perspective view of the interconnect cable 192 in a plastic bag 250 with a label 252 with a FDI bar code 254 to beused for initially configuring the scanner 112 so that
26. resence of an interface default variable so that if the indicia reader device does not contain one of a plurality of specified sequences of data elements that the indicia reading device will recognize a factory default intercon nect cable responsive to the boot sequence executing and determining that the interface default variable is not set the indicia reading device electronically indicating to the user that the indicia reading device needs to be configured to operate with the recognized interconnect cable disabling functionality of the indicia reader device that is not the reading functionality of the indicia reader device until the indicia reader device receives a specified sequence of data elements which is applicable to the factory default interconnect cable receiving a specified sequence of data elements and restoring the disabled functionality 2 The method set forth in claim 1 further including the steps of resetting the interface variable when the indicia reader device reads indicia that contains a reset interface variable program orreceives a reset interface command via an already established interface connection 3 The method set forth in claim 2 wherein the reset inter face variable program data elements are not made generally available to users of the indicia reader device 4 The method set forth in claim 1 wherein a resetto factory defaults program causes the indicia reader device to configure itself to operate with t
27. ucent windows 126 and a housing 128 which encloses the electrical parts and is connected to the handle 120 The electronics assembly includes an RFID assembly 130 a vibrator 132 and a sound generator 134 A trigger 136 is used to activate and deactivate the scanner 112 Referring to FIG 2 the image reader assembly 114 and electronics assembly 116 generally comprises a receive opti cal system 140 an illumination assembly 150 an aiming pattern generator 160 an RFID reader unit 170 and a variety of control and communication modules The receive optical system 140 generates frames of data containing indications of the intensity of light received by the read optical system 140 The illumination assembly 150 illuminates a target T creating reflections that are received by the receive optical system 140 The aiming pattern generator 160 projects an aiming light pattern to assist with aiming the scanner 112 While the present description employs an imager based data collection subsystem the image reader assembly 114 and electronics assembly 116 it is to be recognized that the data collection subsystem may take other forms such as a laser scanner The receive optical system 140 generally comprises image receive optics 142 and an image sensor 144 The image optics 142 receives light reflected from a target T and projects the reflected light on to the image sensor 144 The image sensor 144 may comprise any one of a number of two dimensional color
28. xial cable or any other non RF electromag netic energy communication link including a light energy infrared or microwave communication link Link 204 could also be an acoustic communications link The connection to the host processor 190 must be ofa type to provide electrical data between the scanner 112 and the host process 190 and provide power to the scanner 112 A USB connection can perform these functions as can a key board connection FIG 3B shows the scanner 112 connected to the host processor 190 by an interconnection cable 213 with a keyboard wedge 214 at one end to permit the use of a keyboard with the scanner 112 In FIG 3C the scanner 112 is connected to the host processor 190 by an interconnect cable 215 at a connection 218 to the host processor 190 which cannot provide the power needed by the scanner 112 For example a serial port on the host processor 190 is a connec tion which cannot power the scanner 112 In FIG 3C a sepa rate power supply 216 is needed for the scanner 112 The 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 power supply 216 is connected to a power connector 217 which in turn is connected to the connector 218 which replaces the connector 212 in FIG 3A In FIG 3D the scanner 112 is connected by an interconnect cable 219 directly to a local area network LAN 220 such as an ETHERNET LAN which is also connected to the local host processor 190 The interconnect cable 219 couples the scan
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