Data terminal for communicating over a telephone circuit

Claim 2

A craft technician's terminal, comprising a microprocessor-based computer portable by the craft technician from job site to job site, said computer having a program language support library stored therein.

Claim 3

A craft technician's portable field terminal, comprising: means for receiving from a telephone circuit an encoded applications program to be run within said terminal, said encoded applications program as received missing global references of a program language in which said applications program is written; and means, responsive to said receiving means receiving said encoded applications program, for adding into said received encoded applications program the missing global references so that an executable encoded applications program is run within said terminal.

Claim 4

A craft technician's portable field terminal, comprising: means for receiving from a telephone circuit an encoded applications program to be run within said terminal, said encoded applications program as received missing global references of a program language in which said applications program is written; and means, responsive to said receiving means receiving said encoded applications program, for adding into said received encoded applications program the missing global references so that an executable encoded applications program is run within said terminal.

Claim 5

A terminal for communicating with a gateway processor of a telephone network, said terminal comprising a microprocessor; a memory for holding an operating system for the terminal and a program language support library; and means, responsive to said microprocessor, for accessing said memory.

Claim 6

A terminal for communicating with a gateway processor of a telephone network, said terminal comprising a microprocessor; a memory for holding an operating system for the terminal and a program language support library; and means, responsive to said microprocessor, for accessing said memory.

Claim 7

A terminal as defined in claim 3, wherein said memory includes a single read only memory integrated circuit chip connected to said microprocessor and said accessing means.

Claim 8

A terminal for communicating with a gateway processor, comprising: a housing for being held in a hand of a terminal user; a microprocessor disposed in said housing; first memory means, connected to said microprocessor and disposed in said housing, for retaining an operating system program for said terminal; second memory means, connected to said microprocessor and disposed in said housing, for storing information received by said terminal over a telephone circuit, said information including an applications program transmitted to said terminal over the telephone circuit; and third memory means, connected to said microprocessor and disposed in said housing, for receiving the applications program from said second memory means and for providing instructions from the applications program to said microprocessor when the applications program is run.

Claim 9

A terminal for communicating with a gateway processor, comprising: a housing for being held in a hand of a terminal user; a microprocessor disposed in said housing; first memory means, connected to said microprocessor and disposed in said housing, for retaining an operating system program for said terminal; second memory means, connected to said microprocessor and disposed in said housing, for storing information received by said terminal over a telephone circuit, said information including an applications program transmitted to said terminal over the telephone circuit; and third memory means, connected to said microprocessor and disposed in said housing, for receiving the applications program from said second memory means and for providing instructions from the applications program to said microprocessor when the applications program is run.

Claim 10

A terminal as defined in claim 5, wherein each of said memory means includes at least one respective electronic storage integrated circuit fixed in said housing.

Claim 11

A terminal as defined in claim 5, wherein: said first memory means includes a read only memory providing up to 256K bytes of storage; said second memory means includes a random access memory providing up to 2M bytes of storage; and said third memory means includes a random access memory providing up to 32K bytes of storage.

Claim 12

A terminal as defined in claim 5, further comprising: first address means, responsive to said microprocessor and to preselected circuit connections, for providing a plurality of most significant bits of address to said first memory means to access instructions from the operating system program; and second address means, responsive to said microprocessor and to preselected circuit connections, for providing a plurality of chip select signals to said second memory means to access a desired section of storage locations within said second memory means.

Claim 13

A craft technician's portable field terminal, comprising: a housing; a keyboard mounted on said housing; a display mounted on said housing; a microprocessor disposed in said housing and connected to said keyboard and said display; a system read only memory connected to said microprocessor; a system random access memory connected to said microprocessor; a user program random access memory connected to said microprocessor; a data random access memory connected to said microprocessor; and means, connected to said microprocessor, for communicating with a telephone circuit.

Claim 14

A craft technician's portable field terminal, comprising: a housing; a keyboard mounted on said housing; a display mounted on said housing; a microprocessor disposed in said housing and connected to said keyboard and said display; a system read only memory connected to said microprocessor; a system random access memory connected to said microprocessor; a user program random access memory connected to said microprocessor; a data random access memory connected to said microprocessor; and means, connected to said microprocessor, for communicating with a telephone circuit.

Claim 19

A method as defined in claim 11, wherein said downloading includes transmitting encoded signals representing the condensed form of the computer program over the telephone circuit at a speed not greater than 2400 baud.

Claim 24

An apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising: means, connected to said first light emitting diode, for enabling said first and second optical couplers to be responsive to voltage across the tip and ring, lines when said connecting means corrects thereto; and means, connected to said second transistor, for detecting the response of said first and second optical couplers, said response indicating whether the tip and ring lines are active and idle.

Claim 25

An apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising modem including a control output connected to said first light emitting diode and further including a response input connected to said second transistor.

Claim 26

An apparatus as defined in claim 16, further comprising a microprocessor connected to said modem.

Claim 27

An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein said means for connecting includes a rectifier including a first node adapted to be connected to the tip line, a second node adapted to be connected to the ring line, a third node connected to said first transistor, and a fourth node connected to said second light emitting diode.

Claim 28

An apparatus as defined in claim 18, further comprising: means, connected to said first light emitting diode, for enabling said first and second optical couplers to be responsive to voltage across the tip and ring lines when said connecting means connects thereto; and means, connected to said second transistor, for detecting the response of said first and second optical couplers, said response indicating whether the tip and ring lines are active and idle.

Claim 29

An apparatus as defined in claim 18, further comprising: a modem including a control output connected to said first light emitting diode and further including a response input connected to said second transistor; and computer means, connected to said modem, for controlling the operation of said control output of said modem and for receiving from said modem data responsive to a signal received through said response input of said modem.

Claim 30

A craft technician's field terminal which permits a craft technician to access various host computers that utilize different data transmission standards without said terminal having to be reconfigured for each access, said terminal comprising: means for connecting said terminal to a telephone circuit and for calling a plurality of host computers connected to other respective telephone circuits; means for permitting a craft technician to enter in said terminal telephone numbers for calling host computers while the craft technician is in the field; means for permitting the craft technician to enter and store in said terminal for repeated use respective data communications profiles in accordance with the respective data transmission standards for the host computers while the craft technician is in the field; and means for automatically using a respective stored data communications profile to place said terminal in operative communication with the respective host computer in response to the respective host computer being called through said terminal by the craft technician when the craft technician is in the field.

Claim 31

A craft technician's field terminal which permits a craft technician to access various host computers that utilize different data transmission standards without said terminal having to be reconfigured for each access, said terminal comprising: means for connecting said terminal to a telephone circuit and for calling a plurality of host computers connected to other respective telephone circuits; means for permitting a craft technician to enter in said terminal telephone numbers for calling host computers while the craft technician is in the field; means for permitting the craft technician to enter and store in said terminal for repeated use respective data communications profiles in accordance with the respective data transmission standards for the host computers while the craft technician is in the field; and means for automatically using a respective stored data communications profile to place said terminal in operative communication with the respective host computer in response to the respective host computer being called through said terminal by the craft technician when the craft technician is in the field.

Claim 32

A craft technician's field terminal which permits a craft technician to access various host computers that utilize different data transmission standards without said terminal having to be reconfigured for each access, said terminal comprising: means for connecting said terminal to a telephone circuit and for calling a plurality of host computers connected to other respective telephone circuits having respective access numbers; means for permitting a craft technician to enter and store within said terminal access numbers of host computers while the craft technician is in the field; means, responsive to the entry of a new host computer access number, for displaying a series of questions to the craft technician in the field; means for permitting the craft technician to enter and store within said terminal answers to said series of questions while the craft technician is in the field so that data communications profiles are created for host computers having access numbers entered and stored in said terminal and so that a directory of the access numbers and respective data communications profiles is retained in said terminal; and means for using a respective data communications profile in automatic response to the respective access number being used by said terminal to call the respective host computer so that the craft technician does not have to manually set up the respective data communications profile at the time of the call being placed to the respective host computer.

Claim 33

A craft technician's field terminal which permits a craft technician to access various host computers that utilize different data transmission standards without said terminal having to be reconfigured for each access, said terminal comprising: means for connecting said terminal to a telephone circuit and for calling a plurality of host computers connected to other respective telephone circuits having respective access numbers; means for permitting a craft technician to enter and store within said terminal access numbers of host computers while the craft technician is in the field; means, responsive to the entry of a new host computer access number, for displaying a series of questions to the craft technician in the field; means for permitting the craft technician to enter and store within said terminal answers to said series of questions while the craft technician is in the field so that data communications profiles are created for host computers having access numbers entered and stored in said terminal and so that a directory of the access numbers and respective data communications profiles is retained in said terminal; and means for using a respective data communications profile in automatic response to the respective access number being used by said terminal to call the respective host computer so that the craft technician does not have to manually set up the respective data communications profile at the time of the call being placed to the respective host computer.

Claim 34

A craft technician's field terminal having a limited size so that the terminal can be hand-carried by a craft technician in the field, comprising: display means for displaying textual information across a limited display area to a craft technician; means for storing informational data which exceeds the size of said display area of said display means; and means for outputting said informational data to said display means so that said informational data is presented sequentially across said limited display area as if said limited display were scanning a larger page containing said informational data.

Claim 35

A craft technician's field terminal having a limited size so that the terminal can be hand-carried by a craft technician in the field, comprising: display means for displaying textual information across a limited display area to a craft technician; means for storing informational data which exceeds the size of said display area of said display means; and means for outputting said informational data to said display means so that said informational data is presented sequentially across said limited display area as if said limited display were scanning a larger page containing said informational data.