Claims
- 1. A data collection terminal, comprising:a) a housing; b) a keypad supported by the housing for entry of data; c) a display supported by the housing for display of data; d) an activatable reader supported by the housing for reading indicia having parts of different light reflectivity; e) an activator for activating the reader to initiate reading; and f) a processor supported by the housing for controlling operation of at least one of the keypad and the display during a control mode, and for being and remaining inactive during a power saving suspend mode during reading.
- 2. The terminal of claim 1, wherein the housing is configured to be held in a hand of a user,and herein the activator is a manually activatable trigger on the housing.
- 3. The terminal of claim 2, wherein the reader is operative for scanning bar code symbols as the indicia, and for producing analog signals corresponding to the symbols; and a decoder for de in the analog signals into decoded signals representative of the symbols.
- 4. The terminal of claim 2, wherein the trigger is electrically connected to the decoder.
- 5. The terminal of claim 2, wherein the processor is in the suspend mode during activating of the reader.
- 6. The terminal of claim 2, wherein the processor is operative for controlling both a keypad controller for the keypad and a display driver for the display during the control mode.
- 7. The terminal of claim 6, and further comprising a radio transceiver supported by the housing for transmitting and receiving wireless signals to and from a remote host, and wherein the processor is operative for controlling operation of the transceiver during the control mode.
- 8. A data collection method, comprising the steps of:a) supporting a keypad by a housing for entry of data; b) supporting a display by the housing for display of data; c) supporting an activatable reader by the housing for reading indicia having parts of different light reflectivity; d) activating the reader to initiate reading; e) controlling operation of at least one of the keypad and the display during a control mode of a processor supported by the housing; and f) maintaining the processor inactive during a power saving suspend mode during reading.
- 9. The method of claim 8, and configuring the housing to be held in a hand of a user, and wherein the activating step is manually performed.
- 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the reader is operative for scanning bar code symbol as the indicia, and for producing analog signals corresponding to the symbols; and the step of decoding the analog signals into decoded signals representative of the symbols.
- 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the processor is in the suspend mode during activating of the reader.
- 12. The method of claim 8, wherein the processor is operative for controlling both a keypad controller for the keypad and a display driver for the display during the control mode.
- 13. The method of claim 12, and further comprising the step of transmitting and receiving wireless signals with a transceiver to and from a remote host, and wherein the processor is operative for controlling operation of the transceiver during the control mode.
Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/178,398, filed Oct. 23, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,193,161.
US Referenced Citations (8)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
61-80471 |
Apr 1986 |
JP |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09/178398 |
Oct 1998 |
US |
Child |
09/794885 |
|
US |