Chapter 5. Airbeam Smart; Introduction; Airbeam Package Builder - Symbol PPT 2800 Series Product Reference Manual

Introduction

The AirBEAM Smart product allows specially designed software packages to be transferred
between a host server and Symbol wireless handheld terminals. Before transfer, AirBEAM
Smart checks and compares the package version, so that only updated packages are
loaded.
AirBEAM Smart resides on radio-equipped client devices and allows them to request,
download and install software, as well as upload files and status data. A single
communications session both downloads and uploads files. Transferring software over a
radio network can greatly reduce the logistical efforts of client software management.
In an AirBEAM Smart system, a network-accessible host server acts as the storage point
for the software transfer. The AirBEAM Smart Client uses the industry standard FTP or
TFTP file transfer protocols to check the host system for updates and, if necessary, to
transfer updated software.
Note: For more information about AirBEAM Smart, refer to the AirBEAM
Smart Windows
(p/n 72-63060-xx).

AirBEAM Package Builder

In a typical distributed AirBEAM system, software to be transferred is organized into
packages. In general, an AirBEAM package is simply a set of files assigned attributes both
as an entire package and as individual component files. The package is assigned a version
number and the transfer occurs when an updated version is available.
An AirBEAM package can optionally contain developer-specified logic used to install the
package. Installation logic is typically used to update client device flash images or radio
firmware. Examples of common AirBEAM packages include packages for custom client
application software, radio firmware and AirBEAM Smart Client software.
Once these packages are built, they are installed on the host server for retrieval by the
handheld terminal. The AirBEAM Package Builder utility defines, generates and installs
AirBEAM packages to a server. The packages are then loaded from the server onto a client
device equipped with an AirBEAM Smart Client executable.
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CE Client Product Reference Guide
AirBEAM Smart
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