PCMCIA interface card for coupling input devices such as barcode scanning engines to personal digital assistants and palmtop computers

A system for waking up a barcode scanning circuit on a PCMCIA card upon detection of motion, comprising:

• a PCMCIA card having a control circuit and a barcode scanner thereon and having a window out which light to illuminate a barcode is emitted;
• a motion sensor having a beam generator and structured to emit a motion sensing beam out said window and structured to transmit a motion sensed signal to said control circuit when motion is sensed;
• a power source;
• a switch controlled by said control circuit to couple said power source to said barcode scanner when said motion sensed signal is received.

A system for, upon detection of motion, waking up a data input device that feeds data into an expansion module for engaging into an externally accessible expansion bay of a handheld, portable host computer, comprising:

• an expansion module configured to mechanically and electrically engage an expansion bay of a handheld, portable computing device, said expansion module having a control means for controlling said expansion module and having a data input device either mounted on said expansion module or coupled thereto via a port;
• a motion sensor having a beam generator and structured to emit a motion sensing beam to detect motion in the vicinity of said expansion module, and structured to transmit a motion sensed signal to said control circuit when motion is sensed;
• a power source;
• a switch controlled by said control circuit to couple said power source to said data input device when said motion sensed signal is received.

A process carried out between a host computer and a PCMCIA card inserted therein to detect insertion into said host computer of a PCMCIA card that has functionality said host does not have and further includes expansion memory for the host and processing to interface the PCMCIA card functionality including on-board expansion memory on said PCMCIA card to said host computer such that data can be retreived from the PCMCIA card without block access by said host computer to said expansion memory, comprising the steps of:

• launching a barcode client application and registering said client application with a card services registry;
• detecting insertion of a PCMCIA card;
• assigning to said PCMCIA card an interrupt number and a base address for registers in said PCMCIA card in the I/O space of said host computer and getting this base address and interrupt number information to said barcode client application;
• passing the interrupt number of said PCMCIA card and a starting address of an interrupt service routine that processes interrupts to retrieve barcode data from said PCMCIA card to the operating system of said host computer, and storing said base address of said PCMCIA card in a memory location known to said interrupt service routine, and storing said interrupt number and interrupt service routine starting address in an interrupt vector table maintained by said operating system;
• retrieving barcode information from said PCMCIA card using said interrupt service routine and I/O cycles and storing and retrieving data from said expansion memory using memory cycles.

A scanning system comprising

• a handheld host computer comprised of a handheld unit, personal data assistant, or palmtop computer;
• a plug-in peripheral having a housing, a card-shaped section, and a data reading system disposed in said housing, said host computer having a slot for accepting the card-shaped section of the plug-in peripheral;
• an open system interface for providing communication between the peripheral and the host computer,
• wherein the plug-in peripheral includes on-board nonvolatile memory available for use by the host.