Hand held portable printer with RFID read write capability

A hand-held portable printer, comprising:

• a hand-held housing;
• a radio transceiver on the housing for receiving and transmitting data;
• a barcode mounted on the housing for providing scanned barcode data;
• a printing system on the housing including a printhead and drive mechanism to drive a web of RFID record members past the printhead for printing data on the record members;
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing;
• a first antenna coupled to the RFID reader/writer and capable of reading and/or writing to an RFID chip on the web of record members;
• a second antenna coupled to the RFID reader/writer and capable of reading and/or writing to an RFID chip external to the housing, the RFID reader/writer in accordance with a read operation reading data from an external RFID chip, and the RFID reader/writer in accordance with a write operation writing data to an external RFID chip;
• a plurality of keys on the housing to provide user inputs to the printer;
• a memory for storing an application program;
• a processor on the housing operable in accordance with an application program to take data input from one or more of the radio transceiver, the keys, and the barcode scanner to selectively couple data to the printing system for printing, the RFID reader/writer for writing to an RFID chip and/or the transceiver for transmitting the data.

A hand-held portable printer, comprising:

• a hand-held housing;
• a plurality of input devices on the housing for receiving inputs including a bar code scanner, a plurality of keys actuable by a user and a communication interface;
• a first antenna;
• a second antenna;
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing and coupled to the first antenna and the second antenna, the RFID reader/writer being capable of reading and/or writing via the first antenna to an RFID chip in the web of record members, and the RFID reader/writer being capable of reading and/or writing via the second antenna to an external RFID chip;
• a printing system on the housing having a printhead and a drive mechanism to drive a web of RFID record members past the printhead to print data on the record members;
• and
• a processor on the housing, the processor being coupled to the printing system and to the RFID reader/writer and operable to select data from one or more of the plurality of input devices to print on the web and/or write to an RFID chip on the web.

A hand-held portable printer comprising:

• a hand-held housing;
• a plurality of output devices on the housing including a display, a printhead and a drive mechanism to drive a web of RFID record members past the print head for printing data thereon;
• antennas for reading and/or writing to RFID chips inside and outside the portable housing, an RFID read/write module on the housing;
• an RFID reader/writer coupled to the antennas;
• a memory storing an application program;
• and
• a processor for processing input data in accordance with the application program, and the processor selectively coupling processed data to one or more of the output devices and the RFID reader/writer.

A hand-held portable printer, comprising:

• a hand-held housing having a handle;
• a barcode scanner on the housing;
• a communication interface on the housing to allow communication with a host;
• a printing system having a print head and a drive mechanism to drive a web of RFID record members past the print head for printing data thereon;
• a first antenna;
• a second antenna;
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing and coupled to the first antenna and the second antenna, the RFID reader/writer being capable of reading from and writing to via the first antenna an RFID chip on the web of record members and reading from and writing to via the second antenna an external RFID chip;
• a display mounted on the housing;
• a memory mounted in the housing storing an application program;
• and
• a processor mounted on the housing for processing data received by the barcode scanner, the communication interface and/or RFID reader/writer in a read mode and providing data to the communication interface, the RFID reader/writer and/or display in accordance with the stored application program.

A hand-held portable printer, comprising:

• a hand-held housing;
• a print head on the housing, the print head being capable of printing on a web of RFID record members in the housing;
• an RFID reader/writer in the housing that generates read and/or write signals;
• antennas coupled to the RFID reader/writer;
• the antennas enabling the RFID reader/writer to read and/or write to RFID chips in the record members and enabling RFID chips external to the housing to be read and/or written to.

A hand-held portable printer, comprising:

• a hand-held housing capable of holding a supply roll of a web of RFID labels containing RFID chips;
• a print head disposed on the housing to print on the RFID labels;
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing;
• a first RFID antenna coupled to the RFID reader/writer and disposed along a web path upstream of the print head;
• a second RFID antenna coupled to the RFID reader/writer and operable to read and/or write to an RFID chip external to the housing;
• and
• a controller coupled to the RFID reader/writer to read an RFID chip external to the housing and in response thereto writing to an RFID chip on the labels.

A method of printing, comprising the steps of:

• providing a hand-held printer capable of printing on RFID labels on a label web in the printer;
• receiving a read command from a user, the read command indicating whether the read is for a single RFID chip or multiple RFID chips located external to the printer;
• when the read command is for a single RFID chip, generating an RFID read signal having a first energy level and reading data from the RFID chip external to the printer;
• when the read command is for multiple RFID chips, generating an RFID read signal having a second energy level that is higher than the first energy level and reading data from the RFID chips external to the printer;
• and
• printing data on the labels and writing to the RFID chips on the labels in response to the received data.

A hand-held portable printer, comprising:

• a hand-held housing;
• a printing system on the housing and including a print head and a drive mechanism to drive a web of RFID labels past the print head for printing data on the RFID labels;
• an internal antenna on the housing and configured to communicate with an RFID chip on the RFID labels;
• an external antenna on the housing, the external antenna configured to communicate with an RFID chip located external to the housing;
• and
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing and coupled to the internal antenna and the external antenna, the RFID reader/writer in accordance with a read operation receiving data from at least one of the internal antenna and the external antenna and in accordance with a write operation providing data to at least one of the internal antenna and the external antenna.

A method of printing labels, comprising the steps of:

• providing a hand-held label printer including a hand-held housing, a print head, a barcode scanner and an RFID reader/writer on the housing;
• reading barcode data from a barcoded label and/or from an RFID chip external to the housing;
• transmitting to a remote host computer at least a portion of the data;
• associating data received from the computer and the bar code scanner or the RFID reader/writer;
• writing to an RFID chip on a label in the hand-held label printer;
• and
• printing on the label in the hand-held printer.

A method of printing labels, comprising the steps of:

• providing a hand-held portable printer including a hand-held housing, a print head on the housing to print on a web of RFID record members, and an RFID reader/writer to read and/or write to an RFID chip on the record members on the hand-held printer;
• providing a remote printer located remotely from the hand-held portable printer, the remote printer having a print head to print on a web of RFID record members and an RFID reader/writer to read and/or write to an RFID chip on record members in the remote printer;
• reading data from a barcoded label and/or from an RFID chip external to the hand-held portable printer;
• transmitting wirelessly to a host computer at least a portion of the data;
• associating data received wirelessly from the host computer and the bar code scanner and/or the RFID reader/writer at the hand-held portable printer;
• and selectively writing to an RFID chip in one or both of the hand-held printer and the remote printer.

A hand-held label printer, comprising:

• a hand-held housing having space for an RFID label web containing RFID chips;
• a print head on the housing capable of printing bar codes on RFID labels on the web;
• a barcode scanner on the housing;
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing;
• a first antenna on the housing coupled to the RFID reader/writer to write to an RFID chip on the label web;
• a second RFID antenna on the housing coupled to the RFID reader/writer, the housing being manually movable to enable the second antenna to capture RFID data from an RFID chip external to the housing;
• a controller coupled to the printing system and the RFID reader/writer and capable of either one or both of the following sequences:
• controlling data acquired via the second antenna to print a barcode and to write to and/or read from the RFID chip on the web via the first antenna;
• and
• controlling data acquired via the bar code scanner and/or wirelessly from a host computer to print a bar code and to write to and/or read from an RFID chip on the label web via the first antenna.

A method of encoding labels comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving a read command at a hand-held portable printer including a housing, a barcode, scanner, and an RFID reader/writer on the housing that generates read and/or write signals;
• (b) in response to (a) reading RFID chip external data from at least one RFID chip located outside of the housing;
• (c) transmitting to a remote host computer system at least a portion of the read RFID chip external data;
• (d) associating additional data received from the host computer system with the read RFID chip external data to form updated data;
• and
• (e) writing the updated data to an internal RFID chip.

A hand-held label printer, comprising:

• a hand-held housing;
• a print head on the hand-held housing capable of printing RFID labels;
• a barcode scanner on the hand-held housing;
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing;
• a radio;
• and
• a controller coupled to the RFID reader/writer and capable of performing the steps of:
• (a) reading data from an RFID chip external to the hand-held housing;
• (b) transmitting to a remote host computer at least a portion of the read data;
• (c) associating data received from the host computer;
• and
• (d) writing to an external RFID chip.

A hand-held label printer comprising:

• a hand-held housing;
• a print head on the hand-held housing capable of printing on a web of RFID record members;
• a barcode scanner on the hand-held housing;
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing;
• a radio;
• and
• a controller coupled to the RFID reader/writer and capable of performing the steps of:
• (a) reading data from a barcoded label and/or from an RFID chip external to the hand-held printer;
• (b) transmitting wirelessly to a host computer at least a portion of the data;
• (c) receiving from the host computer associated data;
• and
• (d) selectively writing to an RFID chip.

A hand-held label printer comprising:

• a hand-held housing;
• a print head on the hand-held housing capable of printing on a web of RFID record members;
• a barcode scanner on the hand-held housing;
• an RFID reader/writer on the housing;
• a radio;
• and
• a controller coupled to the RFID reader/writer and capable of performing the steps of:
• (a) receiving a read command;
• (b) in response to (a) reading RFID chip external data from at least one RFID chip located outside of the hand-held housing;
• (c) transmitting to a remote host computer system at least a portion of the read RFID chip external data;
• (d) associating additional data received from the host computer system with the read RFID chip external data to form updated data;
• and
• (e) writing the updated data to an internal RFID chip.

A method of encoding labels, comprising:

• (a) receiving a read command at a hand-held portable printer including a housing, a print head to print on RFID labels, a bar code scanner, and an RFID reader/writer on the housing that generates read and/or write signals to read and/or write to RFID labels;
• (b) in response to (a) reading RFID chip data from at least one RFID chip located external to the housing;
• (c) associating additional data with the read RFID chip external data to form updated data;
• and
• (d) encoding one or more labels by printing on the label(s) with the print head and writing to the label(s) with the RFID reader/writer.

Method of encoding labels, comprising:

• (a) providing a hand-held portable printer including a housing, a bar code scanner on the housing, a print head to print on RFID labels in the housing and an RFID reader/writer on the housing that generates read and/or write signals to read and in write to the RFID labels;
• (b) reading RFID chip data from at least one RFID chip located external to the housing;
• (c) associating additional data with the read RFID chip external data to form updated data;
• (d) disabling the external RFID chip;
• and
• (e) encoding one or more labels by printing on the label(s) with the print head and writing to the labels with the RFID reader/writer.

A system for printing labels, the system comprising:

• a hand-held portable printer including a hand-held housing, a print head on the housing to print on a web of RFID record members, and an RFID reader/writer to read and/or write to an RFID chip on the record members on the hand-held printer, the RFID reader/writer of the hand-held portable printer being capable of reading data from an RFID chip external to the printer;
• a host computer in communication with the hand-held portable printer, the host computer receiving at least a portion of the data read from the external RFID chip, the host computer having additional information relating to the received data;
• and
• a remote printer located remotely from the hand-held portable printer and the host computer, the remote printer having a print head to print on a web of RFID record members and an RFID reader/writer to read and/or write to an RFID chip on record members in the remote printer, the remote printer selectively writing to an RFID chip.

A method of printing, the method comprising:

• (a) displaying a selection menu on a hand-held portable printer capable of printing on labels;
• (b) receiving a selection, the selection including a read command;
• (c) receiving a trigger indication;
• (d) determining based on the received read command whether the read is for a single RFID chip or a plurality of RFID chips located outside of the hand-held portable printer;
• (e) when the read command is for the single RFID chip,
• (i) determining whether to print a bar code label;
• (ii) determining whether to encode an internal label;
• (iii) generating an RFID read signal having a first energy level;
• and
• (iv) printing data on the internal label;
• (f) when the read command is for said plurality of RFID chips,
• (i) determining whether to print a bar code label;
• (ii) determining whether to encode an internal label;
• (iii) determining whether to print a new carton label;
• (iv) generating an RFID read signal having a second energy level that is greater than the first energy level;
• and
• (v) printing data on internal labels.

A method of printing labels, the method comprising:

• (a) displaying a selection menu;
• (b) receiving a selection based on the displayed menu;
• the selection including a write command;
• (c) receiving a trigger indication;
• (d) determining whether the received write command is for a single write of an RFID chip or for multiple writes of RFID chips;
• (e) when the write command is for a single RFID chip;
• generating at an external antenna an RFID write signal having a low power level;
• (f) when the write command is for multiple RFID chips;
• generating at an external antenna an RFID write signal having a high power level;
• and
• (g) printing data on the labels and writing from an internal antenna to the RFID chips on the labels in response to the received data.

A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for causing a hand-held portable RFID printer to perform the steps comprising:

• (a) receiving a read command from a user, the read command indicating whether the read is for a single RFID chip or a plurality of RFID chips located outside of the hand-held portable RFID printer;
• (b) when the read command is for said single RFID chip, generating an RFID read signal having a first energy level;
• (c) when the read command is for said plurality of RFID chips, generating an RFID read signal having a second energy level that is greater than the first energy level;
• and
• (d) printing data on a label in the printer and reading from and/or writing to an RFID chip on the label.