GUIDE · UPDATED 2026
From an offline PC to a phone, with no USB and no network
The situation is common in laboratories and on production floors: a result file sits on a computer that is not allowed on the network, its USB ports are locked, and it has no camera. Someone needs that file on a phone or tablet — to attach it to a record, send it on, or show it to a reviewer.
Written by Taha Bayar, a biologist working on laboratory data handover. Kionel sells one of the options below; the comparison is meant to be usable even if you choose another.
The realistic options
| Route | Works when | What it leaves behind |
|---|---|---|
| Photograph the screen | You need to read a few values | An image, not the file. Values must be re-keyed and checked by a second person. |
| Bluetooth | The radio is enabled and pairing is allowed | Usually disabled on validated workstations for the same reason the network is. No record of what moved. |
| A single static QR code | The content is a few hundred bytes of text | Too small for most result files; anyone who photographs it has the content. |
| Approved USB, via IT | A controlled route exists | A ticket and a wait. The file lands on a second computer, not the phone. |
| An encrypted stream of QR codes | The phone has a camera and the PC has a screen and keyboard | The file itself, plus a signed record of what was sent and what arrived. |
Why the last option needs one thing typed on the PC
A screen can only talk; it cannot listen. If the PC simply showed the file as codes, anyone pointing a camera at the monitor — or a photo taken over a shoulder — would get the file too. Something has to travel from the phone back to the PC first, so the PC knows whom to encrypt for.
With no camera on the PC, the keyboard is that return channel. The phone shows a one-time 12-character code; the operator types it on the PC. The PC encrypts the file with a key derived from that code and plays it on screen; only the phone that showed the code can open it. A camera filming the monitor records ciphertext.
Where Kionel fits
This is how Kionel's Lab Bridge works for a PC without a camera. The file travels screen to camera, the sending PC signs a dispatch record bound to the file's hash and the work order, and the phone signs a delivery receipt after checking the content. Both records verify offline with a free Apache-2.0 tool. For a PC that always sends to the same device, a one-time "receiver card" replaces the typed code.
It suits small files — results, certificates, methods, configurations. It is the wrong tool for large raw data sets, and it does not inspect file content for malware.
Try it on your own bench
The demo moves a sample file between two of your own devices, end to end, including both signed records. Nothing is uploaded.