Method and apparatus for reading decodable indicia

• US 20070164114A1
• Filed: 11/03/2006
• Published: 07/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/1994
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Longacre, Andrew, Hussey, Robert, Pidhirny, John
• Granted Patent: US 7,398,929 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 235/462.70
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0022 arrangements or provisions for transferring data to distant stations, e.g. from a sensing device "transfer between computer elements G06F13/00 "; data-transmission H04L
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 2207/1017 Programmable
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10544 by scanning of the records by radiation in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10821 further details of bar or optical code scanning devices
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/14 using light without selection of wavelength, e.g. sensing reflected white light G06K7/10831 - G06K7/1097 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1491 the method including a reconstruction step, e.g. stitching two pieces of bar code together to derive the full bar code

Abstract

The present invention relates to a bar code reading device for reading 1D or 2D bar code symbols. The bar code reading device, in one embodiment, can receive a command to disable symbology reading. In another embodiment, a bar code reading device can have a timercount and an image memory. In one embodiment, a bar code reading device can be configured to read bar code symbols of more than one bar code symbology.

Claims

1. A portable bar code reading device for reading a bar code symbol disposed on a substrate, said device comprising:

a solid state image sensor;

optics focusing an image onto said solid state image sensor;

a trigger for driving said device into an active reading state;

wherein said bar code reading device is configured to read either of a 1D bar code symbol and a 2D bar code symbol, and wherein said portable bar code reading device is responsive to a manually input selection by a user specifying whether 1D bar code symbols or 2D bar code symbols are to be read utilizing the device;

wherein said bar code reading device, when 1D bar code symbols are specified, obtains an electronic representation of a symbol in a first format subsequently to said trigger being actuated and attempts symbol decoding using a 1D decoding algorithm; and

wherein said bar code reading device, when 2D bar code symbols are specified, obtains an electronic representation of a symbol in a second format subsequently to said trigger being actuated and attempts symbol decoding using a 2D decoding algorithm, wherein said second format is different from said first format.

2. The portable bar code reading device of claim 1, wherein said image sensor is a charge coupled type image sensor.

3. The portable bar code reading device of claim 1, wherein said first format is a timercount representation.

4. The portable bar code reading device of claim 1, wherein said second format is a bit representation.

5. The portable bar code reading device of claim 1, wherein said portable bar code reading device when 2D bar code symbols are specified is configured to reorder said set of bit representations.

6. The portable bar code reading device if claims 1, wherein said set of bit representations form a 2D bit representation.

7. A method for operating an optical reader, said method comprising the steps of:

obtaining a video signal of a 1D slice of symbol;

converting said video signal into a timercount representation by examining said video signal for occurrences of transitions;

utilizing said timercount representation to determine a bit image representation of said video signal;

examining said timercount representation to determine if a 1D bar code symbol is represented therein;

attempting to decode said timercount represented if it is determined that said timercount representation includes a representation of a 1D symbol;

examining said bit representation to determine whether said bit representation includes a representation of a 2D symbol finder pattern; and

determining an addition set of bit representations corresponding to additional video signals of 1D slices of said symbol, the additional set of bit representation being of sufficient number to permit decoding of a 2D symbol.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said timercount representation represents the occurrence times between black to white and white to black.

9. The method of claim 7, further including the step of storing said timercount representation in a timercount memory.

10. The method of claim 7, further including the step of storing said bit representation and said additional set of bit representations in an image memory.

11. The method of claim 7, further including the step of asynchronously moving said optical reader across said symbol.

12. The method of claim 7, further including the step of examining said timercount representation to determine whether said timercount representation represents part of stacked 1D symbol.

13. A portable bar code reading device for reading a bar code symbol disposed on a substrate, said portable bar code reading device comprising:

a solid state image sensor;

optics focusing an image onto said solid state image sensor;

a trigger for driving said device into an active reading state;

wherein said bar code reading device is capable of obtaining a processable electronic representation representing a two dimensional area of said substrate;

wherein said bar code reading device is configured so that subsequently to said trigger being actuated, said bar code reader device attempts to decode said bar code symbol using a 1D bar code symbol decoding algorithm; and

wherein said bar code reading device is further configured so said portable bar code reading device is permitted to obtain a processable electronic representation representing a portion of said substrate large enough to permit decoding of a 2D bar code symbol conditionally on the condition that said bar code decoding device is unsuccessful in said attempt to decode a 1D symbol using said 1D bar code symbol decoding algorithm.

14. The portable bar code reading device of claim 13, wherein said portable bar code reading device is configured so that said portable bar code reading device does not obtain any electronic representation representing a portion of said substrate large enough to permit decoding of a 2D symbol if said bar code decoding device is unsuccessful in said attempt to decode a 1D symbol using said 1D bar code symbol decoding algorithm.

15. A method for decoding a bar code symbol disposed on a substrate utilizing a portable bar code reading device that is capable of obtaining a processable two dimensional representation of a substrate, said bar code reading device having an image sensor and optics focusing an image onto said image sensor, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) obtaining a processable electronic representation of a substrate representing a portion of said symbol that is of sufficient height so as to permit decoding of said bar code symbol if said bar code symbol is a 1D bar code symbol;

(b) attempting to decode said bar code symbol utilizing said electronic representation obtained in step (a);

(c) obtaining a processable electronic representation of said substrate representing a portion of said symbol that is of sufficient height so as to permit decoding of said bar code symbol if said bar code symbol is a 2D bar code symbol; and

(d) attempting to decode said bar code symbol utilizing said electronic representation obtained in step (c) conditionally on the condition that said attempting to decode step (b) is not successful.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said obtaining step (c) is executed conditionally on the condition that said attempting to decode step (b) is not successful.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said obtaining step (a) includes the step of utilizing a one dimensional image sensor.

18. A bar code reading device for reading an indicia disposed on a target, said bar code reading device comprising:

a two dimensional image sensor;

optics projecting an image of an indicia to be read onto said two dimensional image sensor;

a manual trigger;

a microprocessor in communication with said two dimensional image sensor and said manual trigger;

wherein said bar code reading device is configured so that responsively to said manual trigger being actuated said bar code reading device obtains a first electronic representation representing said target, subjects said first electronic representation to a decode attempt, and subsequently to obtaining said first electronic representation obtains a subsequent electronic representation representing said target; and

wherein said bar code reading device is further configured so that an initiation time at which said bar code reading device initiates obtaining of said subsequent electronic representation is responsive to a completion time at which said bar code reading device ceases attempting to decode said first electronic representation.

19. The bar code reading device of claim 18, wherein first electronic representation and said subsequent electronic representations are not successively obtained.

20. The bar code reading device of claim 18, wherein said bar code reading device in obtaining said electronic representation stores said electronic representation in a memory of said bar code reading device.

21. The bar code reading device of claim 18, wherein said first electronic representation is data corresponding to a video signal output by said two dimensional image sensor.

22. The bar code reading device of claim 18, wherein said indicia is a bar code

23. The bar code reading device of claim 18, wherein said indicia is an OCR character.

24. The bar code reading device of claim 18, wherein said bar code decoding device halts initiating obtaining of said second electron representation until said bar code reading device completes said attempt to decode said first electronic representation.

25. The bar code reading device of claim 18, further comprising an illuminator.

26. The bar code reading device of claim 18, wherein said two dimensional image sensor is a CCD image sensor.

27. A bar code reading device for reading an indicia disposed on a target, said bar code reading device comprising:

a two dimensional image sensor;

optics projecting an image of an indicia to be read onto said two dimensional image sensor;

a manual trigger;

a microprocessor in communication with said two dimensional image sensor and said manual trigger;

wherein said bar code reading device is configured so that responsively to said manual trigger being actuated said bar code reading device obtains a first electronic representation representing said target, subjects said first electronic representation to a decode attempt, and subsequently to obtaining said first electronic representation obtains a subsequent electronic representation representing said target; and

wherein said bar code reading device is further configured so that an initiation time at which said bar code reading device initiates obtaining of said subsequent electronic representation is responsive to a completion time at which said bar code reading device ceases attempting to decode said first electronic representation.

28. The bar code reading device of claim 27, wherein first electronic representation and said subsequent electronic representations are not successively obtained.

29. The bar code reading device of claim 27, wherein said bar code reading device in obtaining said electronic representation stores said electronic representation in a memory of said bar code reading device.

30. The bar code reading device of claim 27, wherein said first electronic representation is data corresponding to a video signal output by said two dimensional image sensor.

31. The bar code reading device of claim 27, wherein said indicia is a bar code

32. The bar code reading device of claim 27, wherein said indicia is an OCR character.

33. The bar code reading device of claim 27, wherein said bar code decoding device halts initiating obtaining of said second electron representation until said bar code reading device ceases attempting to decode said first electronic representation.

34. The bar code reading device of claim 27, further comprising an illuminator.

35. The bar code reading device of claim 27, further comprising an illuminator, said illuminator being in communication with said microprocessor.

36. The bar code reading device of claim 27, wherein said two dimensional image sensor is a CCD image sensor.