Automated help instructions for automatically or adaptively configuring a ...

United States Patent [w]

Katsandres et al.

[54] AUTOMATED HELP INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTOMATICALLY OR ADAPTIVELY CONFIGURING A HAND-HELD DEVICE, SUCH AS A BAR CODE READER OR HANDHELD PERSONAL COMPUTER

[75] Inventors: James T. Katsandres, Seattle; Chau Minh Ho, Edmonds, both of Wash.

[73] Assignee: Intermec Ip Corp., Beverly Hills, Calif.

[21] Appl. No.: 09/072,948 [22] Filed: May 4, 1998

[51] Int. CI.7 G06K 7/10

[52] U.S. CI 235/462.07; 235/462.08;

235/472.01

[58] Field of Search 235/462.07, 462.15,

235/462.25, 462.08, 472.01, 383

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,992,940 2/1991 Dworkin 235/383

5,294,782 3/1994 Kumar 235/472.01

5,326,961 7/1994 Sibata 235/462.07

5,329,104 7/1994 Ouchi et al 235/462.07

5,414,252 5/1995 Shinoda et al 235/462.07

5,468,946 11/1995 Oliver 235/462.07

5,481,098 1/1996 Davis et al 235/462.07

5,536,930 7/1996 Barkan et al 235/472.01

5,756,981 5/1998 Roustaei et al 235/462.07

5,914,476 6/1999 Gerst, III et al 235/462.07

5,929,418 7/1999 Ehrhart et al 235/462.27

6,032,128 2/2000 Morrison 235/383 X

Primary Examiner—Michael G Lee
Assistant Examiner—Diane I. Lee
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Perkins Coie LLP

[57] ABSTRACT

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.

56 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets