Patent ID: 8918564

Claim:
A method of managing data communication, comprising: opening and controlling, with a processor, a physical interface of a host computer system, wherein (i) the physical interface is configured for communicating data between a peripheral encoded information reading device and applications executing on the host computer system and (ii) the applications comprise a first application and a second application; exposing, with the processor, a first virtual interface and a second virtual interface in the host computer system to an operating system of the host computer system, wherein (i) the operating system exposes the first virtual interface to the first application and the second virtual interface to the second application, (ii) the first virtual interface provides communication of data between the peripheral encoded information reading device and the first application through the physical interface, and (iii) the second virtual interface provides communication of data between the peripheral encoded information reading device and the second application through the physical interface; and managing, with the processor, data communication (i) between the peripheral encoded information reading device and the first application and (ii) between the peripheral encoded information reading device and the second application.