Intermec IP Corporation

James T Katsandres

Jeffrey Mark Hunt

Jon R Ramberg

Paul David Shoeman

Chau Minh Ho

Kenneth Y Ogami

The invention provides a system and method for remotely diagnosing and repairing a plurality of device platforms. A remote service technician utilizes a computing system having browsing software that communicates with a network of platform devices.

Remote anomaly diagnosis and reconfiguration of an automatic data collection device platform over a telecommunications network

The invention provides a system and method for remotely diagnosing and repairing a plurality of Automatic Data Collection ('ADC') device platforms. A remote service technician utilizes a computing system having browsing software that communicates with a network of ADC platform devices. Diagnostic queries for particular ADC devices may be retrieved by the browsing software from a diagnostic server that sends Hypertext Mark-Up Language ('HTML') documents, Dynamic Hypertext Mark-Up Language (&#x201c;DHTML&#x201d;) documents, and/or Extensible Mark-Up Language (&#x201c;XML&#x201d;) documents containing appropriate diagnostic applets. The remote technician sends diagnostic queries to a Simple Network Management Protocol (&#x201c;SNMP&#x201d;) master agent at the ADC device platform, and a translator translates the diagnostic queries sent to the ADC device platform into a format suitable for reception by its ADC devices in order to effect anomaly diagnosis and functionality restoration. Another translator translates data received from the ADC device into the SNMP format for transmission to the remote service technician in order for the remote service technician to perform diagnostic analysis. The SNMP master agent communicates with the remote computing system using the Transmission Control Protocol (&#x201c;TCP&#x201d;), the User Datagram Protocol/Internet Protocol (&#x201c;UDP/IP&#x201d;), and/or the User Datagram Plus Protocol (&#x201c;UDP+&#x201d;). The ADC platform device may also utilize a wireless communication system for communicating with the remote service technician.

The invention provides a system and method for controlling a plurality of automatic data collection (ADC) device platforms. In the invention, a remote computing system having browsing software adapted for receiving and sending Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) documents, Dynamic Hypertext Mark-Up Language (DHTML) documents, and Exstensible Mark Up Language (XML) documents over the World Wide Web communicates with a network of ADC platform devices. A Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) master agent at the ADC device platform communicates with the remote computing system and a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server sends HTML documents, DHTML documents, and XML documents to the remote computing system over the World Wide Web. A translator translates SNMP-formatted data sent to the attached ADC devices into a format suitable for reception by each ADC device. Another translator translates data received from the ADC devices into the SNMP format. The SNMP master agent communicates with the remote computing system using the TCP protocol, the UDP/IP protocol, and the UDP&plus; protocol. The ADC platform device may utilize a wireless communications system for communicating with the remote computing system.

Automatic data collection device having a network communications capability

A method and system for dynamically wedging data received from one or more automatic data collection (&ldquo;ADC&rdquo;) devices on an ADC device platform into a destination application based upon wedging criteria. A dynamic wedge receives data from one or more ADC devices and automatically wedges the data into applications based upon user-provided data characteristics or a predetermined set of rules. Applicable wedging criteria used to route data include those that are user-composed and those that pertain to firmware or software characteristics. The dynamic wedge may comprise an ADC data server, ADC device handlers, ADC protocol handlers, and a wedging grid for retaining wedging directives. The ADC data server receives wedging directives from local and remote client applications and stores the wedging directives in the wedging grid. When data arrives from an ADC device, the ADC data server analyzes the data to determine its characteristics. The ADC data server compares the identified characteristics against the wedging directives stored in the wedging grid. The ADC data server then determines for which clients a match has been found. For those clients for which a match has been found, the ADC data server then performs the wedging directive in order to dispose properly of the received ADC data.

Automatic data collection device that dynamically wedges data transmitted to data consumers

A method and system for intelligently routing data received from an automatic data collection (&ldquo;ADC&rdquo;) device in an ADC device platform based on its type. A data routing mechanism operates on the data-receiving side of an ADC data server. After identifying the characteristics of the input data, the data routing mechanism determines the destination for the data based on the characteristics, then routes the data to the selected destination. For some types of data, the selected destination may be an intermediate destination where the data undergoes additional processing before being transmitted to another location, while for other types of data the selected destination may be the application that ultimately processes the data. For example, the data routing mechanism may receive a set of input data, analyze the data to determine that the data is voice data, and then route the data to a speech recognition module that processes voice data. ADC devices accommodated by the system include bar code readers, speech recognition systems, RF tag readers, resonator readers, and two-dimensional symbol readers optical character recognition (&ldquo;OCR&rdquo;) systems. The invention finds application within a network of ADC device platforms that receive requests for input data from both local and remote applications. Data may be communicated to remote users using any data protocol, including the Transmission Control Protocol (&ldquo;TCP&rdquo;), the User Datagram/Internet Protocol (&ldquo;UDP/IP&rdquo;) or the User Datagram Plus Protocol (&ldquo;UDP&plus;&rdquo;).

Automatic data collection device that intelligently switches data based on data type

A method and system for receiving a client's instructions with regard to specifying an output mechanism and a data type for data received from an automatic data collection (&ldquo;ADC&rdquo;) device on an ADC device platform. The method and system allows client applications to register their ADC data requests in a grid that is referenced during the processing of received ADC data. Clients, residing either on the ADC device platform or on a remote computing system, register with a data transfer mechanism to receive data via a particular output mechanism. Following registration of a client's preferred output mechanism, the data transfer mechanism forwards all data received for the client by the ADC device platform to the client's specified output mechanism. Using the data transfer mechanism, the same set of input data, destined for more than one application, may be simultaneously transmitted over different output mechanisms. The invention may utilize data output mechanisms such as pipes, remote procedure calls (&ldquo;RPC&rdquo;), sockets, stream files, NetBIOS, mail slots, NetDDE, and shared memory. The invention further allows the updating of existing data output grids or the addition of new information in data grids in association with a newly added ADC device, a newly added output condition, or a newly added client.

Automatic data collection device that receives data output instruction from data consumer

The invention provides a method and system for guiding a hand-held device operator through the process of enabling input and output devices on the hand-held device. In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, a hand-held device includes a bar code reader which images or scans a bar code label. The hand-held device then searches its enabled bar code symbologies for a bar code symbology which interprets the scanned bar code label. If the device cannot interpret the scanned bar code label according to its presently enabled bar code symbologies, the device then examines its non-enabled bar code symbologies. If the scanned bar code label can be interpreted according to a non-enabled bar code symbology, then the device queries the operator to determine if the bar code symbology should be enabled. If the operator requests enablement of the bar code symbology, then the device changes the bar code symbology to an enabled status and interprets the scanned bar code label according to the newly enabled bar code symbology. Otherwise, the device generates an error message and sends it to the operator. Other embodiments of the invention permit the enablement of input devices such as touch-sensitive screens, keyboards, and operator-selectable input buttons.

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Seattle, WA, United States of America

James T Katsandres