Communication method for a roaming point-of-sale system
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsKhawaja Shams, Michael Maysmith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A roaming point-of-sale system is disclosed including methods of communicating between the system components. A handheld computing device sends messages to a scanning device, which messages cause the scanning device to scan and return barcode data from a barcode scanner and payment card information from a magnetic strip reader. The messages include a header and a message, and the header designates the command given and the size of the message, among other useful information.
Claims23
A method of completing a retail sales transaction using a roaming point-of-sale system including a handheld computing device and a scanning device, the method comprising:
- sending a start-scan command to the scanning device effective to cause the scanning device to scan a barcode on a product to be purchased;
- receiving a scanned-data message from the scanning device, the scanned-data message having data describing at least a product code, the product code having been extracted from the scanned barcode;
- and
- recording product information for a product associated with the product code and transaction information in a sales form on the handheld computing device.
A method of operating a scanning device using a handheld computing device comprising:
- sending commands from the handheld computing device to the scanning device, the commands having a header and appended data, the header including data fields for identifying a device type that is sending the message as one or more of a portable media-playing device and a smart phone, for designating a command type, for denoting a message size, and for identifying a message identification number, the command types available for designation comprising at least
- a no-op command for detecting the presence of the scanning device,
- a scan-mode configuration command for configuring the scanning device to scan multiple barcodes in a single scanning operation, or a single barcode in each scanning operation, and
- a start-scan command for causing the scanning device to scan one or more barcodes according to the scan-mode configuration.
A roaming point-of-sale system comprising:
- a handheld computing device including a processor configured to execute a sales application;
- and
- a scanning device including a processor configured to execute firmware, a barcode scanner configured to scan and decode barcodes, and a magnetic strip reader configured to read payment card data,
- the handheld computing device processor configured to send commands to the scanning device at the direction of the sales application, and to receive data from the scanning device for processing at the direction of the sales application,
- the scanning device processor configured to receive commands from the handheld computing device and to process the commands, and to send data to the handheld computing device.
A product comprising:
- a machine-readable medium;
- and
- machine-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the method comprising
- receiving a user input in a touchscreen input device effective to cause a first command to be sent to the scanning device effective to cause the scanning device to scan a barcode on a product to be purchased;
- receiving data describing at least a product code, the product code having been extracted from the scanned barcode;
- and
- recording product information for a product associated with the product code in a sales form on the handheld computing device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.