ENCODED INFORMATION READING TERMINAL WITH USER-CONFIGURABLE MULTI-PROTOCOL WIRELESS COMMUNICATION INTERFACE

• Main Authors: SAUERWEIN, James T., Jr, HUYU, Qu, WANG, Ynjiun P
• Format: Patent
• Language: English; French; German
• Published: 02.01.2019
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; HANDLING RECORD CARRIERS; PHYSICS; PRESENTATION OF DATA; RECOGNITION OF DATA; RECORD CARRIERS; TRANSMISSION; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION; WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

An encoded information reading (EIR) terminal can comprise a microprocessor electrically coupled to a system bus, a memory communicatively coupled to the microprocessor, an encoded information reading (EIR) device, and a wireless communication interface. The EIR device can be selected from the group consisting of a bar code reading device, an RFID reading device, and a card reading device. The EIR device can be configured to perform outputting raw message data containing an encoded message and/or outputting decoded message data corresponding to an encoded message. The wireless communication interface can comprise a radio frequency front end configured to perform receiving a first radio signal and/or transmitting a second radio signal. The radio frequency front end can be electrically coupled to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) which can be electrically coupled to the system bus and/or to a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) which can be electrically coupled to the system bus. The microprocessor can be configured to execute a base-band encoder software program and/or a base-band decoder software program. The base-band encoder software program can be configured to produce a first encoded bit stream by performing at least one of the following functions: source encoding of a first bit stream, encryption, channel encoding, multiplexing, modulation, frequency spreading, and media access control. The DAC can be configured to output to the radio frequency front end an analog signal corresponding to the first encoded bit stream. The ADC can be configured to output a second encoded bit stream corresponding to an analog signal produced by the radio frequency front end. The base-band decoder software program can be configured to produce a second bit stream corresponding to the second encoded bit stream by performing at least one of the following functions: media access control, frequency de-spreading, demodulation, de-multiplexing, channel decoding, decryption, and source decoding.