FUNCTIONAL AIMING SYSTEM FOR AN AUTOMATIC DATA COLLECTION DEVICE, SUCH AS AN IMAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE

• US 20070084926A1
• Filed: 08/17/2006
• Published: 04/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Cabrera, Pierre, Thuries, Serge, Bessettes, Vincent, Krichi, Mustapha, Lopez, Christophe, Manine, Pierre-Marie, Lac, Philippe, Serres, Bernard, Puech, Jean-Michel, Ackley, H., Dant, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,967,206 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/454
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1011 Aiming
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10851 Circuits for pulse shaping, amplifying, eliminating noise signals, checking the function of the sensing device basic electronic circuitry H03

Abstract

An automatic data collection device is provided for reading barcodes, matrix codes, stacked codes, or other machine-readable symbol. The data collection device generates an aiming beam that serves a dual purpose of target locating and data acquisition, such as data acquisition using imaging methods. The aiming beam defines the field of view of the data collection device for imaging. The illumination pattern provided by the aiming beam for imaging can have its shape, size, and/or intensity adaptively changed depending on conditions.

Claims

1. A method usable with an imager type automatic collection device having a two-dimensional field of view, the method comprising:

producing a stationary aiming beam having a wavelength in a visible portion of an electromagnetic spectrum and having at least one dimension that corresponds to a dimension of the field of view of the imager type automatic data collection device;

illuminating at least a portion of a target machine-readable symbol with the stationary aiming beam;

receiving at least a portion of light of the aiming beam that has been returned from the illuminated area of the target symbol; and

decoding information modulated in the returned and received light.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the stationary aiming beam comprises a stationary aiming beam that can be positioned horizontally relative to a major axis of the target machine-readable symbol.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein illuminating at least a portion of a target machine-readable symbol with the stationary aiming beam includes illuminating at least a portion of a 2D machine-readable symbol.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein illuminating at least a portion of a target machine-readable symbol with the stationary aiming beam includes illuminating at least a portion of a 1D machine-readable symbol.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein decoding information modulated in the returned light includes obtaining the information from less than an entire portion of an image detector that captures the returned light.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising adaptively changing at least one of a shape, size, or intensity of an illumination pattern produced by the aiming beam on the target machine-readable symbol.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein adaptively changing at least one of a shape, size, or intensity of the illumination pattern includes adaptively changing based on at least one of a size of the target machine-readable symbol, a shape of the target machine-readable symbol, and a brightness level of ambient light.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein if the brightness level of the ambient light is sufficient for illuminating the target machine-readable symbol for imaging, the aiming beam is used for aiming and deactivated during imaging.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein illuminating the target machine-readable symbol includes using a plurality of light sources and a beam convergence technique to provide the aiming beam and to visually indicate an optimum distance from the data collection device to the target machine-readable symbol.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein producing the stationary aiming beam having at least one dimension that corresponds to a dimension of the field of view of the automatic data collection device includes producing the aiming beam with first and second dimensions along major and minor axes, respectively, that correspond to dimensions along major and minor axes of the field of view.

11. A method usable with an automatic data collection device, the method comprising:

illuminating an area of a target machine-readable symbol with a human-perceptible light that produces a human-perceptible indication of at least one dimension of the illuminated area;

receiving at least a portion of said light that has been returned from the illuminated area of the target symbol; and

decoding information modulated in the returned and received light.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein receiving the portion of light returned from the illuminated area includes obtaining an image of the illuminated area, the obtained image having at least some of the information to be decoded.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein illuminating the target symbol with the human-perceptible light that produces the human-perceptible indication of at least one dimension of the illuminated area includes illuminating the area of the target symbol with an illumination pattern having a first dimension that defines a field of view along a major axis and a second dimension that defines a field of view along a minor axis.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein illuminating the area of the target symbol comprises using a plurality of light sources that generate stationary beams of light that collectively produce an illumination pattern that illuminates the area.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein receiving at least a portion of light returned from the illuminated area of the target symbol includes receiving an image of a matrix code symbol represented by the returned light.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein receiving the portion of light returned from the illuminated area includes obtaining an image of at least a portion of a barcode symbol.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein decoding the received light includes decoding the obtained image of the portion of the barcode symbol substantially without performing a localization operation.

18. An automatic data collection system, comprising:

means for generating a human-perceptible aiming beam to locate a target symbol and for illuminating at least a portion of the target symbol with an illumination pattern generated by the aiming beam; and

means for imaging at least a portion of the target symbol using the illumination pattern generated by the aiming beam.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising means for decoding the imaged portion of the symbol to obtain encoded data represented by the symbol.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising additional means for supporting operation of the data collection system, including:

communication means for communicating with an external device;

user input means for receiving user-specified commands; and

storage means for storing information related to operation of the data collection system.

21. An automatic data collection apparatus, comprising:

at least one light source to generate a human-perceptible light that produces a human-perceptible indication of at least one dimension of an illuminated area of a target machine-readable symbol to be imaged;

a sensor to detect a portion of the human-perceptible light that is returned from the target machine-readable symbol, the detected light being modulated by at least a portion of the target machine-readable symbol, the sensor being capable to produce signals indicative of the modulation; and

a processor coupled to the sensor to process the signals to obtain data encoded in the target machine-readable symbol.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the target machine-readable symbol comprises a 1-dimensional machine-readable symbol.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the target machine-readable symbol comprises a 2-dimensional machine-readable symbol.

24. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the at least one light source comprises a plurality of lights sources that generate stationary light beams that collectively produce an illumination pattern that illuminates the area of the target machine-readable symbol.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising an adaptive lens system to change at least one of a shape, size, or intensity of an illumination pattern generated by the light source based on at least one condition associated with the target machine-readable symbol.

26. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the human-perceptible light produces an illumination pattern that defines major and minor axial fields of view for either or both imaging and scanning performed by the human-perceptible light, the apparatus further comprising a two-dimensional image detector.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a decode algorithm to decode the signals, which represent a captured image corresponding to a 1-dimensional machine-readable target symbol, substantially without using an image localization process.

28. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine-readable medium usable with an automatic data collection device and having instructions stored thereon to allow a processor to obtain data provided by a target machine-readable symbol, by;

controlling illumination of at least a portion of a target machine-readable symbol with an illumination pattern generated by a human-perceptible aiming beam, the illumination pattern being usable to provide a human-perceptible indication of at least one dimension of the target machine-readable symbol; and

reading the target machine-readable symbol using the illumination pattern generated by the aiming beam.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 28 wherein the instructions for reading the target machine-readable symbol include instructions for imaging at least a portion of a target 1-dimensional (1D) machine-readable symbol, wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to allow the processor to obtain data encoded by the target 1D machine-readable symbol by decoding the imaged target 1D machine-readable symbol substantially without applying an image localization process.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 28 wherein the instructions for controlling the illumination include instructions to provide the illumination pattern with dimensions that define major and minor axial fields of view of the data collection device.

31. The article of manufacture of claim 28 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to decode sampled data from a portion of an image array that has encoded data from the target machine-readable symbol, rather than decoding from the entire image array.

32. The article of manufacture of claim 28 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to adaptively change at least one of a shape, size, or intensity of the illumination pattern based on a condition associated with the target machine-readable symbol.