Patent Application
20230238738
The present invention is generally related to barcode scanning, and more particular to a barcode scanner fitted on a smart phone by magnetic connection.
Mobile computers are widely popular for warehouse management, transportation logistics, smart retailing, smart medical, smart manufacturing, etc., due to their small form factor easier to carry. Mobile computers generally have two types: one having mechanical keyboard, as shown in
On the other hand, smart phones these days are so popular that almost every person has at least a smart phone. The world's number of smart phones probably is thousands of times more than mobile computers. A smart phone is also more powerful and versatile than a mobile computer. By installing an App for reading barcodes, the smart phone would be just like the above-mentioned second type of mobile computer. However, the smart-phone-based barcode scanning has the following disadvantages:
1. The smart phone's camera has more pixels and, as such, the decoding speed is slower.
2. The smart phone's camera uses color CMOS sensor whereas barcode is black-and-white and, as such, the decoding speed is slower.
3. The smart phone's camera has a greater depth of field and, to read a barcode, the camera has to be focused first. On the other hand, an ordinary barcode scanner usually uses lens of fixed focal length and, therefore, is faster in reading and decoding barcode.
4. The smart phone's camera usually adopts a rolling shutter CMOS sensor whereas an ordinary barcode scanner uses a global shutter CMOS sensor, which requires a shorter period of exposure and has a greater motion tolerance.
Due to the above shortcomings, smart phones are rarely used for serious barcode scanning.
To overcome these shortcomings of smart phone for barcode scanning, Taiwan Patent No. M486100 teaches a barcode-scanning system integrating a smart phone and a barcode scanner. As shown in
A major objective of the present invention is to provide a barcode scanner that is magnetically attached to a smart phone so that, under external impact, the USB connectors of the barcode scanner and the smart phone are not damaged.
The barcode scanner includes a circuitry adaptor and a barcode-scanning device. The circuitry adaptor is plugged into a USB connector of the smart phone. The barcode-scanning device is magnetically and detachably connected to the circuitry adaptor, so that electricity and signals from the smart phone are transmitted to the barcode-scanning device, and barcode signals picked up by the barcode-scanning device are transmitted to the smart phone. When the barcode-scanning device undergoes external impact, the circuitry adaptor and the barcode-scanning device are detached from each other without damaging the USB connectors.
The circuitry adaptor further includes a magnet and a USB male connector on a front side for connecting the USB female connector of the smart phone. The USB male connector is electrically connected to the contacts.
The barcode-scanning device has a magnetic part on a front side where the pogo pins are configured. The pogo pins has their tips extruding out of a front side of the magnetic part; and the pogo pins are electrically connected to a circuit of the barcode-scanning device.
The magnetic part of the barcode-scanning device includes a magnet.
The magnet of the circuitry adaptor has a polarity opposite to that of the magnetic part of the barcode-scanning device.
The foregoing objectives and summary provide only a brief introduction to the present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects of the present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which will become apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detailed description of the invention and the claims should be read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specification and drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similar parts.
Many other advantages and features of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the detailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which a preferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of the present invention is shown by way of illustrative example.
The following descriptions are exemplary embodiments only, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of the invention in any way. Rather, the following description provides a convenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of the invention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made in the function and arrangement of the elements described without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
As shown in
The barcode-scanning device 2 includes a magnetic part 21 on a front end, and the magnetic part 21 has a number of chambers 211 respectively housing an equal number of pogo pins 22 where the pogo pins 22 have their tips extruding out of the magnetic part 21's front side, and the pogo pins 22 are electrically connected to a circuit 23 inside the barcode-scanning device 2. The magnetic part 21 is magnetized, and has a polarity opposite to that of the magnet inside the circuitry adaptor 1. The two therefore attract each other.
To use the barcode scanner, the USB male connector 11 of the circuitry adaptor 1 is first plugged into a USB female connector 31 of a smart phone 3. Then, the barcode-scanning device 2 is placed adjacent to the circuitry adaptor 1, where the two are joined together by the mutual magnetic attraction between the circuitry adaptor 1 and the magnetic part 21. The pogo pins 22 as such are contacted with and conducted to the contacts 12. In addition, due to the elasticity of pogo pins 22, they are pressed against the contacts 12 by their elasticity, thereby securing the electrical connection. Electricity and signals from the smart phone 3 are transmitted to the barcode-scanning device 2 through the pogo pins 22, while barcode signals picked up by the barcode-scanning device 2 are transmitted to the smart phone 3 also via the pogo pins 22. The decoding software may reside in the barcode-scanning device 2 or in the smart phone 3. When the barcode-scanning device 2 undergoes external impact, circuitry adaptor 1 and the magnetic part 21 are detached, without damaging the USB male connector 11 of the circuitry adaptor 1 or the USB female connector 31 of the smart phone 3. By placing the barcode-scanning device 2 again around the circuitry adaptor 1, the barcode-scanning device 2 restores its connection with the circuitry adaptor 1 automatically, resolving the problem suffered by prior arts such as the one discloses in Taiwan Patent No. M486100.
As shown in
As shown in
While certain novel features of this invention have been shown and described and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intended to be limited to the details above, since it will be understood that various omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the forms and details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be made by those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the claims of the present invention.
