Barcode reader with security features
AssigneeHand Held Products, Inc.
InventorsErik Todeschini, Timothy Meier
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Indicia may include security threats that, when scanned by a barcode reader, may cause unwanted actions to be performed by a host device communicatively coupled to the barcode reader. To prevent these security threats from affecting the host device, security software running on a processor in the barcode reader or the host device compares the scanned data with items in a threat-signature library. Scanned data that match, at least part of, the threat signature library are blocked from being transmitted to the host device.
Claims21
A barcode reader, comprising:
- a barcode sensor for capturing barcode information;
- a memory for storing a security program;
- a processor communicatively coupled to the barcode sensor and the memory, the processor configured by the security program to:
- (i) receive the barcode information, (ii) convert the barcode information into decoded data, (iii) compare the decoded data with a threat-signature library stored in the memory, (iv) identify the decoded data as a threat if the decoded data matches, at least part of, an item in the threat-signature library.
An indicia-reading system, comprising:
- an barcode reader for reading indicia and transmitting decoded data;
- a host device communicatively coupled to the barcode reader via a data link, wherein
- the host device has at least one processor configured by an interface-software program to block decoded data that meet at least one threat criterion from effecting the host device,
- wherein the at least one threat criterion is stored on a computer-readable medium communicatively coupled to the host device and accessible to the interface-software program.
A method for blocking the transmission of threats from a barcode reader, the method comprising:
- scanning a barcode to obtain a scanned-barcode signal;
- converting the scanned-barcode signal into decoded data;
- comparing the decoded data with items in a threat-signature library;
- identifying the decoded data as a threat if the decoded data matches, at least part of, an item in the threat-signature library;
- and
- blocking the threat from being transmitted from the barcode scanner.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.