US 7,093,759 B2Granted

Low-power hand-held transaction device

AssigneeE-Comm Incorporated

InventorJoseph F. Walsh

Life of this patent

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Abstract

An electronic hand-held device and method for inputting and sending requests and for receiving and outputting responses to the requests. The electronic hand-held device is a coupled to a telecommunications link over which requests are sent and responses are received. The electronic hand-held device can input request data in any number of different information media, including audio tones and voice signals, mechanical input to a keypad, printed bar codes, magnetic data stored in credit cards, and electronic data stored in electronic smart cards. The electronic hand-held device can output responses through an audio speaker, a visual LCD display device, and, optionally, through other output devices including printers. The electronic hand-held device is especially well suited for order entry and acquisition of product information.

Claims46

Dependent claims

A method for inputting a request to a hand-held device, transmitting a server request corresponding to the input request from the hand-held device to a server computer through a telecommunications link, receiving a response to the server request by the hand-held device from the server computer, and outputting the response by the hand-held device, the handheld device having:

a number of input components for inputting request data from a number of different input media, including mechanical manipulation of an input component and at least one of additional input media including electronic, auto tones, magnetic, and printed request data,
a processing component that constructs a request from the request data,
a transceiver component that sends the request to the server computer and receives the response from the server computer, and
a number of output components that output a portion of the response received from the server computer in a particular response output medium, the method comprising:
coupling the hand-held device to a telecommunications link to transmit the request and to receive the response through the telecommunications link;
inputting the request from an input medium to an input component of the hand-held device;
processing the input request to produce a corresponding server request;
transmitting the server request to the server computer;
receiving the response from the server computer through the telecommunications link;
and
outputting the response via an output component.

8 more elements

A method for electronically processing an access code included in an input medium, the method comprising:

inputting the access code to a hand-held device from the input medium;
processing the access code to produce a corresponding server access request;
coupling the hand-held device to a telecommunications link to transmit the access request to a server computer and to receive a response from the server computer through the telecommunications link;
transmitting the access request to the server computer;
receiving a response that is one or more from among audio, alpha-numeric, and images, from the server computer through the telecommunications link;
and
outputting the response via an output component of the hand-held device, the handheld device comprising:
a number of input components for inputting request data from a number of different input media, including mechanical manipulation of an input component and additional input media including electronic, auto tones, magnetic, and printed request data;
a processing component that constructs a request from the request data;
a transceiver component that sends the request to the server computer and receives the response from the server computer;
and
a number of output components that output a portion of the response received from the server computer in a particular response output medium.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/796,896Filed 8 Mar 2004 · continuation in part
Priority: 13 Feb 1995
Published: US 2004/0242267 A12 Dec 2004
Granted: 22 Aug 2006
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification6 codes

G06K 7/084
Inductive: sensing magnetic material by relative movement detecting flux changes without altering its magnetised state
G06K 7/10722
Fixed beam scanning: photodetector array or CCD scanning
H04M 1/2755
Providing data content: by optical scanning
H04M 2250/14
Details of telephonic subscriber devices: including a card reading device

Family

Application08/388,272Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 13 Feb 1995
Application08/482,261Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Jun 1995
Application08/485,083Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Jun 1995
Application08/657,892Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Jun 1996
Application08/657,893Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Jun 1996
US 5,696,825 AParent of this continuation-in-part · filed 9 Dec 1997
Application09/064,395Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 22 Apr 1998
US 6,089,456 AParent of this continuation-in-part · filed 18 Jul 2000
US 6,144,848 AParent of this continuation-in-part · filed 7 Nov 2000
Application09/847,892Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 2 May 2001
US 6,230,970 B1Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 15 May 2001
US 2004/0242267 A1Pre-grant publication · published 2 Dec 2004
US 6,745,937 B2Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 2002/0008145 A1Published application
US 7,093,759 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.