Bar code reader configuration and control using a bar code menu to directly access memory

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein the microprocessor controlled device is a bar code reader.

Claim 4

A bar code reader system having an input scanner and a menu of bar code tags wherein the operation and the configuration of the bar code reader can be affected by scanning tags from the menu to perform direct manipulations of the memory locations in the bar code reader hardware, comprising: an operating system that controls the operation and configuration of the bar code reader according to flag values and configuration variable values stored in memory; a set of memory manipulation instructions for accessing flag value and configuration variable value memory locations in the operating system and loading an entered value at the accessed location; a menu comprising a set of bar code tags that produce signals, when scanned with the input scanner, to directly invoke memory manipulation instructions; and an interpreter routine for parsing the signals from the input scanner and executing the invoked memory manipulation instructions to alter the values stored in memory and thereby to change the configuration options of the bar code reader and to control the operation of the bar code reader.

Claim 5

A bar code reader system having an input scanner and a menu of bar code tags wherein the operation and the configuration of the bar code reader can be affected by scanning tags from the menu to perform direct manipulations of the memory locations in the bar code reader hardware, comprising: an operating system that controls the operation and configuration of the bar code reader according to flag values and configuration variable values stored in memory; a set of memory manipulation instructions for accessing flag value and configuration variable value memory locations in the operating system and loading an entered value at the accessed location; a menu comprising a set of bar code tags that produce signals, when scanned with the input scanner, to directly invoke memory manipulation instructions; and an interpreter routine for parsing the signals from the input scanner and executing the invoked memory manipulation instructions to alter the values stored in memory and thereby to change the configuration options of the bar code reader and to control the operation of the bar code reader.

Claim 6

The bar code reader system of claim 3 wherein comprises sets of bar code tags for selecting configuration options to enable the reader to recognize and decode different bar code symbologies, for selecting configuration options for communications, and for controlling the execution of selected operations, and a set of bar code tags for alphanumeric character input.

Claim 7

The system of claim 4 wherein each of the tags on the menu has a prefix sequence that identifies it as a menu tag rather than a data bar code tag.

Claim 8

The system of claim 4 wherein the menu further comprises bar code tags for causing the system to enter the configuration mode, exit the configuration mode, and display the current configuration.

Claim 9

The bar code reader system of claim 3 wherein the operating system controls the operation of the bar code reader by checking a series of flags in a loop routine and performs bar code decoding and input/output communications operations according to configuration options stored in memory.