HID protocol-based soft keyboard toggle with initialization and
Contents
1. 275 FIG 1 U S Patent i Define down key as Bleutooth power off which enables soft keyboard Define up key as Bleutooth power on wich enables soft keyboard Jul 9 2013 Sheet 2 of 4 i Inguiry Search and Paging Pairing 200 Sa P A A s va SQ _ Support HID toggles a command 205 a Yes SS j ST f Define a as Soft keyboard toggle key i Soft keyboard would pop up and disappears upon pressing the toggle US 8 483 614 B2 May define one button as ON OFF key 1 toggle key if only one key is available 215 a we ASS _ Missing data in sleep proses Ne eee lt mode D VeS 7 Ske 220 Le a SUR Set the wakeup delay 230 i Set the autolock sana cesce nace pennectnnct canna H time to zero E 2 T 22 Set the autolock time tote cet ek ee f 235 Scan a barcode 240 Compute the elapsed time from the previous scan 245 A dit 7 mA _ Elapsed time ee gt Sk lin SS Auttoloek time 2 rr nL 250 ae Send wakeup character 255 Y idle during the wakeup delay 260 No A 2 HD Sh N Synchronizaton option pNo lt A i EN is enabled p f 265 A See i a Transmit the scanned Transmit stored barcodes D barcode over HID profite i over HID profile i 270 N 275 pi U S Patent Jul 9 2013 Sheet 3 of 4 FIG 3 314 Mobile2. defini tion of a special barcode scan as a soft keyboard toggle key or definition of voice recognition commands as a soft keyboard toggle key h determining whether there is an indication of missing data due to said mobile terminal being in a sleep mode i setting when said indication of said missing data has been determined not to exist an autolock time to zero in said peripheral device j setting when said indication of said missing data has been determined to exist a wakeup delay of a predeter mined length of time and said autolock time to a user determined autolock time previously established in said mobile terminal k executing a data collecting function of said peripheral device and then computing an elapsed time from a pre vious data collecting function of said peripheral device 1 determining whether said elapsed time from a previous data collecting function of said peripheral device is greater than said autolock time 1 sending where said elapsed time from a previous data collecting function of said peripheral has been deter mined to be greater than said autolock time a wake up character from said peripheral device to said mobile terminal and thereafter establishing an idle period for said peripheral device until a predetermined wakeup delay period has expired n determining whether a synchronization option has been enabled within said Bluetooth HID based profile o transmitting where it has been de
3. a latent e g sleeping iPhone iPad or iPod touch before transmitting the data collected e g barcode Provision of such prevents accidental data loss that normally results from known HID devices which cannot wake up a sleeping iPhone iPad or iPod touch and as such cannot receive the data properly because inevitably the first few characters of a data transmission stream go missing due to the mobile terminal being in sleep mode at the beginning of transmission Additionally the present invention also con templates synchronization of data between the two devices by defining a way to download collected data e g bar code scan data from a bar code scanner over a HID profile More specifically HID profiles use real time data transmission only which the present invention can certainly accommodate but this mode as previously known does not allow for mobile terminal 100 system latency periods when transmitting data However this invention also extends the usage of HID pro files by providing for the download of stored data e g data that was collected during period of latency or other condition by the peripheral device 110 so as to allow for synchroniza tion over an HID profile by either full download or partial download The meaning of full download can be understood to mean that upon waking up ofa latent mobile terminal 100 all data collected by the data collector e g bar code scan data from a bar code scanner is sen
4. code reader 110 scans a special barcode and or 3 as voice recognition based com mand Special Bluetooth management software such as the KTSync software which is available from KoamTac Inc of Princeton N J may also be employed to effectuate provi sion of the above through bar code scanner having a config urable key for utilization in toggling the soft keyboard func tion described above Alternatively a unit such as the illustrative KDC 200 or KDC 300 type unit available from KoamTac Inc of Princeton N J which already has 0 20 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 specialized built in Bluetooth management software such as that found in KTSync therein may be used It is worth noting that one generally would need to include a bar code scanning unit with programming capability or the ability to function with without KTSync type software downloaded therein in order to provide the configuration options on the configurable key e g toggle key 400 and menu 405 and for executing the logic steps outlined in FIG 2 In any case additional authentication not depicted may need to be done according to known approaches in the art of pairing such smart devices and peripheral devices the sum of which may include entering a PIN other authentication process as required by an iPhone or other similar devices Because devices such as the iPhone and the iPad request HID devices to enter PIN codes g
5. keyboard of the mobile terminal such as the illustrative KDC 200 or KDC 300 type unit available from KoamTac Inc of Princeton N J and to that end the data collecting function comprises the step of executing a bar code scan operation and the data collected during the data collecting function comprises bar code scan data In further embodiments the mobile terminal US 8 483 614 B2 5 comprises a smart device chosen from the group comprising an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch available from Apple Inc of Cupertino Calif such that where a toggle command is available in the Bluetooth HID based profile at least one key on the bar code scanner enables the direct manipulation of a soft keyboard function on the smart device without either a suspension or disconnection of the connection via Blue tooth between the bar code scanner and said smart device Reference will now be made in detail to the illustrative embodiments of the present invention examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings Wherever pos sible the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts Constituent com ponents and operations of the present invention shown in the drawings will be disclosed only for illustrative purposes of the present invention such that technical spirit important constructions and operations of the present invention are not limited to only the following embodiment
6. matters to be realized by embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the following technical subject matters and other technical subject matters not men tioned in the following description may be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains without difficulty Additional advantages objects and features of the inven tion will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following may be learned from practice of the invention The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended draw ings To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accor dance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein the proposed invention relates to a novel approach to use hand held devices such as compact bar code scanners to toggle the soft keyboard or other similar feature on mobile phones and PDAs such as the iPhone and or the iPad and or the iPod touch Such toggling of the soft key board on mobile phones and PDAs such as the iPhone and or the iPad and or the iPod is deemed greatly desirable because a soft keyboard or other similar feature is normally disabled when a device such as an illus trative ha
7. that can be connected thereto However when the mobile terminal is connected to certain peripheral devices especially when utilizing the normative HID protocol based connection certain functions used in the mobile device or terminal such as the illustrative soft key board of an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch are disabled upon establishment of the Bluetooth connection therebe tween This poses a problem for users as these functions are often needed during a given session of connectivity Accordingly in order to implement the soft keyboard func tion of the mobile terminal in the mobile device according to most conventional schemes found in HID profiles used in such devices an additional step of shutting down the Blue tooth connection is required resulting in greater user incon venience As such previous approaches for using the soft keyboard of an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch have there fore been hitherto wholly limited to the inconvenient approach of ensuring complete disconnection of the periph eral device or other apparatus to the iPhone or iPad by completely disconnecting a given peripheral or by fully shut ting down the Bluetooth Power via the ON OFF feature therein Furthermore Bluetooth connections between the peripheral device and the mobile device are further compli cated by data transmission loss caused by mobile terminal latency periods and by ineffective or non existent synchroni zation schemes
8. Alternatively a user can also enter PIN code using other methods such as barcode scanning and voice recogni tion as may be detailed in one of the following U S Patents US Pat No 8 347 366 B2 U S Pat No 8 126 399 B2 and U S Pat No 7 954 710 B2 the specifications of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties I claim 1 A method executed by at least one peripheral device for providing interoperability between said at least one periph eral device and a mobile terminal connectable thereto via Bluetooth wireless connection said method comprising the steps of a establishing a connection via Bluetooth between the at least one peripheral device and said mobile terminal b determining whether a toggle command is available in a Bluetooth HID based profile within said connection via Bluetooth between the at least one peripheral device and said mobile terminal c defining when no said toggle command is available in said Bluetooth HID based profile at least one key on said at least one peripheral device as an ON OFF toggle key manually d defining when said toggle command is available in said Bluetooth HID based profile a soft keyboard toggle function according to one of the actions chosen from the group comprising definition of at least one key on said at least one peripheral device as a soft keyboard toggle key definition of a special barcode scan as a soft key US 8 483 614 B2 9 board togg
9. Bluetooth connection between the devices With attention to FIG 3 an illustrative diagram is depicted of the hardware elements that may be found within a periph eral device such as the exemplary bar code scanner 110 all of which may be employed in executing the various processes and steps of the present invention As seen therein is a bar code device controller 300 connected to memory 306 scan ner processor 304 at least one configurable key s or but tons 310 display 312 and Bluetooth module 314 for com munications with a mobile device 302 mobile terminal 100 Under the control ofa controller 300 the Bluetooth enabled peripheral device 110 employs each of the above to perform the inventive processes herein and the specific steps outlined in FIG 2 in conjunction with the connected mobile device 100 FIG 4 depicts a frontal and side view of a manually set configurable toggle key 400 and illustrative menu 405 of the bar code scanner or reader 110 A variety of menus or menu screens for example may in some embodiments be provided to the user through a display on the bar code scanner 110 for displaying to the user the selected options available in the novel method described herein In additional embodiments toggle key 400 could be defined through one or more of the following of 1 a physical key as depicted therein at 400 2 a virtual key that is automatically triggered by initiation of a scanning operation where bar
10. Device A BLUETOOTH Terminal MODULE pi 302 cot 1 Go 304 Peripheral Device Barcode Scanner Processor Scanner Contro Peripheral Device Barcode 306 MEMORY US 8 483 614 B2 DISPLAY 310 BUTTONS U S Patent Jul 9 2013 FIG 4 405 Bluetooth HID Toggle Enable Disable Save amp Exit Front Sheet 4 of 4 110 Side US 8 483 614 B2 400 US 8 483 614 B2 1 HID PROTOCOL BASED SOFT KEYBOARD TOGGLE WITH INITIALIZATION AND SYNCHRONIZATION CAPABILITY FOR MOBILE PHONES AND PDAS CONNECTED TO A PERIPHERAL DEVICE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method for controlling a mobile phone or PDA such as a iPhone or iPad or iPod touch to be used through special features for a peripheral device and more particularly relates to a method for control ling the soft keyboard of an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch and improved methods for controlling the transmission of data from a peripheral device to the given mobile phone or PDA DISCUSSION OF THE RELATED ART Recently a mobile terminal mobile phone or PDA such as a iPhone or iPad or iPod touch are becoming widely used as more than mere communication or media devices There are a variety of applications for such mobile terminals that strive to amplify the abilities of such terminals for addi tional purposes that may be achieved through the use of special use peripherals
11. F pp 1 103 KoamTac A new Wave in Auto ID User Manual KDC300 Sep 2010 Revision 2 86G pp 1 114 Ranta et al Human Interface Device HID Profile May 22 2003 Version 1 0 Adopted pp 1 123 Show on Screen Keyboard When Scanfob 2002 Barcode Scanner Connected to iPad Dec 13 2010 p 1 Setup for connecting Scanfob 2002 via Bluetooth as a Keyboard Dec 14 2010 pp 1 2 WO WO cited by examiner Primary Examiner Nay A Maung Assistant Examiner Alejandro Rivero 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Robert Gorman Gorman Law Offices 57 ABSTRACT The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for employing a specialized key on a peripheral device such as a bar code scanner that can enabled the direct manipulation of a soft keyboard function on a smart device such as a iPhone or iPad or iPod touch without either a suspension or disconnection of the connection via Bluetooth between the bar code scanner and the smart device and without any data loss being incurred from latency periods in the smart device 10 Claims 4 Drawing Sheets Ie 100 T om SST cata eaters Toggle Command Options 205 215 She Sleep Mode Wake up Options 220 260 pa ames Synchronization Options 265 275 U S Patent Jul 9 2013 Sheet 1 of 4 US 8 483 614 B2 Toggle Command Options 205 215 are eee Sleep Mode Wake up Options 220 260 il semen Synchronization Options 265
12. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly the present invention is directed to a method for controlling the mobile terminal to be used through a peripheral device that substantially obviates one or more problems due to limitations and disadvantages of the related art An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a method for controlling a mobile terminal effectively through a peripheral device that has been provided with the novel functionality so that one can easily employ the soft keyboard of a mobile device such as an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch simply by pressing a soft keyboard toggle function button on the handheld barcode scanning device or other apparatus while the same is currently connected via a Blue 0 an 5 40 45 50 55 2 tooth HID protocol based connection to the iPhone and or the iPad and or the iPod touch The Bluetooth HID profile defines the protocols procedures and features to be used by Bluetooth HID based peripherals such as key boards pointing devices gaming devices remote monitoring devices and bar code scanning devices Devices such as the iPhone and or the iPad and or the iPod touch support Bluetooth HID based profiles but prevent user use of the soft keyboard while connected to such peripherals espe cially if the peripherals do not also have keyboards for input ting data Thus especially popular peripherals like barcode scanners can b
13. US008483614B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 483 614 B2 Lee 45 Date of Patent Jul 9 2013 54 HID PROTOCOL BASED SOFT KEYBOARD 2009 0240842 Al 9 2009 Wang et al TOGGLE WITH INITIALIZATION AND 2010 0180063 Al 7 2010 Ananny et al 2010 0203838 Al 8 2010 Ding SYNCHRONIZATION CAPABILITY FOR 2010 0312919 Al 12 2010 Lee etal MOBILE PHONES AND PDAS CONNECTED 2011 0171908 A1 7 2011 Hua nesese 455 41 2 TO A PERIPHERAL DEVICE 75 Inventor Hanjin Lee Skillman NJ US 73 Assignee Koamtac Inc Princeton NJ US Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 334 days 21 13 018 286 22 Appl No Filed Jan 31 2011 Prior Publication Data US 2012 0196539 A1 Aug 2 2012 65 Int CI H04B 7 00 U S CI USPC 51 52 2006 01 455 41 2 235 462 46 235 472 02 709 232 58 Field of Classification Search None See application file for complete search history 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 7 260 357 B2 8 2007 7 280 097 B2 10 2007 7 377 441 B2 5 2008 2006 0007126 Al 1 2006 2008 0320190 A1 12 2008 2009 0196209 A1 8 2009 Hulvey Chen et al Wiklof et al 0 00 235 472 02 Shih Lydon et al Haartsen FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS WO2009 002786 A2 12 2008 WO2009 063272 Al 5 2009 OTHER PUBLICATIONS KoamTac A new Wave in Auto ID User Manual KDC300 Dec 2009 Revision 2 86
14. application illustrate embodiment s of the invention and together with the descrip tion serve to explain the principle of the invention In the drawings FIG 1 depicts an illustrative mobile terminal and a host device and a broad recitation of some of the novel operations performed therebetween according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG 2 is a flow chart illustrating an operational relation ship between a mobile terminal and a peripheral device according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG 3 is a block diagram of some of the electronic com ponents of the peripheral device that implement the novel operations on the mobile terminal according to one embodi ment of the present invention FIG 4 depicts a frontal and side view of an illustrative mobile screen and configurable key s that are intended for 20 25 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 user selection of the novel operations to be performed on or with any given connected mobile terminal DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION At its broadest level the present invention relates to a method and apparatus whereby a peripheral device can pro vide for improved interoperability between the peripheral device and a mobile terminal connectable thereto via a Blue tooth wireless connection wherein the peripheral device comprises a a memory unit configured to store instructions b at least one configurable key for selecting at least one of t
15. e autolock time is set to say 10 minutes If it has been determined that there is no data missing due to the sleep mode then the autolock time is set to zero which means that the autolock feature will not be set on the iPhone iPad or iPod touch If has been determined that there is data missing due to the sleep mode then a wake up delay equal to iPhone iPad or iPod touch autolock minutes is set in steps 230 and thereafter the autolock time is set at 235 to the user defined setting previously established in the mobile terminal 100 Thereafter the peripheral data collec tion function barcode scan operation is performed at step 240 and then a computation is made at step 250 as to whether the currently measured elapsed time is greater than the autolock time If it is greater then at step 255 a wake up character is sent from the peripheral device 110 to the mobile terminal 100 and thereafter at step 260 a certain period of time is set during the wake up delay by the user or in some US 8 483 614 B2 7 embodiments automatically by transfer of data indicating the specific time length the length of which might be illustra tively characterized as 0 5 seconds in length or any other time value between 0 1 to 1 0 seconds depending on the subject mobile terminal 100 Lastly a HID profile based synchroni zation may be enabled If it is not enabled the collected data e g scanned bar code data may be transmitted over
16. e connected to an iPhone and or the iPad and or the iPod using the industry standard HID profile but must disconnect the HID connection if user needs to enter data using soft keyboard As such fast HID connection and disconnection is a desirable feature Thus it is a goal of the present invention to remedy the aforementioned deficiencies through proprietary definition of toggle key s to not only connect and disconnect HID connections to provide the fast est connection and disconnection method but also to provide for soft keyboard usage during such connections in cases where an HID toggle command is supported Another object of the present invention is therefore to provide a method for controlling a mobile terminal effec tively through a peripheral device in such a way so as to overcome the limitations of the normal HID profile normally employed in such connections particularly where a given peripheral device such as an illustrative barcode reader is connected to the iPhone or iPad or the iPod touch More specifically it is an object of the present invention to not only avoid the significant limitations on the use of soft keyboards or touch functions found on such mobile devices but also to avoid the commonly encountered instances of lost or cor rupted data collections emanating from the connections ther ebetween that stem from mobile device latency and incom plete solutions for data synchronization Technical subject
17. e scanning device or other appa ratus to the iPhone or iPad in order to re engage or use then disabled soft keyboard function Also the present invention further provides for the addi tional features of 1 an HID device wake up method whereby an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch is woken up before transmitting the data of the handheld barcode scanning device or other apparatus which prevents accidental data loss that would normally occur during the brief period of latency when the iPhone or iPad or iPod touch does not receive the first portions of a data stream as a result of it being in a sleep mode that may normally occur during overall system usage and 2 an HID synchronization method that avoids the normal real time data transmission default and defines an approach to downloading collected stored data from the handheld barcode scanning device or other apparatus over a given HID profile in a batch format As such the present invention overcomes this and other disadvantages inherent in the prior art It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are examples and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings which are included to pro vide a further understanding of the invention and are incor porated in and constitute a part of this
18. enerated by iPhone and iPad during pairing process a user can enter PIN code using key pad if HID device has keypad capability In one alternative embodiment the present invention may provide for a more convenient method of entering PIN code using the display of peripheral device 110 and a limited number of buttons through provision of easy PIN code access methodology By way of example an iPhone generates a four digit random numeric PIN code and the iPad generates a six digit random numeric PIN code In the present invention the peripheral device could be programmed so as to automatically display four digits of a combination of 4 and or 5 such as 4444 or 5555 for say the iPhone Similarly the peripheral device could be programmed so as to automatically display six digits of a combination of 4 and or 5 such as 444444 or 555555 for say the iPad A user could then change the displayed PIN code whether 4444 or 555555 and could use the up and down buttons on devices such as the KDC 200 or KDC 300 to compose random PIN codes generated by the iPhone and or iPad Provision of such is much more expedient than known approaches because the numerals 4 and 5 are the median numbers within the decimal system and accordingly by providing for this functionality the present invention minimizes the time required for the entering of PIN codes during the pairing process
19. he following of a toggle command a wake up process and a synchronization process b a processor connected to the at least one key both of which are configured to execute instruc tions for executing the following instructions c establishing a connection via Bluetooth between at least one peripheral device and the mobile terminal d determining whether a toggle command is available in a Bluetooth HID based profile within the connection via Bluetooth between at least one peripheral device and the mobile terminal e defining when no toggle command is available in the Bluetooth HID based profile at least one key on the peripheral device as an ON OFF toggle key manually f defining when the toggle command is available in the Bluetooth HID based profile at least one key on the peripheral device as a soft keyboard toggle key manually g determining whether there is an indication of missing data due to the mobile terminal being in a sleep mode h setting when the indication of said missing data has been determined not to exist an autolock time to zero in the peripheral device i setting when the indication of the missing data has been determined to exist a wakeup delay of a predetermined length of time and upon an expiration of the predetermined length of time setting the autolock time in the peripheral device to a preference previ ously set within the mobile terminal j executing a data collecting function of the peri
20. itting where it has been determined that said synchronization option has not been enabled within said Bluetooth HID based profile data collected during said data collecting function of said at least one peripheral device according to a real time mode and m transmitting where it has been determined that said synchronization option has been enabled within said Bluetooth HID based profile any stored data that has been collected during said data collecting function of said at least one peripheral device according to either a full download mode or a partial download mode 2 The method of claim 1 wherein steps a m are executed by a peripheral device that comprises a bar code scanner and wherein said data collecting function comprises the step of executing a bar code scan operation and wherein said data collected during said data collecting function com prises bar code scan data 3 The method of claim 2 wherein steps a m are executed by said bar code scanner together with a mobile terminal that comprises a smart device chosen from the group comprising an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch 4 The method of claim 3 wherein said step of defining when said toggle command is available in said Bluetooth HID based profile at least one key on said at least one periph eral device as a soft keyboard toggle key manually enables the direct manipulation of a soft keyboard function on said smart device without either a suspension or disconnecti
21. le key or definition of voice recognition com mands as a soft keyboard toggle key e determining whether there is an indication of missing data due to said mobile terminal being in a sleep mode f setting when said indication of said missing data has been determined not to exist an autolock time to zero in said at least one peripheral device g setting when said indication of said missing data has been determined to exist a wakeup delay of a predeter mined length of time and said autolock time to a user determined autolock time previously established in said mobile terminal h executing a data collecting function of said at least one peripheral device and then computing an elapsed time from a previous data collecting function of said periph eral device i determining whether said elapsed time from a previous data collecting function of said at least one peripheral device is greater than said autolock time j sending where said elapsed time from previous data collecting function of said at least one peripheral device has been determined to be greater than said autolock time a wake up character from said at least one periph eral device device to said mobile terminal and thereafter establishing an idle period for said at least one peripheral device until a predetermined wakeup delay period has expired k determining whether a synchronization option has been enabled within said Bluetooth HID based profile 1 transm
22. le terminal 100 are paired at step 200 and software coded or downloaded onto on peripheral device 110 executes the steps remaining starting with step 205 whereby a deter mination is made as to whether the current hardware involved supports a native HID toggle command If it does not then at step 210 one or more keys may be defined for establishing a quick connect disconnect e g ON OFF of the Bluetooth connection between the devices Otherwise if supported then at step 215 a soft keyboard toggle key may be defined whereby the soft keyboard may be controlled so as to appear and disappear on the screen of the mobile terminal upon pressing of the changeable e g defined key even while there is still a Bluetooth connection between the two devices Within this scheme additional features may be utilized according to the present invention For example the HID based Bluetooth connection can be disconnected automati cally if it becomes idle for a predefined time period in order to reduce the device power consumption on the devices and similarly can be reconnected automatically upon a predeter mined action such as upon scanning a barcode Also the present invention also contemplates a way in which to over come inherent limitations in previous approaches due to mobile terminal system latency periods For example the 0 a 5 40 45 55 6 present method also can define a key in such a way so as to wake up
23. luetooth between said bar code scanner and said smart device 10 The device of claim 9 wherein a PIN code access is further provided therein 10 12
24. ndheld or compact barcode scanning device is con nected via an active Bluetooth HID protocol based connec tion The inventive toggling is especially valuable in that permits usage of the soft key board on mobile phones and PDAs suchas the iPhone and or the iPad and or the iPod US 8 483 614 B2 3 touch while connected to an illustrative handheld barcode scanning device or other apparatus that may be connected via a Bluetooth HID protocol based connection Specifically inventive method utilizes a soft keyboard toggle function similar to keyboard F1 F2 function keys within the HID protocol in order to turn the Bluetooth connection ON OFF in a rapid fashion so as to control the soft keyboard of an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch using a soft keyboard toggle function that has been predefined in one of the extra buttons of the handheld barcode scanning device or other apparatus Provision of such means that one can easily employ the soft keyboard of an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch simply by pressing a soft keyboard toggle function button on the handheld barcode scanning device or other apparatus while the same is currently connected via a Blue tooth HID protocol based connection to the iPhone and or the iPad and or the iPod touch Previous approaches for using the soft keyboard of an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch have been hitherto limited to the complete disconnec tion of the handheld barcod
25. on of said connection via Bluetooth between said bar code scanner and said smart device 5 The method of claim 4 wherein a step for providing a PIN code access by a user is provided 6 A peripheral device for providing interoperability between said peripheral device and a mobile terminal con nectable thereto via a Bluetooth wireless connection said peripheral device comprising a a memory unit configured to store instructions 20 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 b at least one configurable key for selecting at least one of the following of a toggle command a wake up process and a synchronization process c a processor connected to said at least one key config ured to execute the following instructions d establishing a connection via Bluetooth between the peripheral device and said mobile terminal e determining whether a toggle command is available in a Bluetooth HID based profile within said connection via Bluetooth between the peripheral device and said mobile terminal f defining when no said toggle command is available in said Bluetooth HID based profile at least one key on said peripheral device as an ON OFF toggle key manu ally g defining when said toggle command is available in said Bluetooth HID based profile a soft keyboard toggle function according to one of the actions chosen from the group comprising definition of at least one key on said peripheral device as a soft keyboard toggle key
26. pheral device and then comput ing an elapsed time from a previous data collecting function of the peripheral device k determining whether the elapsed time from a previous data collecting function of the peripheral is greater than the autolock time 1 sending where the elapsed time from a previous data collecting function of the peripheral has been determined to be greater than the autolock time a wake up character from the peripheral device to the mobile terminal and thereafter establishing an idle period for the peripheral device until a predetermined wakeup delay period has expired m determining whether a synchro nization option has been enabled within the Bluetooth HID based profile 0 transmitting where it has been determined that the synchronization option has not been enabled within said Bluetooth HID based profile data collected during the data collecting function of the peripheral device according to a real time mode and p transmitting where it has been determined that the synchronization option has been enabled within the Bluetooth HID based profile any stored data that has been collected during the data collecting function of the peripheral device according to either a full download mode or a partial download mode In additional embodiments the peripheral device of which executes the above steps is done by a peripheral device that comprises a bar code scanner that has a configurable key for controlling the soft
27. s and can also be applied to other embodiments FIG 1 illustrates an example mobile terminal 100 and a peripheral device 110 according to the present invention As further shown in FIG 1 the mobile terminal 100 may be connected to the peripheral device 110 through a Bluetooth protocol Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications additions and substitutions are possible from this description but in general mobile terminal 100 is of the type chosen from the groups comprising an iPhone iPad or iPod touch available from Apple Inc of Cupertino Calif and includes a display for implementing interactivity with a user This display has a soft keyboard that is fre quently used by a user in order to input data The bar code scanner has a configurable key for controlling the soft key board of the mobile terminal such as that found in the illus trative KDC 200 or KDC 300 type unit available from KoamTac Inc of Princeton N J and includes a relatively smaller display for interactivity with a user and may provide the user with different menu screens for the various functions described herein Other menu images can be implemented on the display as necessary FIG 2 illustrates an example of the overall process flow of the various inventive aspects that can be implemented in a peripheral device 110 according to one embodiment of the present invention As seen therein peripheral device 110 and mobi
28. t as a batch or all at once processing and transmission Conversely if partial download is enabled through a menu or key input it means that the barcode scanner peripheral device 110 records the last downloaded data and starts the synchronization process from the next scan barcode e g where the system last left off as cross checked with the data resident on both devices until the last downloaded barcode Returning then to FIG 2 the above additional features are therein described in steps 220 275 As then depicted in step 220 the inventive system provides for a determination as to whether there is missing data in the sleep mode which essen tially means that most mobile devices go into sleep mode after predefined time period to conserve power consumption and as such cannot process the first few incoming characters during the sleep mode in contrast to most non mobile devices such as desktop PCs which do not go into sleep mode and which may not lose incoming characters Typically the Autolock time may be defined by the user in some embodiments this time value may be automatically shared between devices by trans fer of data indicating the specific time length or manually entered if not shared and defines the total amount of wakeup e g active time period of a mobile terminal 100 before entering sleep mode e g the device would not go into sleep mode until the expiration of 10 minutes from the time of last user activity if th
29. termined that said synchronization option has not been enabled within said Bluetooth HID based profile data collected during said data collecting function of said peripheral device according to a real time mode and p transmitting where it has been determined that said synchronization option has been enabled within said Bluetooth HID based profile any stored data that has been collected during said data collecting function of said peripheral device according to either a full down load mode or a partial download mode 7 The peripheral device of claim 6 wherein steps d p are executed by a peripheral device that comprises a bar code scanner and wherein said data collecting function comprises the step of executing a bar code scan operation and wherein said data collected during said data collecting function com prises bar code scan data 8 The device of claim 7 wherein steps d p are executed by said bar code scanner together with a mobile terminal that US 8 483 614 B2 11 comprises a smart device chosen from the group comprising an iPhone or iPad or iPod touch 9 The device of claim 7 wherein said step of defining when said toggle command is available in said Bluetooth HID based profile at least one key on said peripheral device as a soft keyboard toggle key manually enables the direct manipulation ofa soft keyboard function on said smart device without either a suspension or disconnection of said connec tion via B
30. the HID profile to the mobile terminal 100 in real time Ifit is enabled then the collected data e g scanned bar code data may be transmitted over the HID profile as stored either in partial e g updated from a left off transmission point or full e g batch mode processing as described herein In using the described HID toggle function one can there fore define a key as HID toggle button which known bar code scanners other than the illustrative KDC 200 and KDC 300 devices which are provided with three special keys can not do because they physically lack the buttons among other things One can use one toggle key or on off switch to define both connection and disconnection Or one can define two buttons one for connection and the other for disconnection This connection and disconnection feature further can be expanded by alternative concepts such as use of scanning a special barcode and provision of a predefined menu s Similarly where HID toggle command are supported one may define the above buttons or keys as soft keyboard keys which can pop up and disappear by pressing the key even while the Bluetooth connection is still extant When provi sioned as such pressing the button or key on the peripheral device 110 as configured in accordance with the techniques described herein will toggle the soft keyboard on the mobile terminal 100 and will minimize and or eliminate interrup tions or disconnections to the
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