System for, and method of, configuring electro-optical reader as a keyboard device having a selected keyboard layout

In an apparatus for processing transactions with an electro-optical reader for electro-optically capturing data from a target, and for sending the captured data to a host for processing, a system for configuring the reader as a keyboard device having a selected keyboard layout containing keyboard layout data, the system comprising:

• symbol sequence number, a total number of the one—a plurality of one-dimensional bar codes, each encoded with a dimensional bar codes, and a fractional amount of the keyboard layout data;
• a data capture assembly in the reader for electro-optically scanning all the one-dimensional bar codes during a configuration procedure prior to processing the transactions;
• and
• a controller in the reader for decoding all the scanned one-dimensional bar codes, for extracting the symbol sequence number, the total number of the one-dimensional bar codes, and the fractional amount of the keyboard layout data for each configuration symbol, for linking the keyboard layout data for all the one-dimensional bar codes in a sequence determined by each symbol sequence number and the total number of the one-dimensional bar codes, and for processing all the keyboard layout data to configure the reader during the configuration procedure.