Portable articulated arm coordinate measuring machine and integrated electronic data processing system

A portable articulated arm coordinate measuring machine (AACMM), comprising:

• a manually positionable arm portion having opposed first and second ends, the arm portion including a plurality of connected arm segments, each of the arm segments including at least one position transducer for producing a position signal;
• a measurement device attached to a first end of the AACMM;
• an electronic circuit for receiving the position signals from the transducers and for providing data corresponding to a position of the measurement device;
• and
• logic executable by the electronic circuit, wherein the logic receives a first request to perform a first function, identifies a source device from which the first request is received, implements the first function pursuant to the first request, receives a second request to perform a second function during performance of the first function, identifies a source device from which the second request is received, pauses implementation of the first function and stores data acquired from the implementation of the first function in a memory location of the portable AACMM, selects a destination device as the source device of the second request, transmits information derived from implementing the second function to the destination device corresponding to the second request, and continues implementation of the first function, the implementation continued by selecting a destination device as the source device of the first request by identifying from which of a first and second port the first request is received, and transmitting information derived from implementing the first function to the destination device as the source device of the first request.

A computer program product for implementing a portable articulated arm coordinate measuring machine (AACMM), the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied thereon, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to implement a method, the method comprising:

• receiving a first request to perform a first function;
• identifying a source device from which the first request is received;
• implementing the first function pursuant to the first request;
• receiving a second request to perform a second function during performance of the first function;
• identifying a source device from which the second request is received;
• pausing implementation of the first function and storing data acquired from the implementation of the first function in a memory location of the portable AACMM;
• selecting a destination device as the source device of the second request;
• transmitting information derived from implementing the second function to the destination device corresponding to the second request;
• and
• continuing implementation of the first function, including:
• selecting a destination device as the source device of the first request by identifying from which of a first and second port the first request is received;
• and
• transmitting information derived from implementing the first function to the destination device as the source device of the first request.