Patent ID: 7556203

Claim:
A retail store network, said network comprising: a hand held bar code reader for reading a bar code symbol of an item and generating therefrom a decoded out bar code data message, said hand held bar code reader having a first connector and a first wireless transceiver; a base unit for receiving said decoded out bar code data message from said hand held bar code reader, said base unit having a second connector and a second wireless transceiver; a cash register for receiving said decoded out bar code data message from said base unit, said cash register coupled to said base unit; a server for receiving said decoded out bar code data message from said cash register, said server coupled to said cash register and storing a price lookup table for correlating said decoded out bar code data message to price information; wherein said network is configured so that said hand held bar code reader reads said bar code symbol and transmits said decoded out bar code data message using said first wireless transceiver, said base unit receives said decoded out bar code data message using said second wireless transceiver and transmits said decoded out bar code data message to said cash register, which sends said decoded out bar code data message to said server, which returns to said cash register price information correlated with said bar code data message; and wherein said network is configured so that said hand held bar code reader and said base unit have a linking mode in which a second address of said base unit is sent to said hand held bar code reader through said first and second connectors, and a first address of said hand held bar code reader and a request to link are sent to said base unit by way of wireless communication between said second wireless transceiver and said first wireless transceiver.