A packet is the unit of data that is routed between an origin and a destination on any packet-switched network such as
Ethernet. When any file (e-mail message,
HTML file, Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) file, Uniform Resource Locator (
URL) request, and so forth) is sent from one place to another on the network,
TCP/IP divides the file into "chunks" of an efficient size for routing. Each of these packets is separately numbered and includes the
IP Address of source and the destination. The individual packets for a given file may travel different routes through the network to the destination. When they have all arrived, they are reassembled into the original file (by TCP/
IP at the receiving end).
Palm OS is the computer operating system that provides a software platform for the Palm series of handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs) made by Palm Inc. According to Palm, Palm OS was designed from the beginning to fit into a palm-size device of a specific size and with a specific display size.
Intermec and Symbol have had or have products that run Palm OS.
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| Symbol 1550 | Symbol SPT1800 | Intermec Model 70 |
PAN – Personal Area Network
A personal area network is the interconnection of information technology devices within the range of an individual person, typically within a range of 10 meters. For example, a person traveling with a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), and a portable printer could interconnect them without having to plug anything in, using some form of Wireless technology. Typically, this kind of personal area network could also be interconnected without wires to the Internet or other networks.
WPAN (Wireless PAN) is synonymous with PAN.
Unlike an Active Tag, a passive tag is an RFID transponderthat does not contain a battery. A passive tag uses the energy from the RF signal generated by an Interrogator to create a signal back to the interrogator.
Passive tags have a shorter range, have smaller storage capacities and are inexpensive when compared to active tags.
A PC Card (previously known as a PCMCIA card) is a credit card-size memory or I/O device that fits into a personal computer, usually a notebook or laptop computer. Probably the most common use of a PC Card is the telecommunications modem and network adaptor for notebook computers.
The PC Card is based on standards published by the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA). The PCMCIA 2.1 Standard was published in 1993. As a result, PC users can be assured of standard attachments for any peripheral device that follows the standard.
A PC Card has a 68-pin connector that connects into a slot in the PC.
There are three sizes (or "types") of PC Cards based on the thickness of the cards:
| Type | Thickness (mm) | Typical use |
| I | 3.3 | Memory |
| II | 5.0 | Modems |
| III | 10.5 | ATA hard drive |
The Type I and II cards work in a Type III slot and a Type I card will work in a Type II slot. (On the other hand, the thicker cards can't be fitted into the slots for the thinner cards.)
PCMCIA – Personal Computer
The PCMCIA is an industry group organized in 1989 to promote standards for a credit card-size memory or
I/O device that would fit into a personal computer, usually a notebook or laptop computer. The PCMCIA 2.1 Standard was published in 1993. As a result, PC users can be assured of standard attachments for any peripheral device that follows the standard. The initial standard and its subsequent releases describe a standard product, the
PC Card.
PDA – Personal Digital Assistant
PDA is a term for any small mobile hand-held device that provides computing and information storage and retrieval capabilities for personal or business use, often for keeping schedule calendars and address book information handy. Many people use the name of one of the popular PDA products as a generic term. These include Hewlett-Packard's Palmtop and 3Com's PalmPilot. Most PDAshave a small keyboard. Some PDAs have an electronically sensitive pad on which handwritng can be received. Apple's Newton, which has been withdrawn from the market, was the first widely-sold PDA that accepted handwriting. Typical uses include schedule and address book storage and retrieval and note-entering. However, many applications have been written for PDAs. Increasingly, PDAs are combined with telephones and paging systems and are used inthe data collection industry to scan Barcodes.
PDAs offer a variety of operating systems including Palm OS, Microsoft Windows CEand Pocket PC.
PDF stands for "Portable Data File." PDF417 is a Stacked Row Symbology. A single PDF417 symbol carries up to 1.1 kilobytes of machine-readable data in a space no larger than a standard Barcode. And, unlike traditional one-dimensional bar codes, which depend on Real-Time links to a larger Database, PDF417 symbols are the database. PDF417 symbols travel on paper, packages or parts.
| PDF417 | Micro PDF417 |
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PEAP – Protected Extensible
Pronounced “peep”, is a Protocol developed jointly by Microsoft, RSA Security and Cisco for transmitting authentication data, including passwords, over 802.11 Wireless networks. PEAP uses Server-side digital certificates to create an encrypted SSL/TLS tunnel between the clientand the Authentication Server. The tunnel then protects the subsequent user authentication exchange.
PEAP is not an encryption algorithm.
Contrasted with Client/Server networks, computers on a Peer- to-Peer network can be both a Client and a Server. Each can request services of another and each can provide services to another.
In recent usage, peer-to-peer has come to describe applications in which users can use the Internet to exchange files with each other directly or through a mediating server, Napster for example.
PeopleSoft is a leading provider of e-business application software and claims to be the only software company to provide e-business solutions purely over the Internet for Fortune 1000 corporations. The company was founded in 1987 by Dave Duffield and Ken Morris, whose goal was to build Client/Server applications that empower the user, are easily adaptable in a changing marketplace, and are supported by superior customer service.
Peoplesoft acquired JD Edwards and has recently been acquired by Oracle.
Picking is a warehousing/distribution process involving the pulling of items from inventory to fulfill a specific order for either internal or external customers. Picking can be done by order, Batch or wave depending on which is the most efficient for the type of items and orders needing to be filled.
Picking is used to increase order accuracy and fulfillment speed while reducing mistakes (costs) resulting in improved customer satisfaction.
Picking is the opposite of Putaway.
Ping – Packet Inter Network Groper
Ping is a basic Internet program that lets you verify that a particular IP Address exists and can accept requests. The verb ping means the act of using the ping utility or command. Ping is used diagnostically to ensure that a network computer you are trying to reach is actually operating. If, for example, a user can't ping a host, then the user will be unable to use the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to send files to that host. Ping can also be used with a host that is operating to see how long it takes to get a response back. Using ping, you can learn the IP address of the host. Loosely, ping means "to get the attention of" or "to check for the presence of" another party online.
Ping operates by sending a Packet to a designated address and waiting for a response. The computer acronym (for Packet Internet or Inter-Network Groper) was contrived to match the submariners' term for the sound of a returned sonar pulse.
Ping uses TCP/IP.
In computers, platform is a general term that refers to the physical hardware machine or the operating system running on that machine or the language and compiler that an application was developed under or any combination of these.
For example, my customer’s platform is Unix running on a DEC machine. Or, my application is written in C with the ms Visual Cversion 1.52 compiler. Or, my platform is an IBM AS400.
In building construction, a plenum (pronounced PLEH-nuhm, from Latin meaning full) is a separate space provided for air circulation for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (sometimes referred to as HVAC) and typically provided in the space between the structural ceiling and a drop-down ceiling. A plenum may also be under a raised floor. In buildings with computer installations, the plenum space is often used to house connecting communication cables. Because ordinary cable introduces a toxic hazard in the event of fire, special plenum rated cabling is required in plenum areas.
Some hardware devices that Ryzex sells are plenum rated.
Windows PocketPC is an operating system from Microsoft designed for hand held computers. The PocketPC operating system and the superset CE3.0 operating system are designed for .size VGA screens such as are found on PDAs. PocketPC has a Graphical User Interface(GUI) and is designed for consumer use. It comes with applications such as Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Outlook, etc.
PoE – Power Over Ethernet
In the old days, when installing Access Points, the customer or installer had to run data cabling such as UTP and electrical cable to power access points.
UTP cable has four pairs of wires, only two pairs are used to carry data. A few years ago, someone thought to carry power to the access points through the one of the other pairs of wires in the data cable, thereby eliminating the need for installing electrical cable which can be quite expensive.
Power Over Ethernet involves the use of a Power Injector (Intermec calls it a power Bridge). The power injector is installed in the central Hub or Switch room and is powered by AC power. The data cable is run into the injector which adds power to one of the unused wire pairs. DC power is then carried on the data cable to the access point.
A version of POE is specified in the 802.3af standard from the IEEE.
A point of sale is any checkout counter in a retail or wholesale outlet. Much more complex than the cash registers of even just a few years ago, the POS system can include the ability to scan Barcodes, record and track customer orders, process credit and debit cards, connect to other systems in a network, and manage inventory.
Generally, a POS terminal has as its core a personal computer, which is provided with application-specific programs and I/O devices for the particular environment in which it will serve.
A Barcode Symbology used by postal services around the world. This symbology encodes a postal or zip code. Information is encoded in the height of the bars rather than the width. Postnet must be read with an imaging scanner.
A power injector is a device that delivers DC power over a network cable such as CAT5 UTP cable. This process is known as Power Over Ethernet (PoE).
Intermec calls their power injector the MobileLAN Power Bridge. Symbol calls theirs the BIAS-T. Cisco calls theirs a power injector.
The use of a power injector can eliminate the need to run AC power to each Access Point location, thereby greatly reducing the cost of an RF implementation.
PROM – Programmable Read Only Memory
Memory Programmable read-only memory (PROM) is read-only memory (
ROM) that can be modified once by a user. PROM is a way of allowing a user to tailor
Firmware using a special machine called a PROM programmer. This machine supplies an electrical current to specific cells in the ROM that effectively blows a fuse in them. The process is known as burning the PROM. Other forms of ROM are Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (
EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (
EEPROM).
A protocol is a set of rules governing a communication event in serial, parallel, network, Wireless and other forms of electronic communication.
Protocols exist at several levels in a telecommunication connection. There are hardware protocols, protocols between each of several functional layers of a network protocol stack and high level software application protocols and others.
Both end points of a communication must recognize and observe a protocol. Protocols are often described in an industry or international standard.
PSC - Photographic Sciences
A manufacturer that makes Barcode scanners and data collection computers and terminals. As part of a merger with Datalogic, the PSC company name and brand name were retired in April 2007.
PSK – Programmer’s Software Kit
A PSK is a library of functions that a programmer uses to develop an application for a data collection computer. Intermec has a PSK for its Janus family of products and a PSK for their Antares family of products.
Other manufacturers have libraries available as well for their products. Sometimes its called a Software Developer’s Kit (SDK).
The world of retail is divided into two types of retail store inventory operations: pull and push. Pull retailing refers to the control of inventory reordering being done at the store level and pulled to the stores. Pull retailers are those that haven't figured out how to implement push effectively.
Pull retailing is typically done in stores that carry high velocity staples, such as grocery stores. Other retailers that may or may not use a pull model include pet supply stores, office supply/stationers, drug, DIY, and hardware/lumber stores. Full line department stores are a combination of push and pull depending upon the department within the store. The reason pull retailing survivesis that demand forecasting is too hard to do centrally due to locally isolated variables such as the community makeup, weather, local events, and local competition.
Pull retailers don't rely solely on inventory Databases and unit forecasts to do product replenishment to the store. Instead, the store manager walks the floor, looks at the amount of goods on the shelves, and writes down a reorder quantity. The orders are entered into a computer and transmitted to the DC or 3rd party supplier for fulfillment: a long and tedious process ripe for automation. It is assumed that the manager knows how much excess inventory is in the back room and how much inventory is already on order.
The world of retail is divided into two types of retail store inventory operations: pull and push. Push retailing refers to inventory reordering being done centrally and pushed to the stores.
Putaway is a warehousing/distribution process involving the pickup and placement of items into either random or pre-defined locations. Operators are either directed to a location and asked to validate they are there or pick a location and log where items were placed, improving accuracy.
The Picking process is used to increase labor efficiency and accuracy, reduce search time to locate an open and appropriate storage location.
Putaway is the opposite of Picking.