Patent ID: 7040540

Claim:
A system for reading code symbols comprising: (A) a code symbol reading device including (1) a housing supportable upon and/or in a hand of a user of said code symbol reading device, and having a light transmission aperture through which optical energy can exit from and enter into said housing, (2) a light producing mechanism, disposed in said housing, for producing optical energy, (3) a light projecting mechanism, disposed in said housing, for projecting said optical energy into a scan field defined external to said first housing and onto a code symbol on an object located in at least a portion of said scan field, (4) a light detecting mechanism, disposed in said housing, for detecting optical energy reflected off said code symbol and passing through said light transmission aperture as said optical energy is projected onto said code symbol present in said scan field, and, for automatically producing scan data indicative of said detected optical energy, (5) a scan data processing mechanism for processing produced scan data in order to detect and decode said code symbol when said code is present in said scan field and automatically producing symbol character data in a form representative of said decoded symbol, (6) a control mechanism for automatically controlling the operation of at least two of said light producing mechanism, said light projecting mechanism, and said scan data processing mechanism, (7) a data packet construction mechanism for constructing a data packet using said symbol character data produced from said scan data processing mechanism; (8) a carrier signal generation mechanism for generating an electromagnetic carrier signal; (9) a carrier signal modulation mechanism for modulating said carrier signal using said data packet; and (10) a carrier signal transmitting mechanism for transmitting said modulated carrier signal across a data transmission range; and (B) a base unit positionable within the data transmission range of said carrier signal transmitting mechanism and including: (1) a carrier signal receiving mechanism for receiving said modulated carrier signal transmitted from said carrier signal transmitting mechanism, (2) a carrier signal demodulation mechanism for demodulating said modulated carrier signal so as to recover said data packet, (3) a data packet processing mechanism for processing said recovered data packet to recover said symbol character data therefrom, and (4) an acknowledgment signal producing mechanism for automatically producing, in response to the recovery and storage of said symbol character data, an acknowledgment signal perceptible to the user of said code symbol reading device when said user is situated within said data transmission range, so as to inform said user that said symbol character data produced by said scan data processing mechanism has been received and recovered at said base unit.