Self-service checkout system utilizing portable communications terminal

Claim 1

A hand-held terminal for providing voice communication and data gathering and communications functions, comprising: a controller, including a program for controlling the function and data processing of said terminal; a radio transceiver coupled to the controller and an antenna for transmitting data to and receiving data from a remote station; a scanning module for optically detecting bar codes and for providing data representative of said bar codes to said controller; a telephone module subsystem coupled to said controller and including a microphone and a speaker, for receiving voice signals from said microphone and converting said voice signals to voice data signals and providing said voice data signals to said controller and for receiving voice data signals from said controller and converting said received voice data signals to audio signals and providing said audio signals to said speaker; a display coupled to said controller for displaying data to a user; and controls for activation by the user to control operation of said terminal, said controls providing operation in a first telephone mode wherein voice signals are received by said telephone module, converted to voice data signals and provided to said controller, wherein said controller operates said radio transceiver to transmit said voice data signals to said remote station and to receive voice data signals from said remote station, and said controller provides said received voice data signals to said telephone module for conversion to audio signals; and in at least one data acquisition mode wherein said controller operates said scanning module for reading bar codes and for providing bar code data to said controller, and wherein said controller provides said bar code data to said transceiver for transmission to said remote station and wherein said transceiver receives data from said remote station and wherein said controller provides received data to said display.